Who Are You When You’re Strong?

We often get caught up in thinking about what’s not working or what needs improving in our lives, especially when we face difficulties.

Today is an invitation to look within for hidden treasures and discover the amazing gifts we already have.

Signature strengths refer to those strengths that are organic to us. We each have capabilities that enable us to move through life from a place of health. We all know someone who is authentically generous, compassionate, courageous or loyal, or is an appreciator of beauty. Each of these is a strength,  and each of us possesses core sustaining strengths that are an important foundation to healthy change. We just have to remember them and actually use them, either when we seek positive change or when life throws us challenges.

Take a few breaths and then take a moment to choose one or two words that describe your strengths that ring true to you about yourself. Some examples could be kindness, optimism, creativity, faithfulness, playfulness, determination, etc.

How Do You Respond To Life?

Resiliency is when we can sustain healthy transformations from leaning on our strengths in moments of stress. We can choose our actions and ways of being based upon our natural tendencies and the capacities that can move us forward. This doesn’t mean that we are not vulnerable, and often, we are often raw and exposed under stress, but what it means is that we won’t waste time punishing ourselves for who we are not, or ruminating about the gifts we don’t have. We take the moment of rawness as an opportunity to use the strengths we do have, while being open to what the moment has to teach us about growth.

Our energy follows our attention, so if we put our attention towards our strengths, we develop them and move forward with this as our new normal.

The next step is learning how to apply your knowledge of your strength.

Once you’ve identified your strengths, when a difficult or uncomfortable moment comes, center yourself and take out your list. Choose one of your strengths. Just one and apply that strength to your daily life for the next week, even if you only do it for a moment.

No matter what life brings, remember that you have more than one strength to bring to the table and you can apply it in the present moment, becoming the change we seek.

Who can we become when life pulls the rug out from under us? Our fullest selves, gifted with the qualities that enable us to rise. We simply must remember what they are and choose to go toward them.

As you practice focusing on your strengths, you may have your own insights into your own behavior and how to handle difficult and uncomfortable situations authentically, according to your nature. This is a peak experience, providing you with not only insight and stress reduction, but also improved energy levels, focus, productivity, happiness, professional attitudes and relationships with a new and authentic response to life.