The Great Mother of Gratitude Meditation

1. Sit in silence and take a few very slow, very deep breaths in and out.
2. Relax within your personal comfort with eyes opened or closed. If you prefer your eyes to be open, hold you head level and gently gaze down a few feet in front of you. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply.
3. Let go of tension in your jaw, in your neck, and in your shoulders.
4. Do your best to rest your mind.
5. When your mind wonders away, simply remind yourself that this gratitude meditation is FOR YOU.
6. Begin each statement below with inner, loving speech – as “I have gratitude for…”
7. Being alive today, experiencing my precious human life;
8. My ever-beating heart;
9. My lungs;
10. All my functioning senses;
11. My smile;
12. Having clean running water;
13. Having running hot water;
14. Sleeping in my bed;
15. Eating food today;
16. My job with all its difficulties;
17. My relative safety;
18. My family;
19. My friends;
20. My pet/s if I own any;
21. The unconditional love I have received;
22. Having experienced love of some kind in my life;
23. My relative good health;
24. The people, places, and things that have helped me to experience joy and happiness;
25. My relative personal happiness;
26. My relative freedom from greater suffering;
27. Not starving like so many children in this world;
28. Being able to speak my truths in freedom;
29. Not being bombed and shot at like in war zones;
30. Not fleeing gigantic forrest fires;
31. Not fleeing gigantic mud slides;
32. Not fearing for my life in gigantic storms;
33. Not living in the deep despair of utter poverty;
34. Being “good enough” as I am;
35. Being as I am – how and what I am;
36. Mother nature and her wonders; and,
37. Being able to repeat this gratitude meditation as often as I wish to do so.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton Sangha

Author of Mindful Happiness  

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!