GRATITUDE

Gratitude, appreciation, or thankfulness is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.

In a religious context, gratitude can also refer to a feeling of indebtedness towards a deity. Most religions prescribe rituals of thanksgiving towards their higher powers; the expression of gratitude to God is a central theme of Islam and Christianity.

Psychological research has demonstrated that individuals are more likely to experience gratitude when they receive a favor that is perceived to be (1) valued by the recipient, (2) costly to the benefactor, (3) given by the benefactor with benevolent intentions, and (4) given gratuitously (rather than out of role-based obligations). Individuals who are induced to feel grateful are more likely to behave prosocially toward their benefactor or toward unrelated others.

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional well-being In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude. Although gratitude is something that anyone can experience, some people seem to feel grateful more often than others. People who tend to experience gratitude more frequently than do others also tend to be happier, more helpful and forgiving, and less depressed than their less grateful counterparts.

From a Buddhist point of view, the Pali word which we translate in English as gratitude is katannuta. The word katannuta consists of two parts: kata which means that which has been done, especially that which has been done to one, to oneself, and annuta which means knowing or recognising. So katannuta means knowing or recognizing what has been done to one, that is to say knowing and recognising what has been done to one for one's benefit. Hence the connotation of the Pali word is rather different from its English equivalent. The connotation of the English gratitude is rather more emotional (we feel gratitude, feel grateful, etc.) but the connotation of katannuta is rather more intellectual, more cognitive. It makes it clear that what we call gratitude involves an element of knowledge - knowledge of what has been done to us or for us for our benefit. If we do not know that something has benefited us, we will not feel gratitude. Yet, interesting enough many people regard gratitude as a part of life not part of the human body or soul which many buddhists related to on their way to find enlightenment, not only of the body but also of the mind.

To put it simple Gratitude is just to say thank you to everything; things that you see, touch, listen, feel, experience, meet, think about, good or bad, everything .. you feel thankful for it.

We as so used with this live, we tend to forget to feel thankful when:
1) Wake up in the morning and to know that we are still alive and well.
2) The air that we are breathing everyday and has never end.
3) The earth that gives life to us.
4) The sky, the moon, the sun.
5) The rain that falls and provides water
6) The flowers that blooms infront of our house
7) A healthy body
8) ...Well I guess you got the idea that too many things we tend to neglect .. take things for granted..

..to be continue..