Gratitude builds when the emotional connection to an event or object builds. For a simple experience of this idea, open your wallet.  What do you see?  Some money, maybe. A few credit cards.  Maybe a photo. Consider one object you just found in your wallet. How did you come to possess it?  What does that object represent to you? Think about the history of that object? If you are looking at a dollar bill, you might recall that the waitress who served you breakfast gave it to you as change for a twenty.  Maybe that will remind you of having breakfast in your favorite diner or remind you of your waitress’s pleasant attitude. Think about how different you might feel about an object as simple as a dollar bill when you understand it has a history.  Consider some of the many ways you can be grateful because of how a person or object came into  your awareness at this moment.