Why does gratitude feel so much better than ingratitude? Ever notice that when you feel lousy you tend to have no sense of gratitude. It is a kind of hell. The sooner you find something to be grateful for the better. The perennial ingratitude justification that there is nothing to be grateful for is mesmeric. But even a little thing can turn the tide - a word, a flower, or even flush toilets! Once the ingratitude cycle is broken, it is easier to find other things to be grateful for, and this brightens our outlook, gives us strength to overcome whatever might be weighing on us!
So why is this? What is the science behind gratitude? Biologists, behaviorists, etc. have confirmed the good effects on a grateful subject, but provide no clue as to the why. This may be because gratitude is spiritual in nature, akin to love (of course not sensual or personal love!) - indiscernible to the physical senses, without empirical evidence.
To our way of thinking, something spiritual is of God, Spirit, just as something good is of God who is good by definition. “No good is, but the good God bestows.” S&H The Bible bears a common theme throughout: gratitude to God insures a good life while ingratitude leads to troubles, and thousands of years of history recorded in the Bible support this truth. This is the science underlying gratitude. It is far more scientific than the health laws that last for a generation or two!
Today, too many are drowning in a sea of ingratitude in the form of the entitlement mentality and victimhood! There is only one way out of that living hell, and it is gratitude, gratitude to a God who is love. Any encouragement of the entitlement mentality or victimhood is a crime against humanity.
It is high time that the spiritual law of gratitude be recognized and adhered to in all walks of life. In line with this, we will close with a couple of excerpts from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:
Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment.
The supremacy of Spirit was the foundation on which Jesus built. His sublime summary points to the religion of Love.