I am making this question because I am trying to understand what exactly people mean when they say things. In this case, I'm trying to understand the full context of the phrase practicing gratitude.

A definition of the word "gratitude" I've found online is:

    the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

Which implies that someone has shown kindness to us, and we're feeling grateful for their kindness.

So when you say "I'm grateful for being alive", to whom exactly are you grateful? Who exactly has shown you kindness by letting you be alive? More generally, who exactly has shown you kindness by giving you everything good that you're grateful for?

The only entity that could possibly be responsible for everything is a hypothetical omnipotent entity - a god. So outside the religious frame of mind, the answer is "nobody", and the word "gratitude" here means something else than it usually means when used in everyday context. In that case, I'd like to know the exact meaning in this special case.

But I think I've got my answer in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37566516

>I consider universe a random and chaotic place. In that worldview, there is nobody to be grateful/thankful to, so the practice of gratitude doesn't make sense.

Grateful for the outcome of the cosmic dice roll.

Or really just relief that things aren't a lot worse.

The dictionary definition isn't the only meaning of a word.

> Grateful for the outcome of the cosmic dice roll.

To whom, the cosmos? Cosmos is not a person. You can personify it if you want, sure, but that doesn't make sense to me.

> The dictionary definition isn't the only meaning of a word.

Which is exactly why I'm asking for what people mean when they say stuff.