Itās completely normal to focus on your weak points when you face a challenge. We often ask, “What’s wrong with me?” Anxiety, depression, stress, and low self-esteem can make these thoughts even stronger. But the field of Positive Psychology offers a better way: to build lasting hope and happiness, you must focus on what’s strong and right within you. This simple shift in perspective can change your entire life path and help manage symptoms of mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Two Engines of Hope
In research, hope isn’t just a warm feeling; itās a powerful way of thinking that has two parts:
- Agency Thinking (The Will): This is the belief that you have the motivation, energy, and will to pursue a goal. It’s the inner engine that gets you started. This mindset is particularly useful for individuals struggling with chronic stress or social anxiety.
- Pathways Thinking (The Way): This is the belief that you can figure out the different steps, routes, or backup plans needed to reach your goal, even when the first plan fails. People with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or learning disorders can benefit greatly from practicing this flexible thinking.
Your personal character strengths are the fuel that powers both the Will and the Way.
Discover Your Inner Superpowers
Every single person has a set of universal character strengths, qualities that feel completely authentic and energizing when you use them. The VIA Character Strengths framework identifies 24 of these positive qualities, like Curiosity, Perseverance, Kindness, and Humor.
Your signature strengths are your top 5ā7 traits. They are your core superpowers. By identifying these, you gain a clear, powerful tool you can use to navigate any tough time and build a better futureāeven when coping with mood disorders, borderline personality disorder (BPD), or chronic anxiety.
How Your Strengths Create Hope
Your signature strengths act like a personal blueprint for overcoming problems:
- Perseverance: This strength directly builds Agency (the Will). When you use it, you teach yourself that effort, not just luck, is what drives success. It helps you stick with a goal even when facing setbacks such as depression episodes or OCD-related challenges.
- Creativity: This is key for Pathways Thinking (the Way). It helps you quickly come up with new, smart solutions and backup plans when your original idea hits a wall. This can be especially useful for individuals dealing with social anxiety or PTSD triggers.
- Kindness/Love: Using these strengths strengthens your support network. Having strong, caring relationships is a crucial external resource, particularly for people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It inspires hope and prevents the feeling of being isolated when you feel like giving up.
- Zest/Enthusiasm: This strength provides the necessary emotional energy to chase after goals. It makes the hard work of recovery or change feel more engaging and sustainable, aiding individuals with chronic stress, depression, or generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
- Grit: Often seen with Perseverance, Grit is your long-term passion and persistent effort towards big goals. It keeps you focused on the future, which is vital for a hopeful future orientation, even when managing borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, or attention-deficit challenges.
Putting Your Strengths to Work
It’s not enough to know your strengths; you must use them deliberately. This is not about bragging; it’s about strategic action.
1.Look Back at Success
Reflect on a recent challenge you successfully overcame. Ask: “What strength did I use to get through that?”
- Did you use your Humor to lighten a tense situation caused by social anxiety?
- Did you use your Judgment to make a wise decision while dealing with bipolar mood swings?
- Did you use your Bravery to have a difficult conversation despite OCD fears?
Recognizing how you used a strength in the past reminds you that you already have the internal resources for any future problem, even when facing depression, stress, or other mental health struggles.
2.Plan Your Strengths-Use
When a new problem comes up, a work project, a conflict with a friend, or a low mood, don’t just react. Stop and ask: “How can I apply my top strength to this situation?”
- If your strength is Fairness, you might use it to make sure everyone’s opinion is heard in a conflict, instead of only pushing your own.
- If your strength is Perspective, you might use it to remind yourself that this problem is small compared to your long-term goals, helping you cope with anxiety, PTSD triggers, or mood fluctuations.
This active use of your strengths turns a scary obstacle into a problem-solving exercise rooted in your own competence.
3.Set Strengths-Based Goals
Frame your goals around the way you will use your strength, not just the outcome.
- Instead of: āIāll try to understand and fix this issue with the help of my friendsā
- Try: “I will use my strength of Honesty combined with Love to communicate my concerns clearly and kindly.”
This shifts your focus from the fear of failure to the guarantee of using your best quality, boosting your belief in a positive outcome.
The power of strengths extends beyond the individual. When you openly use your strengths, you inspire collective hope in those around you. A leader who models Honesty and Integrity fosters trust, creating pathways for others to follow. A teammate who deploys Teamwork and Social Intelligence strengthens the group’s capacity to overcome shared challenges.
By viewing yourself and others through a strengths-based lens, you move away from a deficit model, which constantly seeks to repair inadequacy, and embrace your full, inherent capacity for growth and change. This shift is profoundly hope-inducing, transforming you from someone defined by struggles into an individual empowered by their own remarkable character, ready to face the future with confidence and creativity, even when managing mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, chronic stress, low self-esteem, and social anxiety.
Conclusion
Harnessing your personal strengths is one of the most effective ways to cultivate lasting hope and resilience in life. While challenges often draw attention to our weaknesses, focusing on what you naturally do well empowers you to navigate difficulties with confidence and creativity. By identifying your signature strengths, qualities like Perseverance, Creativity, Kindness, Zest, and Grit, you tap into both the āWillā (Agency Thinking) and the āWayā (Pathways Thinking) necessary to set and achieve meaningful goals. For those seeking guided support, the PsychoWellness Center, located in Dwarka Sectorā17 and Janakpuri, NewāÆDelhi (011ā47039812 / 7827208707), offers professional counseling, strengthābased coaching, and therapy tailored to help individuals recognize and leverage their personal strengths. Their team of top psychologists uses evidenceābased approaches like CBT, REBT, and Mindfulness-Based Therapy to build hope, resilience, and emotional clarity. For flexible online access, TalktoAngel provides online counseling and strengthāoriented therapy to help you apply your character strengths in realālife situations. By combining personal reflection with expert guidance, you can transform obstacles into opportunities for growth, foster a hopeful mindset, and inspire positive change in yourself and your relationships.
Contribution: Dr. R.K. Suri, Clinical Psychologist, and Ms. Swati Yadav, Counselling Psychologist
References
- Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249ā275.
- Niemiec, R. M. (2014). Mindfulness and Character Strengths: A Practical Guide toFlourishing. Hogrefe Publishing.
- Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press.