Our friends of Action for Happiness provide us with yet another beautifully crafted, Positive Psychology-infused calendar. For november, it´s all about trying out new things. As usual, you can get a printable version here.
Please note that these calendars now have a big fan community all around the globe so people will translate them to other languages. Therefore, after a fews days, the calendars are typically available in languages such as Spanish, German, and French
These are the the ten keys to happier living according to Action for Happiness, a UK-Based NGO backed by luminaries such as the Daila Lama and Sir Richard Layard – focusing on disseminating knowledge on Positive Psychology to the general public and helping people to set up local meetings groups (among many other things). Please help to share the wisdom!
I stumbled upon this quote by Anaïs Nin today and instantly experienced at feeling of being strangely “at home”.
If what Proust says is true, that happiness is the absence of fever, then I will never know happiness. For I am possessed by a fever for knowledge, experience, and creation.
On second thought, I remembered what my signature strengths are according to the Peterson/Seligman typology:
I guess this is one of the reasons why we all react differently to the varying definitions of happiness: Some are congruent with our innate strengths, others not so much.
If you´d like to find out what your top strengths are, I encourage you to visit the homepage of the VIA Institute on Character. There, you can take a test and get your results for free.
Since the onset of psychology as an academic discipline at the end of the 19th century, it has been functioning on the premise of a disease model: most psychologists were mainly interested in what´s “wrong with people” – and then finding cures for all those wrongs. Which is fine, but … just not the only way looking at humankind. It took psychology about a hundred years to take on the opposite perspective: trying to find out what´s right with people. Together with a colleague, the late Christopher Peterson, Martin Seligman published the book Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification about ten years ago, which scientifically classifies and describes 24 human strengths based on six broad virtues.
In order to make their list, a character strength had to satisfy most of the following criteria. Character strengths should be:
The six virtues and 24 character strengths are:
(strengths that involve the acquisition and use of knowledge)
(strengths that allow one to accomplish goals in the face of opposition)
(strengths of tending and befriending others)
(strengths that build healthy community)
(strengths that protect against excess)
(strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning)
Why should anybody be interested in his/her strengths? The rationale for finding out what our real strengths are is rather simple: Using our so-called signature strengths in daily life and work makes us happy – and most likely: successful. It makes us feel good about ourselves. It invigorates and energizes us. It´s the real deal…
You can find out what your signature strength are by taking a comprehensive scientific test on Martin Seligman´s website: the Signature Strengths Questionnaire. I´ve taken the test about a year ago – my main character strengths are:
You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.
Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.
You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.
You value close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated. The people to whom you feel most close are the same people who feel most close to you.
Mappalicious 