Throw a Gratitude Potluck!

Last Saturday night, I sat around a big table loaded with delicious food. There were thirty of us or more, sitting around that table, in the middle of the Center for Happiness' Ballroom.

The table and room had been set up and decorated in about 30 minutes, by just a few of us, and as people arrived, their dishes were placed in the middle of the table. Desserts went on the dessert table, to the side.

As  more people arrived, we made extra room and let the space hold all of us.

In a way, it looked like a regular potluck, with an emphasis on wanting to eat family style, passing the dishes to one another - as opposed to a buffet.

Yet looking a little closer, and listening to the energy of the conversation, it was not quite a regular potluck.

It was a Gratitude Potluck. Our fourth one.

Initially designed to celebrate the first year of our online "90-day" Gratitude Group, these potlucks
are about tapping into - and possibly sharing - what is going right in our lives. 

And whereas one might think that this would require a whole lot of planning and organized activities, my experience is that, really, it does not.

How does it work? Very simply.

We just "set up the container" (in this case a beautiful yellow room with a super long table and some small vases of flowers), Declare our Essences (Fun, Community and Gratitude), set a table, and then invite our friends and their friends to show up and bask in the joy.

To amp up the focus, we had some small Sprinkling cards on each plate, reminding everyone that They Mattered, Thanking Them for Them and that They Rocked.

A few minutes before eating, we all took three collective breaths and spent a few private minutes, eyes closed, to think about whom and what we were thankful for.

Then we ate and laughed.

Before dessert, we took turns standing at the end of the table, sharing one or two things for which we were grateful - then dropping a big red pebble in a vase of water to energize it. At that point, and amidst more laughter, I saw a few tears, too.

That's all. Well, that and great food.

And it was magical. Sweet, easy, no big deal and yet a big deal.

The reason I am sharing this with you is that I want to invite you to create a Gratitude Potluck in your community.

Really, I do.  Maybe even make it a yearly thing.  At a time when a whole lot of focus is spent on "what went terribly wrong," I invite you to be the host of "what went so very right." I invite you to gather people around that attention, that intention. I invite you to create, gather and celebrate a tribe of people whose vibration will carry you - and each other - through the cycles of life.

It is simple. So simple.
I believe you will find that it will have been immensely worth your time.

I also believe that many Gratitude Potlucks across the country, independent of political, religious or even hobby affiliation can create a powerful, important, and necessary web. Now more than ever.

If you want a little help in getting started, email me and I will send you my Create a Gratitude Potluck Checklist.

Wishing you a lovely Monday!

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."