GRATITUDE - A Great Mystery is revealed

Gratitude - A great mystery is revealed

       The following passage comes from the Gospel of Mathew in the Holy Scriptures, and it has mystified, confused, and been misunderstood by many people over the centuries.  

"Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

       You have to admit that when you read the passage it appears unjust, as it seems to be saying that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.  But there is a riddle to be solved in this passage, a mystery to uncover, and when you know it a new world will have opened up for you.

      The answer to the mystery that has eluded so many for centuries is in one hidden word: gratitude.

Whoever has gratitude will be given more, and he or she will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have gratitude, even what he or she has will be taken from him or hers."

       By the revelation of one hidden word, a cryptic text is made crystal clear.  Two thousand years have passed since those words were recorded, but they are as true today as they ever were: if you don't take the time to be grateful you will never have more, and what you do have you will lose.  And the promise of the magic that will happen with gratitude is in these words:

If you are grateful you will be given more, you will have an abundance! 

From the Koran the promise of gratitude is equally emphatic:

"And (remember) when God proclaimed: 

'If you are grateful I will give you more;
but if you are ungrateful verily my punishment is indeed severe."

       It does not matter what religion you follow, or whether you are religious or not, these words from the Holy Scriptures and the Koran apply to you and your life.  They are describing a fundamental law of science and of the Universe.

Gratitude - It's Universal Law

       Gratitude operates through a Universal Law that governs your whole life.  According to the Law of Attraction, which governs all the energy in our Universe, from the formation of an atom to the movement of the planets, "like attracts like."  It's because of law of attraction that the cells of every living creature are held together, as well as the substance of every material object.  In your life, the law operates on your thoughts and feelings, because they are energy too, and so whatever you think, whatever you feel, you attract to you.

        If you think, "I don't like my job," "I have not got enough money," "I can't find my perfect partner," "I can't pay my bills," "I think I am coming down with something,"  "He or she doesn't appreciate me,"  "I don't get along with my parents," "My child is a problem," "My life is a mess," or "My marriage is in trouble," then you must attract more of those experiences.

       But if you think about what you're grateful for, like, "I love my job," "My family is very supportive," "I had the best vacation," "I feel amazing today," "I got the biggest tax refund ever," or "I had a great weekend camping with my son," and you sincerely feel the gratitude, the law of attraction says you must attract more of those things into your life.  It works in the same way as metal being drawn to a magnet; your gratitude is magnetic, and the more gratitude you have, the more abundance you magnetize.  It is Universal Law!

       You will have heard sayings like, "Whatever goes around comes around comes around," "You reap what you sow," and "You get what you give."  Well, all of those sayings are describing the same law, and they are also describing a principle of the Universe that the great scientist Sir Isaac Newton discovered.

       Newton's scientific discoveries included the fundamental laws of motion in the Universe, one of which says:

       Every action always has an opposite and equal reaction.

       When you apply the idea of gratitude to Newton's law it says: every action of giving thanks always causes an opposite reaction of receiving.  And what you receive with always be equal to the amount of gratitude you have given .  This means that the very action of gratitude sets off a reaction of receiving!  And the more sincerely and the more deeply grateful you feel (in other words, the more gratitude you give) the more you will receive.

The Golden Thread of Gratitude

       Dating back thousands and thousands of years to the earliest recordings of humankind, the power of gratitude was preached and practiced, and from there was passed on through the centuries, sweeping across the continents, permeating one civilization and culture to the next.  The major religions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikkhism and Hinduism all have gratitude at their core.

    Muhammad said that gratitude for the abundance you have received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue.

       Buddha said that you have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.

       Lao Tzu said that if you rejoice in the way things are, the whole world will belong to you.

       Krishna said that whatever he is offered he accepts with joy.

      King David spoke of giving thanks to the whole world, for everything between the heavens and the Earth.

       And Jesus said thank you before he performed each miracle.

       From the Australiam Aborigines to the African Maaasai and Zulu, from the American Navajo, Shawnee, and Cherokee, to the Tahitians, Eskimo and Maori, the practice of gratitude is at the very root of most indigenous traditions.

"When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light,
for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks,
the fault lies with yourself."
- TECUMSEH (1768-1813)
SHAWNEE NATIVE AMERICAN LEADER

       History is laden with famous figures who practiced gratitude, and whose achievements put them amongst the greatest human beings who have ever lived:  Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Leonardo Da Vinci, Plato, Shakespeare, Aesop, Blake, Emerson, Dickens, Proust, Descartes, Lincoln, Jung, Newton, Einstein, and many, many more.

       Albert Einstein's scientific discoveries changed the way we see the Universe, and when asked about his monumental achievements, he spoke only of giving thanks to others.  One of the most brilliant minds of all time thanked other people over a hundred times a day for the work they had done!

       Is it any wonder that so many of life's mysteries were revealed to Albert Einstein?  Is it any wonder that Albert Einstein made some of the greatest scientific discoveries in history?  He practiced gratitude for every single day of his life, and in return he received many forms of abundance.

       When Isaac Newton was asked how he had achieved the scientific discoveries he made, he said that he stood on the shoulders of giants.  Isaac Newton, recently voted the greatest contributor to science and humankind, was also grateful to those men and women who lived before him.

       The scientists, philosophers, inventors, discoverers, and prophets who practiced gratitude reaped its results, and most were aware of its inherent power.  Yet still gratitude's power is unknown to most people today, because to experience the magic of gratitude in your life you have to practice it!

Bring the magic into your life

       No matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what your current circumstances, the magic of gratitude will change your entire life!

       Gratitude can magically turn your relationships into joyful and meaningful relationships, no matter what state they are in now.  Gratitude can miraculously make you more prosperous so that you have the money you need to do the things you want to do.  It will increase your health and bring a level of happiness beyond what you have ever felt before.  Gratitude will work its magic to accelerate your career, increase success and bring about your dream job or whatever it is you want to do.  In fact, whatever it is that you want to be, do, or have, gratitude is the way to receive it.  The magical power of gratitude turns your life into gold!

       As you prctice gratitude, you will understand why particular things in your life may have gone wrong, and why certain things might be missing from your life.  As you make gratitude a way of life, you will wake up each morning so excited to be alive.  You will find yourself completely in love with life.  Everything will seem effortless.  You will feel as light as a feather and happier than you have ever felt before.  While challenges may come, you will know how to overcome them and learn from them.  Every day will be magical; every day will be filled with far more magic than when you were a child.

Is Your Life Magical?

       You can tell right now how much you have actually used in your life.  Just take a look at all of the major areas in your life: money, health, happiness, career, home and relationships   The areas of your life that are abundant and wonderful are where you have used gratitude and are experiencing the magic as a result.  Any areas that are not abundant and wonderful are due to a lack of gratitude.

       It is a simple fact: when you are not grateful you cannot receive more in return.  You have stopped the magic from continuing in your life.  When you are not grateful you stop the flow of better health, better relationships, more joy, more money, and the advancement of your job, career, or business.  To receive you have to give.  It is the law.  Gratitude is giving thanks, and without it you cut yourself off from the magic and from receiving everything you want in life.

       The bottom line of ungratefulness is that when we are not grateful, we are taking, we are taking things in our life for granted.  When we take things for granted we are unintentionally taking from ourselves.  The law of attraction says that like attracts like, so if we take something for granted, we will be taken from as a result.  Remember, "whoever does not have gratitude, even what he or she has will be taken from him or her."

       Most certainly you have been grateful at various times in your life, but to see the magic and cause a radical change to your current circumstances, you have to practice gratitude and make it your new way of life.

The Magic Formula

"Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it."
- IBN KHALDOUN AL MUQUADDIMA (1332-1406
SCHOLAR AND STATESMAN

       Ancient myths and legends say that to bring forth magic a person must first say "the magic words."  Bringing the magic from gratitude works in the same way, and first you must say the magic words: thank you.  I cannot begin to tell you how impartant the words thank you are for your life.  To live in gratitude, to experience the magic in your life, thank you must become the two words you deliberately say and feel more than any other words.  They need to become your identity.  Thank you is the bridge from where you are now, to the life of your drams.

The Magic Formula:

1.  Deliberately think and say the magic words

     thank you. 

2.  The more you deliberately think and say the magic words, thank you, the more gratitude you feel.

3.  The more gratitude you deliberately think and feel, the more abundance you receive.

       Gratitude is a feeling.  So the ultimate aim in practicing gratitude is to deliberately feel it as much as you can, because it is the force of your feeling that accelerates the magic in your life.  Newton's law is one for one - what you give you receive, equally.  That means that if you increase your feelings of gratitude, the results in your life will expand to be equal to your feeling!.  The truer the feeling, the more sincerely grateful you are, the faster your life will change.

       When you discover how little practice it takes, how easy it is to incorporate gratitude into your daily life, and when you see the magical results for yourself, you will never want to return to the life you used to live.

       If you practice gratitude a little, your life will change a little.  If you practice gratitude a lot every day, your life will change dramatically and in ways that you can hardly imagine.

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Source: Excerpts from the book "The MAGIC" written by Rhonda Byrne

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Gratitude... mother of virtues

       Gratitude and disturbance cannot coexist.  If you were ever disturbed, it only means, in those moments you were not grateful.  Like how light dispels darkness, gratitude dispels disturbance.  So, the way to eternal bliss is gratitude.

       All other attitudes find value only in the background of an attitude of gratitude.  The heart should always beat in gratitude.  The basic fabric of thought should be, 'Greateful for...'  For what you are grateful is immaterial.  Gratitude is everything, and everything comes in search of gratitude.

       Expressing gratitude for any situation causes a magnetic field that magnetises towards you more and more of what you are expressing gratitude for.  Gratitude creates the vibrations that ensures like begets like.  By bringing about this one shift into your life, that you stop asking, "Why me god?" for all your troubles and instead you start asking, "Why me god?" for all your blessings, you will change the very blueprint of your life, and hence will change the very flow of your life.

       Gratitude is the way to create abundance.  Our thoughts create our reality.  We get what we focus upon.  In any situation, we see what we expect to see.  So, focus on abundance.  Nothing will be ours unless we are convinced that it belongs to us.  We deserve abundance.  Because like begets like, it is necessary to be abundant-minded to draw abundance.  Scarcity-minded people are always aware of what they lack.  So they draw more scarcity into their life.  We can be abundant-minded by being grateful for what we have.  No matter how little we have we are rich if we are grateful.  No matter how much we have, we are poor if we are ungrateful.  A heart laden with gratitude need not go in search of abundance.  Instead, abundance will flow into our life.  To become rich, we need to feel rich.  And to feel rich, we need to be grateful for what we have already have.

       Aspire for the sneakers, but be grateful for the legs.  Aspire for the diamond ring, but be grateful for the fingers.  Aspire for the water bed, but be grateful for your sleep.  Aspire for the palatial bungalow, but be grateful to be part of a home that is not built by bricks, but by love.  Aspire for enlightenment, but be grateful that you are a seeker.

       One may ask, "How can I be grateful when so much in my life is going wrong?"  All the more you should be grateful, for it is only gratitude that's going to set your life right.  Be grateful for the difficult times, for they helped you to mature.  Be grateful for your limitations, for they helped you to develop.  Be grateful for the obstacles encountered, for they developed your character strength.  Be grateful for your mistakes, for they taught you lessons.  Be grateful to those who betrayed you, for they helped you to become independent.  It is not enough that you are grateful for all the good things in your life.  Be grateful even for the negative, for gratitude has the power to turn any negative into positive.  Find something you can be grateful for in any trouble, and you will find a concealed blessing in every trouble.  There is no attitude like gratitude.

          That's why Buddha said,

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."

       Is a failure haunting you?  Start a thought pattern, "I am grateful to this failure of mind because..."  You will take a lesson out of it.  Is a relationship lost taunting you?  First of all remember, the purpose of some relationships is to come with you till the end.  However, some relationship come, they serve a purpose, and then leave.  Even with those lost relationships, start a thought pattern, "I am grateful to this person because..."  You will realise that the relationship did serve a purpose in your life.  No matter how bad or how good a situation may be, once it becomes your character to think like this, "I am grateful because..." you will salvage something positive out of all situations.  Gratitude is the way.

       A Master and a disciple were returning back to their village after six months of practicing penance in the forest.  As they were approaching their hut, the disciple was disturbed noticing that half the roof had been blown away in the winds.  He thought, "What is the use of doing all this penance?  There is no spiritual justice.  After six months we return to the village to take rest and here we find half the roof missing.  Now we don't even have proper shelter."  As he was going through his mental cribbing, he noticed his Master's response to the same situation was very different.  His Master went down on his knees, with hands raised in gratitude, and was praying aloud, "Lord, your ways are your ways, my lord!  After being in the midst of nature for six months we are returning.  You want our transition to be smooth.  So you have already opened half the roof for us.  Thank you so much.  Your ways are your ways, my Lord."  The disciple didn't know how to react to the Master's response.

       They settled in the hut and by the end of the day they spread their mat to sleep.  Like it happens to any complaining mind the disciple was feeling too restless.  He kept twisting and turning.  Like it happens to any grateful mind the Maser effortlessly slipped into sleep.  His face blossomed with peace even in sleep.  The winds had built clouds and the clouds had turned into a downpour.  Completely drenched, the furious disciple stormed out of the hut screaming, "Inside or outside, how does it make a difference?"  Wet, cold and shivering, the disciple observed the Master was also coming out of the hut.  The Master raised his hands above his shoulders gesturing gratitude, and started dancing in the rains.  He prayed aloud again, "Lord, your ways are your ways, my lord!  For six months during our penance we haven't taken bath.  And here you are, cleansing us with your divine showers.  Thank you so much.  Your ways are your ways, my Lord."  The disciple now knew how to react to the Master's response.

       The disciple approached the Master and said, "There is a limit to everything and this is the limit.  You are going on thanking god for everything that's going wrong, as if it were the right thing to happen.  Why are you doing this?"

       The Master paused his dance and told the disciple, "Do you know something?  I don't even know if god exists!  I don't even know to whom I am praying!  All I know is:  My approach is keeping me happy and hence it is the right approach.  Your approach is making you miserable and hence it is the wrong approach.  The proof of right approach is in the happiness it delivers.  Gratitude, for the known and the unknown factors of life, sustains happiness.  Complaining, to someone or in your own thoughts, create misery."

       The Master resumed dancing.  The disciple, having understood 'Gratitude is the way to bliss', joined the Master in his dance.  Now, the disciple prayed aloud, "Lord your ways are your ways, my lord.  It is by giving me such a Master you help me to understand life better.  Thank you so much.  Your ways are your ways, my Lord."

       Etch into your DNA, "The proof of right approach is in the happiness it delivers.  And it is gratitude, for the known and the unknown factors of life, that sustains happiness."

       Even from a spiritual perspective, it is from the womb of gratitude, love is born.  Love grows into devotion.  Devotion enables surrenders to happen.  And in surrender, faith unfolds.  In faith, you dissolve into him and evolve out of him.  Gratitude is the master key to your spiritual evolution.

       Leave alone what you will get because of gratitude.  For what you have already got, you need to be grateful in every breath of your life for the rest of your life.  It seems, when the shopkeeper asked a small boy to take as much chocolates as he wants with both his hands, the boy refused saying, "Uncle, if I take with my own hands, only a little will come.  You give with your own hands and I will have much more the way."  If we honestly look into our lives, the best of everything that we have has been given to us even without us having to ask for it.  This very life, as a human being, is a blessed bestowed upon us, without us asking for it.  It seems there is a force that understands what is good for us, much more than we understand it ourselves.  And it is through gratitude that you evoke that force to work for you and with you.

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Source: Excerpts from the magazine FT.

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THE POWERFUL PROCESS OF GRATITUDE

DR. JOE VITALE

What can you do right now to begin to turn your life around? The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for. This shifts your energy and starts to shift your thinking. Whereas before this exercise you might be focusing on what you don’t have, your complaints, and your problems, you go in a different direction when you do this exercise. You start to be grateful for all the things that you feel good about.

“If it is a new thought to you that gratitude brings your whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the Universe, consider it well, and you will see that it is true.”

 Wallace Wattles (1860-1911)

MARCI SHIMOFF

Gratitude is absolutely the way to bring more into your life.

DR. JOHN GRAY
PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR, AND INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER

Every man knows that when his wife is appreciating him for the little things that he does, what does he want to do? He wants to do more. It’s always about appreciation. It pulls things in. It attracts support.

DR. JOHN DEMARTINI

Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about.

JAMES RAY

Gratitude has been such a powerful exercise for me. Every morning I get up and say “Thank you.” Every morning, when my feet hit the floor, “Thank you.” And then I start running through what I’m grateful for, as I’m brushing my teeth and doing the things I do in the morning. And I’m not just thinking about them and doing some rote routine. I’m putting it out there and I’m feeling the feelings of gratitude.

The day we filmed James Ray sharing his powerful exercise of gratitude is one I will never forget. From that day on, I made Jame’s process my life. Every morning, I do not get out bed until I have felt the feelings of gratitude for this brand new day and all I am grateful for in my life. Then as I get out of bed, when one foot touches the ground I say, “Thank”, and “you” as my second foot touches the ground. With each step I take on my way to the bath room, I say “Thank you.” I continue to say and feel “Thank you” as I am showering and getting ready. By the time I am ready for the day, I have said “Thank you” hundreds of times.

As I do this, I am powerfully creating my day and all that it will contain. I am setting my frequency for the day and internationally declaring the way I want my day to go, rather than stumbling out of bed and letting the day take control of me. There is no more powerful way to begin your day than this. You are the creator of your life, and so begin by intentionally creating your day!

Gratitude was a fundamental part of the teachings of all the great avatars throughout history. In the book that changed my life, “The Science of Getting Rich”, written by Wallace Wattles in 1910, gratitude is its longest chapter. Every teacher featured in The Secret uses gratitude as part of his or her day. Most of them begin their day with thoughts and feelings of gratitude.

Joe Sugarman, a wonderful man and successful entrepreneur watched the film The Secret and contacted me. He told me his favorite part was the gratitude process, and that his use of gratitude had contributed to all he had achieved in his life. With all the success Joe has attracted to himself, he continues to use gratitude every day, even for the smallest things. When he gets a parking space he always says and feels, “Thank you.” Joe knows the power of gratitude and all it has brought to him, and so gratitude is his way of life.

DR. JOE VITALE

As soon as you start to feel different about what you already have, you will start to attract more of the good things. More of the thing you can grateful for. You could look around and say, “Well, I don’t have the car I want. I don’t have the house I want. I don’t have the spouse I want. I don’t have the house I want. I don’t have the health I want.” Whoah! Back up, back up! Those are all the things you don’t want. Focus on what you have already have that you’re grateful for. And it might be that you have the eyes to read this. It might be the clothes that you have. Yes, you might prefer something else and you might get something else pretty soon, if you start feeling grateful for what you have.

“Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.”

 Wallace Wattles.

It is impossible to bring more into your life if you are feeling ungrateful about what you have. Why? Because the thoughts and feelings you emit as you feel ungrateful are all negative emotions. Whether it is jealousy, resentment, dissatisfaction, or feelings of “not enough”, those feelings cannot bring you what you want. They can only return to you more of what you don’t want. Those negative emotions are blocking your own good coming to you. If you want a new car but you are not grateful for the car you have that will be dominant frequency you are sending out.

Be grateful for what you have now. As you begin to think about all the things in your life you are grateful for, you will be amazed at the never-ending thoughts that come back to you of more things to be grateful for. You have to make a start, and then the law of attraction will receive those grateful thoughts and give you more just like them. You will have locked into the frequency of gratitude and all good things will be yours.

“The daily practice of gratitude is one of the conduits by which your wealth will come to you.
 Wallace Wattles

LEE BROWER
WEALTH TRAINER AND SPECIALIST AUTHOR AND TEACHER

I think everybody goes through times when they say, “Things aren’t working right,” or, “Things are going bad.” Once, when there were some things going on my family, I found a rock, and I just sat holding it. I took this rock, I stuck it in my pocket, and I said, “Every time I touch this rock I’m going to think of something that I’m grateful for.” So every morning when I get up in the morning, I pick it up off the dresser, I put it in my pocket, and I go through the things that I’m grateful for. At night, what do I do? I empty my pocket, and there it is again.

I’ve had some amazing experiences with this idea. A guy from South Africa saw me drop it. He asked, “What is that?” I explained it to him, and he started calling it a gratitude rock. Two weeks later I got an email from him, in South Africa. And he said, “My son is dying from a rare disease. It’s a type of hepatitis. Would you send me three gratitude rocks?” They were just ordinary rocks I found of the street, so I said, “Sure.” I had to make sure that the rocks were very special, so I went out to the stream, picked out the right rocks, and sent them off to him.

Four or five months later I get an email from him. He said, ‘My son’s better, he’s doing terrific.” And he said, “But you need to know something. We’ve sold over a thousand rocks at ten dollars a piece as gratitude rocks, and we’ve raised all this money for charity. Thank you very much.”

So it is very important to have an “attitude of gratitude”.

The great scientist Albert Einstein revolutionized the way we view time, space and gravity. From his poor background and poor beginnings, you would have thought it impossible for him to achieve all that he did. Eintein knew a great deal of The Secret, and he said, “Thank you”, hundreds of times each day. He thanked all the great scientists who had preceded him for their contributions, which had enabled him to learn and achieve even more in his work and eventually become one of the greatest scientists who has ever lived.

One of the most powerful uses of gratitude can be incorporated in the Creative Process to turbo-charge what you want. As Bob Proctor advised in the first step of Creative Process, Ask, start by writing down what you want. “Begin each sentence with, I am so happy and grateful now that …..” (and you fill in the rest).

When you give thanks as though you have already received what you want, you are emitting a powerful signal to the Universe. That signal is saying that you have it already because you are feeling gratitude for it now. Each morning before you get out of bed, make it a habit to feel the feelings of gratitude in advance for the great day ahead, as though it is done.

From the moment I discovered The Secret and formulated the vision to share this knowledge with the world, I gave thanks every day for the film The Secret, which would bring joy to the world. I had no idea how we would bring this knowledge to the screen, but trusted that we would attract the way. I stayed focused and held to he outcome. I felt deep feelings of gratitude in advance. As that became my state of being, the floodgates opened and all the magic flowed into our lives. For the magnificent team of The Secret, and for me, our deep, heartfelt feelings of gratitude continue to this day. We have become a team that resonates gratitude with every moment, and it has become our way of life.

Secret summaries

 Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have, and you will attract more good things.

 Giving thanks for what you want in advance turbo-charges your desires and sends a more powerful signal out into the Universe.

Source: Excerpts from the book on THE SECRET.

The New Science of Thank You

The two most important words you’ll say today can change your life, and research is proving it.
By Deborah Norville, From

Making Progress

Some days, you just want to stay in bed and hope the world forgets you exist. David Patrick Columbia was having one of those days. New to New York City, he was worn down by the hustle and bustle, no longer excited and proud about relocating to Manhattan, as he had been weeks earlier. He’d imagined himself a hot young talent taking the magazine world by storm, only to end up doing grunt work as a low-level assistant on a barely-making-it salary. He couldn’t afford his own place and felt uncomfortable sponging off a friend.

“I was rethinking everything—my ability as a writer, my career choice,” he recalls. That Saturday morning, he wanted to stay in bed. But no, he had to fetch a photo for work.

It was cold, gray and damp when David headed across town. “I don’t know what possessed me, but I decided to start counting things along the way that made me happy,” he says. “I just wanted to see how many pleasing things I came across.”

First on his list: a mother walking her baby, all bundled up in a stroller. “That little face just made me smile,” he says. Then he saw a jet in the sky. “Flying has always captivated me.” And so it went. From the sizzling smells at bistros to eye-catching store-window displays, David acknowledged one thing after another that brightened his mood. By the time he picked up that photo, he was feeling thankful he’d made the move to the Big Apple.

“I was reminded that I lived in an exciting, interesting and invigorating place,” he says. “Whenever I’m feeling down, I do this. It makes me feel better.” It’s been more than 20 years since David took his “walk of thanks” across Manhattan. Now he’s a successful entrepreneur in the media business and says his gratitude stroll helps him stay focused to this day.

What if, instead of wallowing in our misery, we all chose to focus on being valued by a dear friend, for example, or the memory of a colleague’s face when she receives a surprise birthday cake at work, or the smooth ride we’ve had to work in the past week? As science is now proving, feeling grateful can actually make us healthier, literally. Practicing gratitude, acknowledging the blessings in our lives and making it a point to recognize the good things can change us positively. We’ll sleep better and exercise more. We’ll feel more optimistic. We’ll be more alert and active. And if we do this over a period of time, we’ll realize that we’re making progress toward our life goals.

A Higher Quality of Life

What David Patrick Columbia discovered in his own life, Robert Emmons, PhD, has proved in his lab. A professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, Emmons has long been interested in the role gratitude plays in physical and emotional well-being.

Along with psychology professor Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, Emmons took three groups of volunteers and randomly assigned them to focus on one of three things each week: hassles, things for which they were grateful, and ordinary life events. The first group concentrated on everything that went wrong or was irritating to them, such as “the jerk who cut me off on the highway.” The second group homed in on situations they felt enhanced their lives, as in “My boyfriend is so kind and caring—I’m lucky to have him.” And the third group recalled recent everyday events, as in “I went shoe shopping.”

The results: The people who focused on gratitude were just flat-out happier. They saw their lives in favorable terms. They reported fewer negative physical symptoms such as headaches or colds, and they were active in ways that were good for them. They spent almost an hour and a half more per week exercising than those who focused on hassles. Plain and simple, those who were grateful had a higher quality of life.

Others around them recognized that too. “They noticed that these people had more joy, more energy. They could see that they were becoming more optimistic,” says Emmons. The grateful group “even seemed to be perceived as more helpful toward others, going out on a limb to help people.” Emmons was surprised by this result. “This is not just something that makes people happy, like a positive-thinking/optimism kind of thing. A feeling of gratitude really gets people to do something, to become more pro-social, more compassionate.” This did not happen in either of the other two groups. Emmons and McCullough took their study, published in 2003, one step further. Rather than focus on hassles or blessings on just a weekly basis, they rounded up college students to do it every day. The researchers asked for specific personal details as well: how many alcoholic drinks the volunteers had, how many aspirin or other pain relievers they took, the quantity and quality of their sleep. They also asked volunteers to compare themselves with others: Are you better of worse off?

If you were going to have dinner with anyone, you’d want someone from the gratitude group at your table. Right off the bat, Emmons and his team recognized that there was something powerful about a regular gratitude check. And in a follow-up study, those who found something to appreciate every day were less materialistic— less apt to see a connection between life satisfaction and material things. They were more willing to part with their possessions. The bumper sticker that reads “The one with the most toys wins” was unlikely to be found on any of their cars.

Amplify Positive Feelings

The grateful people were less depressive, envious and anxious, and much more likely to help others, a fact not lost on those around them. When others were asked their impressions of the daily-gratitude students, they generally judged the students as empathetic, helpful and pro-social, more likely to put themselves out for others. The study found that the people who were consciously grateful:

-- Felt better about their lives.
-- Were more optimistic.
-- Were more energetic.
-- Were more enthusiastic.
-- Were more determined.
-- Were more interested.
-- Were more joyful.
-- Exercised more.
-- Had fewer illnesses.
-- Got more sleep.
-- Were more likely to have helped someone else.

Related studies have found other benefits as well, all of which could arguably be linked to a grateful mind-set: clearer thinking, better resilience during tough times, higher immune response, less likelihood of being plagued by stress, longer lives, closer family ties, greater religiousness.

Along with thinner thighs and six-pack abs, this is a fairly comprehensive list of what most of us would wish for in life. “I have studied a lot of topics in the nearly 25 years since I’ve been in graduate school, and no topic has gotten more interest from people than this. It’s exciting,” says Emmons.

But the science doesn’t stop there. After being given a little bag of candies, doctors in a study conducted by psychologist Alice M. Isen, a Cornell University professor, were better able to process the facts of difficult medical cases and to think outside the box about what might be causing the ailments. It turns out that this way of being thanked—by receiving a small sweet-had a big payoff.

“The doctors who got the candy didn’t jump to conclusions,” Isen says. “They realized quickly what the domain of the illness was, and they were correct. But they continued to check their diagnosis against new information as it came in.” The doctors who received no candy at all were less likely to be as methodical.

Isen’s hypothesis is that the good feelings generated by something as simple as an expression of appreciation intervene in the release of dopamine, the chemical in the brain associated with happiness. As Isen explains, dopamine is released when people are feeling good or are excited by a challenge. It activates the parts of the brain in which complex thinking and conflict resolution are thought to be headquartered.

Isen has also found that positive emotions make people more helpful to others. And since helping someone else makes people feel good about what they’ve done, the positive feelings continue and even amplify, creating more good feelings.

The Power of Gratitude

So how do we use all this science of gratitude in our lives? The power of gratitude takes just a few minutes a day. But it requires consistency and an open mind—and dedication. Says Emmons, “I think gratitude is a demanding quality, a rigorous quality. It’s a discipline, an exercise.” It may not come easily, but it can be developed. Here’s how:

Record your thanks.

Take a moment during the day—right before bedtime is usually best—to jot down three things that happened that day for which you are grateful. Anything that made you feel uplifted, that brought a smile to your face or your heart, or will contribute toward your future happiness, works.

After each situation or event for which you feel thankful, write down why this was good for you. Perhaps you received an e-mail from an old school friend who hadn’t been in touch for years, and this reminded you of the good times you had together. It forced you to realize that people think of you even though you’ve had no contact with them, which must mean you’re a pretty special person.

Also, make a note of who, if anyone, played a role in what you’ve recalled for the day and how that person had an impact on your life.

None of this sounds hard, right? Given the choice between this exercise and 50 sit-ups plus 25 push-ups, you’re much more inclined to pick up a pen, aren’t you?

The gratitude journal makes you look at life in a positive, concrete way, reminding you of its interconnectedness in a fast-paced, impersonal world and how much others add to the quality of your life. It forces you to focus on what went right instead of the inevitable things that went wrong. And it enhances your self-esteem.

See the patterns.

Over time, you’ll notice a consistency within the list of items you’re grateful for. Many entries will underscore the importance of people in your life. Others will highlight meaningful experiences. Still other items will be things that began with you, things you created that you can point to with pride and say, I made that happen. It’s called eudaemonia, the happiness or fulfillment that comes from the action itself, not the result of it. Any other benefits that come along—someone is grateful, your project is a success—are icing on the cake.

Catch the boomerang.

Gratitude, when expressed to others, almost always comes back around. People who feel appreciated are more willing to make an effort for those who make them feel valued. In one study, waitresses who simply wrote “thank you” on the check before handing it to their customers received, on average, 11 percent more in tips that those who didn’t. Waitresses who wrote a message about an upcoming dinner special on the checks also received higher tips—on average, 17 to 20 percent higher. In a world where personal connections seem increasingly limited, and sometimes stressful when they do occur, gratitude resonates.

Seize the moment.

Look around you: What’s right with your world? If you have a hobby, practice it. If you don’t, find one. Reach out to others; share something. A small gesture toward another individual costs you little but can bring many benefits. All these actions increase your opportunities to feel grateful.

Says Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, “Gratitude has the potential to change everything from its ordinary state to being a gift.

Now, that’s saying a lot.

Grace Notes

The etymology of the word gratitude helps explain it. Gratitude originates from the Latin word gratus—meaning “thankful, pleasing”—which has its roots in gratia, which means “favor, pleasing quality or goodwill.” Derivatives of the Latin root can be found in many other languages. In Lithuanian, gririu means “to praise or celebrate.” In the 13th century, the short prayer before a meal came to be called grace. And in Greek, the word for “grace” is charis—the root of the word charisma.

Source: From Reader's Digest - October 2007