Guided Meditation for Grateful Aging

Video Transcript

This meditation is for opening your heart to aging.

Take a moment to settle in wherever you are and however you are arriving to this season of your life. Remember, you are presently living the only moment that is guaranteed to you.

Take a slow breath in, and let it go. It is enough to be grateful for the next breath.

Once more, breathe in the fullness of this moment and release whatever distracting thoughts you carried into this time together.

As you settle in, remember you have been aging since the day you were born. Every breath before this one has carried you here, right now, to this present moment. Simply notice this fact, this body, this breath, this particular day. All of it given to you and all of it carried here.

I invite you to bring to mind a season you enjoy. An auburn fall, a quiet winter morning, a sun-soaked summer. Whatever speaks to you in this moment. Let’s hold this season together as a reminder that whatever you carried into this day is also part of a changing season. It may come around again, but you can trust that it will change soon enough. So if there’s a fear that you’ve been carrying, a worry about being forgotten or not mattering, a change to your body, an aching grief, or losing what once was, notice it, but resist the urge to push it away or react negatively.

In this moment, see if you can set it down and give it a little bit of space to just be. Allow your heart to tend to other needs. While present to this season of your life, enter the treasure trove of your memories and bring to mind an experience that nurtures your heart. Allow this memory to come forward today as a counterbalance to anything heavy, anything hard, or anything uncertain that is getting in the way of you enjoying this day.

As you recall this memory, does it offer you any guidance for how to appreciate this day? Does it offer an opportunity to trust in the change of seasons? Maybe the simple act of remembering has already done enough to change how you continue throughout this day, and if so, give thanks for that.

As you imagine how this day may go, open your heart to a simple idea. There is something here for you today. There will be an opportunity to practice kindness and patience, love and appreciation with yourself and with others. And for that, we can also give thanks.

Let your gratefulness for this opportunity to practice settle in to your shoulders, your hands, your feet, your heart, and all of your working senses. Give thanks for this embodiment. When you’re ready, take one more full breath and as you exhale, return to the gift of another day and go on and wisely choose what you carry into tomorrow. May this day be a grateful day.