Systematic Instructions for Gratitude Practice

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bernd the broter, modified 9 Years ago at 5/28/14 7:42 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 5/28/14 7:42 AM

Systematic Instructions for Gratitude Practice

Posts: 376 Join Date: 6/13/12 Recent Posts
Hi all,

In the last months, my practice has been focused on Metta exclusively, which I now consider to be a highly transformative and challenging practice.
In the last weeks I listened to Brene Brown's talks on vulnerability, shame, scarcity mentality, gratutude etc. again.
Suddenly they actually made sense, which I ascribe to my realizations from the Metta practice.

Notably, she states that gratitude is correlated with a lack of scarcity mentality and lots of other good things.
This I found remarkably because I noticed that gratitude basically doesn't appear in my mind, quite in contrast to scarcity mentality.

Thus, I decided it may be interesting to add some gratitude cultivation to my practice.
A quick google search leads to lots of results, but mostly focused on 'daily-life', unclear reflection, and without clear instruction.

Question: Does anyone here know/have systematic instructions for gratitude practice?
If possible, in a foolproof kind of way, and for sitting practice?
Something which is as straightforward as noting (or Sujatos Metta-method) would be what I'm looking for.
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Dream Walker, modified 9 Years ago at 5/28/14 10:39 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 5/28/14 10:39 AM

RE: Systematic Instructions for Gratitude Practice

Posts: 1675 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Have you explored the rest of the brahmaviharas besides just metta? magick-and-the-brahma-viharas
Good luck,
~D
Dominik J, modified 9 Years ago at 8/18/14 2:29 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 8/18/14 2:29 PM

RE: Systematic Instructions for Gratitude Practice

Posts: 10 Join Date: 6/21/11 Recent Posts
Hi Bernd,

Brother David Steindl-Rast might be a good place to look. Also,if it's still relevant, here's my personal approach:

Every night in bed I try to find an item in each of the following 4 categories, for which gratitude arises naturally. The categories are

P - Person
O - Opportunity
E - Experience
T - Thing

Then I try to feel the sensations which make up the experience as closely as possible, looking for any change in them.

Wishing you well,
D
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bernd the broter, modified 9 Years ago at 8/21/14 2:48 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 8/21/14 2:48 AM

RE: Systematic Instructions for Gratitude Practice

Posts: 376 Join Date: 6/13/12 Recent Posts
Hey, that website looks really helpful, hadn't found that before.
Thanks for pointing it out!

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