Strenghts Exercise

This past week I was able to take a VIA strengths test. What I discovered was pretty amazing to me. There were two that I for sure saw coming, but the third top strength that I had somewhat shocked me in a way. My first two strengths were Kindness and Generosity, the second strength that I had was Capacity to love and be loved, and the final top strength I has was Caution, Prudence, and discretion. As I began to think about these strengths I began to try and come up with a way to implement these. So this blog is about the journey of the past week that I was able to go on and how I was going to implement these strengths into my everyday life.

Strength #1

My first strength was kindness and generosity. I saw this coming because I have always seen myself as a person who just loves being kind and just wants to let others know that they are important. After reading this I was trying to postulate three different ways of adding these to my daily life, and here are the three I came up  with.
1.First I would try and compliment at least 3 people throughout my day the more the better.
2.Next I would hold the door open for at least 3 people throughout my day the more the better.
3.Finally I would tell at least 2 different member of my family something I loved about them each day (I stuck to the 2 on this one so I would have enough member of my family to talk to).

In doing this I found that it not only made the people around me more happy. For instance each time I held the door, complimented someone, or called one of my family member they all had a similar reactions. They all became a little happier. Some more than others, but it also put me in a better mood and allowed my day to start and finish in a better way.

Strength #2

My second strength was Capacity to Love and be Loved. This means that I value close relationships in which sharing and caring are reciprocated. This one was a little more difficult to make steps for implementing in my everyday life, but here is what I came up with.
1.First I would have at least one conversation with my girlfriend about something important to me or something important to her.
2.Next I would call at least one of my friends and tell them exactly what they mean to me so foster growth in our friendship.
3.Next I would talk to my roommate everyday to just catchup with him and see where he stood in his daily life.

I found that doing all of this would not only strengthen my friendships, and even my relationship with my girlfriend. With all of this it showed the people I interacted with that I truly cared for them, and not only that it built up the relationships I have.

Strength #3

The last of my top strengths was caution, prudence, and discretion. This is the one I really never saw coming. I always thought that it would be made leadership or something of that nature. However this was really interesting, and here are the three ways I implemented it into my life.
1.First off when I would make a purchase I would make a list of pros and cons before buying it. This helped because if it was not a good idea to purchase then I would not do it.
2.Next I would think thoroughly about the decision I would make each night. For instance whether it was smart to hang out with friends or do homework.
3.Lastly I would just try and be care of the things that I said to people and about people.

Each of these things made my day better because I was able to save money, I was able to get more done, and finally I was able to speak more carefully and cautiously which protected people from harsh things I may have spoken unintentionally.

I loved this experience so much. It was so enjoyable to be able to do things and implement certain things that not only made my day better, but also other people's days better too. So go out do a strengths test and integrate your results in you life so the can have a positive impact on you and others.