CHARACTER COULD BE OUR MOST BEAUTIFUL ELEMENT YET…

Are you curious? Are you brave? Are you an optimist? Are you creative? These and other strengths are what determine your character. And character can be a very beautiful thing.

Character is what defines us. Strong character is the stuff of heroes. It is what we admire most in each other, deep down. And while we tend to think of character as intangible, it turns out, there is science behind it.

The Science of Character, a film by award-winning Tiffany Shlain, explores the neuroscience and social science of the elements that make us who we are, delving into the findings of psychologist Martin Seligman, among others.

It turns out, we can all act as scientists, working to experiment and shape who we want to be.

When the film premiered in 2014, on the debut of Character Day, over 1,500 schools and organizations immediately signed up for screenings and millions of people around the world began to widely and deeply discuss the concepts of character development.

This year, for Character Day 2015 (09.15.15), nearly 4,000 events are scheduled globally. Check in on Friday, when we will be featuring Shlain’s newest films, The Adaptable Mind and The Making of a Mensch.

Seligman, founder of the field of positive psychology, considers the scientific foundations of character and their correlation to mental health and wellbeing.

His groundbreaking book, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, co-written with Christopher Peterson, identifies 24 key character strengths, from Perseverance to Perspective, from Love to Fairness, from Self-Control to Gratitude...

Shlain has created a Periodic Table of Character Strengths, based on VIA Institute for Character’s key classifications: Wisdom, Courage, Humanity, Justice, Temperance, and Transcendence. These traits determine success, both personally and in relationships.

It is interesting to survey yourself, as well as the people you admire most, to see where the strengths lie.

In his later book, Flourish, Seligman identified 5  five fundamental elements of well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Positive Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment, all of which are primarily determined by a few key character strengths. 

While most character strengths are interrelated, Seligman found that the single best predictor of well-being was Gratitude followed by Love of Learning, Hope, Love, Honesty, & Humor. Interestingly, Prudence, Judgment, and Self Regulation were the least predictive.

Read more about Beautiful Character, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact and The Beauty of Character Now.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week! Now, it’s even easier to enter with the new BeautifulNow App!

Plus check out the rest of our App’s beautiful features. It’s free to download here.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Tom Waterhouse. When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Ballerina. No, An Astronomer. No, A Ballerina. CHARACTER STRENGTH: CURIOSITY
2. Image: by Statsministerens kontor. Malala Yousafzai. CHARACTER STRENGTH: BRAVERY.
3. Image: Courtesy of The Moxie Institute Film Studio + Lab. Tiffany Shlain, Filmmaker.
4. Image: by Michael Matti. Camping in the North Cascades. CHARACTER STRENGTH: APPRECIATION OF EXCELLENCE.
5. Image: by Jason. Lemony. CHARACTER STRENGTH: LOVE OF LEARNING.
6. Image: by FromSandToGlass. Positive Atmosphere. CHARACTER STRENGTH: POSITIVE THINKING.
7. Image: by Alex Berger. The Grand Canyon - Exploring Arizona. CHARACTER STRENGTH: PERSPECTIVE.
8. Image: by Paul Bence. Reading. CHARACTER STRENGTH: PERSEVERANCE.
9. Image: Courtesy of Let it Ripple. The Science of Character. The Periodic Table of Character Strengths.
10. Image: Courtesy of Atria Books. Flourish. Theory of Well-Being.
11. Image: by Roger H. Goun. Clap. CHARACTER STRENGTH: GRATITUDE.
12. Image: by Yayan Indriatmoko for CIFOR. Curious Child. CHARACTER STRENGTH: CURIOSITY
13. Image: by Francois de Halleux. Old Wise Man in Bhaktapur. CHARACTER STRENGTH: WISDOM.
14. Image: by BN App - Download now!
15. Image: by Asim Bharwani. Prayers. CHARACTER STRENGTH: SPIRITUALITY.