Week 5

Up until the start of beginning this graduate program, I tended to focus on making career decisions based on employment statistics rather than pursuing something that I was truly passionate about. Maybe it was because I did not really understand what exactly was meaningful for me. I definitely agree that a more holistic perspective is helpful within the field of counseling (Guindon & Hanna, 2002). To be able to explore the self past the outcome of what a test may tell about personality characteristics is incredibly beneficial to an individual instead of taking results at face value and not further developing a better self-identity. This was evident in the case studies where the individuals felt they were at a roadblock, but with the help of a career counselor, were able to create a more meaningful representation of the self (Guindon & Hanna, 2002).  Life decisions, especially the choice of career, must take into account what kind of life the individual envisions living. Although synchronicity is defined as a process that is undergone unconsciously, such as the dream examples given in the case studies (Guindon & Hanna, 2002), I have had experiences in my own life where I only found a relationship between it all after the fact. Although I don’t find myself to be a vivid dreamer, I do find that there are connections in my life that I had not noticed that have brought me to this point in my life. I found myself reflecting on personal experiences I have been through such as particular things people have said to me, and how only at this point in my life I look back and feel that what was said only now finally makes sense. Prior to this article, I found learning about different types of career assessments to be interesting, but I wondered how the approach could be more comprehensive and not simply based on the trajectory of life that was a succession of events one after the other.

The three forms of synchronicity all rely on the coincidence of a particular psychic state, and its correspondence with an actual event (Guindon & Hanna, 2002). I feel that the connections between the unconscious and reality hold much greater meaning to an individual rather than limiting career counseling to a strictly present-based, individualistic perspective. I also appreciated that the article took on a discussion of spirituality that was not defined by a particular religion but rather there are a vast amount of interconnections in our lives that all depend on one another. Taking on the approach that there is a level of dependence on the decisions we make and the events, people, and places we have experienced allows for a greater level of insight into our own personal journeys.

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.