Pursuing Virtue

We define a virtue as a moral excellence or goodness. We express our virtues as character strengths we can offer the world.

“The number of potential character strengths profiles is exponentially greater than the number of people living on our planet.” – Via. So our combination of character strengths is part of what makes us unique.

When we engage our signature (top) character strengths, we become a more virtuous person. This affects our behaviour, sense of meaning, and happiness.

An overview:

On  YouTube

Research found 6 domains, grouping 24 character strengths. Your top ones feel essential to who you are as a person, and using them feels effortless and energizing.

Via offers a free test (with registration and they collect some demographic info, typical of research projects). You can click a link to get a PDF of your results. As would be no surprise to regular readers, my top two are Love of Learning and Perspective (big picture).

Some of it is over-simplified, partly to automate it. For example, my higher scores didn’t fit neatly into a “top 5” as 6 & 7 tied with 3-5. Nothing here should be taken as absolute. But I did find it a useful exercise in self-awareness.

They offer various free charts to download. And you can explore the character strengths online too.

If you find it useful, you can order paid reports that explore your profile in more detail. The Total24 report, for example, shows your exact scores, explores your top 5 or “signature” strengths, your middle or supportive strengths, and your lesser ones. It also discusses over and under use plus your dominant virtue, the domain with the most strengths. The various sections have simple exercises you can do to improve all strengths. The report includes an expression map showing your strengths charted on head-heart and relational-inward scales. And finally, your scale of the strengths most related to happiness and how to boost them.

Another related tool I’ve mentioned before is Sacred Gifts.
Davidya