A few weeks back I was looking up some wellness ideas for a conference I’m preparing for and one of the ideas that popped up was character strengths. Your character strengths can help you in managing different aspects of your life. As described from the VIA Institute on Character, they can have a positive impact on your life by helping you overcome and manage problems going on in that moment. It can also help to improve on your relationships, and can enhance overall health and well-being.

When you can take a step back and identify what you need to bring forth to help you cope with the present, do you know how life could be so much easier? The control that you would feel you have over aspects of your life that may cause anxiety or some unexpected feeling/emotion would be the ultimate goal to fully understand your capabilities in any situation. We have so many distractors that cause our moods to go up and down throughout the day and taking a pause helps us gain some control. It can help us understand our situations a bit better by taking time to notice what’s going on instead of reacting and perceiving things through the emotions we’re feeling.

The next time you are feeling out of control in whats occurring in your life or you just need a way to cope with a situation, take a pause or step back in the situation to really notice the moment. You want to be able to recognize what goes on in your mind, the clutter that can keep you away from thinking clearly and on a path of healthy behaviors. The VIA Institute mentioned to:

• Choose a strength (There are a list of strengths on their site if you take their survey, but I feel you can truly come up with your own as well)
  • Think of what you like would like to use in the situation you are in or about to be in.
• Pause
  • Breath for 15+ seconds
• Call forth this strength and breathe
  • For another 15-20 seconds,  knowing that you have this strength within you and you’ve used it in the past.

Hope this is helpful, to get you to recognizing your true abilities on a daily basis.

Alvie