In the New Testament, Philippians 4, 6-7 says that with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Perhaps the most direct version of this is found in the Qur’an’s 14-7, If you are grateful, I will give you more. If you are ungrateful, punishment is severe. In Hinduism’s Bhagavad Gita, if one offers with devotion, I will accept with love. In Bhakti, it is taught that gratitude and devotion evoke grace. In Buddhism, gratitude is a foundational practice that cultivates mindfulness and compassion, and leads to blessings in your personal life.

In Sikhism, daily gratitude is said to lift the spirit and bring about auspicious outcomes. Sufism teaches that gratitude attracts increased blessing. Yoga teaches that gratitude is a clear, luminous state of mind that draws grace and auspicious coincidence towards the practitioner. 33 in the Tao Te Ching says that contentment brings wealth, and in hermetic traditions, the principles of correspondence and vibration teach that a grateful interstate has a resonance that attracts more experiences to be grateful for. Gratitude greatly increases opportunity, protection, guidance, harmony with others, self-sufficiency, and overall peace. This is true whether you choose to believe that it’s just the neuroscience of having better control of emotions, clearer perception, and stronger social bonds, or if you believe that the world we live in resonates in response to the vibrations we generate.

Either way, the more you give thanks, the better your life will be. According to research, the most common and effective practices are gratitude journaling, which can be listing just a few things two to three times per week, and practicing a form of gratitude meditation, of which there are many. Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you. Greg Reiss, reporting. The Reiss Report is now fully funded by my Substack subscribers. Subscribe today and support my work at gregreiss.substack.com. [tr:trw].