Knowing Your Strengths: That's Better.

Recognize the good.

I tend to be an active/reactive person when it comes to my emotions, and in trying to raise my everyday baseline level of happiness I've realized that that often acts as an inhibitor to me being happy, especially as of late.  I've thought a lot lately that if I can just get these dang emotions in check then I can be more happy overall because I won't be so capricious and fickle.  So I decided to go back through some of my older posts and see what advice I could offer myself on the matter of being happy and try those methods that have worked for others.

In an article I linked a while back entitled Are Happy People Dumb? it recommends a list with various suggestions to take, one of which being to maximize your strengths.  First, take the VIA Signature Strengths test here and find out what your Signature Strengths are.

So I went there and did that.
Here are my results.


Top Character Strength: Honesty, Authenticity and Genuineness.
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

Second Character Strength: Leadership.  

You excel at the tasks of leadership: encouraging a group to get things done and preserving harmony within the group by making everyone feel included. You do a good job organizing activities and seeing that they happen.

Third Character Strength: Spirituality, Sense of Purpose, Faith.

You have strong and coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe. You know where you fit in the larger scheme. Your beliefs shape your actions and are a source of comfort to you.

Fourth Character Strength: Caution, Prudence and Discretion.

You are a careful person, and your choices are consistently prudent ones. You do not say or do things that you might later regret.

Fifth Character Strength: Citizenship, Teamwork and Loyalty.

You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group.

Now, I know Achor recommends maximizing these strengths by using them in new ways, and I'll try that next week, starting tomorrow, but for right now it just felt good knowing I have strengths.  It's a mean thing to constantly feel down, and when you are an active/reactive person like me who often notices your emotions colouring your day with gray, even just thinking there's yellow somewhere can make it seem brighter.