Character strengths are the positive parts of your personality that impact how you think, feel and behave. Learning and discovering what our character strengths are can increase our self-awareness and allow us to accept ourselves more.
By knowing what our signature strengths are, we can exercise these in our lives which can allow us to feel an increased sense of wellbeing. By knowing our lesser strengths, we can understand our past experiences better and learn how to further develop these strengths for the future.
Once you have identified your character strengths, you will also have an awareness of your lesser strengths and there may be some that you would like to develop. You can take steps to create new habits and practice the strengths that you would like to see more of in your personality.
You can develop character strengths through practising the Six Ways to Wellbeing. Click below to see which strengths can be developed through these actions:
You could also try to spot character strengths in people around you, to give them a boost and to help you identify the links between strengths and behaviours. The following exercise can help you to do this:
(S) Spot: name the strength you see in a friend, relative, or coursemate. Use the VIA characteristics to help.
(E) Explain: what was the reason behind you identifying this strength? Where did you see it?
(A) Appreciate: Tell them what it means to you and the value it brings.
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