Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg talks about his new movie Gratitude Revealed. 

<div class="block">Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg talks about his new movie <i>Gratitude Revealed</i>. </div>

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Be Well: Louie Schwartzberg Talks New Film 'Gratitude Revealed' 

It is important to me because my parents were holocaust survivors. So growing up in Brooklyn, I learned a lot about the little things in life. They appreciated food on the table, a roof over your head, a steady job, the miracle of having Children. And I think they also had a positive attitude towards life. So gratitude is something we all need to, I think aspire to, to overcome adversity, which happens to everybody. You talk about the forces of gratitude. So let's talk about the first one. Community. Well, community is important. What have we learned from the pandemic disconnection from each other not being able to go out to have dinner with friends and family? We're hard wired for that curiosity is what you know, takes you into the world of wonder and awe. And that to me is like the ultimate blissful moment to experience. I'm so glad you mentioned curiosity like you mentioned, it's the second one. But why is that so important? Curiosity is the magic moment. I would say it's the intersection between art and science. Without curiosity, you can't really explain reality. What is the world? So you know, scientists explain one way artists another way and it makes you present, which is what all meditation practices are about. The next one. You know, a lot about creativity. How does that foster gratitude, creativity? I never thought of it that way. Well, in our movie, we actually have a great sequence of women coming out of prison being taught um stand up comedy in order to build self esteem and to be creative and that enables them to transition back into normal life. And that takes a lot of bravery as well. Yeah. Well, to be able to take the, you know, the difficulties in your life, talk about them, laugh about them, you know, and have that be who you are and be proud of it. Last, certainly not least courage. How does courage and gratitude go hand in hand? Courage is important because we all have difficulties in our lives and it takes a lot of strength I think to face them and to be able to be aware of them. And when you, when you do that, you're able to then be grateful for what you do have and express, you know, thanks to people that have helped you along the way. The question is, how do we become more grateful, easy to say, thank you. That's it. That's it. Well, what are you grateful for in this moment? I'm grateful I'm talking to you that I've got five fingers that move. I'm breathing. I mean, there's always something you could be grateful for. And what that does is it puts a pause on the negative rumination that goes on in our heads all the time. So you can't have a positive thought and a negative thought at the same time. So once you stop the negative thinking and you think of anything you can be grateful for, you were already on the path to feeling better.