Once you have a big picture readjustment, the struggle to be happy comes in day-to-day life. Seligman’s Authentic Happiness website offers free personality tests to help you determine your strengths. Additionally, Values in Action (VIA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the science of positive psychology, also has free tests to help people determine their strengths.
Seligman’s test has broken-down the personality into 6 virtues:
Wisdom
Courage
Humanity
Justice
Temperance
Spirituality
Within these virtues, there are 24 signature strengths. To determine your signature strengths, Seligman has developed a 274 question survey that asks such questions as:
I find the world a very interesting place.
I am very aware of my surroundings.
I never quit a task before it is done.
You rate each questions on a five-point scale as:
Very Much Like Me
Like Me
Neutral
Unlike Me
Very Much Unlike Me
Signature Strengths
The purpose of knowing your signature strengths is help you to be true to yourself. Seligman is not proposing a cookie-cutter solution to happiness seekers. He doesn’t think people should mimic happy people they know to affect happiness themselves. The signature strengths show you your unique combination of abilities that can be used daily to make your life happier.
For example, one strength you might possess is a love of learning (you’ve read this article in that pursuit). Seligman’s Authentic Happiness website defines this strength thusly:
"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."
If that sounds like you, then to make your life happier each day you can make a point to learn something new.