How to create intense feeling of gratitude?

Creating the feeling of gratitude required to attract abundance in life might seem a bit hard at first and of course with so much negativity and "never-ending-want-for-more" keeps our mind fixed on future, which ultimately creates stress, impatience, and even worry.

Here are quick tips to get you started:

1) Know that God/Creator has made you responsible for your thoughts and actions

2) Know that God has given you free will to think any thoughts
3) Focus on what you are thinking right now. Consciously stop the flow of uncontrolled thoughts
4) Realise that you are not entitled to anything as God/Life doesn't owe you anything. You owe Him appreciation and acknowledgment for gifts, benefits and relief.
5) Realise you are vulnerable to harm and loss in every area of life. Be thankful for the relief.
6) Fix your attention on the benefits rather than risks and things you don't want
7) Stop complaining at once

What is gratitude in plain English

Gratitude is not "worrying about how to be happy" -- it is about being realistic with life and situations, accepting reality as it is right now and realizing that you are not entitled or deserved. It is more about feeling gifted and vulnerable than feeling deserved or thinking the world or life owes you happiness and benefits. Being appreciative and feeling gifted triggers strong feelings of gratitude. 

Tips explained 

The points I have outlined below are like foundation to creating intense feeling of gratitude and these points will help you greatly if you believe in the Creator (a Muslim/Christian/Jew or any other religion) as it is based on surrender.

Please dwell on these points over and over so they can become part of your memory (subconscious mind) because conscious realisation of gratitude importance will not suffice as it must become your habitual thought pattern.

Point #1 ) Free Will

You have been given full control over what to think and what to ignore (free will)

No matter what is going through your mind right now, your Creator has given you complete control over what to pay attention to, and what to ignore. It is just our limited mindset and ignorance that fool us into thinking that suggestions and thoughts popping up in our head are out of our control. Spend one minute thinking about the gift of free will and get ready to move on the next point.

Point # 2) You are not the Creator of anything

Creation is not your domain. Creation not only includes the rising and setting of the Sun but it also includes simple acts like blinking of your eyes or reading this article right now. 

Take a moment and think what percentage of control you have over creation? You have zero percent of control over any kind of creation because God didn't create you to create things and impress Him with your tiny little intelligence. The criteria on which God tests us is how much grateful we are towards Him and how much we surrender to His will. 

For example, the air and the quantity of oxygen in it is outside your domain. Your eyes’ ability to let you see things is something that requires infinite intelligence and unlimited knowledge. Then what about the free will? Free will is just a gifted control (we were not entitled to free will as it has been gifted to us to show thankfulness). 

Understand free will with this kid's example. You are like a kid sitting behind the steering wheel of a car. The actual controller is your father. Your father lets you drive but you have no power to steer the car to any direction as you are too little to do it. 

Whenever you want to steer the car to the left, your father does it for you as he is testing you or letting you have  fun. When you want to steer to the right, your father does that for you. Now, your father knows your limitations, but you, sitting behind the wheel probably think you are the controller. The same is the case with our tiny little egos that keep telling us that we are the creator. The Creator/God gives us an illusion of control to see whether we feel gratitude for His blessings or feel entitled (deserved). 

Point # 3) We are not entitled to anything

Entitlement mindset or feeling deserved to get something or favors is what blocks gratitude. Are you entitled to good health or it has been gifted to you? Give it a little thought. If you think you are entitled, then the next question you must ask yourself is what made you entitled? Did you pay the Universe/God/Allah/Creator/Mother Nature money to get good health? Did you develop all the cells, blood, bones and good symmtry by yourself? Oxygyn in the air is essential for your good health, so are you the one responsible for pumping oxygyne through your own lungs? Think about it for a few seconds and you will come to realise how limited you are and this is what will trigger intense feelings of thankfulness in your heart.

Curing entitlement is the key to creating real gratitude. Check out this video on how an entitled mindset blocks happiness and abundance.

Point # 4) It could have been much worse

As we discussed and scientifically explained in the 3rd point that you are not entitled to anything happening in your life, which means that the Universe/Creator/Allah/God is doing you a huge favour not to make things worse in your life. We must know that no matter how bad our situation is, it can always get worse. 

Thinking of and dwelling on a worse possible situation creates the strongest feeling of gratitude because it actually assesses the real value of a blessing that we usually take for granted. You cannot evaluate the real value of a blessing or favour unless you create a sense of losing it or imagine a scenario where you have lost it. Simply put, you have to make a conscious effort to value and appreciate the gifts and benefits you receive. 

Do this little exercise to see how it shifts your vibrations: Think of a situation where you have lost your eyesight (for only two minutes) and then switch your mind back to the reality (feeling of thankfulness and relief will overcome you, forcing you to be thankful that it didn't happen to you), you will notice that your entire body is feeling the positive vibration as a result of dwelling on a worse possible scenario. 

There are people who are in much worse situation than you are in right now and these people are better than you in many ways. Some of them have money but they have chronic illness, some have health but they have no shelter. You are no exception. Luckily your problem didn’t get too nasty as there was possibility that you have could have been trapped into much worse problems. Dwell on a could-have-been-worse scenario and switch your mind back to reality, strong feelings of gratitude will be generated.  

Realize that there was a one hundred percent possibility your situation could have gone from bad to worse.

Note: 

If you are maintaining a gratitude journal, try to incorporate these three points in every single blessing or God's favour you write. You will see miraculous results.