Hope, Gratitude, and Love for Peace

We propose a “harmony triad” of the character strengths of gratitude, love, and hope as indicators and possible arbiters of internal peace. We conducted a survey of 16,718 respondents taking the VIA Inventory of Strengths, in which participants responded to two additional questions relating to harmony (trust in oneself and the universe; experience of inner peace). Harmony is defined here as having both a positive perception of personal agency and of external forces. It was found that those who reported the highest sense of harmony showed a triadic pattern of strengths: gratitude, love, and hope, which were uniquely elevated compared to the other profiles. Implications for strategies and curriculum to cultivate this harmony triad in promoting positive peace and in initiatives promoting inner work for outer change are discussed.