The Gratitude Jar Activity
Gratitude Jar is an activity to foster group sharing and reflection, promote mindfulness, and inspire creativity. This exercise is all about practising gratitude in a fun and creative way as much as inviting reflection.
In advance, gather all of the resources you will need for this activity. Distribute one jar to each person and a bunch of short strips of paper.
Announce that you will soon lead your group through a fun activity to reflect on their achievements and express gratitude. Instruct each person to write as many things that they have achieved or are grateful for, one per single strip of paper.
It can be one word or a sentence, whatever comes to mind. They don’t need to write much, but you may find that some people in your group need some prompts to get them thinking.
Frame your group’s reflection as appropriate, eg the most recent group experience. Encourage your group to identify those things that they have control over, eg not the weather.
For example:
- Did you have coffee with a friend?
- Who or what is something that makes you happy?
- Can you think of a recent win?
When ready, invite everyone to place these strips of paper into their jar. If desired, invite one or more volunteers to share some of what they contributed to their jar.
To conclude, invite your group to reflect on their experience of being grateful.
Moment of Reflection
- How do you feel after reflecting on these things you’re grateful for?
- What did you find most challenging about this exercise?
- What did you like the best about this exercise?
- Have you ever stopped to appreciate these things that you’re grateful for before?
- In what ways can you see yourself using your gratitude jar regularly?
This could be a daily or weekly or periodic experience, so that over time the jar continues to fill with wonderful grateful thoughts.
The topics of this publication: reflection, self, mindfulness
