Building your character strengths will help you in so many ways. Whether you’re looking to improve your job performance or achieve academic success, these attributes will help you in many areas. Ultimately, they will make you feel better and help you cope with stress and adversity. As you build up your character strengths, you will notice positive changes. You’ll become a better person in the process.

Seligman’s 24-strengths approach

Psychologist Martin Seligman developed the Theory of 24 Character Strengths. Seligman used the writings of Buddha, Lao Tse, and Benjamin Franklin to determine what character strengths people have in common. These character strengths are grouped into six categories, or virtues. The virtues of wisdom and courage, love, humanity, temperance, and transcendence are the three main categories.

The results of the study suggested that each person possesses 24 character strengths. Some of these are universal and desirable in different groups. The study also found that age affects the expression of character strengths, with women scoring higher on all the traits except for curiosity. However, the four most common signature strengths were consistently high regardless of age and gender and remained consistent with the USA sample.

Among the 24 character strengths identified by Seligman and others, the importance of parenting is often underestimated. The results of “Self Regulation in Parents” show that the parent’s positive traits have a greater impact on children’s happiness than any other factor. In addition to parenting, the 24 strength approach to character strengths and virtues is used to enhance schoolchildren’s confidence, self-esteem, and motivation.

Character strengths can be nurtured and developed through positive psychology.

We can all use character strengths to flourish as individuals and in our relationships. Character strengths contribute to resilience, temper our fight-or-flight responses to real problems, and lead to a successful next generation. Through positive psychology, we can learn to nurture these strengths. Let’s look at how character strengths can be nurtured and developed. 

Here are a few examples.

 -Embrace them! 

– Build on your strengths!

– Develop your signature strength!

Character strengths are universal human traits that everyone shares. You are born with some of them, but others may have more or less of them than you do. This is a good thing! In addition to improving your life, cultivating character strengths helps you excel at work and school. Identifying your signature strength will help you overcome difficulties. Using your signature strength in a new way each week is one of the most effective ways to strengthen them.

They improve coping with stress.

We have found that character strengths and virtues have an independent effect on COVID-19-related stress and well-being and that the presence of more character strengths moderated this relationship. Thus, we should promote more character strengths and virtues, particularly among individuals with chronic illnesses and disabilities. The study also showed that individuals who reported high character strengths and virtues were more likely to cope better with stress and depression.

To measure the level of each virtue, participants answered 24 questions ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Each item was rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The participants’ average character strength score was then added to the score for each virtue. A higher average score indicated more significant levels of virtues and character strengths.

They help overcome life’s inevitable adversities.

There is no denying that a person’s character is a vital component of their overall well-being. Character strengths can range from integrity to courage. From grit to perseverance, people’s character traits shape their choices throughout life. Some Bible passages encourage us to have courage, while others tell us that we should remain calm and confident. In contrast, some scriptures tell us to be courageous when afraid or tempted to give up.

According to Seligman, we have six character strengths: wisdom, courage, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Among these, understanding is the most important. These virtues help us deal with life’s inevitable adversities, such as financial hardship and adversity. While these six character strengths may seem trivial, they are crucial for our well-being. 

Check out Character Strengths and Virtues – Tilt365 to find more helpful information.