Hey there, welcome to today's Gratitude Practice. I'm so glad you're here, taking this moment for yourself in what might feel like a swirling, sometimes overwhelming world. Right now, in early 2025, I know many of us are carrying heavy emotional loads - global uncertainties, personal challenges, the constant background noise of change and stress.

Let's breathe together and create a small sanctuary of calm.

Settle into wherever you are right now - a chair, your bed, maybe a quiet corner. Close your eyes if that feels comfortable. Take a deep breath in... and a slow breath out. Feel the simple miracle of your breath moving through your body.

Today, we're exploring gratitude not as a forced positivity, but as a radical act of awareness. Imagine gratitude like soft sunlight gradually warming a cold room - gentle, persistent, transformative.

I want you to bring to mind three things you're genuinely grateful for right now. They don't need to be grand. Maybe it's the warmth of your morning coffee, a text from a friend, the way sunlight catches your window. Just notice these moments without judgment.

Breathe into each gratitude. Let them expand in your awareness like watercolor spreading across paper. Feel how appreciation softens the edges of your stress, creates space around your worries.

Your gratitude is a skill, like any muscle. The more you practice, the stronger it becomes. Some days it will feel easier than others, and that's completely okay.

As you sit here, whisper internally: "Thank you." Thank you to yourself for showing up. Thank you to this moment. Thank you for the simple miracle of being alive.

When you're ready, take one more deep breath. Carry this practice of gentle awareness with you today. Notice small kindnesses. Appreciate tiny moments.

Thank you for practicing with me today. If this resonated, please subscribe and share. Until next time, be kind to yourself.