Joy 101: Strengths
Welcome to a brand new blog series, Joy 101, in which I’ll be delving into some of the key components of joy. I’ll be exploring what positive psychology tells us about each component, exploring the proven benefits, and of course, giving you some tips on how to invite each one into your life.
For a long time, mainstream psychology was focused on people’s weaknesses. It was about understanding and trying to fix the psychological problems that people might face, but what the field didn’t address was helping people to thrive and flourish.
That is until positive psychology came along. Positive psychology is all about studying people who have good wellbeing, and trying to understand what we can learn from them so we can help more people thrive. Good mental health is not just about repairing what’s wrong, but also about building on what feels right, and that’s where focusing on our strengths comes in.
There’s a lot of research that shows the benefits of leaning into our strengths, so let’s start there…
Benefits of using your strengths:
Regularly using our strengths can help to combat stress and recover from burnout.
Focusing on strengths can help to build optimism, something that we know is essential for building a joyful life.
The more we use our strengths, the more confident we are likely to feel - makes sense right?
Regular strengths usage helps to build more positive relationships and research suggests that it can also help to lower levels of depression.
So, now we know all of the ways in which using our strengths can contribute to a joyful life, let me share some tips on how you can use your strengths more…
Tips for using your strengths:
Take the VIA Character Strengths survey
The VIA Character Strengths survey is a free tool developed by the founders of positive psychology. It helps you to identify what your top character strengths are, and what I like about this tool is that it focuses on your character strengths (how you’re motivated and what is important to you) rather than competency strengths. Take the survey and see if your results align with what you think your strengths are.
Put them into action
Once you’ve identified your strengths, think about how you can use them more. Try to identify a way to put your strengths into action every single day - the more you start to focus on using your strengths, the more benefits you’ll experience.
Make a list of 50 positive things about yourself
That might feel like a really long list, so instead, make 5 lists of 10 things. Firstly, make a list of 10 strengths you have - you can take inspiration from your survey results, or think about things you’re good at at work. Secondly, make a list of 10 successes that you’ve had in life. Thirdly, make a list of 10 ways you are kind to others. Next, make a list of 10 ways that you support other people. Finally, write a list of 10 things that you are grateful for within your life that you have created e.g. the home you’ve built, the family you’ve grown etc. Keep your list somewhere safe and check in with it regularly - doing so will remind you of all of your strengths and positive attributes.
Notice what you don’t want to change about you and your life
We regularly talk about what we want to change or fix in our lives - for example, we might make plans to get fitter or change our jobs. But a great way to put some focus on our strengths is to think about the things you don’t want to change. What is already great about your life? What is worth celebrating right now?
-
Using your strengths is a great way to start inviting more joy into your life. You’ve got your own special superpowers, and using them will make you feel good and will also help you to help others more - win win!