This week we focus on the subject of character. What character traits are indicative of wellbeing? In 2004 Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson published their findings regarding character in the book, “Character Strengths and Virtues.” They studied 24 character strengths. In a recent study, Scott Barry Kaufman together with Spencer Greenberg, Susan Cain, and the Quiet Revolution collected data on 517 folks looking for a correlation between character as described by Seligman and Petersen, and well-being. They found hope to be the top trait correlated with wellbeing. 1
Helplessness/Hopelessness
I reported on Seligman’s work with helpless-hopeless dogs in my book, Choices and Illusions. When Seligman delivered shock to dogs who could not escape the pad that carried the electric shock, he found that even when they were provided with a safe area, an escape, they just laid there hopelessly and took the shock. In other words, the dogs had learned they were helpless; indeed, they had learned it so well that they no longer tried to escape. Further, Seligman found that the conditioned animals immune systems weakened, and their will to live diminished. (https://psychology.about.com/od/lindex/f/earned-helplessness.htm) Now that should come as no surprise to the student familiar with the earlier work of Curt Paul Richter for he drowned rats to measure learned helplessness.
Energy of Hope
Richter used both domestic and wild rats and discovered that recently trapped wild rats drowned very quickly. Some simply swam to the bottom of the bucket, rammed a few times against the walls, and never came up again. They apparently accepted their situation as hopeless and drowned very quickly. Domestic rats did somewhat better, but they too drowned in no more than 15 minutes. However, when Richter rescued the rat and held it in his hand for a few moments, dried it off, and gave it a rest before returning it to the water, the rats could swim for up to 60 hours before drowning. The hand of hope held out an apparent promise of rescue and that provided the energy of hope. 2
[There is a very interesting YouTube video that reviews Richter’s findings here.]
Hope is a powerful force. Repeated studies with animals, as gross as many of them are, have demonstrated that learned helplessness is a death sentence. This death sentence may well explain the many human deaths that follow when a person believes their life is without hope.
Hopelessness and helplessness is something that often follows tragic events like the Twin Towers, or natural catastrophes like tsunamis and hurricanes. Some people have been known to just lay down and die for no medical reason.
Gratitude
The second highest character trait correlated with wellbeing is gratitude. The gratitude attitude is all-important when it comes to engendering a strong immune and endocrine system. I have suggested on many occasions to my audiences, begin your day with a smile and a thank you and you will notice the difference very quickly. Smiling fools the brain and it releases those good feeling neuro-chemicals, endorphins, and the thank you turns your focus toward the positive aspects of life encouraging wellbeing.
Love
The third highest character strength positively correlated with wellbeing is love. Love of life! Gratitude encourages love. Hope feeds on love. A real connection with others and with nature spawns the sort of love that finds us loving every moment of our lives. Love excites joy! Unconditional love prospers in an environment where hope, gratitude and love abide.
The bottom line message is of course—wellbeing can arise as much from cognitive events as it can from the physical side of things. I have taught this for years and indeed, every InnerTalk program includes hope, love and gratitude messages of one sort or another. What’s more, we feel this is so important that we offer our InnerTalk Freedom from Feelings of Helplessness and Hopelessness free upon request to anyone who needs it, but cannot afford it.
Prudence, Judgment, and Self-Regulation
The next three highest-ranking character strengths were found to be, prudence, judgment and self-regulation. So, the next time you are thinking about changing anything, think about your character strengths. You can change these as well. You can change your personality if you so choose. The fact is, as you change character traits you do alter personality—one small nudge at a time. This in turn can have very positive effects on the body. It all begins in the mind. Change your self-talk and you can change your life!
Thanks for the read,
Eldon Taylor
Provocative Enlightenment
NY Time Bestselling Author of Choices and Illusions
www.eldontaylor.com
Sources:
1 Which Character Strengths Are Most Predictive of Well-Being?
2 A little pool of water called “Hope”