Gratitude

By Wallace D. Wattles

The first step toward getting rich is to convey the idea of your wants to the formless substance.

This is true, and you will see that in order to do so it becomes necessary to relate yourself to the formless intelligence in a harmonious way.

To secure this harmonious relationship is a matter of such primary and vital importance that I will give some space to its discussion here. I will give you instructions, which, if you follow them, will be certain to bring you into a perfect unity of mind with God.

The whole process of mental adjustment and attunement can be summed up in one word: gratitude.

First, you believe that there is one intelligent substance from which all things proceed.
Secondly, you believe that this substance gives you everything you desire.
And, thirdly, you relate yourself to it through a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.
Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude. Having received one gift from God, they cut the wires, which connect them with Him by failing to make acknowledgment.

It is easy to understand that the nearer we live to the source of wealth, the more wealth we shall receive. It is also easy to understand that a soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch with God than one who never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgment.

When good things come to us, the more gratefully we fix our mind on the Supreme Power, the more good things we will receive - and the more rapidly they will come. The reason for this is simply that the mental attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which the blessings come.