Chris

Johnstone
Miriam
Akhtar

A few tech details

Below the slides is a
chat window and a
ques8on box.
Please write in your
name and where you
are in the chat box.
Please ask ques8ons
here too. (The Q & A
box sends private
messages to us)

Some practical points

When were presen8ng, well mute you all.
If you have a ques8on, you can type (in the chat window)
or talk (via skype, phone or webcall) if youd like to
talk, please dial *2 to raise your hand.
Headphones are recommended to keep sound clean
The slides this week are at (this is also the link for the
recording aPer)
h4p://iTeleseminar.com/84543825

Our learning community over the next 7wks

Alan, Alex, Alice, Amanda, Anne, Antoinette,
Arun, Barbara B, Barbara F, Beth, Chris, Dafni,
Darwin, Dawn, Debbie, Emma, Erika, Helen, Helen
Henna, Ibrahim, Jessica, Judith
Konstantina, Laurence, Lori, Louise M, Louise P
Matthew, Michelle, Mihaela, Miriam,
Ons, Rebecca, Samantha, Simona
Tom, Uxio, Wendy, Zoe

AuthenBc Happiness
A mix of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being

Hedonic - Feeling good

Pleasure
Positive emotions in abundance
Maximising pleasure &
minimising pain
The momentary high
High positive emotion (PA) +
High life satisfaction (SWL)
(SWB = SWL + PA NA)
More common view of
happiness

Eudaimonic - Functioning well

Achievement - Realising your potential
Engagement & Meaning
Playing to strengths you at your best
Serving a purpose beyond self
Deeper happiness
Meaning + Effort = fulfillment
"Experience of fulfillment which results
from acting in accordance with ones
values (meaning) Osin & Boniwell, 2012

PERMA+ FoundaBons
Positive Emotions

Achievement

Meaning

Engagement

Relationships

The PERMA Model (Seligman, 2011)

Home PracBce for the FoundaBon of

1. 3 good things & a gra8tude diary.
2. Gra8tude ques8ons
What is good in your life?
What are you grateful for?
What has gone well?
3. An appreciaBve gaze. Hunt the good stu.
What do I appreciate? What do I value here?
How have you got on? Whats worked well?
Challenges? What helps?

ESM Research
(Experience Sampling
Method)

The best moments

usually occur
when a persons
body or mind
is stretched to its limits
in a voluntary eort
to accomplish
something dicult
and worthwhile.

Flow the state in which people

are so involved in an activity
that nothing else seems to matter.
This is a state of high engagement

OUT
IN

Conditions for Flow

1. goals are clear and compelling
2. feedback is immediate
3. a balance between challenge and capacity

An example
of
immediate
feedback

Home Prac8ce this week purpose 1

- to inten8onally experience ow
Task too dicult

Inten8on to do this

interup8ons

Goal not clear

Clear hearaelt purpose

Remember 8mes been in ow

strengths

Goal not compelling

feedback

When have you experienced flow recently?

becoming so absorbed doing something
that you lost track of time?

What is a Strength?

hcp://www.ickr.com/photos/xurble/376591423/sizes/m/in/photostream/

a parBcular way of
behaving, thinking or feeling
that enables op3mal performance
which is both authen3c and energising
The strengths approach
focuses on
what is right,
what is working well,
what is strong.

Linley 2008

Everyone has strengths

Your Posi8ve Self
Your inner resources
Smallest thing to make the biggest
dierence

Two Types of Strength

1. Signature Strengths. PosiBve characterisBcs personal or
character strengths like perseverance, courage or kindness)
2. Performance strengths talents, abili8es, what youre naturally
good at eg. communica8on, co-ordina8on, number-crunching
Strengths relate to the plus side of life, the presence of
psychological health, which is more than the absence of
psychological illness.

Why Play to Our Strengths?

Well-being
Resilience
Performance
Energy

& vitality
Confidence
Insight & perspective
Buffers against dysfunction & disorder
Optimism (against depression)
Courage, faith, hope, future-mindedness,
perseverance all buffering strengths
Fulfilment
Engagement at work
Sense of direction
Clifton & Anderson (2001); CLC (2001); Gallup (2009); Peterson & Seligman (2004); Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson (2005)

Virtuous Cycle

(Adapted from Linley, 2008)

Use your
strengths
more

Create
posiBve
emoBons &
ow

Counter the
negaBvity
bias

Be4er
performance
& ourishing

The Strengths Approach in a Nutshell

1: IdenBfy your strengths (Explore)

&
2: Use them! (Develop & Apply)

The Strengths Approach in a Nutshell

How to IdenBfy your Strengths
Take a strengths test
Use strengths-spobng quesBons

VIA-IS Inventory of Character Strengths

Wisdom and Knowledge
Curiosity (interest)
Love of learning
Open-mindedness (judgement,

Courage
Bravery (valour)
Persistence (perseverance)
Integrity (honesty, authenticity)
Vitality (zest, enthusiasm, energy)

Humanity
Love

Transcendence
Appreciation of Beauty &
Excellence (awe, wonder)
Gratitude
Hope (optimism, future-mindedness)
Humour (playfulness)
Spirituality (purpose, faith)

critical thinking)
Creativity (originality, ingenuity)
Perspective (wisdom)

Values
In
Ac8on

Kindness (generosity, compassion)

Social intelligence (emotional
intelligence)

Justice
Citizenship (loyalty, social
responsibility)

Fairness
Leadership

Temperance
Forgiveness and Mercy
Humility and Modesty
Prudence (caution)
Self-regulation (self-control)

A manual of
human wellness
An8-DSM!

Where are your top 5 VIA strengths?

Values
In
AcBon

Wisdom and Knowledge

Curiosity (interest)
Love of learning
Open-mindedness (judgement,

Courage
Bravery (valour)
Persistence (perseverance)
Integrity (honesty, authenticity)
Vitality (zest, enthusiasm, energy)

Humanity
Love

Transcendence
Appreciation of Beauty &
Excellence (awe, wonder)
Gratitude
Hope (optimism, future-mindedness)
Humour (playfulness)
Spirituality (purpose, faith)

critical thinking)
Creativity (originality, ingenuity)
Perspective (wisdom)

Kindness (generosity, compassion)

Social intelligence (emotional
intelligence)

Justice
Citizenship (loyalty, social
responsibility)

Fairness
Leadership

Temperance
Forgiveness and Mercy
Humility and Modesty
Prudence (caution)
Self-regulation (self-control)

What is
your spread?

VIA Strengths for Well-being & Recovery

Well-being
Using signature strengths in a new way lasBngly increased happiness and
decreased depressive symptoms over 6 months (Seligman, Steen, Park,
Peterson, 2005)
Curiosity, gra8tude, hope, love, and zest are the strengths most robustly
associated with life saBsfacBon (Park, Peterson & Seligman, 2004)
Recovery
Individuals who recover from a serious physical illness have greater
apprecia8on of beauty, bravery, curiosity, fairness, forgiveness, gra8tude,
humour, kindness, love of learning, and spirituality.
Those who have recovered from a psychological disorder have higher
apprecia8on of beauty, crea8vity, curiosity, gra8tude, and love of learning
(Peterson, Park & Seligman, 2006).

Clifton StrengthsFinder
Strengths at Work - 34 themes of talent
Strengths produced when talents refined with
knowledge & skills

TALENT (a natural way of thinking, feeling or

behaving)
X INVESTMENT (time spent practising,
developing your skills, & building your
knowledge base)
= STRENGTH (ability to consistently provide
near-perfect performance)
hcp://www.strengthsnder.com/

Realise 2 (R2) by CAPP

Perform well
Energising
Maximise their
use

Perform poorly
De-energising
Minimise their
use

Perform well
Energising
Marshall their
use

Unrealised
Strengths

Realised
Strengths

Weaknesses

Learned
Behaviours
Perform well
De-energising
Moderate their
use

http://www.cappeu.com/R2StrengthsProfiler

Coaching Strengths: How to apply them.

Strengths are at the heart of what it takes to lead ourishing lives.
Use strengths-spobng ques8ons to iden8fy yours & others strengths
When planning acBon steps, apply strengths to help achieve the goal.
When dealing with issues, apply strengths to help resolve the problem.
You can use a higher strength to develop a lower strength eg. use the
higher strength of perseverance to develop self-regula8on.
Work to your strengths. CraP your work around your strengths and as a
team - choose the person with the best t to the task.
If you are at a crossroads eg. redundancy, mid-life crisis, return from
maternity leave, look to strengths to provide clues as to how to move
forward in a posi8ve direc8on.

Strengths-spobng QuesBons
Your Best: What are you doing when you are at your best?
Ease: What do you find easy and are naturally good at?
Energy: When do you feel at your most alive? What energizes you?
Authenticity: What makes you say this is the real me?
Fast Learner: What sort of skill do you pick up rapidly and effortlessly?
Motivation: What do you do just for the love of it?
Focus: What are you naturally drawn to? What attracts your attention?
Flow: What puts you in the zone? Where youre completely absorbed and
lose track of time?
Passion: What are you passionate about? What are you animated talking
about?
Childhood: What were you good at as a child? How does it show up in your
life now?
Adapted from Average to A+ by Alex Linley, CAPP Press, 2008

Strengths Coaching
Applying strengths; think of a goal or problem you have. Now apply
each of your top 5 VIA strengths in turn to see what new insights
you gain.
How might your strength in ..eg. perseverance help you
reach your goal of..eg. running a half-marathon

How might your strength ineg. kindness help you
overcome the problem ofeg. a fragile relaDonship

The PosiBve Self: Strengths in Therapy

The strengths approach is at the heart of successful psychological therapies









Peterson & Seligman, 2004
Deficit-approach in Therapy: Spotting whats wrong the symptoms
Reinforces negativity bias towards someone
Encourages labelling/reduces holistic view of person
Creates power differential in favour of therapist/coach
Vs
Strengths-Based Assessment: Spotting whats right the strengths
Creates integrated understanding of the client
strengths can be marshalled
to undo troubles
(Rashid & Ostermann, 2009)

PosiBve IntroducBon: Strengths in Therapy

Please write a posiDve introducDon to yourself to be reviewed at our next session.
The story you write should be a concrete story that shows you at your best and it
should have a clear beginning, middle and nish with a strong ending.
A Dme when I was at my best was..
Review:
1. The strengths I can iden8fy in my Posi8ve Introduc8on are
2. Other 8mes/areas in my life when I have used these iden8ed strengths are
Rashid & Osterman, 2009

OpBmal v Overdrive
Op8mal
Usage
`

Strengths
Underplayed

Strengths
Overplayed

Adapted from Linley, 2007

Dial back
If
overplayed

Home PracBce for the FoundaBon of

Find new ways of using a strength (there are 340 ideas
on Ruzuku)
Apply your strengths like a lever to a goal/problem
Have a ow experience it might be something
physical, crea8ve or voca8onal
Look forward to hearing how you get on next week,
when we will be exploring resilience.

The Happiness Training Plan

on Ruzuku

www.happinesstrainingplan.com