Unit 11 Building Resiliency and Imagining a Future Self
Viktor Frankl wrote our text book and also developed a type of psychotherapy referred to as Logotherapy, which is founded on the belief that human nature is motivated by the search for meaning and purpose. The following is a quote from our text book;
“true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this “the self- transcendence of human existence”.
It denotes the fact that being human always points and is directed to something or someone other than oneself, be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself- by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love- the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. (Frankl, p 133)
Predicting the future is notoriously problematic however most of us live in the moment structured by some form of our future self. This is especially true of the college experience where the primary enterprise is future oriented. You are choosing academic disciplines to study based on a future version of yourself. In this unit our objective is to bring our goals and dreams to the light of day where we can take practical steps toward our future selves.
In this unit we will explore strategies related to building personal resiliency and work at envisioning a future self.
Overview
This unit is divided into the following topics:
- Building Personal Resiliency
- The Future Self
- Vocation Planning
Learning Outcomes
When you have completed this unit:
- You will identity what are the key factors in creating a personal resiliency.
- Explore your future Love, Work and Play.
Activity Checklist
Learning Activities
- Watch video on Building Personal Resiliency (20 mins)
- Watch video Ted talk on Emotional Courage by Susan David (20 mins)
- Building Resiliency exercise (15 mins)
- Watch Ted Talk on the psychology of the future self- 6 mins
- read article on “Take ownership of your future self- 5 mins
- Watch the “Way Finding” video – 27 mins
- Building a future self exercise – 10 mins
- Learning Lab: Discuss the suffering and meaning
Assessments
- Movie Silence Reflection- write a 2 page response to one of the four options provided
11.1 Building Personal Resiliency
Activity: How to Build Personal Resiliency Video
Watch this video on Building Personal Resiliency [20 mins].
This is a video that provides a strategies for building personal resiliency primarily through creating specific forms of “meaning making”. It also discusses various strategies for overcoming adversity in our lives. Listen to the video with the following questions in mind.
- What things, events or people provide you with a sense of mental wellbeing?
- What type of things, activities or people make you feel more resilient and able to cope ?
- Where do you find meaning in your life?
- Where do you find contextual meaning in your life
- Where do you find existential meaning in your life.
Activity: Emotional Courage Video
Susan challenges a culture that prizes positivity over emotional truth and discusses the powerful strategies of emotional agility. She tells personal stories of how our emotions shapes our lives. Watch this video and try to remember one quote from Tedtalk [16 mins].
Watch: The gift and power of emotional courage
11.2 The Future Self
Activity: Psychology of the Future Self Video
Dan Gilbert’s research goes into how humans are relatively poor at predicting their future selves and making good decisions. He believes this reason has to do with our understanding of time.
Watch: The psychology of your future self
As you watch this video, reflect on how much you have changed since the beginning of high school and what expectations you have to change in the next 10 years.
Activity: Take Ownership of Your Future Self
As a follow up to Dan Gilbert’s TED Talk, read the article below, which outlines 3 steps you can take to develop your future self now.
Questions to Consider
As you read the following article answer these questions:
- What wins have I had in the past 90 days? Once you start to distinguish between your current and former selves?
- What action steps could you take today, this week, this year toward your future self?
- Who could you share with about your future self?
Article: Take Ownership of Your Future Self
If you remember from Unit 7, habit formation is also necessary for changes in behaviour. Take a look at this video below and consider how these strategies can help you.
Watch: ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear | Core Message
11.3 Vocational Planning
Activity: Way finding and Vocation Video
Watch the “Way Finding” video – 27 mins
This presentation covers finding purpose or calling for our lives and a method of future planning called design thinking. The authors of the book “Life Style by Design” demonstrate how this approach can be used for planning for our future selves.
Questions to Consider
- What are two different versions of your future self? ( eg two careers that interest you)
- How could you prototype or practice these versions of yourself?
- What are barriers to reaching these versions of yourself?
- How could you reframe these barriers into challenges or opportunities
Watch: Wayfinding and Vocation edited
Unit Summary
In this unit you have had the opportunity to learn about the following:
Resiliency or coping strategies become and important part of a wellbeing plan for creating a stable and durable system.
Humans are a highly adaptive species which makes it very difficult for us to imagine ourselves in the future, “Remembering is easy but imagining the future is hard”. However, we are still motivated by future versions of ourselves, as uniquely revealed in the education process. In this unit we have had the opportunity to do some of that day dreaming with possible action steps toward those future selves.
Assessments
- Review and Integration 11 Odyssey Planning
- Silence Reflection assignment
Review and Integration 11: Odyssey Planning
Complete the Odessy Planning exercise, and submit it at the dropbox at the bottom of this page.
Download
Check your Learning
Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able.
We have spent a significant amount of time around the concept of meaning and purpose. We believe it is one of the fundamental components of personal wellbeing. Finding meaning or purpose is also important in managing life’s challenges. Our hope is you have been able to explore your own personal sources of meaning and purpose both contextually and existentially.
To identify one or two versions of your future self. While we looked primarily at occupation you could also use the same process to image future relationships, lifestyles and living locations. One of the important elements of the vision casting process is paying attention to our interests and desires. One of the central themes to the course has been to become more self aware.
Before you move on, don’t forget to:
- Submit Odyssey Plan
- Submit Silence (2016) Reflection
- Record your Flourishing Plan log