I panic! My 5-year house mortgage has only three months to go. I just get off the phone with my current mortgage holder. They can’t simply give me another loan. Company policy stipulates that I have to apply for a new mortgage. I don’t show nearly enough income to get a new loan for my house. And my credit has been ruined by a bad investment.  

Paradise About to Be Lost 

I love the unique sitting of my house, cradling the edge of a vast mountain preserve right outside Phoenix. Each morning I enjoy the morning light illuminating the needles on the desert saguaros. The sun gives each cactus its own golden aura. At dusk I watch the shadows of the surrounding peaks creep over the vast desert plain, as night creatures peek out for their evening reverie. All day I greet coyotes, roadrunners and jackrabbits from my patio. Hawks, quail and fox drink from my backyard waterfall. 

Surrender to the Inevitable 

I resign myself to giving up my little piece of Heaven on Earth. I let go of the memory of all the electric gatherings of like-spirited souls that filled my spacious home. For the next three months, I say goodbye to the views, the hues and the muse that this setting provided for five exciting years. I thank God for the joy and love that has filled this space each day. I open to possibility that I can find another magical hacienda. 

Hold Your Horses! 

But wait! Hold on! Someone, something, hears me, feels me, responds to my outpouring of appreciation! A few days before my 5–year loan expires, I receive a brief form letter from my mortgage company. The memo announces a new general policy of extending current mortgages without income qualifying or credit checks. I call. They say “Sure.” I get to keep my little bit of paradise for as long as I want!  

The Physics of Gratitude 

Wow, how’d that happen? I flash on my daily activities for the previous three months. Every day I fully enjoyed the divine gift of my home as if it were the last day I would have it. It dawns on me that my innocent outpouring of deep gratitude each moment has attracted this extension of my experience. Like vibration attracts like vibration. By the physics of gratitude, the house couldn’t go anywhere.

The experience had to stay. My appreciation in each moment is the magnet, the creator, of my space. 

The Power of Gratitude 

There is a very simple reason why most spiritual traditions suggest that when praying we give thanks for what we already have—rather than ask for we don’t have. This thankful approach is nothing less than the most effective way to create more of something you desire in your life.  

Cop an Attitude of Gratitude 

On average, a person has 60,000 separate thoughts a day. Every thought you have either makes you stronger or weaker. Thoughts of kindness and gratefulness are strengthening. Focusing on blame and worry weakens you. If you keep your creating attention on the outlook that the Universe is plentiful and providing, you’ll attract abundance and support. If you dwell on the view that you’re being short-changed and nothing ever goes right, you’ll experience a world of scarcity and struggle.  

Center on what’s right about you and your life, instead of what’s wrong. See what’s working in your life rather than what’s messed up. Celebrate what is bountiful, rather than what is missing. 

When you give freely of your thankfulness, you receive back in kind. When you come from a place of bountiful giving, you receive plentifulness in return. When you pray from a place of lack or limitation (for example, expecting something in return as a pay-off), you receive back the same vibration or quality—a reflection of lack and limitation. When you pray from a space or energy of fear (scarcity consciousness), the Universe mirrors that poverty back to you. 

Walk with an Appreciative Heart 

What you appreciate in life appreciates—increases, grows. The more aspects of life you appreciate, the richer you become inwardly—and, in turn, outwardly, according to the Law of Spiritual Attraction.  

You can use this approach to skillfully circumvent and outmaneuver the Mind’s attempts to limit you with the notions of unworthiness and scarcity.  

Discover the ancient wisdom of multiplying what you have with deep appreciation and gratitude.