When you realize your feelings of love and appreciation toward a person, situation or experience, you are capable of allowing love to flow to and from you. Your vibrational energetic level will rise. Your attention level will increase. You will also elevate a feeling of wellness throughout your body.

What is even more extraordinary about this feeling of gratitude is the fact that it emanates from you in the form of love and appreciation to the world around you. Imagine the golden rays of sunshine on a sunny day radiating from your heart.

As gratitude begins to play a bigger role in your life, your mind will become clearer and your heart will soften. These feelings will affect everything presently in your life and will help bring wonderful events to your future.

The absolute, quickest way to attract everything you desire for your life is to be grateful for everything you already have. Even when you are feeling the most anxious or dissatisfied with your life, you must still take a step back and shift your perspective so you can give thanks for the things in your life that you sometimes overlook.

In order to become aware of the things you should be grateful for, you must first be aware of what gratitude means to you. As children, we're taught the importance of saying thank you. As adults, we come to learn the social expectancy of displaying gratitude, such as buying a gift for someone who has invited us to stay in their home.

But for you, what does gratitude feel like? How do you feel it is best expressed? [The following questions will help you cultivate greater gratitude in your life.]

I felt a profound sense of gratitude when

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[List at least five times you felt very grateful for something, or for your life in general. You may need to do this on a separate piece of paper.]

Now list five things that have manifested in the past 12 months that you are grateful for:

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Look back at the list of five events you wrote. How did you express gratitude for these things? Is it a continuous expression, or did you express gratitude only one time and then move on?

I expressed gratitude by:

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When you are feeling overwhelmed by a sense of lack, all you need to do is shift your thinking so you will feel less empty and more whole.

List five things you believe you don't have. I don't have:

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Think about the things you listed a bit differently. Try to frame them as things you do have instead. For example, maybe you don't have a house of your own and you rent a small apartment. Rather than stating, I don't have a house, state positive things about your apartment, such as, Thanks to my time in this apartment, I am now inspired to start saving money so I can buy a house.

After giving it some thought, I do have:

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There are times when gratitude evolves from the most unlikely situations. Sometimes an unexpected turn of events or even a tragedy can ultimately bring us to a place where we feel a deeper sense of appreciation for the many good things we have in our lives.

List five losses you have experienced which affected your life:

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Now reflect upon your losses and then ask yourself:

What good came of this loss?

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The above is an excerpt from David Hooper's Law of Attraction Workbook: A 6-Step Plan to Attract Money, Love, and Happiness, copyright 2007 Kathode Ray Enterprises, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Printed here with the author's permission. For a free copy of this book, please visit www.receivethebook.com.

David Hooper is founder of the Guide for Living Institute, a think tank designed to help people enjoy life. He lives in Nashville, TN.