Category Archives: Happy you

Why is listening to your inner accountant not a route to happiness?

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I was fortunate to meet creativity guru Julia Cameron in London at the weekend. She was running a two day creativity workshop with Alternatives based on her book the Artist’s Way.  It was a wonderful experience to meet her in person and to meet other “closet creatives” who have found the book a useful way to unleash a little more of their creativity.  It was interesting to note at a workshop of over 100 people that many people share the same obstacles to creativity such as lack of belief in our own creative abilities, too many other pressures on our time, listening to our inner critic, lack of inspiration etc. etc…………

One of the participants made the very funny statement:  ”My problem is not so much that I have an inner critic, it’s more that I have an inner accountant!” Many of the participants could relate to this comment and it is with this obstacle in mind that Julia Cameron has written her latest book called The prosperous heart: creating a life of ‘enough’ together with her business manager Emma Lively, which I have just purchased since the weekend.  I  have found the 12 week programme of the Artist’s Way a very helpful format and this new book follows the same 12 step format.  I have always believed that everyone lies somewhere along the creativity spectrum and we can all learn to express our creativity in different ways. If you listen to your inner accountant too often, you are denying yourself the chance of finding the flow and happiness which come from being utterly absorbed in a creative pursuit.

If you were unable to see Julia Cameron in person at the weekend please take a look at this great article and interview by Julie Hall from Women Unlimited.  

The interview is part of a great new series on Women Unlimited TV in which Julie Hall conducts interviews with inspiring women – they are worth checking out.  Enjoy the article and interview: 

julia

Julie Hall interviewing Julia Cameron

 

Julia Cameron is the author of the Artist’s Way. Written 20 years ago, it is the defining book for those interested in exploring their creativity.  It’s estimated that over 4 million people have read the book  and Julia still teaches the 12 week programme in her home town of Santa Fe.   You can find out more about Julia and her new programme at www.juliacameronlive.com 

The inspiration for the book was Julia’s boyfriend (now husband!). He was a writer but he was blocked and having problems writing. She wrote the book to help him overcome this creative block.

Overcoming creative blocks

Although Julia never had writers block, she found that she wasn’t writing freely either. She was conscious of striving for perfection during the writing process. She was also drinking to try and enable her to write more freely but found that writing and drinking don’t mix. Alcohol opened a window then slammed it shut.

She found it better to write without alcohol. She also stopped trying to ‘control’ the writing so her work would be without ego. This enabled her to be an open tool for inspiration and writing to move through her.

Morning pages

Morning pages are a tool to help you unblock your creativity. Julia calls them a western version of meditation.  Every morning spend 20 minutes writing your thoughts down – write down whatever comes into your head/you are thinking about.

The benefits of doing morning pages are that you will release any thoughts/problems you are holding inside. It also helps to miniaturise your inner sensor (which is usually your negative internal voice), then enable you to ignore it as you keep writing. This then becomes a transportable life skill which can be used anywhere and in any situation. Nobody can be fearless, but you can be taught to push past it. Morning pages will help you to do this.

Why is creativity important in business?

Everyone can be creative. Traditionally, artists have talked of ideas/inspiration coming straight from God. We don’t tend to say that so much these days but that is an artist’s experience of inspiration – a higher power striving to get our ideas out to the world

The ideas and tools raised in the book also work for business people. Business is a creative arena and using morning pages gives you a safe place to vent issues and frustration and gives you the opportunity to explore ideas.

Other tools to help open up creativity:

Artists Date

You should try to go on an ‘artist’s date’ once a week. It’s a solo expedition to do something fun and enchanting. Your morning pages will help you to recognise your like’s and dislikes, as well as those things/activities you want to do more or less of.

When you go on an Artists Date you enable yourself to turn the dial to help you receive inspiration and  you’ll find that your synchronicity improves too.

An artist’s date could be something simple like a visit to a children’s bookstore, fabric store or a meal in a new restaurant.  You don’t have to expose yourself to art. You can get inspiration from any environment.

Don’t work at it – it should be enjoyable. The idea is plan ahead of time and woo yourself, so that you learn to love yourself a bit more.

Walking

Walking is an enormously powerful tool and helps people to integrate the inspiration gained from morning pages and the artist’s date. You can literally get into the body through walking.

Walk at least twice a week for 20 minutes. You’ll often find that you set out with a problem but come back with a solution.

Explore your own creativity

Julia has just launched a new website: www.juliacameronlive.com  which is for people who can’t study with Julie personally and covers her 12 week programme.

Filmed in her home the programme includes video lessons, a forum and a vibrant community.  A broad mix of people are involved, as anyone’s life can become enlivened by embracing the creative side of themselves.  Her course/book is about transition –everyone tells her that the book has changed their life.

For those who say creativity isn’t important Julia thinks this is what people tell themselves to talk themselves out of their dreams.   There are enormous benefits to tapping into your own creativity – it makes people more cheerful and literally enlightened, as if they have been lit up from inside

Julia’s main tips for exploring creativity are to do your morning pages regularly. Surprisingly, she also suggests accounting! Not the most creative activity you might think, but money should be channelled to your greatest joys. To ensure you have enough money, don’t spend blindly.  Simple accounting will highlight where you are spending your money. For example, you love the theatre but never have enough money. Your accounting may show that you are spending £4 a day in Starbucks. Forgo that coffee and save the money for a theatre ticket.

Prosperous Heart

Julia’s new book with Emma Lively is about individuals who depend on a sense of abundance with a connection to the divine and not with a paycheck. This 12 week programme helps people to explore their feelings towards debt, money and abundance.

Thank you to Julie Hall from Women Unlimited for permission to publish this article and interview.

Posted on 2nd November 2012

 

 

20 ways to get happy

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This article from Time Magazine summarizes 20 great happiness experiments you could try out:

Health and Happiness

Happiness is difficult to define and even harder to measure. We experience it as a combination of elements, in the same way that one wheel or spring inside a watch doesn’t keep time — it is a result of the synchronicity of the whole. As a relative state, happiness is what psychologists call our “subjective well-being” and, fortunately for us, it is a state that we can actively change for the better. Here are 20 ways to start:

Full List

MARTIN HARVEY / CORBIS

1. Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings — but not everyday. Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside, found that people who once a week wrote down five things they were grateful for were happier than those who did it three times a week. “It’s an issue of timing or frequency,” says Lyubomirsky, “When people do anything too often it loses the freshness and meaning. You need to have optimal timing.” Lyubomirsky added that it has to feel right. She tried to count her blessings and hated it. “I found it hokey. It didn’t work for me. Just like a diet program, what you do has to fit your lifestyle, personality and goals.” In essence, gratitude might not be for everyone. But if it is, another exercise is to think of a person who has been kind to you that you’ve wanted to thank — a teacher, mentor or parent — and write a letter, once a week to different individuals over two months. You don’t even have to send it to feel happier.

BROOKE FASANI / CORBIS
Whether regarded as an evolutionary accident that piggybacked on language or as the gateway to our emotions, music activates parts of the brain that can trigger happiness, releasing endorphins similar to the ways that sex and food do. Music can also relax the body, sometimes into sleep as it stimulates the brain’s release of melatonin. A study of older adults who listened to their choice of music during outpatient eye surgery showed that they had significantly lower heart rates and blood pressure, and their hearts did not work as hard as those who underwent surgery without music. A second study, of patients undergoing colonoscopy, showed that listening to their selection of music reduced their anxiety levels and lessened the dosage required for sedation.
CORBIS
It’s no secret that a roll in the hay, and all that leads up to it, feels good. Endorphins are the neurotransmitters in your brain that reduce pain and, in the absence of pain, can induce euphoria. A rush of such chemicals might seem like a temporary solution to a dreary day, but there are added benefits, not the least of which is expressing affection and strengthening the bonds of a relationship. Oxytocin is released by the pituitary gland upon orgasm; often referred to as the “hormone of love” or the “cuddle chemical,” it is associated with feelings of bonding and trust, and can even reduce stress.
CORBIS
Survey after survey shows that people with strong religious faith — of any religion or denomination — are happier than those who are irreligious. David Myers, a social psychologist at Michigan’s Hope College, says that faith provides social support, a sense of purpose and a reason to focus beyond the self, all of which help root people in their communities. That seems reason enough to get more involved at the local church, temple or mosque. For the more inwardly focused, deep breathing during meditation and prayer can slow down the body and reduce stress, anxiety and physical tension to allow better emotions and energy to come forward.
PATRIK GIARDINO / CORBIS
We’ve all heard about a “runner’s high,” but there are plenty of other ways to achieve that feeling. Dance. Play a sport. Work out as hard as you can. Take a walk so your stress will take a hike. Moving your body releases endorphins, the quintessential feel-good chemicals found in your brain. How endorphin release is triggered by exercise is somewhat of a controversial science because researchers don’t know if it is caused by the positive emotion felt upon meeting a physical challenge or from the exertion itself. Either way, physical motion can provide a rush of good energy that can lift a mood, be it anxiety or mild depression, and it’s a good way to keep healthy.
laugh
MICHAEL PRINCE / CORBIS
Be it a slew of good jokes, a slapstick comedy or laughing yoga, find something to give you a good hearty laugh that brings tears to the eyes or a giggle fit that makes the sides of your body ache. People are 30 times more likely to laugh in groups than alone and, not surprisingly, laughter is associated with helping to develop person-to-person connections through a feedback loop characterized by laughter, social bonding and more laughter. Laughter, like so many other endorphin-triggers, helps to reduce certain stress hormones and, while it might be contagious, it strengthens your immune system rather than weakening it.
IMAGE SOURCE / CORBIS
Hold a door open for someone at the bank, give someone directions if they look lost or make a point to compliment three people on your way to work. Small or big, directed at friends or strangers, random acts of kindness make the person performing the kind act happier when they’re grouped together, according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, an experimental psychologist at UC Riverside. Doing a considerate thing for another person five times in one day made the doer happier than if they had spread out those five acts over one week. Lyubomirsky explains that because we all perform acts of kindness naturally, it seems to please us more when we’re more conscious of it. There are social rewards, too, when people respond positively.
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ROY MCMAHON / CORBIS
Midas might have been an unhappy guy, but that’s probably because he didn’t know any other kings who could also turn things into gold. Money as an absolute may not make you a happier person but making more money than others in your age group does, according to a sociological study done in 2005 by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. But keeping up with the Joneses isn’t the only way that money brings happiness. Saving it for retirement or a rainy day brings together a variety of positive emotions that can lead to happiness, such as anticipation and expectation, a sense of delayed gratification and reward.
BARRY LEWIS / CORBIS

Happiness can lead to success, rather than just the other way around. Happy individuals are predisposed to seek out new opportunities and set new goals. After reviewing data of 225 studies gathered from more than 275,000 individuals, a team of psychologists concluded that while previous research assumed that happiness stemmed from success and accomplishment, happiness is often a result of positive emotions. Success is the result of many factors, including physical health, intelligence, family and expertise.

SIMON MARCUS / CORBIS
Whether it’s getting comfy with a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, dancing at a Japanese Obon festival or scarfing down a hot dog at Coney Island, embrace your culture. Appreciating one’s culture creates and strengthens bonds with others who share that culture and also allows one to identify and appreciate cultural difference. A recent study showed that adolescents of Mexican and Chinese ethnicity maintained feelings of happiness despite daily stress when they had a strong sense of cultural identity. In other research, psychologists found an association between stable cultural identity and overall positive emotion in African American and Native American communities.
memory
DENNIS GALANTE / CORBIS
Learn to scan your memory bank for your strengths, talents, passions, interests, practical coping skills, and earlier potential — whether it’s actualized or not. Scanning this memory bank and gleaning material that can be used to reinvent yourself to be happier is key, says Barbara Becker-Holstein, psychologist and author of Enchanted Self: A Positive Therapy. For example, someone who would like to be more altruistic can scan their past and know that they didn’t like Girl Scouts in elementary school. That crosses off being a PTA mother. But they might remember that as a child they enjoyed collecting soda bottles and giving the money to the local fire station where they knew the firefighters. That person might consider giving money and time to a local group where they can socialize with people rather than mailing in a check to a distant organization. “Looking at one’s personal style, tastes and interests as we look for ways to be happy today is very important,” says Becker-Holstein.

MATT KING / GETTY
Optimism is a learned skill and there are a variety of ways to acquire it, says psychologist Mary Ann Troiani, co-author of Spontaneous Optimism. Through her research, Troiani has come up with three things that you can do to enhance your sense of optimism. First, straighten out your body before your emotions by keeping a straight body posture, taking big steps and walking quickly with your shoulders back and your head up. “People who are pessimistic walk slowly with small steps and their head down,” she says. Second, change your tone of voice so that it is cheerful and full of energy. Third, use upbeat or happier words, such as “challenge” rather than “problem,” or think of “opportunities” rather than “losses.” “Positive thoughts and behavior have a positive impact on the brain’s biochemistry,” she says. “[They] boost your serotonin levels and signal that you’re happy. Your brain will catch up to you.” Troiani reminds us: it takes about 4 to 6 weeks to really change a habit.
KRISTY-ANNE GLUBISH / DESIGN PICS / CORBIS
Stop putting off seeing the aurora lights, warming up in the hot springs of Greenland or learning a new instrument — just do it. If you often do one thing that makes you happy, then try another. Psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University looked at 30,000 event memories and over 500 diaries, ranging from durations of 3 months to 4 years, and says that people who engage in a variety of experiences are more likely to retain positive emotions and minimize negative ones than people who have fewer experiences. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, studies her broaden-and-build hypothesis of positive emotion. Her research suggests that the optimal ratio of positive to negative emotion in humans is above 3 to 1 and below 11 to 1. Walker has observed that once the ratio of positive to negative events hit 1 to 1, it opens the door to potential disorders, such as anxiety and depression.
ERIN RYAN / ZEFA / CORBIS
Talking about the good and bad things that happen can lead to happiness — even if it is from opposite ends of the phone line. In a controlled lab experiment, psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University found that the reasons are two-fold: people tend to emphasize positive emotions and mitigate negative ones when telling a story, since memory’s natural bias is to keep tabs on the good stuff and gradually lose the emotional intensity of a bad event; and the process of storytelling can affect how one feels about what happened even up to a week later. In other words, talking about a negative experience made the emotional intensity of that memory fade faster than if the event had not been recounted. Walker says that storytelling works best when there is a lot of audience diversity — it helps to tell the story many times to a variety of people.
CHRISTOPH WILHELM / DESIGN PICS / CORBIS15. Balance Work and Home
The grin of our society is blue-toothed. With BlackBerrys and corporate email at home, we are tethered to technology unlike any previous generation. This newfound flexibility between our work and private lives works for some people but is problematic for others. In 2003, Michigan State University researchers found that those who establish boundaries between work and home are more connected to their families and have less conflict than those who integrate the two. The researchers divided people into what they call integrators and separators and suggested that knowing the appropriate boundaries between work and home can have an impact and improve happiness.
Last year, the first world map of happiness was produced, and Denmark came out on top. For more than 30 years, the nation has ranked first in European satisfaction surveys. Researchers in the British Medical Journal tried to understand why the Danes felt more satisfied than the Swedes or Finns, who share similar aspects of culture, and came up with two plausible explanations: the lasting impact of the Danes’ victory in the 1992 European Football Championship has kept them in a state of euphoria since; and the nation, while satisfied, has shown low expectations for the coming year, unlike the Greeks and the Italians who rank low on satisfaction. While there were other reasons that contributed to the satisfaction of the Danes, one thing is clear: the higher one’s expectations, the further they fall.SIMON JARRATT / CORBIS
Society is plagued by time bankruptcy. But what if people asserted more control over their time to optimize their use of it? “Maybe you need to burn bridges, discard habits or situations that waste time and avoid emotional vampires,” says Mary Ann Troiani, co-author of Spontaneous Optimism. “It’s like house-cleaning at that point.” Psychologists will say prioritize, set realistic daily goals that fit into the bigger picture and some time might be recovered. Troiani usually asks one pointed question to shock her clients out of their rut: How would you feel in two or three years if you still feel this way? “People sit there like a deer in headlights,” she says. Her response: picture and imagine what you want to feel like. Maybe set aside two nights in your calendar to focus on those things that you’d like to spend more time on. Or as she puts it: cut the chase.
BEATHAN / CORBIS18. Visualize Happiness
We are unique creatures in that we can mentally simulate situations by remembering the past and visualizing the future. We can also play a hand at perhaps creating the future — at least in terms of preparing our emotional state for what may come. It’s a valuable tool and one that can lead to happiness when applied to specific goals. There is much research behind visualization and emotional changes, as it has been shown that positive thoughts have an impact on the brain’s biochemistry. Many psychologists ask people to imagine or picture what they would like in their life, creating a mental state that makes the person think that it is achievable. “If you experience that visualization with your eyes closed, your mind doesn’t know if it’s real or unreal,” says Mary Ann Troiani, co-author of Spontaneous Optimism.“Neuropsychological ways makes them feel as though they have it and tricks the mind into thinking they have [what they are visualizing] now. It makes them more confident about it.”
SEBASTIAN PFUETZE / ZEFA / CORBIS
Go ahead. It won’t hurt you. It might actually make you happier, too. Based on the psychology that a person feels whatever emotion they are acting at the moment, you will probably feel better if you smile. To avoid what is called cognitive dissonance, in which our thoughts and actions don’t match up, our minds react to the change in our facial expression to bring our beliefs in line with our behavior. And, like laughter, it’s contagious. If you smile, chances are that those around you will too.
YORAY LIBERMAN / GETTY
Since there may be no point in marrying rich (see previous), then marry happy. Research shows that depressed singles receive greater psychological benefit — from things such as intimacy and emotional closeness — from getting married than those who are not depressed. And for the married population, first of all, congratulations: people in committed relationships have been shown to be happier than those who aren’t, despite how satisfying their marriages actually are. Research done by an economist at the University of Warwick suggests that if you’re married to someone who is happy, then you are happy as well. The research concludes that happiness, like material things in a marriage, is shared. Awww…

 

Article from Time Magazine – Best List Series.

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 28th October 2012

The stiff upper lip (Part 3): Keep calm and carry on

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IF

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same…”

by Rudyard Kipling

This week the final episode of Ian Hislop’s excellent Stiff Upper Lip series aired on BBC2.  The third episode looks at the history of the stiff upper lip since the First World War and looks at whether this is a national characteristic which is still prevalent in present day Britain.  Ian Hislop argues that the British became increasingly self-aware of their national stereotypes in the 1930s and some even began gently to poke fun at this increasingly anachronistic character trait.  He visits the British Cartoon Archive in Canterbury to look at a series of cartoons entitled “The British Character” which ran for several years in ‘Punch’ magazine. Graham Laidler a 25 year old cartoonist, who worked under the pen-name Pont, was responsible for creating these cartoons which were hugely successful.  You can see some examples of these cartoons in the clip below.  The cartoons poked fun at the very British characteristic of people carrying on regardless of what was happening around them, the empire may have been in decline, the ship may be sinking but the important thing was to carry on being British and in control no matter what circumstances presented themselves.

‘The British Character’

Ian Hislop’s programme goes on to look at how, over the last 100 years since its Victorian heyday, Britain has become more and more self-conscious and more and more self-critcial about the value of its famous Stiff Upper Lip.  After soldiers returned from the WW1 trenches with over a million people dead it seemed as though the British Imperial swagger had gone for good but since then, argues Hislop, we have been nonchalant, steadfast and in recent times we have let it all out.  The stiff upper lip has taken a huge battering in recent times but does its history suggest that we still find some use for it, Ian Hislop asks?

The Great Depression spread across the world in the 1930′s; there was the rise of Nazism in Germany with Britain unsure how to respond and across the empire discontent was growing at British rule. In response to these many challenges and instead of stiffening, the British appeared to loosen up and tried to have a good time.  Gershwin wrote his song The Stiff Upper Lip at this time and it became an international symbol of the British who couldn’t express their feelings but who wanted to rule an empire.

At the beginning of the Second World War the government tried to prepare Britain for the worst by putting up a series of posters to avoid civil chaos.

Hislop points out that it is rather unusual to suggest that cheerfulness could be a useful weapon during the Blitz.  The most famous poster of them all is the keep calm and carry on poster which was in fact never seen by the public as it was planned only for use in the event of an invasion.  The whole government propaganda machine at the time played to the notion of the British stiff upper lip.  In the post war times of rebuilding, rationing and austerity the government still expected the British to maintain a stoic front. In this climate grumbles, anxieties and fears were all to be kept firmly inside. However in the 1950s, as a new consumer driven culture began to develop, tensions started to emerge and the buttoned down approach to emotions was increasingly questioned and considered out of step with the emotions of the age.

Old boundaries were being rejected, argues Ian Hislop, as as new generation grew up in the sixties awash with the luxuries of peace and prosperity, greater social mobility and sexual freedom.  It is no wonder that the relevance of the stiff upper lip approach to life began to be questioned. Ian Hislop meets writer Alan Bennett, a cast member of the groundbreaking 1960s satirical show Beyond the Fringe which made fun of clergymen, judges and the Prime Minister alike and even poked fun at the most stoic period of the British during the war.  The assault on old establishment values had begun in earnest.

The line between the personal and the public was being eroded.  Ian also travelled to the Welsh community of Aberfan, where in 1966 local people met terrible tragedy when a local school was covered by a landslide killing 144 people,116 of whom were children.  The townspeople coped with the tragedy with old-fashioned resilience and dignity in the face of an increasingly intrusive media whose camera crews captured every moment of the unfolding tragedy.  The media was now insisting that we all had a right to share in other people’s grief.  Ian Hislop argues that this event was the beginning of an on-going debate which continues today about media intrusion and how appropriate it is for the British public not to stand back but to join in someone else’s grief.  In 1968 grieving fathers, encouraged by their wives who had found solace in doing the same thing, formed the Ynysowen male voice choir. The choir is clearly both an extraordinary vehicle for emotional control and emotional release and a testament to the fact that genuine self-help and traditional strength of character have helped this community survive the tragedy argues Hislop. In the word’s of one of the victims of the disaster whose sister died ” It keeps the spirit alive”.

By the end of the 1970′s repression was on the way out and self-expression was on the way in. Was it possible to hug your way to happiness? Ian looks at the influence of American ‘therapy culture’ on British attitudes to emotional expression in the 1970s and looks inside Cosmopolitan magazine to see how this seduced a wider public. In the 1970s even some men started talking from the heart about themselves!

It became the standard medical view that having a stiff upper lip was bad for you and was a sign of emotional repression.  Ian Hislop interviews feminist Susie Orbach, author of “Towards Emotional Literacy”  who explains that “we turned ourselves from a society which was about civic contribution to a society in which individuality is where it is at. How do you express your individuality? It is not just through clothes and occupation but it is also through genuine forms of emotional expression” The stiff upper lip had originally been based on the premise that suffering in silence was a service to society, this notion gradually became outmoded from the 1970s onwards.

In the eighties Princess Diana became the reincarnation of the new emotional literacy in Britain and the move towards more display of shared communal feeling. Princess Diana’s touchy-feely approach was a refreshing change to the traditional stuffy establishment way of behaving with its formal code of conduct. The general national unbuttoning was epitomised by the nation’s outpouring of grief at Diana’s death. Events around Princess Diana’s death have been credited with producing the final demise of the stiff upper lip argues Hislop.

Today we have become so accustomed to showing our emotions in public that we tend to forget that until recently things were very different. Such is the power of TV and so accepted is the contemporary wisdom about the unhealthiness of any emotional repression, it seems that today’s unfettered displays of feeling have entirely replaced the old expectation to try and control them.

In moments of real crisis or adversity, argues Hislop, some residual impulse of the stiff upper lip does still quietly kick in.  Examples he gives are the stoic response of Londoners to the 7/7 bombings and the response to the summer riots of 2011.  It is not entirely coincidental that the catch phrase of today is the slogan resurrected from over 70 years ago “Keep calm and carry on”.  Despite its faults and its failings, British reserve, stoical sang froid, grinning and bearing it might still have something to recommend it argues Hislop. ” If I am wrong” he concludes by commenting wryly “and the stiff upper lip is finished and is rightly consigned to the history books. If that is the case, there is no point in making a fuss about it, no point in crying, we will have to deal with it, sort ourselves out and get on with it.”

View the last episode of the series here. I will leave you to come to your own conclusions about the current emotional strengths and  weaknesses of the British character.  Here is the final speech by London Mayor, Boris Johnson at the end of this year’s Olympics – another occasion when British emotion was on national and international display:  ’The Final Tear Sodden Juddering Climax Of London 2012′

Boris Johnson ‘The Final Tear Sodden Juddering Climax Of London 2012′

 

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 20th October 2012

Self help: forget positive thinking, try positive action

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Self help: forget positive thinking, try positive action

The self-help industry is mired in ideas about positive thinking that are at best ineffective and at worst destructive. If you want to be more confident or successful, says Richard Wiseman, the best thing to do is act the part.

self-help graphic

For years self-help gurus have preached the same simple mantra: if you want to improve your life then you need to change how you think. Force yourself to have positive thoughts and you will become happier. Visualise your dream self and you will enjoy increased success. Think like a millionaire and you will magically grow rich. In principle, this idea sounds perfectly reasonable. However, in practice it often proves ineffective. 

Rip It Up: The radically new approach to changing your life: The Simple Idea That Changes Everything
  1. Tell us what you think: 

Take visualisation. Hundreds of self-improvement books encourage readers to close their eyes and imagine their perfect selves; to see themselves in a huge office at the top of the corporate ladder, or sipping a cocktail as they feel the warm Caribbean sand between their toes. Unfortunately, research suggests this technique does not work.

In one study led by Lien Pham at the University of California, students were asked to spend a few moments each day visualising themselves getting a high grade in an upcoming exam. Even though the daydreaming exercise only lasted a few minutes, it caused the students to study less and obtain lower marks. In another experiment led by Gabriele Oettingen from New York University, graduates were asked to note down how often they fantasised about getting their dream job after leaving college. The students who reported that they frequently fantasised about such success received fewer job offers and ended up with significantly smaller salaries.

Why should this be so? Maybe those who fantasise about a wonderful life are ill-prepared for setbacks, or become reluctant to put in the effort required to achieve their goal. Either way, the message is clear – imagining the perfect you is not good for your life.

However, when it comes to change, the message is not all gloom and doom. Decades of research show that there is indeed a simple but highly effective way to transform how you think and feel. The technique turns common sense on its head but is grounded in science. Strangely, the story begins with a world-renowned Victorian thinker and an imaginary bear.

Working at Harvard University in the late 19th century, William James, brother of the novelist Henry James, was attracted to the unconventional, often walking around campus sporting a silk hat and red-checked trousers, and describing his theories using amusing prose (“As long as one poor cockroach feels the pangs of unrequited love, this world is not a moral world”). This unconventional approach paid off. First published in 1890, James’s two-volume magnum opus The Principles of Psychology is still required reading for students of behavioural science.

Towards the end of the 1880s, James turned his attention to the relationship between emotion and behaviour. Our everyday experience tells us that your emotions cause you to behave in certain ways. Feeling happy makes you smile, and feeling sad makes you frown. Case closed, mystery solved. However, James became convinced that this commonsense view was incomplete and proposed a radical new theory.

James hypothesised that the relationship between emotion and behaviour was a two-way street, and that behaviour can cause emotion. According to James, smiling can make you feel happy and frowning can make you feel sad. Or, to use James’s favourite way of putting it: “You do not run from a bear because you are afraid of it, but rather become afraid of the bear because you run from it.”

James’s theory was quickly relegated to the filing drawer marked “years ahead of its time”, and there it lay for more than six decades.

Throughout that time many self-help gurus promoted ideas that were in line with people’s everyday experiences about the human mind. Common sense tells us that emotions come before behaviour, and so decades of self-help books told readers to focus on trying to change the way they thought rather than the way they behaved. James’s theory simply didn’t get a look-in.

However in the 70s psychologist James Laird from Clark Universitydecided to put James’s theory to the test. Volunteers were invited into the laboratory and asked to adopt certain facial expressions. To create an angry expression participants were asked to draw down their eyebrows and clench their teeth. For the happy expression they were asked to draw back the corners of the mouth. The results were remarkable. Exactly as predicted by James years before, the participants felt significantly happier when they forced their faces into smiles, and much angrier when they were clenching their teeth.

Subsequent research has shown that the same effect applies to almost all aspects of our everyday lives. By acting as if you are a certain type of person, you become that person – what I call the “As If” principle.

Take, for example, willpower. Motivated people tense their muscles as they get ready to spring into action. But can you boost your willpower by simply tensing your muscles? Studies led by Iris Hung from the National University of Singapore had volunteers visit a local cafeteria and asked them to try to avoid temptation and not buy sugary snacks. Some of the volunteers were asked to make their hand into a fist or contract their biceps, and thus behave as if they were more motivated. Amazingly, this simple exercise made people far more likely to buy healthy food.

The same applies to confidence. Most books on increasing confidence encourage readers to focus on instances in their life when they have done well or ask them to visualise themselves being more assertive. In contrast, the As If principle suggests that it would be much more effective to simply ask people to change their behaviour.

Dana Carney, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School, led a study where she split volunteers into two groups. The people in one group were placed into power poses. Some were seated at desks, asked to put their feet up on the table, look up, and interlock their hands behind the back of their heads. In contrast, those in the other group were asked to adopt poses that weren’t associated with dominance. Some of these participants were asked to place their feet on the floor, with hands in their laps and look at the ground. Just one minute of dominant posing provided a real boost in confidence.

The researchers then turned their attention to the chemicals coursing through the volunteers’ veins. Those power posing had significantly higher levels of testosterone, proving that the poses had changed the chemical make-up of their bodies.

The As If principle can even make you feel younger. Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer has conducted many high-profile experiments; one of her most striking involved using the As If principle to turn back the hands of time.

In 1979 Langer recruited a group of men in their 70s for a “week of reminiscence” at a retreat outside Boston. Before the study started, Langer tested the men’s strength, posture, eyesight and memory.

She then encouraged the men to act as if they were 20 years younger. When they arrived at the retreat, for instance, there was no one there to help them off the bus and they had to carry their suitcases inside. In addition, the retreat had not been not equipped with the type of rails and other movement aids they had at home. After unpacking, everyone was assembled in the main room of the retreat. Surrounded by various objects from the 50s, including a black-and-white television and a vintage radio, Langer informed the participants that for the next few days all of their conversations about the past had to be in the present tense, and that no conversation must mention anything that happened after 1959.

Within days, Langer could see the dramatic effect of behaving As If. The participants were now walking faster and were more confident. Within a week several of the participants had decided that they could now manage without their walking sticks. Langer took various psychological and physiological measurements throughout the experiment and discovered that the group now showed improvements in dexterity, speed of movement, memory, blood pressure, eyesight and hearing. Acting as if they were young men had knocked years off their bodies and minds.

More than a century ago William James proposed a radically different approach to change. Decades of research has shown that his theory applies to almost every aspect of everyday life, and can be used to help people feel happier, avoid anxiety and worry, fall in love and live happily ever after, stay slim, increase their willpower and confidence, and even slow the effects of ageing.

So sit up straight and take a deep breath. It is time to rip up the rule book and embrace the truth about change.

How to change: Action speaks loudest

 

Here are 10 quick and effective exercises that use the As If principle to transform how you think and behave:

HAPPINESS: Smile

This is the granddaddy of them all. As Laird’s study demonstrated, smile and you will feel happier. To get the most out of this exercise, make the smile as wide as possible, extend your eyebrow muscles slightly upward, and hold the resulting expression for about 20 seconds.

WILLPOWER: Tense up

As Hung’s experiments show, tensing your muscles boosts your willpower. Next time you feel the need to avoid that cigarette or cream cake, make a fist, contract your biceps, press your thumb and first finger together, or grip a pen in your hand.

DIETING: Use your non-dominant hand

When you eat with your non-dominant hand you are acting as if you are carrying out an unusual behaviour. Because of that you place more attention on your action, do not simply consume food without thinking about it, and so eat less.

PROCRASTINATION: Make a start

To overcome procrastination, act as if you are interested in what it is that you have to do. Spend just a few minutes carrying out the first part of whatever it is you are avoiding, and suddenly you will feel a strong need to complete the task.

PERSISTENCE: Sit up straight and cross your arms

Ron Friedman from the University of Rochester led a study where volunteers were presented with tricky problems to see how long they persevered. Those who sat up straight and folded their arms struggled on for nearly twice as long as others. Make sure your computer monitor is slightly above your eye-line and, when the going gets tough, cross your arms.

CONFIDENCE: Power pose

To increase your self-esteem and confidence, adopt a power pose. If you are sitting down, lean back, look up and interlock your hands behind your head. If you are standing up, then place your feet flat on the floor, push your shoulders back and your chest forward.

NEGOTIATION: Use soft chairs

Hard furniture is associated with hard behaviour. In one study Joshua Ackerman at the MIT Sloan School of Management had participants sit on either soft or hard chairs and then negotiate over the price of a used car. Those in the hard chairs offered less and were more inflexible.

GUILT: Wash away your sins

If you are feeling guilty about something, try washing your hands or taking a shower. Chen-Bo Zhong from the University of Toronto discovered that people who carried out an immoral act and then cleaned their hands with an antiseptic wipe felt significantly less guilty than others.

PERSUASION: Nod

If people nod while they listen to a discussion they are more likely to agree with the points being made. When you want to encourage someone to agree with you, subtly nod your head as you chat with them. Research led by Gary Wells of Iowa State University shows that they will reciprocate the movement and find themselves strangely attracted to your way of thinking.

LOVE: Open up

Couples in love talk about the more intimate aspects of their lives. Research carried out by Robert Epstein, founder of the Cambridge Centre for Behavioural Studies, shows that the opposite is also true – more intimate chat makes people feel attracted to each other. If you are out on a date, get the other person to open up by asking what advice they would give to their 10-year-old self, or what one object they would save in a house fire.

 About the author:

Richard Wiseman’s first career was as a professional magician and he was once one of the youngest members of the Magic Circle. He studied at UCL and the University of Edinburgh and is now Britain’s only professor for the public understanding of psychology, based at the University of Hertfordshire. He is also a fellow of the US-based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and in 2001 he led an experiment to find the world’s funniest joke. His previous books have included a study of luck, The Luck Factor, and 59 Seconds, described by the science writer Simon Singh as “a self-help guide based on proper research”. Rip It Up delves further into the science of self-help. The book is so titled because Wiseman wants readers to tear up the book’s pages as they read them: “The book is all about people changing their behaviour,” he says. “To emphasise this key message I am inviting readers to do something that they probably have never done. Each time, readers will be changing their behaviour and so altering how they think and feel.”

Article by Professor Richard Wiseman, originally published in The Guardian on 30th June 2012

This short animation video which Richard Wiseman created with Cognitive Media is a great illustration of what his new book teaches us.  Richard explains further:

“My new book, Rip It Up, is based on a psychological idea known as the As If Principle.  I recently teamed up with the lovely and talented folk over at Cognitive Media to produce this great clip about the idea.

We also used the clip to run a fun experiment, examining the impact of this type of animation-based video compared to a standard talking head clip.  We had 2000 people come online (thanks to everyone who took part), and randomly assigned them to one of two groups.  One group watched a clip of me talking about the principle, whilst the other group saw the animation clip.

The results were fascinating and suggest that there is a 15% increase in the retention of information after watching the animation vs the talking head video.  There was also an impressive 66% increase in the amount of participants willing to share the animation.”

 

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 12th October 2012

The Stiff Upper Lip (Part 2) – Ian Hislop investigates the heyday of British sang froid

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Invictus

“It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul”

W.E. Henley

Photo:BBC

This week BBC2 aired Ian Hislop’s second episode in his series about the famous British Stiff Upper Lip -  in which he argues that we have the Victorians to thank for making the stiff upper lip a genuinely national characteristic.  The unwavering fortitude of the British in the face of adversity and hardship, commonly known as a stiff upper lip is still firmly in place, without any assistance from botox injections, according to Ian Hislop.  He looks at how suffering in silence was considered the ideal norm and gives us some examples of   unusual national heroes of the times like Captain Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the Channel.

Matthew Webb

Captain Matthew Webb

 

A recent survey by YouGov suggests that the stiff upper lip is softening but is still stiffer than others.  In their recent survey:

“62% of the public believes that British people have become more emotional in recent decades. Only 14% say British people have become less emotional, and 18% believe they are about the same.

Despite the majority view that the British stiff upper lip is becoming a thing of the past, 57% of the public say that British people are generally less given to displaying their emotions than people from most other countries. A very small proportion (8%) believe Brits are more given to displaying their emotions, and 26% are of the view that British people display their emotions to about the same extent as people from most other countries.”

In Episode 2 , the BBC tells us:

“Ian returns to his own boarding school, Ardingly College in Sussex, which he admits forged his own character. He looks at how the English public school system instilled a powerful ideology of stoicism into both upper and middle-class boys, preparing them to run both the country and the fast expanding British empire. Later in the century, these ideas were extended to the roughest parts of Glasgow and beyond through the Boys’ Brigade, founded 25 years before the Scouts, as a panacea for ‘degenerate’ working-class youth.

Ian also argues that it was the Crimean War which gave rise to the democratisation of the stiff upper lip. The bravery of ordinary privates was admired by all and for the first time they became national heroes – the new Victoria Cross was the first honour for which all ranks were eligible.

Victorians tended to believe that a good dose of emotional restraint could even fortify women, and that by being uncomplaining and endlessly supportive – ‘the angel in the house’ – women could aspire towards their own version of the stiff upper lip.

Yet by the early 20th century some intellectuals, radicals and aesthetes were beginning to question the homogenised, quasi-industrial approach to character building – and were equating the stiff upper lip with hypocrisy and repression. And ultimately, the Victorian ideal of reticent stoicism shot through with imperial swagger could not survive the mud of Flanders. Yet it was precisely these values which fed the front line and persuaded so many officers and men to endure the First World War’s unspeakable horrors. Ian goes to the battlefields of the Somme to tell the remarkable story of how one officer literally treated war as a game, using football to motivate his men to go over the top.

Ian also introduces the weeping policeman ‘Robert Emotional’, explains the dark context to Charles Darwin’s observation ‘Englishmen rarely cry’ and talks to MP Rory Stewart about how the stiff upper lip helped see him through his time as a deputy governor in Iraq.”

In response to an article by Ian Hislop in the BBC News Magazine, people have been responding with their own stiff upper lip stories which you can read here.

As to the question of whether the British stiff upper lip is a good or bad characteristic, which underpins the emotional well being of the nation, the jury is still out.  Part 3 of the series may reveal the answer to this burning question or you may already have made up your own mind.  I, for one, continue to find the series interesting and will reserve judgement until next week’s final episode which airs on 15th October.

 

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 11th October 2012

                                                                      

 

 

 

 

How finding your passion changes everything

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Recent articles and Happiness Experiment no 11 have looked at the concept of Flow and how getting absorbed in an activity which you are really passionate about can boost your happiness.  For further inspiration I recommend that you purchase the book called The Element by Sir Ken Robinson which looks at ways of being in our element.  Being in our  element is defined as the point at which our natural talent meets our personal passion. This is where people feel most themselves and are inspired and able to achieve at their highest levels.  The book is illustrated with examples of people who have made a successful living through doing what they love like Vidal Sassoon, Ariana Huffington and Matt Groening.  Robinson argues that age and occupation are no barrier and explains how it is possible for each one of us to reach our element. Read Sir Ken Robsinson’s book and watch his inspiring TED Talk – finding your true passion could just change everything.

 

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 11th October 2012

Passion and Flow

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Continuing with the subject of flow this personal account from The Psychology of Wellbeing blog by Jeremy McCarthy about his experiences of implementing the theories of flow in his life is a great illustration of how focusing on flow can bring positive changes. If you have yet not tried out Happiness Experiment No 11: Go with the flow this article should give you some ideas.

Aggie Women’s Tennis 12 by StuSeeger

 

Passion and Flow – a life changing book

Have you ever read a book (and religious texts don’t count—that’s too easy) that you can honestly say has changed your life?  For me, the one book that has changed my life more than any other is “Flow:  The Psychology of Optimal Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (say that three times fast–hint: it’s pronounced “cheek sent me hi.”)

The book is based on Csikszentmihalyi’s research on how people felt while doing different activities throughout their day.  He literally had study participants wear beepers and would beep them at random intervals over the course of several months (“experience sampling method.”)  He measured what people were doing and how they felt during different times in their day.

What he found was that people felt their best when they were doing certain activities that helped them to experience what he called “flow”.  Flow is the feeling you have when you are completely engaged in an activity and time seems to fly by.  Different individuals have different activities that they find to be flow-inducing.  One person might experience flow while preparing a gourmet meal, working in the kitchen.  Another person might get it while dancing at a night club.  Art, music, sports, travel and social activities can all induce flow in different personalities.

Csziksentmihalyi found that all of these flow-inducing activities have certain things in common.  People find themselves in flow when performing an activity that is somewhat challenging, but when they feel they have the skills to meet that challenge.  Flow is the sweet spot between boredom and anxiety.  An intermediate tennis player, for example, would be completely bored if he was playing against a total beginner who couldn’t even keep the ball in play.  If he was playing against a grand slam champion on the other hand, he would have a hard time returning a single serve and would probably find the experience somewhat stressful.  But when he plays another intermediate player, who is strong enough to challenge him and push his game to its upper limits, where victory is not impossible but not guaranteed either, he may find himself in flow, loving every minute of the challenge and losing all sense of anything else.

When I read Flow, I immediately recognized some of the flow activities in my own life, and learned how to identify other activities that I might equally enjoy.  In large part due to the inspiration from the book, I have filled my life with wonderful activities that I pursue with passion.  Hiking, scuba diving, salsa dancing, guitar playing, surfing and beach volleyball are all flow activities that have brought me countless hours of joy.  I think of these kinds of activities not as pleasantries with which to fill my leisure time, but as a sacred part of my life, the things that make life worth living.

So what are the activities that put you into flow?  What are you passionate about?  Finding these activities and giving them the appropriate value in your life can be the secret to living a life of happiness and well-being.  And if you have read a book that has drastically impacted your life in a positive way, let me know what it is.  I’d like to read it.

—

References and recommended reading:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.  New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

 

Original article by Jeremy McCarthy, posted 9th October 2012

Happiness Experiment No 11: Go with the flow

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Writer Adam Gopnik finds happiness in being “vigilantly absorbed in some activity.”

You will like Happiness Experiment no 11 because it involves doing more of what you love to do.  It sounds so simple, surely attaining happiness should be more complicated and involve more of an effort? How can you be happy just by doing what you love to do?  Simple as the idea sounds most of us forget to do the things we love to do and get involved in the daily 9 to 5, the things we ought to do, the daily must do, should do and need to do lists. True happiness, argues Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, comes from you being completely absorbed in some activity: you are completely in the zone and time slips by unnoticed.  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychologist and researcher, was credited with naming this state of complete absorption as “flow”. After interviewing many people who all had one thing in common (they pursued an activity for its own sake, not for the money or status but just for the joy of it) he came to label these experiences as “flow” activities. We all have different activities that put us in a state of flow and this can vary from individual to individual.  So how can you tell if you are in flow?  If you are experiencing most of these 7 characteristics while performing a task, chances are that you are experiencing flow:

  • You experience oneness and ecstasy (you lose sense of self)
  • You are completely involved and concentrated
  • You experience the task as highly challenging and requiring a high level of skills
  • You have a wonderful sense of serenity
  • You experience a distorted sense of time
  • You are intrinsically motivated
  • You have a sense of control

Happiness Experiment no 11 is therefore to become aware of which activities are flow activities for you.  Make sure you set aside time for these flow activities this week rather than telling yourself you are too busy.  Make more time in your life for doing the things that you love.  It sounds a simple experiment but is a remarkably effective way of increasing your happiness.  If you would like to read more on the subject of flow read this book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi or watch this video featuring in which Mihaly explains his theories further:

Flow

 

 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow – the secret to happiness

 

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 8th October 2012

 

The British Stiff Upper Lip (Part 1) – a good or bad characteristic?

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I watched Ian Hislop’s new programme about the famous British Stiff Upper Lip last night and found it very interesting and surprisingly enjoyable.   It will be interesting to see how this review of the nation’s emotions continues next week but the first instalment was very insightful.  This interesting review in today’s Guardian will give you a great insight, so you can decide for yourself whether you want to catch up with the BBC2 programme here.

Ian Hislop’s Stiff Upper Lip – An Emotional History of Britain

From bawdy Boswell to Princess Diana, Hislop gets in touch with our emotions

 of The Guardian, writes on 

Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip - An Emotional History of Britain

Ferreting around … Ian Hislop’s Stiff Upper lip was complex and lovely.

Ian Hislop is out and about in London talking to people, normal people, about emotional matters. He’s not a natural with the public, I’d say – it’s as if he knows he can’t be too clever, or witty, or sarky. But what, frankly, does that leave, for someone who’s all about being those things? Nodding along, a little uncomfortably, that’s what.

Luckily he doesn’t do it for too long in this first episode of Ian Hislop’s Stiff Upper Lip – An Emotional History of Britain (BBC2). Soon he’s burrowing into the past, ferreting around (there is something ferret-like about Hislop, isn’t there?) among books and pictures. Not too many normal people to deal with here, just experts. Like AN Wilson (now there’s a man to test your stiff upper lip, don’t you just want to throw your arms around him and give him a big hug, soak up the warmth). And this fellow at the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions …

What? No! That’s a made-up centre, isn’t it? What the hell were they doing until this programme happened and (sort of) justified their existence? Sitting around among their dusty books, waiting for the phone to ring. Eventually, after several years, it did, the first time ever in fact. “Hello? Yes … Ian Hislop? You’re making a programme … about the history of emotions … yes I believe we can help you … that’s exactly what we do, pretty much all we do … an interview? … let me just check the diary … actually, no need, that’ll be fine …”

Anyway, it turns out we Brits weren’t always so buttoned up, our upper lips weren’t always so stiff. Back in the day we were a touchy-feely-huggy-kissy lot (lucky for AN Wilson he wasn’t around then). Even Nelson was basically a metrosexual hippy. So what happened? The French revolted, that’s what, our lip-stiffening was a direct result of that.

It’s a bit more complicated, and interesting. And Hislop snuffles out a fascinating route from Tudor va-va-voom to icy Victorian reserve. Sometimes I get a bit lost and can’t see how something fits in, but that’s just me not keeping up, and it really doesn’t matter because the stories are such a hoot. Like the cunning British scheme to sort out the French, put a stop to their silly revolution, by making them all play cricket. And James Boswell’s big night out on the town to celebrate the king’s birthday, which involved drinking a lot, getting into a few fights, and dipping his machine into the canals of prostitutes. Eurgh … his words, not mine, filthy man. Three prostitutes, as it happens, “thrice nightly” Jimmy B they used to call him. How does this fit in with the history of the stiff upper lip though? There’s very little reserve going on there; plus he must have needed all his stiffness for his machine, in order for successful canal-dipping to take place, so to speak. Oh I see, that was the beginning of politeness, though Boswell wasn’t very good at it (you’re telling me!), on account of being Scottish.

There’s not an awful lot to go on visually for this documentary. Hislop looks at a book, and another book, and at a portrait by Johann Zoffany. The camera scans the page, the picture, a statue, a flag; Hislop ferrets around, in his black suit. But thank God we don’t go down the dreaded dramatic reconstruction route (take note, Andrew Marr), although it might have been quite fun for Boswell’s Big Night Out.

And it will be easier next time, as we’ll presumably be getting into times where there’s some footage – of events when lips either remained stiff (world wars), or didn’t (the death of Diana). Gazza’s tears, will they feature? Andy Murray’s Scottish ones even?

What about Hislop himself, is he Wellington or Nelson, stoical or sentimental? Or is there something between the two, an upper-lip semi? That curls up slightly, in the corner, wittily, satirically … Yeah, that. Anyway, his programme is a lovely one

Article written by Sam Wollaston in the Guardian on 2nd October 2012

 

 

 

Play to your strengths – it will make you happier

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One of the most important lessons I have learned in my studies of positive psychology is about playing to your strengths.  Like many people I have spent most of my life trying to “fix” my weaknesses and imagining that if I could only overcome my character deficits I would somehow be happier.  Positive psychology teaches us that this is a back to front approach and that it is much better to discover what your character strengths are and to use your top strengths every day in new and interesting ways. So how do you go about discovering where your true strengths and talents lie?  One way is to use your own judgement, another is to ask a group of people who know you really well what they think your top 5 strengths are.  It is a good idea to take both of these approaches but it is important to be aware when you are assessing yourself that we tend to think that because we find something easy to do that this does not constitute a strength.  Another option is to try the range of character strength surveys which are available online.  They are either free or very cheap to use and the small investment in time and money which is involved in doing these tests is time well spent.

I have tried two of the currently available strengths surveys and have found them invaluable.  The first one I tried is the VIA Survey, created by Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman who have looked at the strengths that were most valued historically and cross-culturally. The final list contains 24 strengths and the VIA assessment has been taken by over 1.3 million times by people around the world. A VIA report will give you insight into your ability to access all 24 strengths.

 

Another strengths assessment which I have tried is the Clifton StrengthsFinder from Gallup. StrengthsFinder is slightly more relevant to your strengths at work but there is an overlap between the 2 surveys.  You can purchase a book which provides you with the code to take the test online and the assessment provides you with information about relative strengths of 34 talents themes. The Gallup researchers, Donald Clifton, Marcus Buckingham, and Tom Rath, created the list of talents based on studies of human behavior in organizations that occurred over 40 years. The StrengthsFinder report gives you an insight into your top 5 talent themes that become strengths when you bring them into play in the real world.

There are other surveys such as Realise2 developed by the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) in the United Kingdom and StandOut from The Marcus Buckingham Company which is both an individual and team assessment tool for the workplace.  I will cover these assessments in future blog posts but the VIA Survey and the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment are a good starting point to establish your strengths.

My new creativity tool – a kitchen timer.

One of my strengths is creativity and although I was aware of this before I took the tests I had lost the habit of using this strength in my daily life.  I discovered other strengths which I had not been aware of so even though you think you know your strengths I would encourage you to take the surveys as they are very revealing.  This great video by the super creative John Cleese has some great lessons on how to bring more creativity in to your life and how to make sure you make time for creativity:

One of the lessons I have learned from this video is that you need to make time for creativity – this sounds obvious doesn’t it but it is easier said than done.  John Cleese makes the very valid point that you need a clearly defined space and time for creativity to happen.  You should sit down in your allocated creative space for ideally 90 minutes at a time and not move until you have really got your creative juices flowing.  Any longer than 90 minutes and you start to tire, any less than 90 minutes and you are not giving yourself the chance to become really creative as your mind tends to wander for the first 30 minutes and only really starts to focus in the last 60 minutes of your allocated time.  Hence my recent purchase of a kitchen timer, which is my new creativity tool of choice.  It keeps me focused and aware that time is ticking.  My “appointment for creativity” has a beginning and an end and if I don’t make the most of my allocated 90 minutes my time will be up and I will have to move on to less pleasurable pursuits which require my attention.

Using this technique in the last week I have tried out three creative pursuits which I used to enjoy but which I have not made time for recently: bread making, mosaic art and dressmaking.  I have managed to fit all three pursuits in to one week when previously I couldn’t begin to see how creativity could fit in to my busy life.

2 new Liberty print blouses which I made this week

Breadmaking

The happiness bug spreads to my kitchen as the PIG of HAPPINESS takes over!

This week I have chosen to express my “creativity strength” by making items which are creative in the physical sense.  You can also express you creativity through finding new ways to solve problems, taking up writing or music making or embarking on a whole myriad of different creative pursuits.  Another great creative tool I have found is the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – it is a 12 week programme to help you rediscover your creativity and I can highly recommend it.

I will end this blog post with a wonderful, inspirational video on creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love.

 A new way to think about creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert

Creativity is one of my top 5 strengths according to the surveys I have taken and I think that this is an accurate assessment.  Even if creativity does not feature in your top 5 strengths I think it is important that everyone works at expressing their creativity in any way they can. I hope that this article has give you some food for thought.

Posted by Shona Lockhart, 24th July 2012