How do I give thanks when there is barely enough?

Thank God for what is actually there, and do not add a lie on top of it. You are not required to call scarcity a blessing. Name the specific things: the roof, the meal, the person who called. Then keep asking for more, because gratitude is not a resignation letter and does not oblige you to stop needing. The two can be said in one breath — thank You for this, and I am still asking. Honesty is what makes it a prayer.

The practice is hakarat hatov — recognizing the good: not manufacturing a feeling, but noticing, by name, what is already in your hands.

From the sources “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.” — Psalm 100