Gratitude Meditation
Take a moment to arrive. Settle into a comfortable seat and let your body soften. Allow your breath to fall into its own natural rhythm. Feel your heart growing a little more open with each inhale, a little more at ease with each exhale.
As you settle, begin by honoring the simple truth that you’ve shown up for your own life—year after year, breath after breath. Let yourself acknowledge all that has supported you along the way.
Silently reflect:
With gratitude, I remember the people, animals, plants, and unseen forces of nature—earth, water, fire, air, and space—that bless my life every single day.
With gratitude, I remember the wisdom, love, and labor of the generations who came before me.
I offer gratitude for this beautiful Earth that holds me.
I offer gratitude for the health and resilience my body carries.
I offer gratitude for my family and friends who walk beside me.
I offer gratitude for my community, near and far.
I offer gratitude for the teachings, lessons, and teachers who have shaped me.
I offer gratitude for this sacred life I’ve been given.
Let these acknowledgments fill your heart. And as you do, remember that gratitude isn’t just for our own blessings—it’s also for the blessings that flow through others.
Now gently shift your awareness toward joy. Keep your breath soft and steady. Bring to mind someone you care for deeply—someone who naturally brings a smile to your heart. See them clearly in your mind’s eye. Feel the ease with which you can celebrate their happiness, their growth, their well-being.
With each slow breath, offer them these simple, heartfelt wishes:
May you experience joy.
May your happiness continue to grow.
May you never be separated from true happiness.
May your good fortune and all the causes of your joy increase.
Feel how your heart responds. When the warmth of this joy feels steady, bring another loved one into your awareness. Offer them the same blessings.
Gradually widen the circle—friends, mentors, those who’ve supported you in ways seen and unseen. When your heart feels full enough, turn those same wishes back toward yourself. Let joy settle into your body, your breath, your being.
And from there, open your practice outward—first to neutral people, then to those who challenge you, and eventually to all beings, everywhere. Let the field of joy expand without strain, without forcing, just naturally radiating from the wisdom of your own open heart.
Stay here as long as you’d like—resting in joy, resting in ease—until the practice becomes less of an effort and more of a remembrance of the joy that already lives within you.
