Positive gossiping
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ―Marcel Proust
👥 Serves: 11-25 people, 2-10 people
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 31-60 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: Outdoor space, a group of peers (or your team)
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Community, Liberatory Learning, Positive Emotion, Radical Care
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Abundance, Acknowledgement, Affirmation, Fun, Giving, Gratitude, Hosting conversations, Optimism, Reciprocity, Reframing
Positive gossiping
📝 Description
A group activity to celebrate each other and foster gratefulness in a fun way.
When you hear the word “gossip”, you would most probably immediately think of something negative and malicious, aimed at making yourself feel better by judging someone else. With this activity, we turn the concept of “gossip” on its head, where it becomes a fun and lighthearted way to share appreciation for others around you.
The following activity works well for teams (e.g. during team retreats) but also at the end of a residential summit where participants have spent a few days together and bonded to a fairly deep level. There are two main ways of leading this activity, so you may choose whatever suits your group best.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Positive gossiping – walking (30’)
Divide participants into pairs or triads and explain they will go on a walk in Nature (have one group lead the walk and every other group follows, leaving some space from group to group so that it feels intimate and safe). During this time, each pair/triad will gossip about other people in the group (themselves included) but in a positive way: it is all about celebrating and appreciating each other.
Step 2 – Positive gossiping – circle (30’)
Alternatively, have people sit in a large circle (or two smaller circles if you have a very big group) and give them the chance to gossip about each other in the group in a positive way: again, the purpose is to share appreciation and gratitude for others in the group. The difference here is that instead of gossiping with 2-3 other people, it takes place in front of more people.
Step 3 – Debriefing (15’)
Whether the positive gossiping happened on a walk or in a circle, take some time at the end for a quick debrief on the activity, with a particular focus on how everyone is feeling after the experience.