Posted by Dr. Judy at 3:00 am
© 2011 Dr. Judy Krings
Want to live positive psychology “the good life?” Then you need to identify and
empower your 24 character strengths to anchor well-being. Time to enrich your
life with less work and more play!
What Does Positive Psychology Mean To You?
Simply defined, as one client said to me the other day, “Before coaching, I asked
myself, “Is this all there is? I just want to be happier. When I asked her what
happier looked like to her, her light bulb moment flashed! “I want a good life.
I want more fun. I want more time for myself and time to go to volunteer and
make the world better.” BINGO! Then and there she set goals to achieve a more
upbeat and fulfilling life.
Positive psychology harvests all your sparkling facets. You define what a
“good person” means to you. You dive into your strengths and virtues. Want
to know a few? Capacity to love and be loved, courage, curiosity, forgiveness,
tenacity, gratitude, social intelligence, and critical thinking. At the community
level: civility, altruism, work ethics, tolerance, and nurturance.
Here are 7 tips to help you understand your strengths, win at well-being, and
pay your wisdom forward:
1. Expand and open your mind to learning new perspectives and gain
mind-expanding personal insights. Take the Values in Action Survey (VIA)
at www.viacharacter.org. Find your strengths. Remember none is better than
another. The top 5 are called your Signature Strengths as you may use these more
often. And don’t be shocked if they don’t seem to fit. My first one is Appreciation
of Beauty and Excellence. When I saw this I thought. “How shallow is that! Why
couldn’t I have had a ‘good’ one like courage?” Then it hit me. No matter how bad
my day seemed, if I paused to look at art and nature, I could cope with just about
anything. I was sold on strengths then and there.
2. Feel your optimism and resilience expand as you understand your
strengths lead you to well-being. When life is forcing you to eat a crap
sandwich, look to your strengths. For instance, if you tell yourself, “Nobody
listens to me!”, ask yourself, “Am I a good listener? Am I expecting too much?”
Ask yourself, “Which strength do I choose to use to get people to listen?” Perhaps
its courage to ask others if they would please sit awhile and hear you out.
Look at your 24 strengths as treats you give yourself. Like a tasty hot fudge sundae
with 24 toasted pecans on top. YUMMY. Strengths sweeten your lifeand change
your perspectives.
3. Savor how strengths help you with direction and decision-making.
Maybe you need to call upon your patience strength to deal with a difficult boss
or an unhappy partner. Maybe you need to look your persistence strength in the
eye to empower you to get a job done.
4. Capture your confidence strength. Know it is a by-product of action.
Use your strengths in a planned and organized way. Add other strengths like
optimism to make your journey easier. Be grateful to yourself and others who
have helped you along the way.
5. Generate zest as you achieve your very best! Celebrate your victories.
Feel your positive energy pump you up as you win at well-being. It’s OK to be
humble, but celebrating success leads to more happiness.
6. Breathe in fulfillment and meaning when you engage your strengths,
especially when your goals look difficult. Pile on positivity every time you
strap on a strength. Want more fun? Get a partner to help cheer and mentor you.
Remind yourself of how joyful you will feel whenyou run across the finish line.
7. Applaud your mindful awareness. Know your strengths guide your
way through life. Pull your strengths out of our quiver. Be patient and hopeful
as you pull back your strength arrows. Shoot their positivity to help you hit the
bull’s eye. Want to make this fun? Draw a target on a piece of paper. Write your 24
strengths inside your target. Get creative. Let your inner kid out to play. Throw a
dart (careful with your aim!) and see which strength you nailed. Challenge yourself
to use that strength for a day.
Remember if you want to achieve something get out your VIA results and take a
gander at which strength the best serve you. Really stop and you will see them
jump right out at you. You might also do what I do. Memorize your top strengths.
Print out your list of 24 so you can grab it at a weak moment when you need some
help move you forward. They are one terrific life vest, so always kept them close
to your chest!
If you operate in the business world, check out the Gallop StrengthsFinders2
assessment. Engaging strengths at work helps you become a better leader,
enhances skills, energizes your performance.
Think about your favorite strengths stories? I especially love when you tell me
you piggy backed strengths and use a whole constellation of them at once. Or when
you have fun with your strengths and make up a new one designed especially for
you.That’s really fun! One if mine id “Gardenator”. Why? When I am in my garden,
my mind roams free and gives rise to creativity!
And speaking of gardening, Mom and Ken burst blissfully blossomed at Mom’s
93rd birthday party last week.
I’d love to hear your strengths stories, so put a smile on my face and leave
me some comments.
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If you’d like to hear uniquely inspiring strengths stories and savor gorgeous
photos, go to http://www.coachingpositivity.com/photo-adventures-in-cuba/
and take a look at my new book, “Photo Adventures in Cuba ~ Unlock Your Power
of Positivity”. You can also get my blog delivered to your email and score a copy
of my free Ebook on how to rev up your relationship.
Thanks for being my positivity partner!
