subject: You Are Your Strengths! [print this page] You Are Your Strengths! You Are Your Strengths!
Every person on earth has a reason for being here.I deeply believe it. Yes, every single person, each person has something of value to offer, some task to accomplish, some gift to share.
One way to look at that is that clearly every person has a unique set of talents and gifts, and when you discover what yours are and honour them, you are doing what you are put on earth to do. Martin Seligman, The father of Positive Psychology has developed these ideas in his research and books. Martin emphasises the positve signature strengths that each individual possesses, encouraging people to discover and grow to reach their full potential.
If you go to http://www.authentichappiness.org and take the Values In Action survey, you will get a readout of your top five strengths.
There are twenty-four strengths in this system, and you can see what your top five are. Then if you do more of those strengths, you are doing what you are best at, you are giving to the world the kind of gift that you are uniquely suited to give.
Marcello Spinella has just created a very valuable resource on this. He has definitions of all twenty-four strengths, and then has wise quotes about each strength. If you take some time to go through the whole twenty four and especially reflect and contemplate your top five, I believe you will be richly rewarded.
So, One you have identified your top strengths, amplify them, build on your strengths, make a note of what you are good at. You may only have one thing on the list to start with, but keep adding things as they come to mind no matter how insignificant they may seem at the moment. Ask the people who value you or you are close to you what they see as your strengths. As you move ahead you will find that you can draw on your strengths to help you take action towards your goals!
There are many positive psychology resources available today, tools that will help you to create positive emotion, engagement in what you love, a sense of achievement, belonging, and a sense of meaning in your life.
What are you passionate about? What really matters to you? Once you discover what you love to do, and make time and space to be in this zone, you will find you become motivated to pursue your unique purpose.
Live, love and matter! Go to the authentic happiness website and discover your top 5 strengths today!
