Strength of character – got a training plan for your Gratitude muscles? July 22, 2020

Can you identify your top ‘Character Strengths’?

To be a character strength, the trait must meet criteria such as: the opposite of a negative trait; valued by society; widely recognized across cultures; can lead to fulfillment and satisfaction; is measurable and distinctive; does not diminish others.

In the early 2000’s, Martin Seligman a founder of the Positive Psychology movement along with some of America’s leading brainiac researchers agreed on a list of twenty-four basic character strengths. Love. Kindness. Humour. Creativity. Gratitude. Love of learning are six strengths listed. If you are interested in identifying your top strengths, take the online test: https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths

The theory goes and I totally agree – once you discover your character strengths, you can use them as your secret weapons – at work, in life and play. Further, if you aren’t happy with your top strengths, or want to shift some around, you can also build or train yourself to change your bench strength by changing some habits of mind.

What’s more? An article in Scientific American by Scott Barry Kaufman (2015) declares that the science proves: If you seek high well-being, your best bets are gratitude and love of learning.

Gratitude and love of learning! Need I say more? Read the article here: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/which-character-strengths-are-most-predictive-of-well-being/

If you are a bit weak in the Gratitude department, try this: Name three things that went well today. Nothing there? How about yesterday or any day this week? Can you keep noting three good things over the next couple of weeks?

You can take the Gratitude Quiz as a before and after test, in say 28 days of tracking, and be sure to let me know if anything changes!

Thanks for reading,