I learned this sweet practice from Dr. Patrizia Collard’s The Little Book of Mindfulness and it is my go-to gratitude practice these days.
I find falling asleep is the time I most need to calm my mind and orient it toward what is good in my life; otherwise, my mind wants to spend time thinking about all the things that still need managing from my day—whether it does any good or not!
So, once in bed, I say a prayer of surrender and then go over my day:
- Remembering what I Enjoyed,
- Remembering what I am Grateful for,
- Remembering what I am Satisfied with.
While Dr. Collard doesn’t describe the practice this way, I find this progression works really well for me. If it was a hard day and I have trouble finding something that I Enjoyed or something that I am Grateful for, I can always find something I am at least Satisfied with!
And if I get granular enough, I can usually find multiple examples in each one—I Enjoyed seeing the sunrise, sitting by the woodstove…I am Grateful for the nourishing food for lunch, for the client who is finding new openings…I am Satisfied with getting my winter clothes down from the attic, getting outside to walk…
As Marge Piercy says in her poem The Seven of Pentacles, “Connections are made slowly. They grow underground.”
Try some EGS at bedtime, allow new heart connections to grow underground, and see if it helps you reorient and gets you back in touch with the goodness in your life!
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