Good morning everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!! Today is a day to embellish what we take for granted each day. Sit down with your family and eat until you can’t possibly fit any more grub down your gullet. Abundance is usually something people feel they are chasing, but today is a celebration of everything we already have.

I want to extend my personal gratitude towards all of you. This is the 20th edition of Thought Breakfast. I love thinking and writing about this stuff, and the support from all of you motivates me to keep doing it.

Since we are going to need to save space for dinner, I’ll keep this one short. So let’s dig in!

For our main course, we’ll bring it back to Aquinas. I’m excited for this one because for such a logical, piece-by-piece thinker, Aquinas actually approaches gratitude with a very zen-like mindfulness. To burn it off, we’re going to do a little Thanksgiving Day exercise. Then we’ll wrap it up with Aquinas’ famous Summa Theologiae.

Take a deep breath and relax, Thought Breakfast is served!

Aquinas defines gratitude as the Threefold Movement: Recognition, Praise, Repayment. Aquinas doesn’t think gratitude is a mere feeling you get, but a readiness to show appreciation and return it. Returning it either means directly returning the favor, or “doubling it” and giving it to the next person. Think of the “kindness has a ripple effect” philosophy.

Aquinas would say that gratitude transforms us. It draws us out of ourselves, where Aquinas says humans tend toward ingratitude by default. Gratitude also turns dependence into communion. Rather than solely benefitting from another person or thing, you briefly become one with it or them, mutually approaching the common good.

This actually gives us a contrast with Cicero. Cicero says that gratitude is the parent of all other virtues. Aquinas goes a little deeper: gratitude itself is rooted in humility. In other words: “I did not produce all that I am.”

Modern psychology agrees. Gratitude expands our perspective beyond our default self-focus, the same way Aquinas would. It increases “other-orientation” or our empathy and prosocial behavior. Behavioral psych says that minds coming from a place of gratitude are more prone to generosity, resilience, and optimism.

Gratitude widens our lens. It becomes less about “what this did for me,” and more about the presence of good itself.

As we just learned, Aquinas says gratitude has three movements: Recognition, Praise, and Repayment.

So look at the people around you and try this exercise at the dinner table tonight:

We’ll round this off by reading of few lines from Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae:

“Gratitude consists in the acknowledgement of a favor received, with a desire to repay it according to one’s means and the fitting circumstances.”

- ST II-II, Q1.06, Art.1

“A grateful mind is one that treasures and cherishes the gift received.”

- ST II-II, Q1.06, Art.3

“The return of gratitude should surpass the gift that was received.”

- Art.6, respondeo

Digest those lines and munch on this for today. Again, thank you all for eating Thought Breakfast with me this Thanksgiving morning. Hug your family. Eat until you can’t anymore. And come back tomorrow and we’ll round out this grateful week with the joy of gratitude.

Thank you for reading along with us today! If you enjoy this content, and want to start your days grounded in thought and mindfulness, I suggest you have a seat at our table! Smash that button below to check out more editions and subscribe!

Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast

P.S.

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