OCTOBER MEDITATION PROGRAM

THEME: GRATITUDE

For October, the theme of the meditations focuses on gratitude.  The meditations/contemplations can be done in whichever order you wish. Select the one you are drawn to at any given time; repeat any of them as often as you like.  However, you are encouraged to try all of them since together they form a cohesive framework for movement towards fostering an attitude of appreciation and gratefulness.

We are not always aware of the daily blessings in our lives.  Sometimes we tend to focus on all that is not working in our lives.  Sometimes we look longingly at the lives of others, believing that the grass is always greener.  Sometimes we believe that if only a certain thing we yearn for happens then we will find the contentment that we feel is missing from our lives.  Sometimes we carry the attitude that we are simply unlucky and that nothing positive comes our way.  Yet, there is so much to be grateful for!  We are truly surrounded by miracles and blessings each day!  When we stop taking every detail of life for granted, then can we see what a miracle and blessing life is – including that which we experience as painful, hurtful, disappointing and so forth.  What we experience as problems are simply challenges that give us opportunities to make choices and grow.  It’s all a blessing and it’s all in how we choose to experience our lives.

May your gratitude bring more blessings into your life!

Reflections on Gratitude

Indeed each day is blessed; each day offers gifts and each moment of our existence is a gift even though we may not always perceive it to be that way.  While there is a tendency to be selective in regards to which aspects of a given day are deemed pleasing and which are considered unpleasant, in fact, each moment is exactly as it should be.  Accordingly, each moment is perfect and thus a blessing.  The challenge is to perceive and experience all as gifts.  This will come as attachment to outcomes is released and we allow ourselves in stillness to reflect on the day in order to draw out the blessings from those moments that were experienced as undesirable or as a bitter pill.  The why me, why now questions of life can be replaced with enquiring during a meditative state about what can be learned from that which transpired?  Gently reflect on the seeming unpleasant to find the kernel of Truth.

Meditations

Contemplation & Meditation on the Blessings that Surround you Daily

As we go through our busy lives we may not always consciously stop to appreciate the blessings that come into our lives daily.  We take so much for granted in our existence until such time as tragedy or challenge enters our life.  We tend to take for granted what we consider to be the basics like the availability of clean water, access to food, the complex functions our body performs daily, the sun rising and setting, and so forth.  During this month, each day reflect on at least five aspect of your life for which you are grateful.  Write down your five gratitudes.  Each day identify five new aspects for which to be grateful.  By the end of the month you will be amazed at how rich your life is with blessings.  During the month, include in your meditation practice, gratitude for the blessings you are identifying.

A Blessing to Nature

Without the natural environment we could not survive.  Nature and its products are an essential source of our most fundamental needs: water, food, heat, and shelter.  More than that, Nature also offers us rejuvenation, comfort, healing and solace when we are in her splendid presence.  To demonstrate gratitude to Nature, during the meditation connect with any form of Nature (e.g. soil, birds, trees, oceans, mountains, animals) and bless that form by surrounding it with love and Light. Each time you do this meditation during the month focus on a different form of Nature.

A Blessing to the Globe