An Internal Tiny Shift with Potentially Large External Results

One of the emphases in my graduate program has been a strength-based approach to counseling. The idea being you can aid your clients more effectively by focusing on and highlighting strengths they possess or times they have triumphed over struggle in order to help sustain motivation and, more importantly, hope.

Today I was watching Happy Feet with Ariana and started thinking about difference and socially perceived weakness. Which led me to think about ostracization and group behavior in which those who are perceived to be other, different, weak, or strange are separated from the majority of the group.

Those concepts of seeing someone from a strength-based perspective and treating others with compassion (which is certainly present in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, as well as among many other faiths) strikes me as being an inherently constructive approach to interacting and living with others.

Perhaps it is a good mindfulness exercise... to approach every situation with another human being as an opportunity and a challenge to find and embrace the positive. By seeing beauty, accepting frailty, and connecting with strength, we may be able to feel less isolated ourselves while being an encouraging and affirming source for others.