April e-news
Dr Suzy Green
Happy Easter!
What a wonderful time to reflect on the year so far and to take a well-earned
break! Easter provides us with a number of opportunities to put positive
psychology to practice. Firstly, it can be a time of deepening our sense
of spirituality, no matter what your religion. Secondly, it’s a good
time to cultivate a sense of gratitude for our family and friends as we spend
time together. Lastly, and certainly not least, it’s a perfect time
to practice the art of savouring. Savouring is the awareness of pleasure
and the deliberate conscious attention to the experience of pleasure. Enjoy
the Easter eggs and hot cross buns!
Last month your task was to
describe your “best possible self”. It’s important that
this doesn’t gather dust in a pile to be filed somewhere or stays sitting
in your journal only to be viewed on the rare occasions that you flick back
to see how far you’ve come! Place this somewhere you will view it regularly.
As I have suggested previously, visual triggers are powerful in enhancing
our mindfulness around what is important to us.
Month 4 – Character Strengths
Positive Psychology is referred to as a “strengths-based psychology” which
means it has a strong focus on identifying and developing people’s
strengths rather than focusing solely on their weaknesses. In the early days
of the Positive Psychology movement, Martin Seligman (co-founder) and Chris
Peterson (another big gun in the movement) spent a significant number of
hours researching character strengths and virtues across cultures and religions
world-wide. Through rigorous statistical analyses they identified six virtues
being wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. They
then identified 24 character strengths that sit under these core virtues.
The Values in Action (VIA) Institute in the US continue to research these
strengths in terms of understanding what “good character” is
and how it can be measured and enhanced – see www.viastrengths.org.
A strength has been defined as “a natural capacity for behaving, thinking
or feeling in a way that allows optimal functioning & performance in
the pursuit of valued outcomes” (Linley & Harrington, 2006). Peterson & Seligman
(2004) suggest that a “signature strength” involves authenticity
ie this is the “real me” and induces a feeling of excitement
and vitality while using it. Recent research has shown that the strengths
of zest, gratitude, hope and love more strongly correlate with life satisfaction,
whereas the strengths of prudence, patience and perseverance are strongly
associated with goal success.
This Month’s Action Plan – Play to Your Strengths!
Identify your top five signature strengths by completing the VIA Strengths Inventory (www.authentichappiness.org or www.viastrengths.org). It will take about 15 minutes to complete. There is also a version for children. Spend some time considering whether you’re really using these strengths in your daily life. Also spend some time thinking about using these signature strengths in new ways. For example, if one of your signature strengths is kindness, then perform an anonymous favor for a friend or family member. If it is love of learning, then learn and use a new word every day for a week. Feel free to email me if you have any feedback on this or any other of the activities.
Next month...
I will be discussing positive thinking and the significant impact that learning to think differently can have on your emotions and behaviours.
My weaknesses... I wish I could come up with something.
I'd probably have the same pause if you asked me what my strengths are.
Maybe they're the same thing.
- Al Pacino
Dr Suzy Green
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