by Nancy Robbins
Gratitude from the heart is an open door to joy and abundance.
Thanksgiving is a time of feeling grateful for all the abundance in our lives. It is a heart-centered emotion. A healthy heart is one that gives love and receives with gratitude equally. Gratitude goes beyond saying please and thank you. It is a conscious effort to appreciate what makes us feel good. It involves opening our hearts and embracing our blessings. Recently, scientists have found evidence that practicing gratefulness meditations may have powerful benefits – making you happier, reducing anxiety, and boosting your immune system. Practicing gratitude involves recognizing the positive aspects of your life.
Science tells us that counting our blessings,
- increases our optimism
- relieves depression
- improves sleep
- improves immune function
- lowers blood pressure
- strengthens our relationships
Here are two meditations that will support the healthy flow of love, abundance, forgiveness and gratitude in our lives. When our heart frees itself from the heaviness of anger, fear, hatred and doubt with ourselves and others, then it can fill itself with the healing power of love, and the abundance of the universe.
Meditation #1: Freeing the Heart with Forgiveness and Filling it with Abundant Love and Gratitude
Sit in relaxed stillness and focus on your heart and all that you love. You may have remembrances of situations where a person or group of people have caused you pain or hurt you in some way. These situations may lead to anger, fear, hatred, or doubt in yourself. These are blocks to the free flow of your love. Visualize this scene that includes this person or group. Infuse this scene with the Violet Flame of Freedom to release the heavier hurtful emotions. This act of forgiveness will release you from being bound to the situation and free you.
Now visualize white light shining down upon the scene and it “re-writes” the exchange between you and this other person or group to a higher more harmonious version. Feel love shared. You do not need to agree with the other person or condone their actions – but only to feel love and respect for each other’s divine essence. This releases you and gives you freedom from any attachment to the situation. Know that you have both learned from the past exchange and can now release attachment – giving you freedom to love. Repeat this process with each person or group until you feel lighter and can radiate your love fully. Once this is achieved, focus on the rays of the Violet Flame to completely purify you.
Focus on your heart again and connect it to the core of the Earth – the heart of your Earth Mother. Imagine the heart of the Earth fountaining upwards a flow of abundance. It is a sparkling, effervescent, joyous energy that flows like water with a direct purpose of travelling to your heart. Your heart is so full of this abundant love energy that you can generously share this love with others, which keeps the flow freely moving and not blocked by selfishness. From this flow you gratefully recognize the great beauty of this energy. You see this abundant stream of energy delivering health, wealth, success, and expanded love to you. It frees your heart of worry and a sense of lack. You honor this stream by keeping a beautiful and clean environment – internally and externally – with beautiful thoughts and emotions. In this way you maintain a flow of giving and receiving – giving love and receiving with gratitude. Your heart – like Earth Mother’s heart – is generous and compassionate. It is your loving connection with Earth, and the flow that brings you abundance.
Meditation #2: Lakshmi’s “Heart Flow of Abundance” Visualization
(Lakshmi is a Hindu Goddess of Abundance. She aligns you with prosperity by connecting you to your inner divine source that fountains from your heart, and loving earth connections. She works with the sixth divine ray – the Purple Ray of Peace and Harmony. Work with this ray is devoted to understanding one’s inner divinity and strength.)
Close your eyes and visualize…Let your focus travel down into the Earth to her core – the heart of your Earth Mother. Imagine the heart of the Earth fountaining upwards a flow of abundance. It is a sparkling, effervescent, joyous energy that flows like water with a direct purpose of travelling to your heart. Feel this energy travel through your Earth Star Chakra, up your Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus chakras to your Heart Chakras (Lower Heart, Heart, and Higher Heart) where it fountains a flow of abundance outwards.
You move with this flow by generously loving, giving, and sharing with others which keeps the flow freely moving – it is not blocked with selfishness. From this flow you recognize with gratefulness the great beauty of this energy. You see this abundant stream of energy delivering health, wealth, success, and expanded love to you. It frees your heart of worry and provides a clean environment – internally and externally – with beautiful thoughts and emotions. Your heart – like Mother Earth’s heart – is generous and compassionate.
Besides the earthly gifts, you also receive a greater gift of self-realization and enlightenment. You deeply honor and give thanks to this flow of abundance in your life by never taking anything from it without giving something back. It is a constant cycle of giving and receiving. Feel this heart flow of abundance fountaining freely within you and check it daily to keep it clear of any obstructions. It is your loving connection with Earth, and the flow that brings you abundance.
Gratitude Activities
- Make a gratitude list. How do you have abundance in your life? Gratitude invites a greater flow of love and joy.
- Do some Fall cleaning and clearing to make space for abundance. Release old ideas of scarcity.
- Host a feast and share your bounty.
- Meditate with Smoky Quartz and go within. Do you have fears, doubts, regrets, shame, anger, or indecision that weighs you down and holds you back from being your higher potential? Smoky Quartz is like the smoke of sage that purifies you as it protects you from negative energy. It draws the ethereal into manifestation and helps you to see the unseen, as well as bring your dreams into physical reality. Also, write affirmations to empower you and transmute these emotions to free you to receive abundance and enlightenment. Let your light shine. You can also say during meditation: As the trees release their leaves, I release from my life any old energy in the form of painful memories, bad habits, and patterns of behavior that no longer serve me. I release them to the deep within the Earth to be transmuted, and with the release I give thanks for all the wisdom gained.