I Am Grateful To You

This is the search results for the expression FEELING GRATEFUL.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-motorola-rev2&sxsrf=ACYBGNR8O0lRc5Nry96OtF97gQS1nu0G0g:1576591743753&q=being+grateful&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGhN727bzmAhXzxzgGHQEJAGAQBSgAegQIChAC&biw=360&bih=512

We can see from the links how important it is to feel grateful. Being grateful or thankful to nature or to individuals is so nice. 

Recently when I heard a person tell another that she was grateful to the guy for all that he had done for her involuntarily my blood boiled. There were strong negative vibes in me.

I probed my feelings. And this is what my left brain came up with.

When we say we are grateful or thankful to a person for all that they have done for us we implicitly deny any indebtedness to them. The profound "thank you" squares all the debt or things that we received from another person. What we then feel is that should the other person ever have a problem we would be favorably inclined to do something for them. Being indebted to them, on the other hand, means that we would do something for the other person not just being favorably inclined.

This is a crucial difference. The feeling of gratefulness is nice - it does beat being an ingrate any time. But feeling grateful really is a very shallow behavior compared to feeling indebted to that person. It's surprising how gracefully we have camouflaged the ugly shallow behavior in the guise of a beautiful one. 

What really gets my goat is the tendency for an sweet person to say to a benefactor "You have already done so much good for me and for others. I don't know how to thank you for all that you have done. But I need one more favor from you..."

Only a horrible person can repay favors taken with request for one more and package it with gratitude towards the benefactor. 

In summary, "I am grateful to you" is usually a way of saying "I am not indebted to you". Thank you empaths.

Recent example:
"Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar posted pictures with the legend, saying, "You shaped me as an actor. You saw the talent in a girl from a middle-class family and introduced me to the silver screen. I'll never be able to pay back what you have done for me. Will Miss you #ShreeramLagoo" from https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/eminent-theatre-and-film-actor-shriram-lagoo-91-dead/articleshow/72859320.cms

So nice.

Additional reading

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/when_guilt_stops_gratitude