The Quiet Power of Gratitude

If you want something you don't have, gratitude tricks your mind into believing you have it already. "Thank you for this" and "thank you for that." Are we thanking a God, an external force, the universe, or are we thanking our subconscious that helps us bring these things into existence? Does it even matter? With all the uncertainties, isn't it much easier to believe in a God than in a void—or worse yet, only our subconscious? Isn't it easier to converse with a creator than with our own mind? But at the end of the day, who is to tell you who you are conversing with, who you are thanking? And if gratitude works, does it even matter?

What if you show frustration and anger and still go back to gratitude? Have you ruined things, set things back? And if you wish to fly—thank you. Or to not be too hideous in your looks—thank you. Or to have a penis the size of the Empire State Building—thank you. What does that even mean? What does that even do? Perhaps you will feel light as a bird through life, and you will see your beauty, or others will start to notice it. And as for your phallus, you will also begin to see it from a different perspective and attract the fitting gloves.

So, is any of this real? Thank you, please, amen, and amen. Or is it just a mind game? And if it is a game, then surely it should not cause you such distress? It should not anger you. Or is your life like Monopoly, and you're one of those sore losers when thrown in jail a few times or paying double taxes? Or do you not fear losing, double taxes, and jail because you know it's all but a game in your mind?

"I want a cup of tea, thank you." Then get off your ass and make it, or be pleasantly surprised as you're offered one. But if you have any love in your life, the likelihood that you'll be offered a cup of tea isn't such an incredible feat. But what if you say, "I want to double my income, thank you." That "thank you" you say for receiving things—does it drive you, does it change things in your world? Or does it simply anger and depress you?

"I want more, thank you." Isn't that a contradiction? Then again, Oliver Twist did want more, and that made for a memorable scene. But when we ask for more in a coffee shop or restaurant, with a "thank you in advance" or a favour from someone, we're horrified when the response is no. For how can the answer to "thank you in advance" be no? There's an expectation! "I want a house on the beach in Greece by next summer, thank you in advance." Again, an expectation. And who is to say no to you other than yourself, or Greece herself next summer?

Most of our desires are unknown to anyone but ourselves and therefore denied to ourselves by nobody else but ourselves—or is that also complete nonsense? Either way, "I want a million dollars, thank you," or "a million dollars, thank you in advance" definitely sounds better, sounds more appreciative, and definitely sounds like it's on its way. So who is it that appreciates all this gratitude, and does it truly work? It could be the skull of your 500th great-grandmother for all it matters, as long as you believe in her caring for your gratitude—or is this just a cruel heresy on my part?

Maybe it's in the name of Jesus, or Moses, or Muhammad, or Buddha. Or the ever-popular universe that doesn't even know we exist on this tiny rock called Earth. Or does it? But when someone helps you, and you say thank you, they often help you more. Those grateful are appreciated and often rewarded more. Is that so? It seems to be. I've seen it to be. So perhaps it's a law: if you show gratitude, you shall be rewarded more.

Therefore, if you say, "I want a thousand dollars extra by next month, thank you," based on this "law," you are more likely to get it than the one who has no manners and gratitude. Logically, it seems to make sense. But then again, telling yourself every night how grateful you are for that extra thousand dollars next month will surely open your mind to opportunities, to think of how to achieve that goal that is now on your lips and mind every night. So maybe it's nothing at all outside of yourself, and "thank you" is the cue for us to see things as already in existence—for how can you thank for something you have not received?