In a world filled with unprecedented abundance, why do so many of us feel dissatisfied? We live in an age of miracles—instant communication, access to limitless knowledge, and life-saving medical advancements—yet unhappiness and discontent seem pervasive. Social media is flooded with complaints, and expressions of gratitude are rare.
This is a shame because gratitude is one of the most transformative practices we can cultivate. It shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance, from dissatisfaction to contentment. In this essay, we’ll explore the importance of gratitude through historical perspectives, spiritual teachings, scientific evidence, and practical steps to help you embrace this life-changing practice.
A Historical Perspective: How Far We’ve Come
In the modern world today, we have so many wonderful things that we take for granted. We have smartphones, the internet, video calls, and instant messaging allow us to communicate with anyone, anywhere, in real time. Our ancestors had messengers on horseback, carrier pigeons, or letters that took weeks or months to arrive.
The modern world gives us access to unlimited knowledge. We have the internet, search engines, and platforms like Wikipedia that provide access to virtually all human knowledge at our fingertips. Almost everyone in the world has access to this, not just westerners.
In contrast, our ancestors had limited access to handwritten books or scrolls, often stored in private libraries or monasteries. Only the wealthy and clergy could even read, let alone get access to books. And most of these books had incomplete or incorrect knowledge.
We have the miracle of modern medicine which gave us vaccines, antibiotics, anesthesia, advanced surgeries, and diagnostic tools like MRIs and CT scans. Our ancestors had primitive remedies, bloodletting, and a lack of understanding of germs or hygiene.
In contrast, our ancestors relied on primitive remedies, bloodletting, and a lack of understanding of germs or hygiene. Even George Washington, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men of his time, died from a severe throat infection because the best medical care of his era involved bloodletting and mercury-based treatments. If he had lived today, he would likely have been prescribed antibiotics and sent home to recover.
The Missing Ingredient: Gratitude
I believe one of the biggest things we’re missing today is not material things, but gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for and yet we ignore that and focus on the negative aspects of our lives. We fixate on our “first world problems” and forget that we live in a veritable paradise compared to what our ancestors had.
Without gratitude, whatever we have is never enough. We could accumulate millions of dollars, sections of land, and tall skyscrapers in Manhattan, and if we don’t appreciate it, it will never satisfy us.
I saw a video from Alex Hormozi where he tells a story about having dinner with a multi-billionaire. In their conversation, the billionaire said, “I just need more money. I just don’t have enough money.” According to Alex, the man was dead serious.
This mindset is not unique to billionaires. Many of us fall into the trap of focusing on what we lack rather than appreciating what we have. Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, describes the joy of finding a small piece of potato in the thin broth served in a concentration camp. Even in the bleakest circumstances, he found moments of gratitude. If Frankl could find gratitude in such dire conditions, surely we can find it in our modern lives.
Many times, it takes the loss of something we took for granted for us to appreciate it. In the 2008 financial crisis, I witnessed my parents lose their income and home. I remember my mother telling me about how they didn’t realize how good they had it until they lost it all.
When we experience loss in life, such as a job loss or a relationship breakup, it’s a reminder that everything we have in life is impermanent. It’s an invitation to strengthen our gratitude and not take for granted the wonderful things we have in our lives. No matter what your circumstances are, there is always something to be grateful for.
Spiritual Insights on Gratitude
Gratitude and the feeling of love are closely related. It’s hard for me to say that they are not the same feeling entirely. In my most profound, ecstatic and transcendent states, I felt not only clear feelings of unconditional love, but also the deepest gratitude for all of existence.
I believe what all of us are seeking in life is love. I’m not talking about the love between two humans, although that is beautiful and wonderful. The love we seek is the unconditional love that perpetually exists in everything, yet most are unaware of. It is the love of God, your true nature, and your birthright.
I’m not the only person who has come to this conclusion. Many other spiritual teachers and mystics have echoed this sentiment. Rumi writes that, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
Rose Window of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, located above the front doors of Sacred Heart Chapel at Loyola Marymount University, symbolizes Christ's love and the Jesuit mission of service through action.
The modern spiritual teacher Adyashanti said that, “The aim of all spiritual practice is love.” This emphasizes that love is the goal of spiritual growth and practice, aligning with the idea that love is what we are truly seeking.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus emphasizes that love is the defining characteristic of his followers and the ultimate expression of faith:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Gratitude: The Shortcut to Unconditional Love
One of the quickest pathways towards realizing unconditional love in your heart and true abundance and unity in your life is through the practice of gratitude. No matter what your life looks like now, there is always something to be grateful for. If Viktor Frankl can feel gratitude for a tiny piece of potato in a thin broth while confined within a concentration camp, you can surely find many more things in your modern life to be grateful for.
The challenge to you is to recognize these blessings and feel gratitude, give thanks to God, Allah, or the universe – whatever words you prefer to use to refer to your higher power.
Gratitude is a universal spiritual principle, emphasized across many faiths and traditions. In Islam, the Quran reminds us, "If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]" (Surah Ibrahim 14:7), while in Judaism, prayers like the "Modeh Ani" are recited daily to thank God for the gift of life. Buddhism teaches that gratitude fosters mindfulness and contentment, and in Christianity, the Apostle Paul encourages believers to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
No matter your spiritual path, gratitude is a transformative practice that deepens your connection to the divine, fosters peace, and opens your heart to unconditional love. By embracing this practice, you align yourself with the wisdom of countless traditions and step closer to unity and abundance.
The Science of Gratitude
The more you choose gratitude, the more you will find things in your life to be grateful for. It seems that God rewards gratitude. I have so far presented arguments in favor of gratitude. But there are scientific studies that also prove my point.
Our biology is wired for gratitude. Scientists have observed that gratitude activates brain regions associated with social bonding and empathy, such as the medial prefrontal cortex (Fox et al., 2015). This rewiring fosters a mindset of abundance, helping individuals cope with stress and setbacks while recognizing the richness of their lives.
An MRI study in 2009 showed that practicing gratitude increases dopamine and serotonin levels, the "feel-good" chemicals in the brain. This creates a positive feedback loop, reinforcing feelings of abundance and well-being.
Research by Emmons and McCullough (2003) found that individuals who kept gratitude journals reported higher levels of optimism, happiness, and a sense of abundance compared to those who focused on daily hassles.
How Gratitude Fosters Abundance
Fostering these feelings of optimism, happiness, and a sense of abundance will lead you to creating more of what you want in life. In almost every pursuit, if you approach it from a place of scarcity, you’re unlikely to be successful. If you read any self-help book on topics like money or dating, they will tell you to that having a positive attitude and abundance mindset is key to success.
Optimistic investors often make better returns because their positive outlook allows them to focus on long-term growth opportunities rather than being deterred by short-term market fluctuations. This mindset encourages them to stay invested during downturns, capitalize on undervalued assets, and take calculated risks that others might avoid due to fear.
Optimism also fosters resilience and adaptability, enabling investors to learn from setbacks and adjust their strategies effectively. Over time, this forward-looking approach can lead to compounding gains and better overall performance compared to those driven by pessimism or excessive caution.
In dating, having an optimistic attitude and abundance mindset makes you more attractive because it exudes confidence, positivity, and self-assurance. People are naturally drawn to those who radiate happiness and believe in the possibility of meaningful connections. This positive attitude creates a sense of ease and excitement.
An abundance mindset also prevents desperation or neediness, allowing you to approach relationships with a sense of high self-worth and the understanding that there are plenty of opportunities to find the right match. This combination of positivity and confidence fosters deeper, more genuine connections and makes you stand out in a crowd.
There are many ways to foster optimism and an abundance mindset in your life, but gratitude is one of the easiest and most effective ways to start.
Practical Steps to Cultivate Gratitude
There are two simple processes I would like to leave you with. If you can use one or both of these with any amount of consistency you will find more and more things in your life to be grateful for, and the result is that you will get richer and richer, regardless of the number digits in your bank account.
1. Gratitude Journaling
The first process is a simple gratitude journal exercise, combined with letting go. The way this works is that you start by simply writing down one thing that you are grateful for, then allow whatever comes up in your awareness. Notice how as you focus on this object, that sensations, pictures, or sounds appear in awareness.
The next step is noticing any attachment or aversion around this object. You may feel attachment to this object of gratitude, like you need it for your happiness or security. Just simply allow any feeling of attachment to be here. You may also feel aversion around it, like a fear of losing it or a resistance to fully embracing it. Allow this aversion to arise as well, without judgment or the need to change it.
The key here is to hold both the gratitude and any accompanying feelings—whether attachment or aversion—with gentle awareness. As you do this, notice how these feelings may shift, soften, or even dissolve over time. This practice helps cultivate a sense of openness and equanimity, allowing you to appreciate the object of gratitude without clinging to it or pushing anything away. In this way, gratitude becomes a doorway to deeper presence and inner freedom.
2. Exploring Subject/Object Relationships Around Gratitude
This next process is more advanced, but anyone can use it and benefit from it. This process is like the first, but instead of exploring attachments and aversions, we’ll explore the subject/object relationship with objects of gratitude in your life. The end goal is to feel gratitude without subject or object. This is true freedom because in doing so, your happiness and fulfillment is no longer dependent on external objects or circumstances.
This process is a simple, guided process. Just read each line and give yourself time and space to explore what comes up. If you approach this with an open mind, you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.
Allow yourself to focus inside and think of something in your life that you
are grateful for.
And just take the first thought or feeling that comes to mind.
Could you allow or welcome whatever that brings up in awareness? Could you
allow whatever sensations, pictures, and sounds, to be here, as best you
can?
Could you welcome as well, any wanting to do anything with, or about
that? Could you welcome any wanting approval, control, security,
separation, or oneness associated with what is appearing in awareness?
Could you welcome any sense that any of that is personal, about you or
who you are? Could you welcome any sense of “me” or “mine?”
And just for now, could you let go of the object of gratitude, and allow the
feeling of gratitude to wash through and around you?
Could you allow yourself to feel gratitude without subject or object, just
for now?
These practices deepen your connection to gratitude, helping you experience it as a state of being rather than a fleeting emotion.
Conclusion
Gratitude is not just a polite response to kindness—it is a transformative practice that reshapes the way we experience life. It shifts our focus from scarcity to abundance, reminding us that joy is not found in the endless pursuit of “more” but in the recognition of what we already have.
When we cultivate gratitude, we shift our focus from scarcity to abundance, from dissatisfaction to contentment. This shift is not just a mental exercise but a profound spiritual practice that aligns us with the deeper truths of existence. Gratitude teaches us that happiness is not something to be chased or acquired—it is something to be realized, here and now. It is the key to unlocking a life of fulfillment, peace, and unconditional love.
As you move forward, I encourage you to embrace gratitude as a daily practice. Whether through journaling, meditation, or simply pausing to appreciate the small blessings in your life, let gratitude become a habit that shapes your perspective and enriches your experience. Remember that gratitude is not about denying the difficulties of life but about finding the beauty and lessons within them. It is about recognizing that even in the darkest moments, there is light to be found.
Ultimately, gratitude is a gift we give to ourselves. It is the bridge that connects us to the divine, to others, and to the infinite abundance of life. By choosing gratitude, we choose to live with open hearts, to see the world through the eyes of love, and to create a life that is rich in meaning and joy. So, let us give thanks—not just for what we have, but for the opportunity to experience life itself. In doing so, we unlock the true essence of abundance and discover that everything we need has been within us all along.
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