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  • Louie
    • Biography
    • Awards & Accolades
    • Filmography
    • TED Talks
    • Oprah Super Soul Sunday
    • Inquire
  • Work
    • Moving Art Series on Netflix
    • Moving Art Album
    • Fantastic Fungi
    • Wonder & Awe Podcast
    • Visual Healing
    • Gratitude Revealed
    • Wings of Life Disneynature
    • Mysteries of the Unseen World
      Nat Geo 3D IMAX
  • AR Gallery
  • Store
    • Books, DVDs, & Downloads
    • AR Gallery
    • Stock Footage
  • Blog
    • Fantastic Fungi
    • Gratitude Revealed
    • Moving Art
    • Visual Healing
  • Contact
Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg

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Gratitude for Faith-based Groups

Gratitude exercises for people of faith to share with their communities and congregations. We know how unique each collective can be, and how personal faith is for you, so we invite you to adapt the Gratitude Challenge below to fit the needs of your community. There is plenty of room to share with us how you brought gratitude to your unique group!

In this lab, you can:

Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
watch videos
Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
Try DIY Projects
Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
learn fun facts
Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
Do a Challenge

Watch Our Video

watch
The strength of a community is in how we take care of one another—and there might be no truer expression of gratitude than caring for others with generosity and, ultimately, love. We invite you to share this Gratitude Revealed video – viewed by millions around the world – with your entire congregation, and consider this universal and inspiring perspective on what it means to be truly grateful.

CREDITS

Receive Your “Gratitude Revealed” E-Book

Be the first to receive our collaborative Gratitude e-book, filled with Louie’s breath-taking photography & an inspired collection of your shared experiences from the challenges below (completed March 1, 2017).

Download DIY Gratitude Projects For Your Community & Congregation

We’ve prepared a few PDF downloads for you to use in your communities and congregations. Print, cut along the dotted line, and enjoy the chance to express more gratitude!

Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
Pass the Gratitude Basket
Download
Gratitude Lab Louie Schwartzberg
Use Our Template
Download

Earn Your Certificate of Completion:

Take Our 28-Day Gratitude Challenge for Communities & Congregations

cert

For communities large and small, gatherings, groups and congregations, we offer our 28-day Gratitude Challenge below, guiding you through four (4) weekly exercises. This works perfectly for groups that congregate on a weekly basis, although you can convene in any way that is most convenient for you. Adjust the schedule according to your needs.

Directions: Schedule the 4 consecutive weeks (or units) you’d like to commit to completing our challenge with your community or congregation. To be included in our research findings, please submit your final entries by January 30th. Each week you’ll share your brief experience here and exit by clicking the “Save and continue later” link. That way, you’re only submitting one form per group.

Questions or comments? We’re always here to help!

To preview the entire challenge as a PDF you can print, click here.

 

START HERE

Step 1 of 7

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Save and Continue Later
Save and Continue Later
  • You will need: a vessel to collect suggestions (basket, bucket, etc.), notebook paper torn or cut into individual pieces of paper, writing utensils.

    Distribute the paper and writing utensils to each member of your community. For larger communities, you may wish to have the materials distributed ahead of time.

    Instruct each member to secretly select another member of the community without letting that person know. Don’t say the name, so it is private. With that person in mind, consider what they might truly need or feel. Expand beyond monetary objects and large purchases to explore simple , experiential gifts, such as friendship, comfort, a good meal. Co nsider true needs of those where appropriate – a warm coat, toys for children, help with yardwork. Consider needs one might be embarrassed to admit – help with reading, tutoring a child who struggles.

    When we think beyond the material and glittery purchases to truly consider how we might benefit the life and happiness of this person we have chosen, what could we provide them THIS WEEK? Write down specific gifts that we can actually provide within the next 7 days. This might be time, in formation, company, or perhaps a thing of simple value that is possible for us.

    When complete, fold and place the paper into the collection vessel. Pass the collection vessel up to you.

    These are our promises! We are going to ask of ourselves to deliver the very items we described to the very person we selected! This gift can be anonymous, if we so desire.

    It is important to understand – even if we haven’t been selected by anyone in this exercise, the collective “Self” has, and will benefit every member throughout the next 4 weeks.

    For the next week, our individual tasks are to complete to the best of our ability the items we wrote down for the person we secretly selected. And, if this is impossible, to adjust as necessary. All members will be sharing t heir experiences of what it meant to give, and what it meant to receive in the next meeting!

    In the space below, describe how you interpreted and carried out the exercise. Include as many details as you are able.
  • How did your community respond to this exercise? Were there any funny or endearing moments you'd like to share?
  • Were there any difficulties with this exercise? We'd love to hear what you struggled with, and your thoughts on any causes, and how you adjusted (or perhaps didn't)?
  • When you are complete with notes, click "Save and Continue" link below. This will generate an email link so you can return next time for Week 2, Day 8!
Save and Continue Later
  • Congratulations on making it through the first week. Have the community share their experiences! How was it to provide the needs? What were some of the challenges or surprises? How was it to receive the generosity? There may have been moments of difficulty or surprise in this exercise, and these can be tremendous openings for valuable conversation and connection.

    This week will be about giving thanks. You will need: Space on a wall or surface to post thank you notes from the community, note paper, writing utensils, tape (preferably the kind that won’t stick to walls… You may also use sticky notes, tacks, or create a large piece of cardboard that can be taped).

    Considering “the community as one body,” have each member of the community write a thank you note to the entire collective community. Keep these letters anonymous. We suggest not naming individual names, and not signing names, to inspire a sense of community “one-ness.” What about the community are you grateful for?

    This might be for the last week’s exercise, but it is not limited to this if you feel gratitude for other things as well. You may not want to limit the number of thank you notes, either… Encouraging an overflow of gratitude thank you’s!

    Collect and post the thank you notes in a public area for all to enjoy and celebrate! Now that you have this collection of thank you notes upon the wall, you might even want to turn it into art! Frame it or take a picture of it, if inspired!

    In the space below, describe how you interpreted and carried out this week’s exercise. Include as many details as you are able.
  • Were there any funny or endearing moments you'd like to share?
  • Were there any difficulties with this first week? Any disruptions, or other interference? We'd love to hear what you struggled with, and your thoughts on any causes, and how you adjusted (or perhaps didn't)?
  • When you are complete with notes, click "Save and Continue" link below. This will generate an email link so you can return next time for Week 3, Day 15!
Save and Continue Later
  • This week we turn our gratitude beyond our own community. Today we’ll connect gratitude to faith – in whatever way we express our faith. In week one, we performed generous acts for those among us in need. In week two, we expressed thanks and acknowledgement for our community. Today, we will dedicate our collective gratitude to a larger entity. Faith is defined simply as “strong belief or trust in someone or something.” Today, we ask to consider this faith be expanded beyond the community to something greater.

    For this exercise, you will need: enough candles for each member to have one, candle holders, one lighter.

    You may wish to distribute the candles in advance so that each member has one, with candle holder attached.

    Light your candle first with the lighter. Say to that which you faith in, “Thank You for taking care of this community. I especially thank You for ____” as you use your candle to light the person’s candle next to yours. This person will then turn to his or her neighbor, lighting their candle as he says out loud, “Thank You for taking care of this community. I especially thank You for _______”, and so on until all candles are lit.

    Have a moment of collective silence as a community, with all candles lit, to give thanks to that which you have faith in, for the gift of your community. Let the room fill with gratitude.

    In the space below, describe how you carried out this exercise. Include as many details as you are able.

    Collect and post the thank you notes in a public area for all to enjoy and celebrate!
  • Share the successes of the week. Were there any funny or endearing moments you'd like to share?
  • Were there any difficulties with this exercise? We'd love to hear what you struggled with, and your thoughts on any causes, and how you adjusted (or perhaps didn't)?
  • When you are complete with notes, click "Save and Continue" link below. This will generate an email link so you can return next time for Week 4, Day 22!
Save and Continue Later
  • For the last week, we will act as a community of secret agents, each given the mission to look for opportunities of secret anonymous acts of kindness. Pay the toll for the car behind you, buy coffee for someone, rake a neighbor’s lawn (hard to do anonymously!), deliver someone’s mail, place a flower on a co-worker’s desk… And, every time we find the chance to do something nice for others anonymously, take a moment to give thanks to the community and to that which you have faith in, which holds the community in your heart.

    As “Secret Agents of Gratitude” we want to see how many acts of gratitude we can perform without anyone knowing! We will have the opportunity to share our fun stories the following week!

    In the space below, describe how you interpreted and carried out this week’s exercise. Include as many details as you are able.
  • Were there any funny or endearing moments you'd like to share?
  • We'd love to hear what you struggled with, and your thoughts on any causes, and how you adjusted (or perhaps didn't)?
  • When you are complete with notes, click "Save and Continue" link below. This will generate an email link so you can return next time for the last day, Day 28!
Save and Continue Later
  • Congratulations. You've made it to Day 28! Today is about celebrating the completion of the challenge (or perhaps it is only the beginning)…

    Share the stories of Secret Agents of Gratitude from the past week (and for the entire challenge), and share the personal testimonies of gratitude. Perhaps you arrange for today to be a potluck feast, or a quiet gathering… whatever feels like letting the joy of what you have completed in.

    Once you have shared with one another, share with us below!
  • Did you perceive any difference in attitude or demeanor, or any positive way in which your community related to you or one another that struck you as related to this exercise? Were there any funny or endearing moments you'd like to share?
  • Were there any difficulties with this exercise? Any disruptions, or other interference? We'd love to hear what you struggled with, and your thoughts on any causes, and how you adjusted (or perhaps didn't)?
  • When you are complete with your answers, click "Submit" and accept your Certificate of Completion!
Save and Continue Later

Fun Gratitude Facts

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We have partnered with UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center to provide you with these scientific facts. We have also recommended other Gratitude Revealed short films you might enjoy and learn from. Click on an item below to expand and reveal more.

GRATEFUL PEOPLE ARE HAPPIER

Studies has found that grateful people experience more optimism, joy, enthusiasm, and other positive emotions, and they have a deeper appreciation for life’s simple pleasures. In fact, gratitude can be a powerful antidote to the materialistic yearnings that can get in the way of happiness: Studies find that materialistic people are less happy because they feel less grateful for what they have, always striving for the next shiny object to bring them happiness. True happiness, however, lies in appreciating what you have.

Recommended Gratitude Revealed Short Film: HAPPINESS VIDEO

FEELING GRATEFUL GOES HAND-IN-HAND WITH FEELING CONNECTED TO YOUR FAITH

Research suggests that people who go to church more frequently are more likely to feel grateful, and vice versa. Plus, evidence suggests that religious people’s higher levels of gratitude may explain why they are happier, and feeling grateful to God may contribute to people’s well-being in a unique way. All of these results indicate that feeling connected to your faith and your faith community go hand-in-hand with feeling more gratitude. Gratitude and faith both seem to be important ways to develop a strong sense of purpose in life.

Recommended Gratitude Revealed Short Film: PURPOSE VIDEO

GRATITUDE ENCOURAGES US TO PAY IT FORWARD

When people receive a gift, studies suggest that feeling gratitude motivates them to “pay it forward” and extend a helping hand to others. In fact, this chain of generosity and gratitude may ripple through social networks, creating an upward spiral of goodness. Some evidence even suggests that their generosity may ripple through three degrees of separation—from one person to another to another to another—extending well beyond the initial kind act. Gratitude, then, may create far-reaching effects from a single act of generosity.

Recommended Gratitude Revealed Short Film: GENEROSITY VIDEO

GRATITUDE IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

Gratitude is good for our health: Studies link gratitude to a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, better sleep quality, a reduced risk of heart disease, and better kidney function, among many other health benefits. It also seems to protect us from mental health problems like depression and stress. That may be because gratitude improves our relationships: Expressing gratitude makes people feel closer to a friend or significant other, and strong social connections are a major factor in good health.

Recommended Gratitude Revealed Short Film: CONNECTION VIDEO

ggsc_logo3For more on the science of gratitude, visit the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

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For More Paths to Gratitude, You May Like to Watch:

 
 
 

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