Welcome :) This questionnaire will help you understand yourself better and get much further towards your goals in less time!

________________________________________________

*** IMPORTANT *** 

To SAVE YOUR ANSWERS and continue later

• Go to the SUBMIT tab
• Enter your NAME & EMAIL
• Hit SAVE
• You'll receive an email LINK to continue your submission at a more convenient time

________________________________________________

SECTIONS

This following sections will help you identify some of the strengths and skills you’ve developed through your unique life experience!

- Strengths Exploration - will help you explore the strengths of your unique life experience.

- Claim Your Strengths - will help you name, identify and use these skills and strengths. 

- Support - offers examples and tips to inspire your process 

- Submit - where you can SAVE & SUBMIT your answers, and then receive a copy of your strengths by email.

 _______________________________________________

 

TIMING / USING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

- The questionnaire usually takes between 30 to 60 minutes. There are some optional sections so that you can put in the amount of time that feels good to you.

- Please complete 24 hours before your session so I have a chance to review it

- It's fun to fill this out in a space which encourages your creativity. You can create this by putting on music you love, lighting a candle, or whatever feels right for you. :)

_______________________________________________

I hope you enjoy exploring your strengths! - Love, Anna

Please email me with any questions or concerns at areidenbach.ma@gmail.com

 

Strengths are formed when your unique essence combines with your life experience.

Let's first explore your essence!

________________________________________________

 

PART ONE - Essence (5-10 minutes)

 

Please take a moment to reflect on the following question...

Who am I when I feel most alive?

 

What words come to mind to describe this experience? There's no right or wrong way to do this, and I encourage you to play with the question and notice how you feel. Such as, what qualities of yourself are you using? Or, are you doing anything in particular or being any certain way? 

________________________________________________

Please take a moment to reflect on the following question...

Who am I when I feel safe and not judged?

Again just exploring and playing... Such as, what words come to mind to describe this experience? How do you feel? Or, what qualities of yourself are you using?

________________________________________________

Finally, please reflect on the following question...

Who am I at my very best?

Again, just noticing what words come to mind to describe this experience? How do you feel? What qualities of yourself are you using?

________________________________________________

 

Optional Exploration: What did you learn about yourself from this exercise? What qualities or essence did you consistently notice within yourself?

________________________________________________

Great job, you're 20% done :)

Now let’s dive into some experiences from your life!

________________________________________________

 

PART TWO - Strengths Exploration (10-25 minutes)

I invite you to brainstorm 3 times in your life when you turned a challenging situation into a success! 

________________________________________________

 

Examples:

- Overcoming a challenging job or school situation and getting a degree, recognition or a role you love!

- Healing a mental or physical imbalance and learning how to be more authentically yourself!

- Working through relationship challenges and building something even stronger! 

- Finishing a project or committing to the process of creating something!

- Having a new experience or learning something new!

- Letting go of something that wasn't right for you and being grateful for what you have in its place!

________________________________________________

At the time, you might have wondered if you would make it through, yet you did. And you came out with a powerful result and created something even better in your life. Meaning that something within you, or in your life, transformed or improved.

Whatever these experiences are for you personally, please begin to notice what the challenge was, how you responded, and, most importantly, the positive result.

________________________________________________

 

Note: Only 2 examples are required to submit. However, there is something about doing this exercise 3 times which changes how we feel about ourselves on a deeper level! So, if you have time, I encourage you to list 3 examples. 

Support: If you'd like some more help or clarity for this exercise, I encourage you to check out the Support Tab 😊 which has some examples from my own life to support you.

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Great job brainstorming! Now I invite you to reflect on how you feel after doing this exercise. What new insights are you having after writing about these challenges and successes in your life?

________________________________________________

You're 65% done, GREAT JOB! 

I encourage you to do something nice for your body 😊 Such as breathing deeply, taking a quick stretch, making some tea, or whatever feels right for you!

 You just wrote about some experiences when you overcame challenges and ended up with a success! 

________________________________________________

Now let's identify your STRENGTHS - your superhero qualities!

And your SKILLS - the capacities which enable you to USE your strengths!

________________________________________________

 

PART ONE - Strengths (10-15 minutes)

  

We're going to start by giving the experiences you chose short, descriptive names. 

Examples:

- school success

- career success

- athletic success

- health success

- relationship success

- creativity success

________________________________________________

 

Please think back to the life experiences you wrote about and name them in whatever way feels right to you. 

 

 

________________________________________________

Now, let’s harvest the strengths you grew through those experiences! 

Your strengths are your superhero qualities. When you use these parts of yourself you often feel positive, expansive, magical, peaceful, and powerful! 

I find using statements like "I am brave"/ "I am kind" to be the most powerful for me personally. But if you find that you like to list your strengths out like "Bravery" / "Kindness," etc, and that's great too. Do what works for you!

________________________________________________

 

Here are some examples of STRENGTHS:

- I'm Resilient 

- I Love Courageously

- I'm Brilliant

- I'm Brave

- I Trust Myself

- I Focus on my Goals

- I'm Kind

- I'm Creative

- I Persevere when Challenged

________________________________________________

 

Please reflect on the challenges you overcame. What strengths did you use to transform them into something positive? What qualities of yourself emerged when you were challenged and succeeded? Use words that resonate for you! 

Note: If you need more support for this exercise, please check out the Support tab.

Now, please take a moment to check-in with how you feel after giving yourself this time and space to be proud of yourself! Are you noticing any changes or shifts as you begin to name and witness your strengths?

________________________________________________'

Great job! You’re 85% done! Now onto...

PART TWO - Skills (5-10 minutes)

Skills are the capacities that enable us to use our strengths and achieve success! 

For this exercise you are only going to use one of your examples, so choose your favorite success or outcome 😉

Now, please notice...

What did you do to accomplish the positive outcome?

What impulse did you follow to be able to move forward?

What were the steps you took to accomplish your goal?

What skills or capacities do you see there?

________________________________________________

 

Examples:

- Listened to my intuition

- Committed to my goal and made a plan

- Set a boundary

- Reached out for help/support

- Used a somatic skill (breathing, walking, etc.)

- Changed my mindset or let go of an old belief

- Got clarity on what I wanted or didn't want

- Connected to something greater than myself

- Practiced great self-care

- Changed my body posture

________________________________________________

 

Please think of 5 ways you supported your own success as you transformed your challenge into a positive result.

If you need more support for this exercise, please check out the Support Tab 😊

_______________________________________________

Now think about how these skills might have helped you use your awesome strengths. What enabled you to have access to your strength of love, power, or creativity, for example? Did your stillness practice allow you to listen to your intuition? Did your commitment help you show up for yourself?

Please check out the Support Tab, if you'd like more help answering this question. 

Great! You’ve just harvested some of your skills, capacities, and strengths! How do you think these could help you reach for your dreams in other areas of your life?

Beautiful job! There is an optional place below to record your other experiences, as well as how you are feeling and the insights you got from this exploration :)

________________________________________________

 

Great job! You’ve completed your assessment!

Please remember to submit your answers. Then I encourage you to do something nice for yourself, like taking a walk or a hot bath or shower, or whatever would feel good!

________________________________________________

Optional: If you really enjoyed this last exercise and would like to explore your other 2 life situations, you can do so here :)

Thank you! Love, Anna

I've added some examples from my own life to inspire and support you. I hope getting to know me better makes your own process feel more relaxed and fun.

Note: our challenges and successes might feel different, and that's okay! Also, I love to write, so my answers my be longer than yours. This is just for inspiration, and whatever your successes are to you, they are perfect.

________________________________________________

STRENGTHS EXPLORATION

PART ONE: Essence

I'm free, I'm open, I'm myself, I'm playing, I'm creating, I'm dancing, I'm loving, etc. 

________________________________________________

 

STRENGTHS EXPLORATION

PART TWO: Exploration

 

Example 1: Spain Success

Challenge: I’d been living in southern Spain for about 2 years and healing from depression when my employer had to let me go. I’d been teaching English without the proper visa and the country had just passed more stringent laws. I came back to America and felt my unhappiness getting stronger. I was 33 years old and felt ashamed about my perceived level of success and also felt societal pressure to settle down. 

Response/Outcome: I had a deep inner knowing that Spain was where I'd find the next step on my journey and I didn’t give up on myself! I found a program that would give me a visa to teach in Spain, and I tracked down old teachers for recommendations and did the paperwork. I got into the program and moved to Madrid, which ended up being an even more amazing location for me, and the years I spent there were extremely transformative and joyful! I felt a sense of belonging, happiness and being fully alive for the first time in my life. I was also introduced to Somatic Psychotherapy, which inspired me to complete my Master’s Degree and ultimately led me to meet my partner.

________________________________________________

 Strengths Exploration

Example 2: Relationship Success

 

Challenge: My current partner and I are very different. Often this is a huge blessing, however, sometimes we get to a place of stuckness where it feels like we might have to break up. During a very challenging conflict, I felt very emotionally upset and frustrated and I curled up into a little ball and wanted to begin screaming (this is an old pattern for me). My partner was on his way out the door (which is his pattern), and I felt helpless. I experienced many very unpleasant body sensations alerting me that I was in danger and that the world was ending - things which weren't true, but which I tend to notice when I feel emotionally threatened. 

Response/Outcome: I paid attention to my body response and took some deep breaths. From this, I was able to come back into the present moment and see that curling into a little ball isn’t who I am anymore! I remembered my worth and value and sat up into a more powerful body position. I was then able to connect to a deep knowing that my partner's pattern wasn't allowing me to fully trust him or the relationship. I told him calmly and without yelling or shutting down, from a place of feeling whole and complete. The first outcome was that I felt incredibly strong, valuable and proud of myself! To make it even better, we were able to form a much greater level of trust in the relationship, which we still have. And, of course, we got to make up 😉

________________________________________________

Note: I include this example because it doesn't necessarily feel like an earth-shattering or life-changing "success." However, for me, being in relationship from a place of feeling whole and complete represented a huge accomplishment in my life. So, as you write out your own experiences, I encourage you to remember that things that might appear small, are often not!

________________________________________________

 

Claiming Your Strengths PART ONE (Naming Your Strengths)

Example 1: Spain Success

- I am magical, intuitive and brave!

- I am smart, strong and resilient!

- I follow my happiness and my desires!

Note: These are what feel like strengths to me. Your strengths might feel different and that’s great! Again the idea is to notice what resonates for YOU 😊

________________________________________________

Claiming Your Strengths PART TWO (The Skills Which Helped You Use Your strengths)

Example 1: Spain Success Skills

 

1. Listening to my Intuition - I felt a deep impulse to stay in Spain and I listened to the inner voice which told me this was the next right step in my journey.

2. Clarity and Meaning! My depression had started in childhood and it was very important to me to release it. I got very clear on what I wanted (to live in Spain) and why this was important to me (I wanted to be happy!). 

3. Commitment, Goal-Setting, and Perseverance - I committed to my goal, and didn’t give up.

4. Asking for support - I asked if I could live with my mom while I was sorting out the next steps, and fortunately she said yes! Although I felt embarrassed at the time, this allowed me to not have to commit to a long-term job which would have deterred me from following my dreams. I also asked for recommendations from old teachers even though I felt embarrassed about it.

5. Leaning into Desire, Uncertainty, and Magic - I didn’t know where this would take me. I was 33 years old and felt pressure to do something more “adult” but instead I choose to lean into my own desires, dreams, and creativity.

________________________________________________

Note: I've listed the skill as well as how it helped me. You don't have to this in your own exercise (unless you want to). I include it to show the relationship between skills and strengths because, as you can see, our skills enable us to use our strengths!

________________________________________________

Claiming Your Strengths PART ONE (Naming Your Strengths)

Example 2: Relationship Success

- I am loving, kind, powerful and brave!

- I know my own value!

- I know what’s important to me and I don’t give up!

________________________________________________

Claiming Your Strengths PART TWO (The Skills Which Helped You Use Your strengths)

Example 2: Relationship Success

 

1. Somatic Skills - I was able to notice my body reaction and use breathing skills to calm myself down and bring myself into the present.

2. Owning and expressing my needs and boundaries - I owned what I needed to feel trust in the relationship and articulated what I felt in a way that my partner could hear and understand.

3. Self-Love - I allowed myself to feel my value and worth, and know that my need to feel trust was valid

4. Growth Mindset - I trusted that both me and my partner could improve how we related to each other if we put in the effort.

5. Change in Body Posture - Coming out of my helpless, fetal-position body posture helped me have access to my power.

Note: You can see here that I used different skills to access my strengths, even though some of the strengths might have been the same as in the first example. Different situations might need different strategies, which is why learning new skills and practicing them is invaluable!!

For example, I do not have access to my strength of love when I am yelling at my partner, or access to my power when I am curled up in a fetal position.

________________________________________________

Emotional Support

I invite you to now take a moment to notice how you're feeling. Did these examples help? Are you still feeling challenged?

Even if you still don't feel like you have enough clarity, please just do your best. Allow yourself to lean into the skill of "done is better than perfect!" and I'm sure it will be amazing!

Or, if you're noticing that it's emotionally challenging to do this strengths exploration, I encourage you to notice why, because often our awareness gives us power! What about this feels challenging?

Then, I encourage you to start very small. It might be that you recovered from an illness, or made a nourishing meal today. Whatever you have experienced in your life, you are here, reading this, able to see and think and feel, and that is a success in itself! Remember this exploration is for YOU! So whatever your experience is, it's perfect!

And, if you'd like to answer this optional question, please let me know what is feeling challenging to you about these exercises. This will help me understand how best to support you in your session! 

________________________________________________

Great job supporting yourself! Now would be a wonderful time to take a short break and do something kind for yourself 😊 - Warmly, Anna

________________________________________________

Once you hit submit you will receive a copy of your answers. Or you can also save this form and come back to it at another time.

________________________________________________

Congratulations on taking this first step towards joy, power, creativity, and fulfillment! - Warmly, Anna 😊