Visioning and Reflecting and Self-Validation: She’s the “Little Engine That Could”.
With Maslow’s model, it made sense to use a number of visioning and reflection questions for Beth. When she observed that she had put in place several new behaviors on her new job, she also reflected that she felt that some of her old habits might begin to creep back in, and she feared she might push her new self-awareness into the background, I asked her “What is the learning for you here?” She was able to articulate that self-validation (The Little Engine That Could) helped her gain the courage and underscored the confidence she needed to damp down the self-doubts and fears she had in her previous job. She was happy to “create a space for reflection” and that the “sheer task of articulating her thoughts” were able to help her to “put her thoughts in order and be systematic in her thinking”. Clearly, Beth strives for acceptance of her new self and treasures the opportunity to explore and experiment with strategies and tactics to keep her self-awareness on track.
Meet Your Future Self, It’s Not That Scary to Take a Risk.
We also worked with a tool, a worksheet called “Meet Your Future Self” which asks 22 questions about what a person’s future self would be like, from “What clothes would you be wearing?” to “What is the essence of your future self?” These questions were effective in allowing Beth to envision herself in a future state in which she has reached her goals of satisfaction in most areas of her life, including her work life; where she is doing productive work for the betterment of humanity, and is engaged in the company’s charitable work events as an active contributor, thus evening out her “wheel of life” to a more integrated self. In earlier sessions, we discussed some of her “mindful moments”, when she revealed her fear of taking risks, and worrying that if she took risks, “something bad would happen”.
She realized that taking risks was part of the growth process and that her “Ah Ha!” moment was when she realized that risk taking was “not as scary as she thought”. She reflected that she had had opportunities at her previous job, but her fear of risk had deterred her from moving forward with them. With her new awareness, she wants to ensure she carries her determination to conquer fear of risk naturally at her new job, since she now has the unique opportunity to begin anew. When I asked her what support she might need, she remarked that she needed to stay positive and focused; that she works on it every day and that she is consistent in her messaging about herself. She stated that she needs to feel her confidence grow on an emotional level in order to keep it consistent.
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