Blog 5

Blog 5

At first I was a little confused by the meaning of synchronicity, no matter how explicitly it was stated in the first paragraph of Guindon’s article (2002, pg 195). Do all of my blogs begin with me being confused? That’s okay, I just think that is the best way for me to address my concerns and hopefully move forward through all of the theorists we are learning about. Anyway, as I read through this article, I made the word “synchronicity” synonymous with “serendipity” in my head. When it came to applying the term to career counseling, however, synchronicity became more clearly defined as a technique to help people find the meaning in their lives or jobs instead of them just happening across an inexplicable coincidence.

My confusion dissipated (and I assumed they would more so with the promised case studies) on page 198 when Guindon wrote about the philosophical and religious background of applying synchronicity. Not only does the term have the fate-esque aspect of seemingly random events, but Guindon specifically refers to synchronicity as the “consequence” of these random events (2002). This idea began to connect with the original presentation that synchronicity can be applied to career counseling in order to open client’s eyes about their path in life because it showed that a counselor can use synchronicity (whether through guided meditation or another active method) to show a person how their life choices are connected for a reason that may lead them to what they are meant to do as a career.

I know that frequently I say that I like the current proposed theory more than the last theory we learned about because they progressively tend to focus on the individual and less on the idea of being either right or wrong in a career choice, so I am going to follow suit yet another time. On page 200 in Dan’s story, we hear all about how unhappy Dan is in his job even though it matched his Holland Code (Guindon, 2002). While I wasn’t morally opposed to Holland’s Code like I was, say, Parson’s Trait and Factor Theory, I still wasn’t completely feeling the idea that answering a couple questions about whether or not you like drumming or being a leader can determine your career path. Dan’s case study shows perfectly how there are so many factors, such as family needs, joy, and location, that need to be taken into consideration when counseling someone on their careers, and perhaps synchronicity is the one I’ve been waiting for (until I read next week’s 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(3), 195-208.