Gratitude may feel like a burden, something we need to dig up rather than let bubble up. It’s been a hard year, and the weeks ahead seem no less daunting.

Still, we let the words of Scripture sink in:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:15-16, NIV)

Yet we wonder how it is possible, in these daunting days, to get to gratitude.

Pausing to reflect is one of the most valuable practices we can do. Practicing gratitude not only helps us feel more grounded and peaceful, it also improves our ability to share that love with others. To give back. To say thank you.

Here are 7 easy gratitude exercises that you can do by yourself or with others. Listen to your heart and let the peace of God fill your spirit.

1. Identify 3 things that you feel grateful for and appreciate about your life. These things can be based on the past, present, or future. No category or thing is too big or small to appreciate, however, being specific might be helpful.
2. Identify 3 things that you take for granted but are actually very thankful for. We all have things that we take for granted. This is the time to reflect and discover which of those you value the most. 
3. Identify 3 things that you appreciate about yourself. Pick things that are meaningful. These can involve your personality, your qualities, your actions, or anything else directly related to yourself.
4. Identify 3 things that you feel grateful for about your present--right now--experience. Be in the here-and-now. Right now, what can you appreciate about your experience? Think about the environment, the time you're taking for your own wellbeing, the chair under your legs, anything that relates to the now.
5. Identify 3 people who had a significant and positive experience on your life. These can be coaches, mentors, professors, bosses, family members, or anyone else. Call those people to mind and think about how they made a difference in your life.
6. Create a thank you message to those 3 individuals. A grate way to feel appreciative is to think about sending a thank you letter. You can write and send one if you want, or simply construct one that you would imagine sending to these people. Connect to that appreciation while thinking through your message.
7. Identify the 1 thing that you are most appreciative of (based on the list above) and feel it in your heart. The whole point of these exercises is to feel it. When you find one of the above that stands out the most--pause and breathe into it. Allow that warmth, love, appreciation, and gratitude to wash over you.

The seven exercises are from 7 Easy Gratitude Exercises That Make Even the Most Pessimistic People Happier by Matthew Jones, 

Psalm 46:10 reminds us: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

How can we allow ourselves space and grace to be as we are, experience our emotions, and know that God is in the midst of all we are and everything we are feeling?

We can start by sitting in a quiet place and breathing. Listen to your breath going in and out. The ancient Greek word, pnuema, for spirit and breath is the same. When breathing in, you could imagine that the Holy Spirit is filling you with life and love.

Be still, and know that God is God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

When it is time, you can move on. At any time, you can come back to your breath, to the power and creativity and sustenance of God giving you life. You can be still and know. Your worth does not depend on how much you accomplish or the schedule you keep. Keep coming back to your breath and the stillness as often as needed.

It is enough, and you are enough.

God, When we base our worth on how much we get done, remind us that we matter because you have made us each precious and irreplaceable. Guide us to times of stillness, times to rest in your love and presence. Fill us with your Holy Spirit’s breath of life, moment after moment, day after day. Help us to be still and know that you are. Amen.

—Adapted from “Just Be” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick

October 10, 2020, ELCA “Bold Café”

Lovingkindness, or metta, as it in called in the Pali language, is unconditional, inclusive love, a love with wisdom. It has no conditions; it does not depend on whether one “deserves” it or not; it is not restricted to friends and family; it extends out from personal categories to include all living beings. There are no expectations of anything in return. This is the ideal, pure love, which everyone has in potential. 

We begin with loving ourselves, for unless we have a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves, it is difficult to extend it to others. Then we include others who are special to us, and, ultimately, all living things. Gradually, both the visualization and the meditation phrases blend into the actual experience, the feeling of lovingkindness.

This is a meditation of care, concern, tenderness, lovingkindness, friendship–a feeling of warmth for oneself and others. The practice is the softening of the mind and heart, an opening to deeper and deeper levels of the feeling of kindness, of pure love. Lovingkindness is without any desire to possess another. It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill, not an obligation, but comes from a selfless place. It does not depend on relationships, on how the other person feels about us. The process is first one of softening, breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly toward ourselves, and then those that we feel toward others.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PRACTICE

The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life. The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen our relationship with God through consenting in the ordinary activities of our day. 

Welcoming Prayer

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it’s for my healing.

I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions.

I let go of my desire for power and control.

I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval and pleasure.

I let go of my desire for survival and security.

I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself.

I open to the love and presence of God and God’s action within. Amen.

The Method

The history of the Welcoming Prayer is a little surprising. It’s not an ancient practice, though it’s an ancient idea. Mary Mrozowski of Brooklyn, New York — one of the first leaders of centering prayer — developed the method. She was inspired by Abandonment to Divine Providence, an early 18th-century spiritual work by Jesuit priest and spiritual director, Father Jean Pierre de Caussade. Father Thomas Keating and others saw the value of her method and, over the years, it has been supported, fine-tuned, and expanded within the community of people who practice centering prayer and beyond.

If you are struggling in any way, this method offers a structured way to embrace and accept your feeling so you can release it and move on. There are three phases to the Welcoming Prayer. You might go directly from one to the next in a single, relatively formulaic prayer sequence. Or you might find yourself staying in one phase. Using Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault’s labels from her book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, the three parts are:

1. Focus and sink in.
2. Welcome.
3. Let go.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PRACTICE