Learning to experience gratitude involves being grateful as an attitude, not as a reaction when good things occur. To be grateful, one does not need to wait until things are perfect. In fact, practicing gratitude makes one receptive to life's blessings, and these blessings continue as we continue to be thankful.

In one study, described by author Robert Emmons, participants who wrote about five things for which they were grateful experienced more positive emotional states and were more likely to help others over a period of ten weeks than were participants who wrote about the hassles and stressors they experienced during the same time.

Introduction: Proverbs as Words of Gratitude by Brother David Steindl-Rast / 3

What Is Gratitude? / 15

Gratitude through the Ages / 25

Cultivating Gratitude / 41

Research and Results of Gratitude / 61

Hindrances to Gratitude / 71

Praying for Gratitude / 77

References and Further Reading / 101

Acknowledgements / 105

Robert A. Emmons, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, where he has taught for the past thirteen years. In his research, he explores how religiousness and spirituality may reflect core aspects of identity and how these aspects of self are involved in well-being and personality. He is the author of over sixty research articles and book chapters. His most recent book is the Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality.

Joanna Hill received her MA in religious studies from the Academy of the New Church Theological School in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, where she currently resides.