I enjoy bringing my strengths to my work. I express my curiosity as I open up each new e-mail message, I express hope as I help clients work through struggles, and I express love (warmth and genuineness) with my colleagues as we discuss new ideas and process daily work happenings. This fills me with a greater passion and commitment to my work.
How about you? Do you express your highest character strengths each day at your job?
The research has been clear:
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:
It was 6:58 PM on Tuesday October, 26, 2010 when I realized I just wanted to be myself. At that moment, I realized that I just couldn’t be anyone else.
LeighAndria Young, student and poet
School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Cincinnati, Ohio
These are the refreshing words of high school student, LeighAndria Young, that describe her shift toward a deeper self-acceptance of who she is. She embraces all her inner qualities – her strengths and foibles – realizing that it is her uniqueness and her capacity to “just be” that is most crucial in life.
Watch a 3-minute video of LeighAndria performing her poem, “6:58,” at this link here.
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:
Here’s a question that scientists are saying can really matter:
“The Avengers” is now the third highest grossing film of all time (domestic and worldwide). The film is about famous superheroes coming together as a team to battle evil. Are the millions of people watching this film learning anything about the film’s main premise – teamwork?
Yes and no.
“Wow, that’s a strength? It all makes sense now. That’s incredible!”
I’ll never forget this reaction from a freshman at a local university in Cincinnati, after he discovered his highest strength of character was appreciation of beauty and excellence.
He went on to say:
Mental health is about thinking, feeling and behaving in healthy ways. We can improve our mental health by widening the way we use our strengths of character. Each of our character strengths –creativity, judgment, zest, teamwork, hope – are actually capacities for thinking, feeling and behaving.
We spend a lot of our waking moments being consumed with negative thoughts – how we didn’t measure up, pondering a mistake we made, or worrying about a conflict that is arising.
We spend a fair amount of time being upset with painful emotions such as anger, sadness, guilt and anxiety. Why not balance our negativity with healthy thoughts and positive feelings? We can turn to our strengths to help.
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Site last updated: 24 May 2013
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