Gratitude and grief

Do you ever find it hard to be grateful? Like you want to be able to recognize the gifts that God has given you, and you know you are supposed to be grateful, yet it feels like there is something in the way? And then when you don't feel grateful, it gets compounded because then you feel guilty?

I’ve had a number of conversations with several people lately surrounding this struggle with gratitude. They feel like they should be thankful, and the practice of cultivating gratitude may be a part of their lives, but all of a sudden it somehow seems harder to express than it used to, and their heart just doesn't feel it. Gratitude becomes distant or unattached, even forced. When we come to this realization, our knee jerk reaction is to double down on our efforts, especially during seasons like Thanksgiving: I WILL write in a gratitude journal everyday. I WILL be grateful for things, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Trying to come up with a list of things to be thankful for feels a bit like hand-me-down clothes--they don't quite fit, and I can tell that they aren't mine.