Category: Character Strengths

Positive Psychology identifies five character strengths that are most related to happiness:

ZEST | CURIOSITY | HOPE | GRATITUDE | LOVE

“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” Mother Teresa, missionary.

Watching Toto the cheetah cub suckling at his mother Honey’s breast on The Big Cat Diary, Animal Kingdom, 2006 (in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya) is a glimpse into the magnificence of nature. The way Honey gingerly picks Toto up, or licks him clean, or revels in his outpouring of cuddles is a symphony of love.  I was struck by how there was nothing cloying or suffocating about that interplay of love.  To the contrary it was playful, respectful and freeing.  The hardships she goes through to keep him safe and to feed him, as well as his unwavering trust in her are still heart tugging to watch.  Nature teaches us humans a lot about how to live life.

Continue reading “Love”

Positive Psychology identifies five character strengths that are most related to happiness:

ZEST | CURIOSITY | HOPE| GRATITUDE | LOVE

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie, author.

It was an incredible journey on the Danube River Cruise this past spring. As a local guide in Nuremberg, Germany regaled us with stories of the Nazi party rallies at Zeppelin Field a chill rippled up my spine.   As I heard her narration being delivered in a guarded, neutral voice I was puzzled at first. Then I began to marvel at her mastery of both history and her own emotions. Later, I walked up to her and expressed gratitude for doing a thankless job of keeping history alive so that it is never repeated again. Her eyes lit up visibly as understanding dawned of the acknowledgement. She was moved. It felt good. Expressing gratitude made me feel better. That is the charm of this exquisite character strength. It is both giving and receiving. When a child on the playground first learns to say ‘thank you’ to his playmate for sharing the swing, notice how both faces beam with joy. Gratitude has an uncanny boomerang effect!

Continue reading “Gratitude”

Positive Psychology identifies five character strengths that are most related to happiness:

ZEST | CURIOSITY | HOPE| GRATITUDE | LOVE

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes, poet.

Hope is a character strength amongst others that is corralled under the virtue of ‘Transcendence’ by the VIA Institute on Character.  I don’t know about you, but the idea of connecting to the larger universe grabs my attention.  The recommendation is employing the ‘best possible self’ exercise.  First, you engage in the pleasant task of envisioning your optimal self in the future, within realistic bounds of success.  Next, you identify your character strengths needed to transform that vision into reality.  Then, you draw upon those strengths and act upon them.  Voila!  You are reaching for the realistic dream, believing it will happen.  You are experiencing hope.

Continue reading “Hope”

Positive Psychology identifies five character strengths that are most related to happiness:

ZEST | CURIOSITY | HOPE | GRATITUDE | LOVE

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”  Walt Disney.

You might have noticed the cocked head, perked ears, raised eyebrows and flared nose on a dog, when he senses something new.  It could be a sound, vibration, smell or sight and instantly his interest is aroused.  Rarely is he content to return to his resting posture.  He is impelled to check out the source and satiate his curiosity.

You might have watched a toddler crawl under a sofa to retrieve her runaway ball and get sidetracked by a scurrying ant.  She is mesmerized as she follows this tiny insect to join the rest of the army on its grave and grand mission.  She watches with fascination the brave foot soldiers carrying a speck of sugar that is larger than four of them put together.  Now if she had stayed with her ball she would have missed out on this opportune moment of impeccable learning about team work, co-operation, discipline and purposeful goal driven activity.  The best of teachers would have been hard pressed to demonstrate so effectively to such a young student a life lesson of such gargantuan proportions and enduring nature.  Her mind just expanded exponentially.  Therein lays the honeyed gift of curiosity.

Continue reading “Curiosity”

Positive Psychology identifies five character strengths that are most related to happiness:

ZEST | CURIOSITY| HOPE | GRATITUDE | LOVE

“What hunger is in relation to food, zest is in relation to life” Bertrand Russell, philosopher.

I recall being in 8^th grade in a convent school in India and our principal (Sister Elisabetha) had walked into our class one day.  She addressed us with her kind demeanor and beatific smile which as usual did not fail to warm the cockles of one’s heart (there actually aren’t any cockles of your heart, but the term may come from the fact that the chambers of the heart resemble a mollusk’s shell, also called a cockle.  www.wisegeek.org).

Continue reading “Zest”