Wallace Wattles on Gratitude

The whole process of mental adjustment and atonement can be summed in one word, gratitude.

First you believe that there is one Intelligent Substance from which all things proceed; second, you believe that this substance gives you everything you desire, and third, you relate yourself to it by a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.

The nearer we live to the source of wealth, the more wealth we shall receive….the soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch with God than the one which never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgement.

The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more rapidly they will come and the reason simply is that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which all blessings com

Gratitude will lead your mind along the ways by which things come, and it will keep in close harmony with creative though and prevent you from falling into competitive thought.

Gratitude alone can keep you looking toward the All, and prevent you from falling into the error thinking of the supply as limited.

The grateful outreaching of your mind in thankful praise to the supreme is a liberation or expenditure of force, it cannot fail to reach that to which it is addressed and the reaction is instantaneous movement towards you.

You cannot exercise much power without gratitude, for it is gratitude that keeps you connected with power.

But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future.

Without gratitude you cannot long keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.

The moment you permit your mind to dwell with dissatisfaction upon things as they are, you begin to lose ground,. You fix attention upon the common, the ordinary, the poor and the squalid and mean, and your mind takes the form of these things.

To permit your mind to dwell upon the inferior is to become inferior and surround yourself with inferior things. On the other hand, to fix your attention on the best is to surround yourself with the best, and to become the best.

The creative power within us makes us into the image of that to which we give your attention.The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best, therefore it tends to become the best. It takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best

Also faith is born of gratitude, the grateful mind continually expects good things and expectation becomes faith. The reaction of gratitude upon one's own mind produces faith, and every outgoing wave of grateful thanksgiving increases faith.

He that does not have a feeling of gratitude cannot long retain a living faith, and without a living faith you cannot get rich by the creative method.