Gratitude and Mindfulness

This week I'm exhausting all the different ways you can cultivate an attitude of gratitude.  I thought about how mindfulness is really a practice in gratitude and vice versa.  Here's how I see it:  When you practice being mindful and fully in the present--your mind stops grasping and you don't need anything.  Rather, you have a genuine appreciation for what is just as it is, which sounds a lot like gratitude if you ask me!  And when you deliberately put the kibosh on wanting more by practicing gratitude, then aren't you practicing mindfulness?

A Mindfulness Meditation 

If you've never tried a mindfulness meditation practice, here are some very brief instructions to get you started.  Start with 5 minutes a day as a formal sitting practice and try to practice it informally (say, when you are standing in line at the grocery store) for a few minutes a day and then slowing increase your time each day.

Start by seating yourself either on a cushion or on a chair in a straight but comfortable posture.  Your hands can be resting gently face down on your lap or in a cupped position--whatever is most comfortable.  There is no need to change your breath but do keep your mouth slightly open and breathe in and out through your nostrils and mouth.  Your eyes should be open and in a soft gaze.  Your gaze will fall a few feet in front of you on the floor.  When thoughts arise, notice them, but don't entertain them.  Just let them go without judgment.  Then bring your mind back to the present moment.  You can maintain this presence of mind by noticing your breath without changing it or forcing it.  Just be aware of  how your chest rises and falls with each inhale and exhale.  You can also bring your mind back to the present by noticing any physical sensations in your body.  Perhaps you even mentally scan your body from head to toe.  Another way you can remain in the moment is by noticing what is happening in your environment, again without judgment.  Maybe even focus on what each sense organ notices one at a time.  Resist the temptation to chase after a juicy thought when it arises--and it will.  Just keep an active practice of bringing your mind back to where your body is and only can be--in the present.

What's wrong with where you are at this particular point in time?  NOTHING!  So don't try to change it or be somewhere else.  Just appreciate this moment...and this moment...and this moment...you get the picture!

Namaste,

Brooke