I get the Princeton Alumni Weekly magazine every week. Usually it just goes straight in the recycling bin because I have all kinds of other stuff going on.  Often, I look in the back to see my class notes (people can email what’s going on in their lives and each graduating class has a space in the back of the magazine for this information).  Sometimes I leaf through the magazine to see if there’s anything of interest.  In the October 8th issue, I saw a profile article about Martin Seligman ‘64, titled “Figuring out happiness.”  My curiosity was piqued, since I had just been given a book on happiness, so I read the article.  Dr. Seligman teaches at the University of Pennsylvania a branch of psychology called positive psychology that focuses on what makes people happy.  I tore the page out of the magazine and set it in a pile of non-urgent stuff to do (and recycled the rest of the magazine).  This morning I picked it up and I put a hold on one of his books, Authentic Happiness, which was mentioned in the article, because it’s currently checked out of the library. I also checked out his website, of the same name, AuthenticHappiness.org, where I registered and took the VIA Signature Strengths test (the long one, 240 questions, not the brief one).  It turns out that of the 24 strengths tested, my top 5 are:

Your Top Strength
Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Thinking of new ways to do things is a crucial part of who you are. You are never content with doing something the conventional way if a better way is possible.

Your Second Strength
Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a “real” person.

Your Third Strength
Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you “get it out the door” in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.

Your Fourth Strength
Curiosity and interest in the world
You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.

Your Fifth Strength
Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

On the website there are all different kinds of tests you can take, about happiness, emotions, relationships, optimism, forgiveness, work-life balance, compassion, satisfaction with life, and more.  There is a page of resources and there is a newsletter.  I just thought I would share!  I think the strengths test was interesting to see, especially because you can see all 24 strengths, and once you get to the bottom of the list, you’re really seeing your weaknesses (which I opted not to share!).

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!  Because I promised some knitting content, here is the cardigan I knit for my nephew’s Courtland’s 1st birthday on Halloween!  I hope it got to him.  I asked R to mail it and I forgot to make sure he got delivery confirmation, so he didn’t, and I never heard if it was received…

It was a little big for my Tiger.  The pattern is Debbie Bliss’s Classic Cardigan from The Baby Knits Book.  I used 1 1 1/2 skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash in color 859 and US8 needles and I made the 12-24 months size.  Here’s the Ravelry link.  Pattern modifications:  I knit the sleeves in the round until the sleeve cap shaping, then I worked them back and forth.

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