How do you express your gratitude? That’s a good question to reflect on . . .
I try to carry an attitude of gratitude in my backpack along the trails during the walk of life. It’s always a key ingredient for feeling pleasantly full when consuming energy medicine, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Paying mindful attention to our breath is the most important way I know how to remember gratitude in every moment. When I forget, I remember to focus on my breath, and give thanks for the breath of life in the present moment that it is given and received. There’s a lot of moments in everyday life to capitalize on this opportunity.
Also, I will typically say a little thanksgiving or thank you to conclude my daily meditation practice to honor the support available, and offered to us from the spirit realm. It’s like hanging up to signal the end of the conference call with the Universe.
One concrete strategy to bring spiritual power into the material realm is to walk with one foot in spirit, one foot in ground, like our Indigenous ancestors would say. Moreover, those tuned into this blog know that I am a big fan of cultivating a walking meditation in life. Yes, it’s good to sit on the cushion. But the application of what comes up on the cushion needs to be enacted in the moments in our routine when we are not sitting in the ritual of quiet meditation.
During our more focused spiritually oriented conversations, an uncle turned me on to a simple walking meditation strategy. In that conversation, he taught me an abbreviated children’s version of how to play with an effective walking meditation to awaken gratitude, and be present in our everyday moments. This form comes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s spiritual teachings from his own experiences (as well as the experiences of others) with silent walking meditation. This technique a great way to invite spirit into the act of ‘counting steps’, like many folks do today as a way to stay in shape. Based on feedback from many adults and kids alike, this strategy reportedly really resonates with them.
All you do is say ‘yes’ when you take your first step and then ‘thank you’ on your second step. The idea is that by saying ‘yes’ on our first step- we are saying yes to what the present moment has to offer by being open to the experience without conditions or judgments.
Everybody experiences judgments and resistance. But with the ‘yes’ footstep, we are willing to move beyond them so that we don’t get sucked into the past or future mental projections. And then by saying ‘thank you’ on the next footstep, we are giving thanks to what is; regardless of whether the experience is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
The present moment is what it is. So we might as well say yes to it and then say thank you for the paradoxical blessing or curse of the present moment with gratitude in our hearts and heads. Easier said than done. But it is a skill we can develop and also makes for a nice positive self talk mantra.
Of course, when I look outside and see turkeys doing their thing in Nature; meditation on their energy reminds me of the shared blessings of everyday life. And for that, I am deeply grateful.
Thank you,
Ari
A Special Thank You To Artwork by Barbara Merlotti
Classroom Mothership Earth 