In My Kitchen with Paula

Whip Up Wellbeing: Character Strengths in Action (Part 1)

• Paula Mohammed • Episode 33

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Ever wondered what makes you truly shine? 

In this episode we go on an exciting journey to discover our unique character strengths using the VIA Character Strengths framework. Developed by positive psychologists Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson, this framework identifies 24 universal strengths that help individuals not just get by, but truly flourish. 

We Talk About:

😀How knowing and applying these strengths can boost happiness, enhance resilience, and enrich our connections through food and travel. 

💫Actionable tips, stories, and the magic of using your personal 'seasoning blend' to navigate life's adventures with joy and intention. 

⚡How to Discover your Character Strengths

🛑Managing “Hot Buttons” and Strengths

HELPFUL LINKS

✍️Take the VIA Character Strength Survey

🧳 Sign Up For our Newsletter 


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SAY HELLO

In My Kitchen creates connections one dish at a time, by exploring culture through food. I do this through unique culinary workshops, speaking engagements, and of course, this podcast.

I'd love to hear from you! Connect with me in one of three ways:

Paula Mohammed: Hi, I'm Paula Mohammed and welcome to In My Kitchen with Paula. This podcast is a gathering place for culinary adventures who love to travel. Every week, we'll come together with chefs, cookbook authors, talented home cooks, and everyone in between to talk about their story and their unique dish using food as the vehicle will take a ride into the ins and outs of their culture and country.

Come on, let's get this party started.

Hello and welcome to In My Kitchen with Paula. Today we are going to stir something a little different: your inner self. As you know, I am an advocate for connection, especially using food and travel as the vehicles. There is nothing like getting to know another culture and understanding other people than eating together and cooking together.

In Episode 28 titled Sharing Meals: A Global Happiness Hack, you may recall I shared what I had learned from the 2025 World Happiness Report, and that is that one of the most powerful things we can do for our wellbeing is sharing meals with others. This increases our positive emotions and decreases negative emotions.

In that episode, I also talk about Dr. Fredrickson's broaden and build theory and how these positive emotions contribute to our long-term personal resources and making us more resilient.

Today, I want to introduce you to something else that links to the broaden and build theory by increasing our positive effect, and that is the VIA Character Strengths, specifically your signature character strengths. What is VIA? VIA stands for Values in Action. It's actually a framework developed by positive psychologists, Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson, who were pioneers or are pioneers in the science of wellbeing.

So, uh, what they were trying to understand is what helps people to thrive, not just get by, but to truly flourish. And to answer that, they looked across cultures, religions, and philosophies from ancient texts to modern communities. And what they discovered is something pretty amazing. People everywhere value similar inner strengths.

They actually identified 24 universal character strengths. These are universally recognized and valued over time and across different cultures. Qualities like kindness, courage, creativity, curiosity, and gratitude. These strengths are then grouped under six broad virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. How do you find out what your own character strengths are and more importantly, your signature strengths? You can do a 15-minute test at the VIA Character Strengths website, and there is a lot of evidence-based information there too. I'll put the link in the show notes for the test.

What I love about Signature Character Strengths is the idea isn't to fix yourself. It's to understand and work with what's already good and strong within you. When I studied the VIA Character Strengths, I was blown away by the simplicity of improving our wellbeing and how accessible it is. I also couldn't help but see how cooking together, eating together and travel all help us to use our character strengths in different ways, and I'll speak more to that in a little bit.

So here are some examples of character strengths in action. Maybe you're someone who naturally spots the good in people. That's hope. Or maybe you're always asking why and love learning new things. That's curiosity and love of learning. Are you someone who always speaks the truth even when it's hard? That's honesty. Or maybe you're one of those people who brings everyone together, makes sure everyone feels included. And that's the character strength: teamwork. We all have a unique mix of these strengths. It's like your own masala, your own personal seasoning blend. And when we understand what ours are, especially our signature strengths, we can use them to connect more deeply, navigate challenges, and live with more intention.

These strengths show up everywhere, not just in the kitchen or at work, but also in how we travel and connect with others. When we travel, whether it's across the globe or just to a nearby town, our strengths can help us engage more deeply. Curiosity leads us to ask questions and learn about a new culture. Open-mindedness allows us to try unfamiliar foods without judgment. Social intelligence helps us read the room when we're guests in someone's home or in another community. When we lead with kindness, humility, or gratitude, we open doors, literal and emotional ones, and build bridges with people who might have very different experiences from our own.

And those of you who have been following along In My Kitchen, especially since we started back in 2018, you know that this is something I am really passionate about. Building bridges with people who might have very different experiences from our own.

And here's something backed by research. Well, all of this is evidence-based, but this particular, uh, study is, is uh, something that I really resonates with me and I've used. It's a 2017 study done by psychologist Ryan Niemiec found, uh, and he found that simply using one of your top character strengths, so one top character strength in a new way each day for a week led to increased happiness and decreased symptoms of depression with effects that lasted for up to six months.

So what's interesting about this is, uh, they did a study where there were people that used their top character strengths, and that's your first five to seven, also called your signature character strengths. And used one of those in a new way each day for a week. And compared that to somebody using, say one of their lower character strengths, one strength in a new way for a week and both had increased wellbeing initially. But the interesting thing is that it was, when you use your signature character strengths, those top five to seven, that's what lasted that five to seven months. It makes sense when you think about it because if it's something that feels good comes naturally. It's easier to use. You're going to be more motivated to keep doing that type of exercise for longer. Anyway, imagine that your own natural strengths used creatively becoming a tool for joy and resilience. In my life, I've seen this again and again. Creativity comes alive when I improvise a meal just from what's ever in the fridge. Gratitude shows up when I remember who passed a recipe down to me or just actually literally sharing a meal together at the table with family or friends; grateful for those who are literally at my table. Perspective helps me pause when something doesn't go as planned in my travels, and, uh, instead of panicking or overreacting, just helps me take stock of what's happening and be open to new opportunities. And I know from personal experience in many conversations that when we understand our strengths, we understand ourselves and others a little better.

In our newsletter that's going out on May 22nd, 2025, I'm going to share a really cool table that provides suggestions for each of the 24 character strengths on how to use them in a new way. I invite you to do the VIA test, and then for one week, start using one of your signature character strengths in a new way each day and see how you feel after the week. I'll add a link to the show notes, so you can sign up for the newsletter and there'll also be a link to the VIA website where you can do the test. And if you're listening to this episode later on at a later date, this link to the newsletter gives you access to all of our newsletters that are archived. So you'll find this one, no problem.

There are two more things I wanna say about character strengths for now, and there's a lot around character strengths.

Right now, i'm just giving you an introduction and I'm hoping that you will go and do the test and then we can actually dive into this a little bit further and I'll share more things with you in subsequent episodes. Anyway, two more things I wanna say about character strengths. It might be three for now.

The first is something called the golden mean. This refers to using character strengths to the right degree and in the proper context. So we should use our character strengths wisely and meaningfully. And what I'm about to say, Aristotle said, "they are the means between two vices". So if a character strengths are overused or underused, they're no longer a strength, right? And they can negatively impact us and others.

Here's an example: the character strength of courage. It sits between the two vices of cowardice and recklessness. I hope that makes sense.

And then we all have hot buttons. Does that resonate with you out there? When we kind of get triggered a little bit of the tenseness happens. So it's when we're triggered or sensitive to our perceived notion of another person we're interacting with, and when they are under or overusing a particular strength. Now they might be under or overusing a particular strength, or it could be our perception that they are but you know this feeling when someone rubs you the wrong way and you may see them or perceive them as being overly critical about something or judgy. So that would be overusing the character strength of judgment.

But often, and this is what really resonated with me, often, our hot buttons, as I mentioned, are based on our own character strengths, belief, and expectations. Hot buttons can be the cause of many of our conflicts or collisions.

But don't worry. There are many strategies to help with hot button management and two of my favorites, and I'm just touching on them here, but two of my favorites are retrospective management, which is literally just recognizing that the hot button is our issue. And then prospective management, which is when we anticipate the trigger and plan for it and take preventative action. And I will dive deeper into those with you in a, in another episode. I don't wanna put too much out there for now 'cause I want you to really get excited about this and just go do the test and see what comes out for you. But the second thing I wanted to say is to take the VI Institute character strength test, but know that it is you who decides what your strengths are. You know. The results do not trump life. If there is something there that just does not make sense to you, or if you are shocked that love of learning isn't one of your signature strengths, you can change it.

So when you do the test, you're gonna get 24 ranked from one to 24. Your top five to seven are signature strengths. You might recognize only five of them as really resonating as your top strength. So that's why it's that five to seven variation. So look at those five to seven and ask yourself, does the strength feel like me? Do I feel good when I use the strength? Would I miss this part of myself if I couldn't use it?

And also in this week's newsletter, I'm going to expand on this and add the detailed criteria that the VIA institute suggests that we reflect on to determine if a strength is a character, strength or not. It's too much of me talking to do it here. I'm just going to put it in the newsletter and then you have it there as a reference as well.

Before we go, here's a little takeaway. This week, try to spot one of your own strengths in action. This is actually an application and is called strength spotting. Being aware of and being able to label our character strengths, boost our wellbeing. Was it curiosity when you tried out a new dish? Kindness when you made a homecooked meal for a friend? Perseverance when you finish something that was difficult. So kind of start seeking out and labeling what those are.

And if you really wanna boost your wellbeing, try using one of your top strengths in a new way each day for a week. And you can get some ideas of different ways to use your strength from the newsletter that's gonna be coming out. And notice how it makes you feel. Maybe, you know, journal. We know journaling is, good for us and helps us reflect and use this to start tracking how it makes you feel when you use those strengths. So don't forget to take the character strength test. I have no affiliation with the VIA institute. They're, honestly, it's out there, full of information, for you to use. 

 I have studied character strengths through my ongoing studies of applied positive psychology, but I have not been tapping into my own signature strengths. I, I shouldn't say, not tapping into them, but really not being mindful of it and not being aware. So I revisited it because I wanted to get back into this habit.

I got excited about it and wanted to share it all with you, hence how this episode came to be. Remember knowing your strength is one more way of knowing who you are and, and that's powerful. So sign up for our newsletter and the link below, get more info on the VIA Character Strengths, and the links are in the show notes.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Paula Mohammed and I'll see you next time on our next episode where stories simmer and strengths shine. I know that is a bit cheesy, but I couldn't resist it when it popped into my head. Have a great week.



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