5 Common Mistakes – What Meditation is NOT

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Gratitude Meditation We are just entering the most magical and most stressful time of the year. The most effective way to negate stress is gratitude! Lucky for us that this time of year also calls upon us to be grateful! This is one of my favorite meditations because of how well it works. It can be difficult because often the last thing we feel in the face of stress is appreciation. It may take some practice to express positive emotions towards a perceived negative situation. Once you have practiced it a few times as a meditation, start to incorporate it as a daily practice. Expressing thankfullness to release stress will become a healthy habit. Follow these steps for a meditation to negate stress. –Find a comfortable quiet place (to minimize distractions). –Take your attention to your breath. Draw out your inhales and exhales making the breath as long and deep as possible. This will allow you to connect your mind and body. –Bring to awareness a situation that is causing you stress.Allow yourself to fully acknowledge that situation. Take a few moments here noticing the way it feels in your body. –Find a way to express gratitude towards the situation. The more stressful the situation, the more difficult it may be to gather up gratitude. Accept this and give yourself time. You may need to get creative. –Focus your attention on feeling grateful. Take a few moments here matching stress with gratitude until you feel the stress dissipating. Take notice of how this feels in the body. Repeat as many times as necessary to become stress free! Examples of how to match stress with gratitude… Stress: Someone cuts you off in traffic. Gratitude: Thank you for reminding me to pay attention while I’m driving. Stress: Your boss takes out his/her bad day on you. Gratitude: Thank you for putting into perspective that my job is not my life. Stress: Your family annoys you during thanksgiving dinner. Gratitude: I am thankful to have a family to spend Thanksgiving with. And when allelse fails… Gratitude: Thank you for making me feel. Please feel free to share your experiences with this meditation with me. xoxo, Trina