🙏 TREE 759: Gratitude week 1

1. Apologies for the double email on Friday. I’m going to blame the fact that Skyler and I live on different continents for our miscommunication. (Shh! Don’t mention the ubiquitous, instantaneous, free global communication afforded by the internet.)

2. I’m very pleased to introduce a week of posts by Benjamin Shenkin. We’re sharing five excerpts from his book Meditation 31: Gratitude, featuring photographs by his wife (and my sister) Jecelyn. Ben is a coach who helps people unleash their confidence and creativity.

3. If you’d like to own a repeatable gratitude meditation for every day of the month at a 10% discount, use the code TREE when you buy Ben’s book.

—Jeff

I have found over the years that a posture of gratitude has had a tremendous impact on my day-to-day living and the depth and connectedness of my relationships. I have discovered that one expression of gratitude seems to beget the next thing(s) I am grateful for.

Gratitude unexpressed is hardly gratitude at all. So I wrote these 31 days of guided meditation to challenge you to consider the immense blessings and benefits that surround you and help you to express your gratitude. Doing so keeps the flow of goodness happening in your life.

The concept is simple: I ask a question about a recent topic/item/ interaction/event, and give you one-step gratitude activation exercise. I hope this guided meditation enriches your life and brings about the next good thing.

Let’s start with something simple: the air you breathe.

Did you just take a breath right now? Was it breathable and did it provide oxygen to your lungs so you can continue to live? (If not, I suggest you relocate while reading this book to a more suitable location for breathing. Ha!) Well, you have something to be grateful for then! It’s amazing how we take such simple things for granted. Take a moment and consider your breath, consider the air that is entering your lungs and the oxygen that is getting passed on to your bloodstream. Take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and out again for 4 seconds. Do this once more.

Now that you have relaxed yourself, take a moment to express gratitude for the air you are breathing right now and the air you have breathed recently. A simple ‘thank you for the air I breathe’ spoken to the Universe will suffice.

Many more life-sustaining breaths are in your future and so it’s wonderful to express gratitude for at least a few of them as you go about your life.