Find Joy in Your Strengths

Find Joy in Your Strengths

 

Your journey to finding your joy begins with you. You can take joy to the world around you when you first find joy in yourself. It is not hard to go a full day or week focusing on what went wrong, a critical word, feeling ignored, and taking in all of the negative thoughts and emotions. 

 

There is research that says we are naturally prone to noticing and holding onto negative thoughts and experiences; what is often called negativity bias. This tendency to notice and dwell on the negative may have been developed in our brains to avoid danger. The problem is that in our busy lives, we often perceive physical danger driving to work, emotional or financial danger when we feel uncertain about our futures and our jobs, or when we feel a lack of support. 

 

Living in joy won’t solve all of our problems but it will inspire health and happiness.

 

One way to tap into joy is by identifying and using your natural strengths. Working in your natural strengths gives you positive feelings and energy. Spending a lot of time outside your strengths can be exhausting. Gaining an understanding of strengths can help you team up with others who have different strengths than you have.  

 

When you appreciate the strengths of the important people in your life, you can discover when and how we want to spend time with them. By connecting with friends and family through strengths you can brighten the lives of those around you and prevent feelings of isolation and loneliness that have a negative effect on your health.

 

I like to look at the colors in nature to find words to describe natural strengths, those strengths we are born with. After studying the meanings of the four basic vegetable colors, I compared the color, flavor, texture and how the four vegetables grow. I found strengths words that fit the vegetables colors purple, green, red, and orange. Have fun looking at the color descriptions and notice where you see yourself. 

 

You can make a list of strengths words from each of the colors that resonate with you. Notice which color has more strengths words. Look at the descriptions and see which one seems most like you, then explore experiences in different colors to see where you find your passion and energy.

 

The color purple is steeped in history and royalty bringing to mind justice, tradition, responsibility, respect, and making decisions based on past success.

 

Green is the color of thinking, curiosity, achievement, creative problem-solving, and decision-making based on thorough analysis.

 

Red is the color of friendship, compassion, harmony, and intuition, tuning in to the feelings of others when making decisions.

         

Orange is the color of warmth, energy, spontaneity and fun often reacting to a need in the moment.

 

You can further explore your strengths and strengths words here…

 

Bring health and joy into your life and the life of those you care about by experiencing your life in a variety of colors.

 

We can bring joy into our lives from each of the colors.

 

·      Orange energy gets us outdoors running, walking, dancing, and experiencing the physical and emotional healing of nature.

·      Intuitive red brings out artistic creativity to paint, write, journal, reach out to others, and build personal relationships that give us support in times of stress and uncertainty.

·      The discipline of purple will prompt us to eat colorful vegetables, take a mindful moment, notice how our bodies feel, and help people in need.

·      Green brings curiosity, new ideas and openness to different ways of working and living that brings innovative responses to change.

 

Brightening your color strengths will bring you joy through valuing yourself with strengths words and activities. By connecting with others through similarities, and growing empathy through differences, you can bring joy to the lives of those around you. 

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