Meditation for Thursday July 3, 2025
In almost every major tradition of meditation there is an emphasis on cultivating a spirit of gratitude.
Andrew Bienkowski and Mary Akers book, “Radical Gratitude” * has some good advice for those of us that are seeking to see more clearly the grace that is evident in our daily lives. The authors insist that in order to change, one’s intention has to be very specific and clearly stated. e.g. My intention is to be patient today or my intention is to be kind to myself as I strive to inculcate meditation into my daily schedule.
These are concrete and specific intentions.
The authors write that simply telling yourself, “Today, I intend to be grateful,’ has some benefit but to become more grateful, we must learn to take nothing for granted. Paradoxically, they write “it is often the people who have experienced the greatest suffering in the world who are also the most grateful. This is because they have learned that what they have is not a given – they take nothing for granted. They are grateful for what they have today and every day.”
Albert Schweitzer the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his philosophy on the “Reverence for Life” wrote, “To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude, means to take nothing for granted.”
On occasion we might review what we are grateful for as a prelude to our meditation. Gratitude helps us make sense of the past and to embrace and find peace in the present.
Just as we acknowledge our connectedness when meditating, we begin to appreciate more fully once gratitude becomes ingrained in our life, that we are all connected, we are all one.
Meditation
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* ”Radical Gratitude and Other Life Lessons Learned in Siberia,” Andrew Bienkowski & Mary Akers. Pub: Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2008.
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