Strengths

I recently participated in a workshop at my home parish called Living Your Strengths.  This is a program that started up at Ascension in the past couple of years, as way to engage parishioners in knowing their strengths, with a mind to being able to build up a stronger parish body as a result, based on a curriculum developed by a company.

My Dad participated summer 2012, and he invited me to sign up for it this year.  At first, my response was, "I don't have enough excuses to say 'no', but not enough incentive to say 'yes'".  But I thought it might be something worth doing as I start a new phase of life.

I initially thought this program was going to be like any other self-improvement program.  Yet as soon as I started delving into the materials as part of the tasks to do before the first of two sessions, it was very clear to me that this program was different, and it stuck out to me for one big reason: So often, we seek to make ourselves better as people by overcoming our weaknesses, which can be a major source of guilt, at least in my life.  This program was about understanding our strengths, and engaging them as a means of self-improvement, to become the people God created us to be.  Indeed, this was no ordinary secular self-improvement program.  It was so steeped in spirituality, though in many ways, in can be applied to secular matters.

As part of the program, I completed an online Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment of numerous questions that assessed my personality.  While I don't remember any of the questions specifically, I do remember that they were structured in an odd way, like "You enjoy watching television, or You enjoy eating jelly beans", things that didn't seem related, and I had to mark which one more closely aligned with me.

At the end, the StrengthsFinder gave me my top 5 signature themes out of 34 different themes, based on my strengths as determined by the assessment.  My five were input, context, connectedness, learner and w.o.o., an acronym for "winning over others".  I was struck by how the program recognized qualities in me that other people have pointed out, like my eagerness to interact with strangers.  I was equally struck by how it pointed at my personal tendencies, like looking back to the past to understand the present, having a sense of being part of something larger, and my tendency to collect things and information, and not feeling comfortable with throwing things out.  In regards to that latter one, I had always thought collecting things was a bad habit, and so I was astounded to actually be affirmed that such a habit is a reflection of one of my strengths, that I am curious about many things that fill the world.

Through my own study of my strengths, and the discussions I had at the two workshops, I was able to garner a new sense of myself.  And it provides fresh insight for my relationships.  Instead of seeing a disagreement as just that, I see it as a clash that results because two different people are expressing what are naturally their strengths.

It was good to be part of this program, and to understand my strengths, and have them be affirmed, especially at this stage of life.  One of the people facilitating the workshops told me that out of well over 100 people at Ascension who have participated so far, only a handful are in their 20s.  I can certainly imagine myself 20 years later participating in a workshop like this, and thinking, "I wish I had known this earlier."  Fortunately, I am finding out about all this early on, at the tail beginning of my adulthood, and being aware of my strengths I'm sure will have a positive impact in the years ahead, not only on me, but on my relationships, and even the company I work for and the parish I attend.  For me, it all comes down to giving me a positive drive.