Your Strengths\’ calendar for December (12/12)

Hello and welcome (back) to my blog, dear friends!

And Happy December!I can not believe we are already at the end of another year. It feels like yesterday we were cheering 2024 in our lives. And despite my feeling excited and ready for it, this year proved to be a pretty difficult one – but at least I was feeling ready, eh :D? And I apologize for being late, but it\’s all due to really objective reasons.

I really hope you had a good 2024 and that it will end smoothly too.

As December starts, im here with the last strengths\’ calendar of the year, filled with activities meant to encourage us to cultivate more zest and love in our lives. No matter the age or social status, we all need love, in one way or another. And social relationships are a good way to share that kind of love we have for those around us. But also to receive it, of course.

In case you are new on my blog and don\’t really know what character strengths are, I will just say this: they are the backbone of Positive Psychology – the science that studies human flourishing, or what leads humans to peak performance. These character strengths have been researched intensely in the last 20+ years and the studies say that they are:

1. Universal – we all have them, no matter where we live
2. Cross-cultural – they exist in all cultures of the world
3. Easily recognized – we apply them without thinking
4. Elevating to self and others – they put us in a state of flow and lead to peak performance

The Strengths Calendar for December shares simple ways to help us approach life with Spirituality, Zest and Love. Almost all activities have a link attached to them, that you can access if you click on the image – each of them will lead you to an article or a video about that specific strength:

But for now, let\’s just see what each of them means:

Spirituality – is a strength within the virtue category of Transcendence. This specific virtue includes strengths that provide meaning and help us connect with the larger universe. The other strengths included in Transcendence are Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Gratitude, Hope and Humor.

According to VIA, spirituality is connecting with the sacred, pursuing life meaning, and finding purpose in our life and in what we do.

Science says that Spirituality is valuable for us because:

It increases optimism and it provides a sense of purpose in life, which contribute to an overall
sense of wellbeing

Spiritual people often experience benefits in their physical and psychological health and are
resilient in the face of challenges

Youth who describe themselves as spiritual show better self-regulation and academic
performance, and tend to see the world as a more coherent place

Love is a strength that falls under the virtue category of Humanity, which describes strengths that help you in one-on-one relationships.

According to VIACharacter.org, LOVE refers to the way we approach our closest and warmest
relationships.

LOVE is one of the 5 strengths most associated with enhanced life satisfaction.

Love is reciprocal, referring to both loving others and the willingness to accept love from others.

Except for this, LOVE is associated with healthy patterns of communication, such as compromise and
the ability to engage effectively in conflict with others.

There are four types of love:

• Romantic love: spouse/partner/boyfriend/girlfriend

• Attachment love: parent for child; child for parent

• Compassionate/altruistic love: kindness

• Companionate love: friendship

Zest – is a strength within the virtue category of Courage. Courage describes strengths that help you exercise your will and face adversity. The other strengths in Courage are bravery, honesty and perseverance.

Zest means approaching life, and any activity in general, with excitement and energy, not halfway or halfheartedly.

Zest has the strongest ties to overall life satisfaction and a life of engagement, and helps us feel alive, both mentally and physically.

And, good news: ZEST, like every other character strength, can also be ignited. If you want to know how you can ignite your zest, check out this video.

If you did not take your VIA Character Strength Test yet, by now you are probably excited to find out your OWN Strengths, and how you can apply them to Build The Life You Really Want. Then you will most likely want to know what makes you unique (your top 5-6 strengths are unique to you) and how to use your strengths to thrive and flourish.

Well, im looking forward to meeting you, so we can discover together how you can live your life from a position of strength, with more fulfilment.

Stay close for the next blogpost, where we will see what is the \”golden mean\” for each of the character strengths we talked about today – we will learn how each of them can be used optimally (not too little or too much).

Remember, 2024 will be (y)our BEST year yet ;)!

Until next time, stay positive and take care of yourselves!