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Gratitude is one of the amazing gifts that comes from using The Principles. While Thanksgiving, like Christmas, has been stripped of many of its deeper meanings, this holiday is really meant to be more about thankfulness than turkey. So it might be worthwhile to spend some time on this short holiday week thinking about how we can be more thankful and have more gratitude in our daily lives.

Although gratitude is a wonderful feeling, it is not always my natural state. I have to use The Principles to achieve it. Here are some principles that lead me toward gratitude.

Surrender - If I am always trying to control and change the world, it means that I must not find it to my liking. And, yes, there are many things that I wish could change but I am largely powerless over anything except my own behavior. The problem with focusing exclusively on what I want to change is that I miss out on the things that are already deeply fulfilling in my life. When I surrender, I am able to be grateful for the things that are right rather than obsessing over what is wrong.

Responsibility - I've had to remove the word victim from my vocabulary because I find that I have at least some responsibility in every situation that I find uncomfortable. One would think that the process of looking at my own bad behavior would bring despair rather than gratitude. On the contrary, if I give myself a break and see that I am a human being who gets greedy, afraid, and jealous, I feel connected and grateful to be a part of the world.

Honesty - When I am an open book, I no longer have to hide. And what could be a more wonderful thing than that? So many of us have one persona for work, another for love, and yet another when we are at home with our family. When I am an honest man of integrity, I am deeply grateful because I get to be the same person in every setting.

Service - The most fulfilling moments of my life have been when I am selflessly helping another person. With the focus on another person rather than my own petty problems, I can feel true gratitude and pride. How great that many Americans have made feeding the homeless and other acts of service a part of their Thanksgiving tradition.