By Bruce Craig, Resident in Counseling
Often in our society we are taught or conditioned to look at our weaknesses and constantly try to improve them. This approach can be limiting and make real growth almost impossible in some situations. This often leads to negative self-talk and a lowered self-esteem. I encourage people to instead, explore their Character Strengths and learn how to better employ them in day to day situations.
Assess your strengths:
One way to begin this work is to take the assessment on the VIA Character Strengths Institute website. This site breaks down 24-character strengths that are common to all people and helps determine which ones are more prevalent for you, your signature strengths.
Once you understand which strengths out of the 24 are strongest for you then you can begin embracing them and using them more effectively in daily life. This builds confidence and self-esteem instead of constantly trying to improve yourself in a trait that you might just not be good at naturally.
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About Bruce Craig: Bruce is a resident in counseling providing counseling services at our Fredericksburg location. Bruce is a recent graduate from Eastern Mennonite University with a MA in Counseling, following a B.S. in Social Psychology from Park University.
Bruce completed a rigorous internship working with individuals, couples, families and groups. Bruce also finds Mindfulness to be useful in helping clients be in the present moment. For clients who are receptive to it, he teaches them ways of controlling their thoughts instead of becoming anxious about things that might happen or focusing on aspects they cannot change.
He is currently in a course to become certified in the use of Mindfulness in therapy but already has experience and success applying Mindfulness with clients. Bruce provides a warm, empathetic, and non-judgmental space for all people to bring whatever issues they need to work through. To learn more about Bruce, visit here.