Sugar cubes
Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. ―Margaret Cousins
👥 Serves: 11-25 people, 2-10 people
🎚 Difficulty: Easy
⏳ Total time: Ongoing
🥣 Ingredients: Envelopes (1 per person), plenty of post-its, a few pens
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Community, Positive Emotion, Radical Care
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Acknowledgement, Affirmation, Altruism, Celebration, Championing, Closeness, Gratitude, Kindness, Reciprocity, Relating to Others
Sugar cubes
📝 Description
A quick way to cultivate gratitude.
Using this very simple activity during a workshop or training is the best way to make sure that everyone goes back home with their hearts full of gratitude towards the experience they had and the people they met.
You may want to thank someone for a nice comment they shared, express your appreciation for what they do, or just tell them how much you enjoyed a certain conversation with them.
Once the participants return home, reading the messages from their peers will fill them with joy and gratitude.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Preparation (10’)
Have one envelope for each person and write one name per envelope. Stick all the envelopes on a wall (or have a dedicated sugar cubes room).
Step 2 – Introduce the concept (10’)
At the beginning of your event, introduce the concept of the sugar cubes and remind them to take the time to write these messages throughout the summit. Remind them from time to time throughout the summit. You may also want to allocate time for sugar cube writing here and there.
Step 3 – Hand out the envelopes (10’)
At the end of the summit, hand out the envelopes and invite participants to open them on their way home or once they have arrived home.
Step 4 – Alternative (45’)
If you have time, turn this into a creative session at the beginning of the event.
- Gather many magazines, scissors, glue, and coloured pens and give participants 15 minutes to decorate their A4 envelope (if you don’t do this, A5 envelopes are fine).
- Gather participants in a circle and give everyone the chance to briefly introduce their envelope to the group. It is a great way to learn participants’ names too!