Find Your Strength(s)

When you Google “tips on keeping your resolutions,” there are 26,000,000 hits.  Despite all the advice out there, most of us break our New Year’s resolutions.  In fact, when you Google “Why do we break our resolutions,” you get 26,800,000 hits!

I don’t have any magic resolution-keeping advice.  But I do have a suggestion… Find out what you’re already good at – your strengths.

Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman defined 24 possible strengths in their book “Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Clarification.”  They fall under 6 categories:

• Wisdom and Knowledge – Cognitive strengths that entail the collection and use of knowledge
• Courage – Emotional strengths that involve the exercise of will to accomplish goals in the face of opposition, external or internal
• Humanity – Interpersonal strengths that involve tending and befriending others
• Justice – Civic strengths that underlie healthy community life
• Temperance – Strengths that protect against excess
• Transcendence – Strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning (more…)

UCSB Helps You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Welcome to a new year, Gauchos!  May your year be full of meaning, self-discovery, growth, helping others, productivity and hope.

USA.gov lists this year’s popular New Year’s resolutions.  If any match yours, there are UCSB resources that may help you achieve them.

Lose Weight

Student Health has two registered dietitians who can help you come up with a healthy, personalized plan to manage your weight.  Confidential appointments: 805-893-3371.

Manage Debt

Save Money

I’m not aware of any official student debt management workshops on campus.  If you know of any please post them in the comments below. Until then, have a laugh with Steve Martin in this SNL skit. (more…)

H1N1 Vaccine is Here!

First things first:

H1N1 vaccine is available for all UCSB students 24 years old or younger. Limited supply — first come first served. The cost of the vaccine is $10.00 billed to BA/RC.

Tuesday, 11/24 10am – 4pm – Student Health – please enter the building on the parking lot side (lot #25).

In addition, we will continue our regularly scheduled flu shot clinics (Student Health classrooms 1 & 2, Tues 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. and Friday 1:30-3:30 p.m.) for both seasonal and H1N1 flu as long as our supplies last. Please continue to check our website for updated times to get your flu vaccinations. (more…)

The Great American Smokeout

One of my favorite songs is The Weepies’ Nobody Knows Me At All. Sample lyrics:

“Now I got lots of friends,
Yes, but then again,
Nobody knows me at all.
Kids and a wife,
It’s a beautiful life,
Nobody knows me at all.”

Being misunderstood sucks.

Along those lines, I think one of the most misunderstood things is addiction.  People assume that a person with an addiction isn’t taking enough personal responsibility or isn’t using enough willpower.  But few understand the cravings or withdrawal symptoms that cause one to relapse. (more…)

Plan a Gratitude Visit

I met a hero named “Shig” at my dad’s church on Sunday. He was a small, maybe 5’2”, 92 year-old Japanese-American man. He shook my hand with a firm grip as my dad said, “This is Shig. He was part of the 442^nd.” Shig responded to my dad’s words with a modest smile and shook his head as if to say, it was no big deal. Shig turned to greet others and I quickly said “Thank you, for what you did for me, for us.”

I can’t imagine myself as Shig, in his early 20’s, making the choice to fight for a country that had imprisoned his family because of their race. President Roosevelt and America said even though you were born here, you are not American and can’t be trusted. Young men like Shig said, “I’ll prove to you that my race and ancestry does not stop me from being an American.”

The Japanese-American 442^nd infantry went on to be the most decorated military unit in the history of United States Armed Forces.

We, as a nation, honor our women and men veterans this Wednesday. It is a public way of showing our gratitude for those who give and gave their lives for our country and our freedom. (more…)

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