Journey Challenge - KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS
KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS
You are stronger than you know and more capable than you realize. It is often the very intensity and challenge of the ordeal that yields our abiding and true nature within us. It is said that the souls waits silently within for just the right time to surface. Now is one of these times. Learn what strengths will arise most naturally from within you as you face an uncertain future, and learn to put these strengths to use as you participate in unnatural life circumstances.
Take the ‘Know Your Strength’s Test; then keep your five core strengths in mind.
Debriefing of the VIA Character Strengths Profile
HERE’S THE CHALLENGE
So often we get entangled with self-judgment and self-criticism, and we carry a distorted view of our strengths as well as our weaknesses. So of us confused identifying with our strengths as being self-centered or egotistical. In fact, it is the opposite. When we cannot ground ourselves in what our true characters strengths really are, we tend to either overly exaggerate or overly diminish the core capacities we actually have.
This challenge is about taking more responsibility for our inner resources and capacities, and to better know what are strengths are – and use them.
HERE’S YOUR TASK
Complete the VIA Character Strengths Profile. This is a remarkably stable and accurate test that will reflect back to you your core strengths.
Set aside preparation time to slow down and center yourself inside. Perhaps use one of the guided meditations on the Ensemble Hero website to do so. It is important that you are in a calm and settled place inside before you take the survey.
Plan on about 30 minutes for this learning experience. Notice what strikes you as obvious and self evident, and notice what surprised you about the results.
Inspiration
A Prayer Invocation
by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Let the light of your being,
the consciousness of knowing
your real Self,
radiate and illuminate
the human beings
you find before you,
as well as the community of voices
you find within.
When others see and feel
your atmosphere of ripeness,
your ability to act
at the right time and place,
they will be reconnected in praise
to the song and harmony
of the Parent of All,
the nurturing Force
that re-creates the cosmos
each moment,
unfolding, a universe
of sound, vibration, and light.
(Interpretive bible translation from the original Aramaic – Matthew 5:16)
Reflection
A poem by Nisagadartha Maharaj
Intelligence
By being with yourself, by watching yourself in daily life
With alert interest,
With the intention to understand rather than to judge,
In full acceptance of whatever may emerge,
Because it is there,
You encourage the deep to come to the surface
And enrich your life and Consciousness
With its captive energies.
This is the great work of Awareness.
It removes obstacles and releases energies
By understanding the nature of life and mind.
Intelligence is the door to Freedom,
And alert attention is the Mother of intelligence.
Action
TAKE THE VIA INSTITUTE’S CHARACTER STRENGTH SURVEY
If you like, post your Top Five Core Strengths on our private Ensemble Hero FB page.
“In these dark and uncertain times,
there can be great value in imagining a bit of star in each human soul.