After decades of severe depression, it isn't entirely surprising to me that there must be an "I" to experience positive things in order for gratitude to give a lasting impact to the mood.

"I'm grateful for people who remove landmines, for talented artists creating beauty in the world, for little caring gestures that strangers have for each other." But this reads more abstractly than when there's a person to actually experience its consequences directly, and it feels very different from the inside too as it holds little connection to the self.

It's a good habit nonetheless, because if anything it is a mechanical workout to cultivate a capacity for empathy (for self in healthier people perhaps, but in general otherwise).

"Be happy you have a cup!"