Week 6 Complexity

          

The Bloch (2005) article brought me back to what we started talking in the beginning of the course about.  Bloch (2005) starts out commenting on that career counselors have taken on the mission of helping people move from “stuck” to finding work that leads them to work that supplies them with meaning in life.  The course began with talking about finding meaning in the work that an individual does.  I want to talk a little about this topic and perhaps where our society has taken the meaning of different jobs.  I think that today’s society has taken the meaning out of some jobs for people that may have once found the job meaningful.  I say this because our society often looks down on some jobs and views them as menial and therefore discourages those job holders from feeling meaningful in their particular line of work.  I liked that Bloch (2005) mentioned that career counselors work with people at every stage of life.  This suggests that individuals are constantly developing their careers in every stage of their life starting very young until death.  I think that at a very young stage of life a child that has fantasies about what they will be when they grow up, even if influenced by parents or role models, is helping the child orient themselves towards their interests and different career options.

Bloch (2005) discusses autopiesis or self-regulation that people continuously reinvent their careers, moving freely among, within, and outside the roles previously identified.  When I was younger people used to tell me that people change their careers like 5 times throughout their life.  I used to think that this was crazy because there is not enough time to keep going back to school and picking totally different careers.  I think that Bloch (2005) has a point that people reinvent their careers and move around their roles that once defined their current position.  I think that many people find career fields that they like and do not always find the job that they want but with the hope of this they can hopefully find meaning in a career.  I found Bloch’s (2005) phase transitions between order and chaos important because I think that this relates to me because at this point in my life I was in a fixed state then thrown into change.  I think that it is interesting that careers are part of relational networks and the networks are in continual open exchange so career changes occur.  I think that most people continuously go through order and then chaos because there are many transitions in a person’s life.

Reference

Bloch, D. P. (2005). Complexity, Chaos, and Nonlinear Dynamics: A New Perspective on Career Development Theory. The Career Development Quarterly, 53(3), 194-207.

week 5

In the article by Bloch (2005), she explains how we adapt to situations in order to continue our existence but we allow an opening between chaos and complexity for emergence to occur. Many times once one reaches this border of chaos and complexity that is where the greatest opportunities lie. After reading last week’s article, there seems to be theme revolving around life stories. This article reinforces the idea that career paths are chosen by some connection in a person’s story that they tend to hide or keep secret. By using their personal stories we are able to see the whole picture rather than just parts. After reading the case study of Marion I found it somewhat relative to my own life. After working in a specific field for years I began to get bored. I enjoyed the work I did but I felt as though I had learned everything in the position and excelled, but there was no real room for advancement in the job role. At this point I didn’t know what else I could do that would still allow me to use my skills and enjoy the job as well. That is when the opportunity came for work at a new agency, making a better wage, and still allowing me to do what I love which is working with children.

I feel as though the things pointed out in this article would be easy to apply in a career counseling setting. I believe that when we look at career counseling we tend to focus only on the career part and not the other factors that play a major role in choosing a career. Another point that really stuck out to me was the idea that small change brings about large effects. Realistically, most people do not like change, but in order to emerge change is necessary. By helping clients to surpass these phase transitions, they will hopefully find their “peak” and land a successful career that they enjoy.

Bloch, D. P. (2005), Complexity, Chaos, and Nonlinear Dynamics: A New Perspective on Career Development Theory. The Career Development Quarterly, 53: 194–207

Week 5

            I really hate to be a Debbie downer, because I’d like to read an article that I can learn from and find helpful, but once again I feel like we have to read an article that has little substance.

            So the gist of this article is that Parsons theory, while helpful, does not fully account for the unexplainable, coincidental phenomena that may impact an individual’s career decision. That’s all fine. The author even acknowledges that the research on coincidence has already been addressed. “However, the phenomenon is under-represented in the career literature, although synchronistic events seem to be factors in career opportunities and decisions and can manifest during the career counseling process. The closely related phenomena of happenstance,…serendipity,… and chance events…in career patterns have been well documented and discussed" (Guindon, 2002, p. 205). 

            Chance occurrence has already been well documented and discussed, so what’ the point of research or papers on Synchronicity? The way I understood it when I read Jung’s book on Synchronicity a while back, is that there is no such thing as true coincidence and that mystical, supernatural forces influence what we think to be coincidence. Jung is fun to read and interesting to think about, but to regard any of his theories as scientific is ludicrous.

            I’m starting to get the impression from these past few articles that a portion of Career Development is just a pseudoscience. It’s one thing to discuss people’s viewpoints about fate and synchronicity, however it’s another thing to present it as a scientifically valid reality. This is not science. This is the stuff of theology and art. I can look at a Freudian analysis of Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and find it intellectually stimulating, however I would never use Freudian theories in my own clinical work because it’s not scientifically valid.  

            As I posted in my blog post last week, I feel like these authors don’t have anything original to say, and they’re pulling from Jung to apply his theories where they don’t belong. I understand that professors that are associated with prestigious universities (John Hopkins in this case) are pressured to come up with research and write papers, however I think that drives some to reach for straws and publish nonsense like this article. The research that has been already done on chance occurrence, I’m sure, is substantial enough without applying Jung’s mystical take on happenstance. Sometimes when there isn’t any research done already in a certain field, there’s a reason for it.

References
Guindon, M. H. & Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, Happenstance, Serendipity, Fate, or the Hand of God: Case Studies in Synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 50, 195-208.

Week 5

I read M. Guindon and F. Hanna's article on synchronicity carefully and multiple times and still do not understand what synchronicity is.  I find it hard to grasp such intangible concepts such as spirituality and religion which probably relates to why I cannot grasp this concept.  After reading the case studies, I was still at a loss as to what synchronicity is and how it was related to the three subjects finding career opportunities.  Specifically in the last two case studies, the counselors helped the clients build the tools necessary to find career opportunities and prepare themselves for pursuing opportunities when they arose.  I am not sure how faith, spirituality, or synchronicity played into the use of their skills attained and utilized and the subsequent career opportunities found.  I found their explanations of things such as Billie’s interpretation of her dream as the client searching for evidence to support their faith in order to validate something that is not fact based.  
 

I tried to apply this article to my own life to see if that would assist in my understanding.  In spring of 2011 I was failing in finding a job for income I needed necessary.  I began taking graduate classes as a non-degree student at Millersville that semester to better make a decision on whether I wanted to apply here or not.  After countless weeks of unemployment, I started with a temp agency as a secretary at a Cardiothoracic Surgeons office.  Four months later I was hired by the practice and eight months later the practice was bought out by Lancaster General.  I applied to the clinical psychology program in between these times and started full-time in spring of 2012.  I became increasingly unhappy in a position that did not utilize my education or skills and the stress of working at times full-time with a full-time course load.  I began looking for other opportunities prior to becoming a Lancaster General employee.  Once I became an employee, I checked employee classified advertisement on a weekly basis.  I applied to transfer within the company multiple times, but in May found an open position that my undergraduate degree was applicable for.  It just so happened at the same time I was offered an interview for that position, I was also offered an interview for a GA position at Millersville.  By July I was offered both positions and chose my current position in Lancaster General.  I find this as a result of the hard work and time I put into to constantly looking for a job that would accommodate my school needs, financial needs, and educational background.  I do not understand how my opportunities may have been a result of “a leap of faith” or miraculously appeared which is what I am taking from the article.

Guindon, M. H., & Hanna, F. J. (2002).  Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity.  The Career Development Quarterly, 50, 195-208.

Week 5 / Synchronicity

          I immediately connected to the reading because several years ago I purchased a book that contained a collection of writings by Jung that focused on synchronicity. My initial interest in the subject came from a discussion with my father who described a dream where he was driving in downtown Philadelphia and his car ran out of gas. Two days later this exact situation occurred in real life even down to minute details. In the book, Jung defines synchronicity as “the simultaneous occurrence of two meaningfully but not causally connected events” (Jung 1960).

          The presence of this phenomenon, especially in connection to the field of career development, indicates that the typical straight-forward and logical approach to counseling might not always be the most effective. There is certainly a reliance on formulas and assessments in this field, which are oftentimes useful; however, there appears to be some other force at work which cannot be utilized through these conventional methods (Guindon 2002).

          It was interesting to note the Buddhist and Hindu influences on the idea of synchronicity (Guindon 2002). These religions promote concepts of a universal truth and attaining enlightenment through mindfulness and meditation, which is different from the Judeo-Christian practices in the West. This brings to mind the differences between individualist and collectivist societies and how the way one looks at life can greatly influence the decisions one makes. Two words that were used multiple times throughout the article were “meaningful” and “transcendence.” The outcome of the case studies involved the client transcending any prior restrictions and finding meaning in their new profession. These concepts are central to Eastern religions and should be focused on in regards to counseling approaches in the West.

          I am reminded of something a professor told me as an undergraduate in regards to counseling. He said your clients will experience greater change if they can figure the problem out for themselves. The trick is to lead them down the path without giving away the answer. I think this can be applied to career development where in some cases it might not be as effective to simply tell the client what they need to do. Rather, if you guide them and let them figure it out, their newly forged identity will be significantly stronger than had they been given the answer.

          The takeaway message is that there may be forces beyond our control that lead people to certain decisions or seem to guide people in a certain direction. The fact that they are not in our control should be embraced instead of discounted for lack of empirical evidence. Sometimes in order to provide the best counseling for a client you need to take an unconventional route and explore the unexplainable (Guindon 2002).

References

Guindon, M. H., & Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 50(3), 195-208.

  Jung, C. G. (1960). Synchronicity: An acausal connecting principle. New York: Bollingen Foundation.

Week 5/Synchronicity

First, I wanted to comment on the presentation by Joan Blades.  Her Living Room Conversation idea is great, because it focuses on understanding that everyone has disagreements, and that’s okay, and we can work on moving forward when we have disagreements.  I think this is something that is very relevant within the last couple of days with the disagreements in our government causing the shutdown.  While the Living Room Conversation was interesting, something that struck me was the information presented at the beginning about women (more specifically mothers) in the workplace and as leaders of companies.   Why, as one of the most developed countries in the world, do we not consistently provide paid maternity leave?  This devalues to work and influence that mothers have on their babies and young children.  I don’t remember the statistics she presented, but I remember her mentioning the lack of women and mothers in leadership positions, which is unfortunate.  As a future mother, I hate the idea of having to choose between my career and motherhood.  I hope that I am able to find a balance when it comes time for that. 

After reading the synchronicity article, all I can think is “I want that aha moment!”  The interesting thing about each of the case studies presented, the client had been in career counseling and self-examination.  Once they did so, the new career or job just seemed to fall into their laps!  Each of the clients were of different ages, but had just found themselves “stuck” in their current positions.  It just goes to show that our lives change, and so do our needs.  While one job may work for awhile, it does not mean that job will continue to satisfy us for the rest of our working lives. 

The article explains that counselors should take a holistic approach rather than solely relying on traditional approaches.  From what I could understand, the holistic approach recognizes that career development is a search for meaning, and understands that spirituality is part of that process.  As discussed a little bit in previous weeks, our careers are a large part of our lives, and create meaning for many people.  I thought Jung’s definition of individuation was interesting in that it’s “the process through which we risk becoming who we really are” (Guidon & Hanna, 2002, pg. 196).  Through that process, we can find our authentic selves, which will lead us to discovering a meaningful career. 

Guindon, M. H., & Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 50(3), 195-208.

Weekly Insight 5

Both the theories from week’s article and Joan Blades’ presentation on “Living Room Conversations” are associated.   I believe that many American’s have some sort of spiritual background, no matter what their religious background.  Among many beliefs presented in this article, looking at someone’s career development journey through their spiritual beliefs is talked about.  I particularly like this belief and could relate to it the most.

Most of the articles talked about thus far focus on the client’s family background and the use of genograms in early education, intellectual capabilities, and objective and subjective experiences.  In this week’s article they talk about the random happenings through a person’s life can help a person find their career. “Career development across the life span is no less than a search for meaning. Many clients come into career counseling blocked, engulfed in their own self-imposed set of limitations. Because they have not attended to their needs for life’s meaning, they may have ignored their own spiritual yearnings.” (Guindon & Hanna, 2002, p. 196)  I think using both the holistic approach and the spiritual approach would be successful in helping a client find their way in a meaningful career.  I do not think there is “one” approach that is the most successful in counseling.  Every client has their own unique personality and I think using the most successful approach tailored to the client is the most important way.

Guindon and Hanna reference, in the article, Jung’s definition of synchronicity “occurrence of meaningful coincidence in time.” (Guindon & Hanna, 2002, p. 197) In the beginning of the presentation by Joan Blades, she talked about that synchronicity is exactly what happen to her. A small idea between her and her friends became big movements. I really like that she helped raise so much money a very little amount of time for something she was passionate about.  The other point she talked about was helping mother’s have equal opportunities in the work place.  I have not personally experienced this prejudice from a supervisor, but I have had discussions with coworkers about mom’s taking off of work to tend to their sick children.  Mother’s are likely to have more sick days from work in a year than any other employee.  Two years ago, both of my children had been sick off and on for a couple of months.  I had taken many sick days during that time.  When returning to work, my coworker’s would say things like “we haven’t seen you in awhile or where have YOU been?”  I never got in trouble for being gone so much, but I had a lenient supervisor.  I am sure not all work places have the same leniency.

Guindon, M. H. and Hanna, F. J. (2002). Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of God: Case studies in synchronicity. The Career Development Quarterly, 55, 196-208.