Following the bombings in Boston, people rallied in bunches, offering support and care. The Red Cross received so much help they had to turn people away. Stories of bravery and kindness flooded the news and social media. Such expression of character is not an isolated event. People similarly rallied after 9/11, after recent natural disasters, and after tragic mass shootings.

Said another way, people are touched by the suffering of others and then take action. This action involves the expression of their own character strengths (e.g., kindness, leadership, bravery) to bring benefit to others.

Research has documented how tragedy seems to elevate what is best in us.

What are your strengths?

What is best about you?

What qualities make up who you are?

Too many times in my work as a clinical psychologist these questions would be met by blank stares from the person in front of me. And, when the question was answered at all, the response was something vague like “I like baseball” or “I’m good at cooking.” This is consistent with survey research that has found that 2/3 of people do not have a meaningful awareness of their strengths.

Strengths-spotting is one of the best, initial activities that deepens our understanding of our strengths and the strengths of others.

There are 2 general levels to strengths-spotting:

Just in time for 2013! Looking for a New Year’s resolution? Feeling a holiday lull? Wanting to increase your happiness?

New research from the science of positive psychology has found a number of practical exercises you can do to boost your happiness and decrease your depression.

Choose one of the following 7 exercises and practice it for 1 week:

Imagine this conversation between you and your child, who has just come home from school:

“Mommy, mommy, guess what?”

“What, sweetheart?”

“I used bravery and perseverance today!”

“You did?”

“Yeah, our teacher gave us a really hard project today in science class. At first I was scared and didn’t want to do it but then I decided to use my strengths.”

“What did you do?”

“I used my bravery to start working on the project and then I just keep going and going until it was done. And my teacher gave me a gold star for working so hard!”

Who is more curious – Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

Is it Romney or Obama who is perceived to be more brave, more honest, or more creative?

Who’s the stronger team-player: Joe Biden or Paul Ryan?

Each of the strengths noted are important attributes of our character. What do you think? Let your voice be heard – nominate the strengths of each candidate at the VIA Presidential Caucus poll.

I’m a bit of a “strengths” junkie. I study character strengths. I read about them, e-mail about them, teach and write about them, and study them. It seems that I’m thinking about character strengths much of the time – which one’s I’m using, how strengths work together, how they can hurt me, and how they can help me be my best.

So, it was no surprise when my mind started rattling off the character strengths I was using while playing online chess.

There are many positive psychology exercises individuals can practice to boost their well-being and help them achieve their goals. The Best Possible Self exercise is one of the stronger happiness exercises because it has good research support (see below) and people tend to find the exercise captivating and at the least, illuminating.

This exercise has been shown to boost people’s positive emotions, happiness levels, optimism, hope, improve coping skills, and elevate positive expectations about the future. It involves two basic steps:

Research studies have shown that if a therapist focuses on their client’s strengths prior to a therapy session (called “resource priming”) that a number of positive outcomes unfold. These include:

• Improved therapy outcomes
• Higher use of strengths in the session
• A stronger practitioner-client relationship
• More experiences of accomplishment (sense of mastery)
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Here’s a question that scientists are saying can really matter:

• How many of your top strengths do you express at work?
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