Gratitude, or thankfulness as some say, is a state of grace that produces in you an energy that creates the life you are meant to have. By this is meant that gratitude begets joy.
When living in gratitude, you live without expectations of what you think life should be and instead live in a state of acceptance. This simple shift allows you to be love. When you are love, love comes to you in all the glories love has to offer. Instead of expecting love to come in one form and from one direction, you open to receive love returned from multiple forms and multiple directions.
This is not to say you should never plan or never ask for your needs to be met. Quite the opposite. It is the manner in which you ask and the expectations of receiving. The asking for and receiving from may not come from the source you expect.
You must always begin by remembering your true source, which is the God Head. Some may call this God, Goddess, Spirit, Universe, or Universal Love. By whatever name, your source is the Divine Energy that works through all life. Free will gives each human the right to accept or refuse your asking. There in is where humans see the conflict, but in truth there is no conflict. That for which you ask does come to you; however, it may come in a different form and/or from a different source than you expected. If you are tied by your expectations, you are unable to see that you are being given that for which you asked.
Suppose, for example, that you are seated at a table that is laden with food. You ask the person on your right for the potatoes. The person on your right is deep in thought and does not hear your request, but the person on your left overheard your request and is able to offer you the dish. If you are caught in expectations, you will become upset that the person on the right is ignoring your request and you will ignore the person on the left who is offering you what you asked for.
If, on the other hand, you are not caught in expectations, but instead living in gratitude for the gift of receiving the potatoes, what does it matter if the person on the right or left is the conduit?
Now humans say this works for dishes at the dinner table. The principle is understood in its simplest form, but what about human relationships? How does it work here?
The principle does not change. It remains the same: When you live in gratitude that for which you are grateful multiples. That which you ask for comes to you through life forces from the Divine Source. It may come in a different form and from a different source than you thought, but you can only receive once you open to receive by letting go of the control of directing how and from where the gift comes and stay in gratitude for the gift.
When you live in gratitude, you stop clutching at life and stop trying to control the source and form of your gift. Life begins to flow through you, you learn to ask for gifts that are more appropriate for you, and those gifts that come to you are so much greater than anything you could have thought of. When you live in gratitude, the gifts that come are always from the Divine Source of Love.