LYS II on 2/28/10

Today is night #2 of Living Your Strengths II. We had almost the same number of people at tonight's session as we did at night #1. That means that many are interested in learning more about the strengths philosophy and what this means for them now that they know their "top 5" signature themes.

Father Bob gave a great overview and several examples of understanding your natural talents as well as skills and knowledge that layer on top of your talents to form strengths. He also talked about the Power of 2 and why partnering is a good way to synergize your strengths with the natural talents and abilities of others. An example he used was how his "Activator" and "Ideator" strengths are complementary to Jake's "Achiever" strength and how he generates ideas and acts on them and Jake helps carry them through.

We discussed how we saw our own "top 5" being played out in our lives and per usual, the examples people gave provide unconscious but true insights as to their natural talents. One example was how Kathy began by saying that she read and collected a lot of info during the past week about the strengths, and she had "Learner" and "Input" in her top 5.

Then we had a small group discussion around the question on which of our top 5 do we think has been central in our relationship with God recently. This was an interesting chance to get participants thinking and talking about how they've used their strengths and how they have focused them in a Christ-like manner. This was another great exercise to get people to better understand who they are and how they are using their God-given talents.

Once partipants are fluent in the strengths philosophy, they should be able to see examples and patterns of how their strengths are at play not only in their own lives but in the lives of others. I constantly use the example of the Parade magazine which I love to read every week. The magazine always highlights a celebrity and talks about their life, priorities, work, etc. It is remarkable how you can start to pick out the strengths in others as they describe what they do, how they do it, and how they see their successes. When I got home this evening, I came up with a great idea on how I can incorporate this into future Supporting Your Strengths sessions! This is something we can really have fun with!