Great thread NMM! As alcoholics, we certainly seem to focus on our weaknesses more than our strengths. Personally, I'd rather have an alcoholic as a friend because I KNOW that they are sensitive, humble, generous and human.
I have been reading "A woman's Addiction Workbook" by Lisa Najavits (VERY enlightening, BTW) and one of the exercises is to rate one's life strengths in the following areas on a scale of 1 to 4 (extremely well):
Connecting with others
Creativity
Political Action
Attractiveness
Sense of Humor
Survival Skills
Persistence
Self-Care
Physical Ability
Social Support
Helping Others
Self-Esteem
Spirituality
Intelligence
Ability to face my feelings
Ability to communicate
When I had completed it, frankly I was surprised at how "high" I scored on an "objective" scale and it gave me a great feeling to see my strengths as well highlight areas I need to focus on! We tend to be SO hard on ourselves, when in fact, we are "better" than we think!