Vitamin We #17: The Strength of Good Stories

Happy Harvest Moon 🌝 to everyone who celebrates it!

You might have noticed that we’ve changed the frequency of the Vitamin We dispatch - our intention for Season 2, for you and for us, is to

Go Slow To Go Fast

(more to be explained in Idea#3 of the Book Mentor section 😃 ).

Also, to simplify and lighten it up with One story. One book. One core message.

You can expect to receive a dose of Vitamin We around every New Moon and Full Moon from now on, which, if you remember, working with the lunar cycle🌙 is one of our foundational ways at We to get in touch with our emotional world, to amplify creativity, and to tap into the power of the feminine in all humans.

The story we curate for you this time is from Tamar, a legal professional turned graphic designer. Her encouraging career pivot story is another living proof of my theory (now in my 10th year in career coaching) that, when our career feels unsatisfying, it’s way deeper than just a career issue - something is misaligned in our lives underneath the surface.

Take this as an invitation for us to embark on our self-discovery journeys to uncover our hidden gifts, reclaim our personal power, gain clarity of who we are and what we truly want, and gather the courage to follow our inner compass to redirect our path forward!

Happy reading!

“ I don’t know if this story is worth something, but for me, it’s life-changing.

I am actually a lawyer with a master’s degree, but I thought that I was too soft for this job, so I went to air transportation. It was something I liked to do, but still there was something off.

I always liked to write poetry and create art. I was painting, imagining things in my head. Deep down, I always wanted to be a graphic designer but was too scared to start. What if I don’t like it? What if I throw away money and time…

At the same time, I was going through hard times. I was diagnosed with OCD, and I had really bad anxiety. I was lucky to meet a person who changed my life - my boyfriend. Who took me as I am now and showed me that life is beautiful and I should do what I like.

After all those years and tears, I decided to start learning graphic design.

I am a 26 year old student. It’s never too late to change your field. I am very grateful and happy with everything now. I am learning, studying, and, trying hard. ”

Idea #1: The Elements of Well-Being: PERMA

What is well-being? How do we measure happiness? Positive Psychology is more than just seeing a glass half full 🥃.

The well-being theory, according to Seligman, consists of 5 elements (mnemonic as PERMA) that comprise what free people will choose for their own sake:

Position emotion - The pleasant life, feeling good in general.

Engagement - Time stops. Entering the flow state.

Positive Relationships - Other people.

Meaning - A sense of belonging to and serving something bigger than ourselves.

Accomplishment - Pursuing success, winning, achievement, and mastery through actions.

The goal is to measure and build human flourishing.

Here are two positive psychology exercises that work in creating more happiness in life:

1. Gratitude - What-Went-Well Exercise (also called “Three Blessings”): Every night before we go to sleep, spend 10 minutes writing down things that went well today and why they went well. Stick to it for at least a week!

2. Signature Strengths Exercise - more on this below in Idea#2.

The 2 exercises above, when combined, have markedly lowered depression three months and six months later, and substantially increased happiness for six months in one of their studies. Very encouraging and doable indeed 😺

Idea #2: Focus On Your Strengths, Not Correcting Your Weaknesses

Strengths are not just what we are good at doing - they are what strengthens us in the process of doing them.

When we own our signature strengths, and find new and more frequent uses for them, we’ll feel:

• a sense of ownership and authenticity (“this is the real me”)

• a feeling of excitement while displaying it, particularly at first

• a rapid learning curve as the strength is first practiced

• a sense of yearning to find new ways to use it

• a feeling of inevitability in using the strength (“try to stop me”)

• invigoration rather than exhaustion while using the strength

• the creation and pursuit of personal projects that revolve around it

• joy, zest, enthusiasm, even ecstasy while using it

Are you curious about your Values In Action (VIA) Character Strengths? Visit the Questionnaire Center of the Authentic Happiness website of UPenn (Note: account registration is required). There is also a version for children 🚸

After taking the test, pay attention to the rank order of your strengths. Then, create a designated time in your schedule for the coming week to use your signature strengths in new ways. e.g., Appreciation of beauty and excellence - choose to take a more beautiful route to and from work!

Then, reflect on how you felt before, during, and after engaging in the activity. Was the activity challenging or easy? Did time pass quickly? Did you lose your sense of self-consciousness? Do you plan to repeat the exercise?

Idea #3: Slowness - One of the Building Blocks of Success

When studying the theory of achievement, they explored that both Speed🏎️ and Slowness 🦥 are essential - the faster we can handle automatic tasks (mostly mentally), the more time and executive functions of our brains can be reserved for the heavyweight slow processes such as planning, refining, checking for errors and creativity.

The two other elements are Rate of Learning, and Effort, which is our time on the task that is highly determined by our self-discipline and grit.