Friday, November 17, 2006

Taking up a large chunk of my time today will be the 240 question quiz that Benji sent on http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/. But what else do I have to do?

Countin' flowers on the wall,
That don't bother me at all
Playin' solitaire til dawn
With a deck of fifty-one....

This quiz supposedly identifies signature strengths. His were:

Top Strength
Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

Second Strength
Love of learning
You love learning new things, whether in a class or on your own. You have always loved school, reading, and museums-anywhere and everywhere there is an opportunity to learn.

Third Strength
Appreciation of beauty and excellence
You notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience.

Fourth Strength
Zest, enthusiasm, and energy
Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

Fifth Strength
Fairness, equity, and justice
Treating all people fairly is one of your abiding principles. You do not let your personal feelings bias your decisions about other people. You give everyone a chance.


The one I question is love of school. As a teacher, yes, but as a student, rarely, until he got to college, anyway. Treating all people fairly is something he's growing into. Like his mother, his bias about some things is quite pronounced. Was it the untreated ADD that kept him from enjoying math and science more than he did? His love of beauty is becoming more and more obvious in his photography, especially in finding inspiration in the mundane things of everyday life. (What did you do for entertainment before you got your camphone, Son? He calls this picture sugar water.)

It will be interesting to see how his strengths compare to mine. I wish Ricky would take it, too, and Mike. The site offers several other quizzes that look interesting. It's a research project being offered by the Univ of Penn Positive Psychology Center, and it's guaranteed to make everyone have a new appreciation for themselves.

1 comment:

Zoilus said...

Yeah, I like school, but only when I'm teaching it. :-) Ha! I'm really convinced that democratic education is really the only way to run a classroom (family, city, state, country, world), which then leads to my *bias* for fairness. I don't always agree with people up the totem pole what's fair and not, but I think it's easier to find a compromise or balance between us all if the power is shared (e.g., unions, balance of power in Washington, etc.).

Anyway, I thought it was interesting that we both turned up high on the Apprciation of Beauty and Excellence (3rd), even though none of the rest of them were the same. I would've thought my humor would've made the top five, but I guess not.