Strengths — A Positive Psychology Perspective
The global pandemic has wreaked unprecedented times in our lives. While we all feel a looming sense of uncertainty, there’s one thing we know for sure. We are all experiencing collective grief — the loss of life as we once knew it. This has magnified mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression in individuals.
While the pre-covid era was already battling with mental health concerns, these numbers significantly grew due to the virus. Research suggests that the rates of depression symptomatology are three times higher during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic.
Several aspects of our lives may feel out of control for each of us, but there’s a lot we could do to mitigate the ill effects that come along in these pressing times.
Understanding Positive Psychology
A solution can be found in Martin Seligman’s groundbreaking work on positive psychology. Shifting from a psychopathology perspective on mental well-being to his focus on ‘the positive side of mental health’ could help us here.
Sheldon and King (2001) define positive psychology as “nothing more than the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues”.
Positive psychology is all about the personal qualities, life circumstances, individual choices, life activities, relationships with others, transcendent purposes, and sociocultural conditions that foster and define a good life.
The Role of Positivity in the Pandemic
Seligman’s evidence-based PERMA model can help us adapt better to the new normal. He suggests that there are five key areas of life — positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.
Positive emotion — There are several ways we can feel positive emotions. We must focus on eating a diet that boosts and promotes healthy functioning. It is easy to fall into the trap of eating junk and binge-watching Netflix; now that we are home all day. Remember: Moods are built in our gut. 90 percent of serotonin is manufactured in the digestive tract and not the brain! Practicing gratitude is another way to increase positive emotions.
Engagement — Finding an activity that is a reward in itself, shows positive engagement. We all need to find hobbies and activities that put us in a ‘flow’ state. To all the quarantine bakers, this one’s for you. Keep it up!
Relationships — Maintaining our connection with our close ones is important, especially during these times. Ensure you engage in positive bonding and communication with your loved ones and witness your stresses melt away. Return the favor by doing a small act of kindness. From an evolutionary perspective, we are social beings because the drive to connect with and serve others promotes our survival. So the next time you plan to ignore a text or call, think of how much better you will feel after connecting!
Meaning — Cultivating a sense of meaning is deeply personal and yet, it allows you to be a part of something larger than yourself. Exercise: Recollect or write a life summary to review how you’ve contributed to society.
Accomplishments — We have all set standards for what makes us feel accomplished. These can be different goals and plans. However, this year we recommend that you ditch these ideals! Your smallest win or successes need to be cheered on. It’s important for us to be our own cheerleaders this year.
P.S. it’s 2020 and we made it out alive, we’ll take that as our biggest accomplishment!
We would also like to emphasize building your strengths to help navigate these times. Read on to know more about your own personal strengths.
Identifying your strengths
Each of us has unique strengths that help us stand and aid our efforts in adverse times. Many of us are not aware of these inherent strengths that we possess. Here’s a simple exercise to get your mind running. Think back to a time or incident that truly challenged you.
Now, reflect on which of your personal characteristics or traits helped you overcome them.
If you helped a stranger in distress — compassion could be one of your key strengths. Perhaps, you stood undeterred in times of extreme pressure highlighting your resilience. Or, it could be your leadership that helped your teammates successfully land a business deal. All of these are signs of character strengths that we ALL possess. Now, these are essential to identify in order to call upon them in times of need. Strengths are a combination of abilities, skills, knowledge, talent, and experience. Often, our strengths remain underutilized and unrewarded. To get a better holding in this journey of life, identifying your strengths can be a fruitful experience.
To definitively know your strengths, take the S.W.O.T assessment on www.futureperfectinternational.com
The S.W.O.T Assessment -
Assess your strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats with this S.W.O.T assessment. It is a classic strategic and planning technique used to help an individual or an organization to identify and assess the four aspects of your personality. You can gain valuable insights about yourself, understand the root cause of your problems, get a summary of existing gaps that affect your productivity and success, and transform you to become more productive and set you on a successful path.
