Hi,
My name is Liubov and I am one of the co-founders of Happiness Academy and Happiness Accelerator.
It is my honour to announce you that this June we will dedicate to the Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence. All my excitement comes from the fact that it is my top character strength.
And honestly, I didn’t realise it until I have done the VIA Character Strengths test and saw my results.
This character strength is neither more important nor less important than any from the other 23 character strengths, but being one of mine top 5, it makes me very enthusiastic to lead you through the month we dedicate to it.
According to the character science, the Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence is manifested in three very different contexts:
1) Appreciation of the beauty in nature, for example, of sunsets or the light reflected in the calm surface of a lake. These experiences evoke feelings of awe and wonder.
2) Appreciation of skill, talent, and other forms of excellence, such as participation in the Olympic Games or the work of a carpenter who creates fine furniture with carved wood. These experiences evoke feelings of admiration.
3) Appreciation of morality and goodness in others, such as showing forgiveness, kindness, impartiality, or compassion. These experiences evoke a sense of upliftment, which in turn causes us to be related to be kind or nice to others as well.
This character strength can help us when overcoming adversities. It increases the level of our happiness and can play a significant role for those overcoming depression.
Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence quite often is expressed in noticing very small everyday things.
I start my day with a morning walk with my dog, doing an improvised walking meditation on my way. It is spring time here and all the nature is blossoming. All my neighborhood is full of birds singing in the park and fragrances of the blossoming trees and the flowers. As a daily booster, I have decided every morning to find and smell a different rose on my way. And this experience turns out to make a gorgeous start of the day for myself. I have found that red and pink roses have the strongest aroma, but the white and the yellow ones have the most delicate buds.
So, I savour this morning moment and in times of pressure during the day, I stop for a while and try as well as I can to remember my morning rose and its smell. These are my small bites of mindfulness that help me to step out of the stressful moment and play the role of emergency calm for me.

Let’s enjoy this June together and go through it noticing all the beauty and excellence around us.

You can always contact me at liubov@happinessacademy.eu, share your experience and ask a question.

Best of love and happiness from me and our team.
Liubov

P.S.. See how prof. Ryan Neimick presents this character strength in the VIAStrengths youtube channel. You can watch the video here.