Gratitude Meditation
Last week, out of nowhere (and divine intervention), my boss asked me if I wanted her Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within ticket. I jumped at the chance. Anything related to self growth and personal development is a must for me. I was also dying to see whether he lived up to his hype. You guys....he surpassed the hype. The seminar was held Thursday - Sunday and each day was about 12 hours or more. He designed it this way to break us down and build us back up slowly. The entire seminar we were dancing, shouting yes--try it. It feels amazing-- and moving our bodies. It was powerful and actually, a lot of fun. Oh, and there were 14 thousand people in attendance! His program works to unlock the subconscious to access our programmed beliefs (these beliefs are ruling our lives), pull them out to challenge and change them, strengthen our nervous system to hold more energy and then create new beliefs that serve where we actually want our lives to be. Powerful stuff! One of my biggest take aways from the weekend was a gratitude meditation I wanted to share with you today.
I'm sure we've all heard someone say, or heard ourselves say, "I'm so in my head." As a quadruple Aires (Aires rules the head), I am constantly "in my head" analyzing every, little thing to the ninth degree. It's exhausting and unproductive. However, I never knew where else "I" could be. Of course I was in my head, I'm a human and I have a brain and I was using it. However, it usually left me lopping around the same thoughts that led to similar patterns that led to a lot of fear. But, there is another way. Did you know when we are embryos, our heart grows before our brain? Our heart functions 20 days into being created, while the brain doesn't function for 90 days. Our heart creates 4 hormones, 65% of it's cells are neuron cells (brain cells) versus muscle cells and it has intelligence of it's own that can influence the brain. However, most of us are unaware of the power our heart actually has. We can let it lead us, feel for us and in doing so move from a place where we are leading with our power, love. When we get stuck in "the mind" we are actually stuck in survival programming-- we also call this ego-- from way back when we were hunters and gatherers. This programming was created to keep us safe. Hence, why it's easy to let fear rule you when you're stuck in your head. Now we are no longer running from lions but, the mind doesn't recognize modern stressors from old and continues to fire off fearful thoughts to protect us from danger. If it feels like you're just going round and round with your thoughts and you're stuck, you actually are. You're stuck in programming that isn't relevant to your life anymore and doesn't serve the life you are working to create. So, what do we do? We get out of "the mind" and back into the body..specifically we get back into our hearts.
This gratitude meditation will help you bring focus to your heart and it's power. Doing this meditation will not only help you get out of your head, it will actually sync your brain and heart waves! Syncing the brain with the heart will allow the heart to once again lead, like it did when you were being created. It's really easy too! I recommend doing this right when you wake up but anytime during the day/night is good.
Gratitude Meditation
Time: 5 minutes or longer
How:
Find a comfortable seat. I like to sit on a pillow or block cross-legged but, you can sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground if that works better for you. Set a timer for 5 minutes and set aside. Bring your hands over you heart and close your eyes. Breathing deeply, send your focus to your heart. Feel your heart beat underneath your hands and hear it beating. Take a few minutes to just listen to it and send it love for all it does for you. Now, call to mind two big things, you'll be finding three things in total (things with work, love, family, friendships, travel, money, etc) you are grateful for one at a time. As you call to mind the first thing, see what it is and imagine you are with a person or you're in the situation as you remember it. Let it completely wash over you. See all the details and let gratitude flood your entire body. Do the same with the second person/circumstance. For the last thing you're grateful for choose something small like, the sun on your skin or the breeze as it brushes your hair. Again, let your body be flooded with gratitude. Hold all the gratitude as you breath it deeper and deeper into your heart. Lastly, say thank you and/or a prayer of thanks. When your timer goes off open your eyes, smile and go out into the world heart first!