Category: Retreats

When we try to break a habit or make a change in our lives, we all make the same mistake. Do you often wonder why you can never stick to the diet for long? Or why you can’t seem to stop the negative thinking for good? It is not your fault.

Stop focusing on changing your behavior and discover what you should be focusing on instead for powerful, positive change that lasts.

In Daoist philosophy, dark and light, yin and yang, arrive in the Tao Te Ching at chapter 42.^[23]  It becomes sensible from an initial quiescence or emptiness (wuji, sometimes symbolized by an empty circle), and continues moving until quiescence is reached again. For instance, dropping a stone in a calm pool of water will simultaneously raise waves and lower troughs between them, and this alternation of high and low points in the water will radiate outward until the movement dissipates and the pool is calm once more. Yin and yang thus are always opposite and equal qualities. Further, whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality: for example, grain that reaches its full height in summer (fully yang) will produce seeds and die back in winter (fully yin) in an endless cycle.

It is impossible to talk about yin or yang without some reference to the opposite, since yin and yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole (for example, there cannot be the bottom of the foot without the top). A way to illustrate this idea is^{[citation needed]} to postulate the notion of a race with only women or only men; this race would disappear in a single generation. Yet, women and men together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to things, like manhood.^[24] Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall. Thus, a seed will sprout from the earth and grow upwards towards the sky—an intrinsically yang movement. Then, when it reaches its full potential height, it will fall. Also, the growth of the top seeks light, while roots grow in darkness.

Certain catchphrases have been used to express yin and yang complementarity:^[25]

• The bigger the front, the bigger the back.
• Illness is the doorway to health.
• Tragedy turns to comedy.
• Disasters turn out to be blessings.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yin_and_yang.svg

CSV identifies six classes of virtue (i.e. “core virtues”) comprising 26 measurable “character strengths”. The organization of the six virtues and 26 strengths is as follows:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective, innovation
2. Courage: bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality, zest
3. Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence
4. Justice: citizenship, fairness, leadership
5. Temperance: forgiveness and mercy, humility, prudence, self control
6. Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

CSV in its opening chapter^[2] defined character strengths as satisfying most of the ten following criteria:

• contributes to individual fulfillment “for oneself and others”;^[3]
• intrinsically valuable, in an ethical sense (gifts, skills, aptitudes, and expertise can be squandered, but character strengths and virtues cannot);
• non-rivalrous;
• not the opposite of a desirable trait (a counterexample is steadfast and flexible, which are opposites but are both commonly seen as desirable);
• trait-like (habitual patterns that are relatively stable over time);
• not a combination of the other character strengths in the CSV;
• personified (at least in the popular imagination) by people made famous through story, song, etc.;
• observable in child prodigies (though this criterion is not applicable to all character strengths);
• absent in some individuals;
• and nurtured by societal norms and institutions.

The introduction of CSV suggests that these six virtues are considered good by the vast majority of cultures and throughout history and that practicing these traits leads to increased happiness. Notwithstanding numerous cautions and caveats, this suggestion of universality hints that in addition to trying to broaden the scope of psychological research to include mental wellness, the leaders of the positive psychology movement are challenging moral relativism and suggesting that virtue has a biological basis.^[1] These arguments are in line with the science of morality.

Each of the 28 character traits is defined behaviorally, with psychometric evidence demonstrating that it can be reliably measured. The book shows that “empirically minded humanists can measure character strengths and virtues in a rigorous scientific manner.”^[4]

Practical applications of positive psychology include helping individuals and organizations correctly identify their strengths and use them to increase and sustain their respective levels of well-being. Each trait “provides one of many alternative paths to virtue and well-being.”^[4] Therapists, counselors, coaches, and various other psychological professionals can use the new methods and techniques to build and broaden the lives of individuals who are not necessarily suffering from mental illness or disorder.

Finally, other researchers have advocated grouping the 28 identified character traits into just four classes of strength (Intellectual, Social, Temperance, Transcendent) or even just three classes (without Transcendence). Not only is this easier to remember, but additionally there is evidence that these adequately capture the components of the 28 original traits.^[5]

Perspective and wisdom (personified for example by Ann Landers): the coordination of “knowledge and experience” and “its deliberate use to improve wellbeing.”^[6] Many, but not all, studies find that adults’ self-ratings of perspective/wisdom do not depend on age.^[7] This stands in contrast to the popular notion that wisdom increases with age.^[7] Continue reading “Definition of strengths and virtues” →