Last week at work we went through a personal strengths and team building session with a coach who works to uncover each individual’s strengths or “super powers” and to focus on utilizing those super powers rather than trying to improve weaknesses. It was fascinating.
My coworkers and I took a fairly in-depth test online that resulted in our top 5 strengths (top 5 of 34 total). Mine were: Empathy, Woo, Communication, Maximization, and Harmony. I needed some clarification on “woo” and “maximization” (or “maximizer”). Someone with the maximizer strength likes to take good and make it great – someone who strives for excellence. Woo is basically a strength of winning people over and finding enjoyment in the challenge of meeting new people and forming a connection with them.
In short, I agreed with all of my strengths. While strengths are the same in both personal and professional life, learning my strengths and putting a definition to them was enlightening. I’ve always said that I love working with challenging patients and “winning them over” and bam – one of my strengths is woo. Makes a lot of sense.
As a group, our strengths were very heavily weighted in “relating” categories – empathy, harmony, etc. Not surprisingly, diabetes educators enjoy learning about people and listening, connecting with them on a deeper level. It was all very, very interesting. Take the Strength Finders test if you’re ever curious. Mr. P has said that he had taken a similar training session at one point in time.
My “woo” could also be to thank for my love of blogging. I am so fed by helping people learn about healthy recipes and cooking techniques, that it’s something I see myself doing (at least in some capacity) forever. It brings me a lot of satisfaction to turn people on to food that is not only healthier, but absolutely delicious.
One of the foods I find myself talking a lot about is unsweetened almond milk. It’s such a savings of calories and contains a meager 1 gram of carbohydrate per serving. Plus, it tastes great, is easy to find, is affordable, and works beautifully in recipes. I love, love, love turning people onto almond milk. If you haven’t tried it – do so! And if you’re new to cardamom, too, be sure to pick that up, as well. This rice pudding couldn’t be easier or more delicious!
- 4 cups fat-free milk
- 4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup uncooked jasmine or basmati rice
- ¾ cup sugar (I used turbinado)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 (2-inch) cinnamon stick
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- Combine all ingredients in an electric slow cooker coated with cooking spray; stir well. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (it will thicken as it cools, so do not over-cook).
- Scrape seeds from vanilla bean. Discard vanilla bean shell and cinnamon stick. Stir well before serving.
Be well,
