Authentic Happiness

In the 20th century, psychological research was primarily focused on mental illness.

In fact, for every one hundred articles published on mental illness, there was only one published on mental health. We now have a much better understanding of depression, schizophrenia, and other “negative elements” of human behavior; unfortunately, we made much less progress toward scientifically understanding the elements of health and optimal living.

Although many psychologists have explored positive elements of human behavior, it was Martin Seligman who, as the President of the American Psychological Association in 2000, launched an aggressive initiative to scientifically understand happiness and other positive emotions. He and his colleagues labeled this new branch of research “Positive Psychology.”

Basically, they figured that although we were pretty good at taking someone from -9 to -3 to 0 through pharmacology and psychotherapy, it was time to focus on understanding how to guide someone from 0 to +3 to +9.

It’s pretty exciting to look at the scientific research that is being conducted on subjects such as the value of self-awareness, goal directed behavior, altruism, gratitude and other aspects of optimal living.

Starting with those 6 core virtues, Seligman and his Positive Psychology researchers have categorized a set of 24 character strengths.

We each have aspects of these strengths in our personality. The science is showing that, as we get to know which of these strengths constitute our “signature strengths” and use them regularly in our every day lives, our happiness and well-being go up!

That’s a major theme of the book: Focus on your strengths.

Another one of my favorite books on the subject of the science of happiness is by a brilliant researcher named Robert Sternberg. In his book, Successful Intelligence, he introduced me to this idea that we shouldn’t spend too much time on our weaknesses. His research showed that the most successful among us weren’t those with the highest IQs or SAT’s or GPA’s. Rather, the most successful are those who know who they are and what they’re good at and they rock those strengths—spending just enough time to make sure their weaknesses didn’t kick their butts and the rest of the time developing their strengths.

Powerful stuff.

Seligman and his wealth of research points to the idea that we need to figure out what our strengths are and use them often.

In this Note, I’m going to focus our energy on helping you get more clear about what they are and how you can integrate them into your life on a more consistent basis!

Before you cruise over to the web site to take the “Signature Strengths” test at AuthenticHappiness.com, let’s take a first pass at self-identifying your greatest strengths, shall we?!?

My greatest strengths are:

1. _______________________________________________________________
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5. _______________________________________________________________

Alright. I think it’s time to take the official Signature Strengths test. :)

Find some time where you have 30-40 minutes of quiet, uninterrupted time to go online and take the test (again: AuthenticHappiness.com).

Go ahead. We’ll wait for you. :)

…

So, what’d your results say?!?

My Signature Strengths are:

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5. _______________________________________________________________

For those curious souls (and to set the stage for the rest of this Note), mine are:

1. Creativity/em><: I enjoy finding creative solutions to problems.

(I’ve taken the test twice and these are the ones that showed up!)

Now, that we know what our signature strengths are, it’s time to make sure we use them often in our every day lives, eh?!?

How about you?

How do YOU view your work?

If you’re currently rockin’ your Calling, AWESOME.

If your work feels more like a Job or a Career than a Calling, no worries.

Let’s see what we can do to move in the direction of a Calling!

How?

Well, let’s start with your strengths.

Have you done the test yet? If not, get on it!

If so, let’s look at your Top 5 signature strengths.

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4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________

Yes, I realize you just wrote them down, but let’s write ‘em down again. I think it’s super important to get *really* clear on what our strengths are so we can more consciously create a life in which we’re using them in greatest service to the world.

In fact, I used to write down my strengths EVERY DAY on the top of my daily planning guide as I explored ways I could use them more often and I attribute that practice as one of the keys to my deepening self-awareness.

Alright. We’ve got your strengths.

Now what? Now, let’s write your Calling description.

Let’s start with mine as a sample:

As the Chief Philosopher of PhilosophersNotes, I am committed (and giddy!) to use my signature strengths in the greatest service to the world:

1. I use my Creativity every day in my writing and as I create my business—having fun coming up with new ways to share wisdom and innovative ways to build my business embodying the ideals of love, fun and conscious capitalism that I believe in.
2. I use my Hope & Optimism every day as I set my intention before writing—committing to sharing my enthusiasm for life and ideas about how we can create our greatest lives. And, I use my Hope & Optimism as I face the inevitable challenges of life and creativity.
3. I use my Courage every day as I take the financial risk to capitalize my business and put myself out there as a writer and teacher. I smile (and sometimes groan :) in the face of challenges and doubts and celebrate the opportunities I have to put these ideas into practice in my own life!
4. I use my Kindness & Generosity every day as I pay my team generously and give my best to my work and relationships—seeing the divine harmony as I circulate as much love and kindness and wisdom and abundance as I can!
5. I use my Energy & Enthusiasm every day as I put exclamation point and happy face after exclamation point and happy face in my writing and in every conversation I have with subscribers and partners and friends. :)
6. I use my Wisdom every day as I distill the essence of these amazing books into fun, easily digested and readily applied nuggets of wisdom. AND as I strive to embody these ideals with more and more integrity moment to moment to moment.

Well, there ya go. A quick look at one way I’ve framed my work as a Calling.

Your turn!

What are your strengths?!?

How are you using them every day?

How are you giving them to something bigger than yourself?!?

I’m repeating myself deliberately.

We need to become conscious of how this all comes together as we create a truly “Good Life”:

“The good life consists in deriving happiness by using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of living. The meaningful life adds one more component: using these same strengths to forward knowledge, power, or goodness.”

So, what are your strengths?!?

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4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________

How are you using them every day?

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5. ______________________________________________________________