In our Sunday Introduction to Meditation Class at Yoga Bliss we practiced mindfulness of the breath in both sitting and walking meditation.  We drew on guidance offered by Gil Fronsdal who is the guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) of Redwood City, California. Gil is the author of various books and makes his courses and talks available on line at http://www.audiodharma.org.

I listened to one of his more recent talks focuses on Gratitude.  I appreciate his down to earth authenticity in speaking of all the things that go right in the world – there are so many of them we often don’t recognize them.  For many, 99.99% of life works to support our well being yet we focus on the 0.01% that may not be working.  My body is functioning,  I have food, shelter, electricity, transportation.  I could go on and on about the blessings I enjoy and often take for granted.

According to Gil, we have the potential to experience “positive emotions” spontaneously upon establishing a steady meditation practice.  We’re more inclined to recognize our blessings including each other.  He draws on the work of social psychology professor Barbara Lee Fredrickson which focuses on the relationship between positive emotions and resilience, the ability to recover from stressful experiences.  She developed the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions which argues that positive emotions increase the number of potential actions our bodies and minds can take. This “expanded cognitive flexibility” helps us build helpful inner resources over time. Even though our positive state is momentary, the benefits last in the form of more enduring traits, social bonds, and cognitive abilities.  Her work uses meditation as a tool to self-generate positive emotions.

As in Gil’s talk, we closed our meditation by contemplating things we are grateful for.    As I write this, the little “Raging” River in our backyard is rising fast.  I can actually see it coming up the banks.  Yesterday it was flowing at 300 cubic feet per second (CFS).  It is now at 1,900 CFS and is rising at 300 CFS every  hour.  My friends on the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers are experiencing serious flooding while rising at 700 and 2,000 CFS every hour, respectively.  I’m so profoundly grateful we are all doing fine despite road closures and swampy conditions.  I feel so thankful for all the emergency responders who work to keep us safe.  It’s a good day to practice gratitude and mindfulness.

I highly recommend Gil’s resources including the Six Week Introduction to Meditation course  at:  http://www.audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/1762/.