In response to COVID-19 the ‘Live Up’ COVID COMMUNITY was set up to support our communities with practical wellbeing resources that can be used for these extraordinary circumstances of social distancing, community lockdown and quarantine.

What are your strengths?

According to Strengths expert Alex Linley “A strength is a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking or feeling that is authentic and energising to the user, and enables optimal functioning, development and performance” (Linley, 2008)

So here’s an activity that can start to get you to focus on the positives not the negatives and that is strength spotting:

• First, you have to find out what you and your family’s (or bubble) strengths are and then you can start celebrating them. Here is a link to a free VIA Character Strengths survey you can take online that will give you 24 character strengths. You have to register with your email and fill in a survey and it will give you your top 24 strengths (notice no deficit talk here!)

• Then fill out all your strengths on this table and print it out big and put it up on the wall. Click this link for a Strengths Table.

• Find out what all the strengths mean then start to spot them. Link to Character Strength description.

• When you see a family member using one of their strengths notice it and acknowledge it. Chances are over time you will find you will notice the strengths of others more and also strengths within yourselves.

Go and try this ‘strength spotting’ challenge and let us know how it goes!

Other Links:

• Dr Denise Quinlan (New Zealand based strengths expert) “Take your strengths seriously”

• Dr Tayyab Rashid “101 Strengths-based Actions to Connect, from a Safe Distance”

• Here is another post I wrote about strength spotting last year.