By simply expressing gratitude for all the good things that surround you, you can actually invite more of that goodness into your life. For example, I’ve recently attracted more money into my life, simply by switching my focus from my lack of money into the abundance that was already surrounding me. As a result, I changed my mindset from that of wanting, neediness and scarcity into that of love, abundance and gratitude. With this mindset, I was actually able to invite financial abundance into my life.

In this post, I’ll tell you why it works and how I did it. In my next post, I’ll give you a few practical tips on how to cultivate the attitude of gratitude.

Why Gratitude Is a Powerful Force

If you’re familiar with the Law of Attraction, you probably already know that cultivating gratitude is simply one way of using the Law of Attraction.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, Law of Attraction simply means that your thoughts influence the world around you. For example, if you enter the mindset of abundance and imagine yourself living in the midst of it, you’ll actually attract it into your life. If you enter the mindset of self-confidence and learn to love and appreciate yourself, you will radiate this appreciation, and as a result, other people will also appreciate you and you’ll gain more friends.

If you search the web for Law of Attraction, you’ll find lots of instructions on how to use it. Most of these instructions will tell you that if you can visualize your life the way you want it to be, this visualization will begin to actually manifest in your physical life.

There’s a problem with this, however. You can’t just visualize some stuff or repeat some affirmations. You’ll have to go for it emotionally, you have to really believe in what you visualize. No matter how hard you think or visualize, if you actually can’t feel that way and send that vibe out into the universe, you actually won’t attract anything into your life. If you’re dirt poor and keep chanting “I’m rich”, without actually believing it and entering the mindset of richness, you can keep chanting for the rest of your life and it won’t do you any good.

But how to begin with the Law of Attraction, then, so that you can actually believe in what you visualize?

Gratitude to the Rescue!

Gratitude is the answer. You can choose to cultivate the attitude of gratitude, without having to visualize something that feels completely out of your reach. Gratitude works on what you already have. No matter how hard your life sucks, you can still find some things to be grateful for.

The attitude of gratitude will automatically shift your mindset into that of abundance. Instead of focusing on all the things you don’t have, you’ll focus on the things you have. This way, you will automatically shift your focus and mindset from scarcity into that of abundance – the exact mindset you need to make the Law of Attraction work.

How I Attracted Money into My Life

I’m a poor college student and my husband is unemployed. It probably goes without saying that by the end of the month, we have absolutely nothing on our bank accounts.

About four months ago, I began cultivating gratitude. I realized that no matter how poor we are, we always have our basic needs met: we can enjoy some healthy and delicious food, we have a roof on our heads, access to the internet and computer games, plenty of Star Trek to watch… Yes, we’re geeks, so internet and Star Trek are definitely included on our list of basic needs.

I also realized that in addition to having our basic needs met, we can actually enjoy many luxuries in our life: loving friends and families, beautiful nature, the chance to go out and have some fun, and so on. There are so many things in our life we can enjoy for free or almost for free. I also noticed we eat very well, definitely better than most other students I know.

I also realized something very important: Somehow, we’ve always managed to miraculously get some extra money when we’ve totally ran out of it and it would be two weeks till payday. I’ve found an extra €20 bill somewhere, our families have decided to give us some money just because they felt like it, I had enough AdSense earnings to withdraw them, our local grocery store sent us a free bonus coupon, and so on.

When I realized this, I began trusting the universe. I knew that we will never go hungry, that although we may have no money, our needs will always be met. I realized I was surrounded with abundance! This made me feel so grateful it was overwhelming! I began making a mental note of all those small things that made me feel so grateful.

The Results

Like I said, I began consciously cultivating this mindset of abundance and gratitude about four months ago. About two months ago, I began noticing the results.

We were suddenly getting more money: AdSense began paying a little better, a friend of ours finally hit it career-wise and was able to pay his debts back (we always help out friends by borrowing money if they need it more than we do), a little hobby project of ours finally became profitable, and so on.

More notably, we began getting so many free tickets to fairs, concerts, shows, and other happenings we actually didn’t have the time to go to all of them! We’ve had so many interesting things happening in our lives. We’ve been able to attend some big fairs and gigs we wouldn’t have been able to attend if we actually had to pay for the tickets.

What’s so notable about this? Like I said, I began noticing how we can actually enjoy a rich, full life even though we’re poor. It’s as if the universe picked up on this particular vibe and began sending more free stuff on our way!

It’s no wonder we got so much free stuff but relatively little extra money. You see, I’m not particularly interested in money just for the sake of it. I simply view money as a mere tool to get what I want. The universe picked up on that vibe, too, by skipping the money part and sending us the things and goodies we wanted. I’m actually feeling like Gladstone Gander here!

As you can see, nothing dramatic happened. We didn’t win the lottery and we’re still cheap, but our life has taken the turn for better. This is a slow start but it’s a good thing, because all of this is something I can actually believe in getting. This has built my trust in the universe and the Law of Attraction, and I know this trust will eventually bring some bigger things on our way.

How to Begin Cultivating Gratitude

Start by identifying a specific thing you want to invite into your life (money, friends, love, experiences, etc.) or simply decide to cultivate gratitude in general. Either way, it seems to work.

Next, take a look at your life and identify the things that make you happy. The things that make you feel grateful. These can be very small things! Even if you genuinely feel your life totally sucks at the moment, you can still find something to be grateful for. You woke up this morning, right? At least you’re alive. Appreciate it. Got nothing else to eat than a cup of Ramen? Hey, at least you have food. Feel grateful for it. Have no money? You can take a walk in the park for free. You can still experience the beauty. And the list goes on…

In my next post, I’ll give you a few practical tips on how to cultivate gratitude, so stay tuned! Until then… what do you feel grateful for today?