One of the speakers, Wendy Ulrich, gave a talk at the TOFW called How To Become Happier. According to Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist who began a study of achieving happiness 10 years ago, there were seven different things you could do to become happier in life. They are:
1. Stop worrying about your weaknesses
2. Don't try to get motivated to exercise
3. Stop trying to find friends
4. Don't try to feel happier
5. Celebrate failure
6. Don't try to get help with your problems
7. Don't endure to the end
The first was to stop worrying about our weaknesses and focus on our strengths. As Wendy points out, though, does that mean we no longer work on those weaknesses? No. It just means that those weaknesses should not define who we are. We have been blessed with gifts and talents that could be used in whatever capacity God gives us, it's a matter of finding what that is.
That list of strengths that Wendy gave in her talk:
Curiosity
love of learning
open-mindedness
creativity
seeing the big picture
bravery
persistence
honesty & authenticity
enthusiasm
self-discipline
caution
forgiveness
humility
kindness & generosity
social skills to fit in or connect
loving & accepting love
team player
fairness to all
leadership
appreciating beauty & excellence
gratitude to others
humor & playfulness
religiousness
optimism
Her assignment? Find two or three of these or other strengths we each possess and find new ways to use them in the course of our daily lives.
Here is the link to the study Dr. Martin Seligman, who Wendy spoke about in her talk, did this study on what makes people happy. The list above is a partial list that Dr. Seligman found in common with all the religions of the world.
www.authentichappieness.com
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