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CCI BLOG

March 28th, 2017

3/28/2017

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Finding Meaning in a Post Secular Modern World

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Individuals intermittently confront turning points in their lives. In a progressively secularized world, the notion of the individuative “self” and possessing a distinctive connection with something beyond one’s “self,” is often considered superfluous. Where there is no need for answers, there is no compelling reason to search outside one’s domain. Self-management draws upon experiential guideposts to navigate life. The question of meaning itself may be perceived as an assault on their inner sanctum of self-hood. However, what this mindset represents is the ubiquitous dilemma many experience today: that the post secular modernist view of reason derives meaning from perfecting the “self” in the attainment of affluence and prosperity as an absolute and ultimate goal pursuit.
 
Reason Influenced Dissonance
 
1. Environmental influence. Individuals develop observing the environment, using family and peer groups to model their behavior to meet implicit reason-oriented expectations (Bandura, 1977; Erikson, 1963). They instinctively respond to what experiences project using mirror neurons to either reflexively alter their behavior, or adapt to situations adopting the behavior of others (Newberg, 2010; Erikson, 1963). If parents or other role models exhibit a secular modernist worldview where self-hood is exalted, then behavior is mirrored and inculcated in their identity.
 
2. Spatial intelligence. On the spatial intelligence spectrum, many individuals have the propensity to grasp intangibles as a foundation for beliefs, value sets and a locus of control and responsibility (Gardner, 1993). Others, however, are measured reflecting their innate difficulty in relating to intangibles such as faith. They require evidence to substantiate an understanding of the world outside of themselves. For these individuals, they require cosmological evidence to make this cognitive connection.
 
Cosmological Evidence
The post secular modern world reduces existence to those things that reason can explicate. As an atheist, Glynn (1997) sought out to reconcile whether faith held a meaningful place in this world by challenging the immeasurable, maintaining that reason trumps faith because science offers no evidence to the contrary. His investigation into the realm of quantum physics to disprove the cosmological argument paradoxically altered his belief system. Evidence revealed that science held a fundamental misinterpretation of the nature of the universe and that it was far more compatible with the notion of being “designed by an intelligent creator” (Glynn, 1997, p. 26).
 
Glynn (1997) argues that gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear force are indispensable laws of nature and remain critical standards of measurement. Hawking (1988) used these systems to prove the big bang theory (cosmological argument) by reversing the black hole theory to evidence that creation could have evolved from a singular event. As such, Glynn (1997) contends science must concede that the causation of the universe with its fundamental laws must accept that any miscalculation of this evolutionary process would result in a world without hydrogen (water), oxygen to breathe, stars incapable of sustaining their systems, absence of gravity (no moon), and atmosphere that would have no protective layering that insulates and protect mankind from the certain cancer causing effects of solar radiation. Finally, Morris (1973) presents unequivocal evidence that, the chance of our creation and everything we know that exists in this universe and beyond, as occurring by accident is one chance in one billion-trillion.
 
What this suggests is that by design, creation evolved through an unfathomable degree of complexity with no room for error. The only explanation is that there is an intelligent Creator that intentionally created this plane of existence for a purpose. Formatively, scientific evidence requires further inquiry beyond reason within this context to explain mankind’s place within this immaculate design.
 
Reason Versus Existential Meaning
Buber (1970) explains the reason versus existential meaning dynamic by introducing self-hood as a self-centered pursuit of excellence, comprised of a person living in an “I-It” post secular modern world. Reason becomes an idol, which puts faith and any need for something other than “self,” aside as inconsequential or an inconvenient consideration. By contrast, faith is a belief that mankind exists because of something greater than “self,” to coexist in relation to what he calls an “I-Thou” relationship (Buber, 1970). Transcendent meaning occurs during that encounter, creating a newfound self-understanding that serves as a waypoint to guide individuals in stages of their lives.
 
Reason dispenses with anything other than “self” as selfhood thrives on being the center of the universe. Glynn (1997) realized that embracing reason as an idol, in an “I-It” world, was the source of his dissonance. Buber (1970) illuminates that the essential dilemma within this mindset is that the “I,” or “self” becomes “deactualized” (p.111). It loses its true nature, “When man lets it [self] have its way, the relentlessly growing ‘It-world’ grows over him like weeds, his own ‘I’ loses its actuality, until the incubus over him and the phantom inside him exchange the whispered confession of their need for redemption” (Buber, 1970, p.96). This creates the ideal condition for an identity crisis.
 
Conclusion
For individuals who are searching for meaning in their lives, this dichotomy between reason and meaning represents a dynamic tension between the need of attaining selfhood and developing a spiritual identity in connection with an intentional Creator. The post secular modern world has lost its true identity, its existential calling, and adopted reason as its idol, whereby selfhood is preeminent. It is a departure from what creation was designed to become and explains why many find themselves “stuck” during various stages of their lives.
 
Analogize to this are those who have altered their worldview and actualized “I-Thou” moments where they connect with others. They do not treat others as “It’s” or objects used to elevate their status, rather they embrace the meaning of these authentic relationships. They will have learned that in risking opening their “self” to others, a primal connection is fulfilled. If this embedded drive is subdued in the secular modern world, it can be activated in meaning-driven communion between two, in endeavors that create something unique.
 
This personification of life is enriching and inhabits an altogether divergent plane of existence. It offers individuals a new lens that reveals a sense of meaning in life (Frankl, 2014). It manifests a belief that they were created to connect with others and live out a life that focuses less on self, and more upon finding harmony in relation to this higher power we call God (Frankl, 2006). When individuals give of their “self,” rather than take, they honor Him in a way that stands in opposition to post secular modernist reason. It augments dissoance and embraces the meaning of mankind’s existence in this world.
 
References
 
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
 
Buber, M. (1970). I and Thou. New York: Scribner.
 
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York: Norton.

 
Frankl, V. E. (2014). The will to meaning: Foundations and applications of logotherapy. NY, NY: Plume.
 
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of the mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
 
Glynn, P. (1997). God: The evidence: The reconciliation of faith and reason in a postsecular world. New York: Three Rivers Press.
 
Hawking, S. (1988). A brief history of time: From the Big bang to Black Holes. Toronto: Bantam Books.
 
Morris, H. (2003). The Mathematical Impossibility Of Evolution. Acts and Facts, 32(11). Retrieved from http://www.icr.org/article/mathematical-impossibility-evolution/
 
Newberg, A. B. (2010). Principles of neurotheology. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub.

 
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March 27th, 2017

3/27/2017

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 Ambiguity and the Search for Meaning

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The fundamental search for meaning is fraught with stumbling blocks in our lives. The ubiquitous challenge is that the secular world attempts to shaped our lives throughout stages of our development to meet the expectations of others (Erikson, 1963). Behavior has been rewarded for performance in athletics, education, and career development elevating selfhood in the attainment of goal pursuits This creates a perception of success as measured by possessions and affluence (Bandura, 1977).


However, what has been stuffed down during this journey is our sense of "self," who we are, and who we always have been. It represents a steady fragmentation of our true identity. To illustrate how this begins, Levine (2002) argues individuals try on new identities as early as middle school in order to assimilate into peer groups in school. Each time this layering process occurs, they superimpose and adorn elements that are artificial and incongruent with their authentic "self." While they consciously justify this accommodation, that loss of "self" formatively progresses to what may become a state of ambiguity.

Ambiguity is antithetical to the search for meaning. This cognitive dissonance creates uncertainty that may lead to analysis paralysis. Breaking free from this cycle is a challenge that entraps individuals in their search for vintages of "self" that have been obscured. Navigating life’s turning points for these cognitive reference points becomes tenuous, creating stress, and impacting their mental health.

To augment ambiguity requires embracing an new attitudinal perspective. We are taught that selfhood and finding meaning on a linear pathway to success is constructed through self-empowerment and acquiring materialism (Lyubomirsky, 2010). However, evidence suggests that sustainable happiness requires something more. If so, then perhaps there is something fundamentally wrong with the premise of putting one’s "self" first in order to find meaning.
To better understand this, Frankl (2014) argues the “will-to meaning” is a primal dynamic force compelling an individuative search for fulfillment that can only be attained be each unique individual. Importantly, that yearning for meaning is God ordained (Frankl, 2006). Therefore, what this illuminates it that this is an innate drive that by design is connected to a power beyond the "self." 

This suggests that self-actualized meaning is not purely powered by the “self,” as Maslow espoused, but rather through a process of transcendence of purpose that he later adopted from Frankl. If as Newberg, D'Aquili, and Rause (2001) stipulate, that the human mind was hard-wired to actualize meaning through this transcendent power, then it can be argued that mankind was designed to find this through our connectedness to others in relationships, rather than relying solely upon selfhood (Frankl, as cited by Leider, 2015).
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Buber (1970) articulates this by using a painting in a museum as a metaphor to differentiate an “I-It” and “I-Thou” encounter. In looking at a painting as an object (It), we regard “It” as something pleasing and useful, but when the essence (Thou) of what the artist is actualized, it becomes an “I-Thou” moment, where transcendence of the meaning is revealed. The message here is that in this world we often treat individuals as objects (It’s) that are used to achieve our goals, rather than looking for the good in each and connecting to realize something extraordinary. 

What we were designed for is to engage in “I-Thou” moments with others, valuing who they are, and what we can achieve as a collective (Buber, 1977). In those moments, the transcendence of purpose is awakened in what we do because it becomes a reflection of who we are. The importance of this distinction is that this requires an attitudinal adjustment. Giving of our “self” to others surrenders the “self” and becomes a self-less act. The impetus holds no expectations of reward, other than to share our inherent gifts in the service of a project or a cause to achieve something of value. What occurs in this environment is a connectedness with what truly matters, which stands in opposition to what is purely a self-centered goal pursuit.

Methods
Narratives. To augment ambiguity, narratives are introduced to draw out patterns and themes used to reconstruct our identity. This co-constructive process revisits earlier experiences that confirm character strengths that we have always adorned or adopted from role models that reflect our true identity before life got in the way (Savickas, 1995; Bandura, 1977). That moral compass that guided us in our youth, re-emerges as an authentication of our true "self" and serves as a mechanism to cycle out of an existential vacuum of ambiguity (Frankl, 2014; Savickas, 1995).

Acts of kindness. Davidson and Begley (2013) argue that the emotional life of the brain is hard-wired to react to both stress and acts of kindness. In their research, brain mapping evidences that ambiguity may be ameliorated through protracted acts of kindness that alters the brain over time. Neuroplasticity in effect represents the propensity for a cognitive reset. Importantly, when we actively give of our “self,” individuals respond to this authenticate action that is actualized by the visual cortex, creating an emotional response that validates the efficacy of this endeavor (Davidson & Begley, 2013). We simply witness the effect of our giving from our innermost “self” and are rewarded with something inexplicable; the power to enhance the life of another.

Conclusion
Formatively, reconstructing an identity through the search for meaning has the proclivity to subdue anxiety and ambiguity. It is an attitudinal change that tunes both the heart and mind to the need to share our inborn gifts with others in a purpose driven process (Leider, 2015). It is that joy that emanates from problem solving with a tangible and value driven purpose where what we give contributes to a meaningful solution. It is in the deployment of our innate talent, passion and value oriented beliefs, in the service of others or for a cause, that actualizes the “why” of what we do and evokes an understanding that what we do truly matters. Ultimately, meaning is manifest through connecting with others who work toward the same goals, where we become “givers,” rather than self-centered “takers.” Ultimately, this crystalizes into what may resemble our calling in life, to do what we were designed for, and to live into that newfound identity where we become whole.
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References
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Buber, M. (1970). I and Thou. New York: Scribner.
Davidson, R. J., & Begley, S. (2013). The emotional life of your brain: How its unique patterns affect the way you think, feel, and live - and how you can change them. New York: Plume.
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society (2nd ed.). New York: Norton.
Frankl, V. E. (2014). The will to meaning: Foundations and applications of logotherapy. NY, NY: Plume.
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's search for meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
Leider, R. (2015). The power of purpose: Find meaning, live longer, better. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
Levine, M. (2002). A mind at a time. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Lyubomirsky, S. (2010). The how of happiness: A practical guide to getting the life you want. London: Piatkus.
Newberg, A. B., D'Aquili, E. G., & Rause, V. (2001). Why God won't go away: Brain science and the biology of belief. New York: Ballantine Books.
Savickas, M. L. (1995). Examining the Personal Meaning of Inventoried Interests During Career Counseling. Journal of Career Assessment, 3(2), 188-201. doi:10.1177/106907279500300206
 

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February 19th, 2017

2/19/2017

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Identity Development: Critical Self-Inquiry

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One of the most fundamental drives we possess is to question “who” we are and “what” avocation we aspire to actualize in life. In that process, we find meaning in our lives. It is an inherent drive that compels us to ask ourselves, “what” gifts we were born with and “how” they may be deployed in order to validate our existence on this earth. In order to answer these questions, one effective method is to deconstruct our self in order to reconstruct “who” we are. This process requires drawing from our experiential knowledge of self in order to crystalize our identity to what we call our “authentic self” as the basis for developing a vocational identity.

Identity Development: Authentic Self
Narratives, serve as a vehicle to self-authenticate “who” we are and “what” strengths we possess through self-reflection. Chronicling these experiences from our past, in response to distinctive questions, function as foundational descriptors that attest to our character, value sets, interests, and abilities. They all pronounce, “this is ‘who’ you are and ‘who’ you have always been” before life got in the way.

If we embrace the world and its attempt to shape us, then we necessarily adorn different identities to meet its expectations. We morph into peer groups early on in life to fit in, model behavior to learn according to a performance driven educational system, and are measured by our achievement through grades that define our self-worth. However, is this really who we are?

Importantly, much of our self, uniqueness, and self-esteem have been stuffed down through this developmental process leaving mere vestiges of our self-hood. This is precisely “why” narratives offer a subjective insight into “what” makes us human and distinctive. When we unpack these experiences, and draw upon “what” they represent, self-reflection reveals self-clarity.

This newfound clarity constructs divergent experiences into a constellation that illuminate patterns. These implicitly coalesce into meaning-oriented themes such as the drive to serve the needs of others (Social), a preference for innovation to affect change (Enterprising), and or a creative flair for showcasing their uniqueness (Artistic). These subjectively composed themes and their descriptors validate “who” we are in the configuration of our identity. They become an animated visual confirmation of “what” we achieved in the past, “why” deploying our gifts held a sense of purpose, and “how” this activated our cognitive reward system that affirms contextual meaning in these goal pursuits.

Role Models: Future Self
Extrapolating “why” mentors impacted our lives enlighten “who” we wish to become. Recollections of “how” they gave of themselves and adapted to life conflicts, reveal experiential waypoints of “what” it takes to perfect self-management. It offers a visual aide-mémoire of “how” to adapt to life’s stumbling blocks while maintaining a pathway of congruence. What is actualized is the greater meaning that drives these goal pursuits to discern “why” staying the course holds inestimable value.
Narratives offer a cognitive platform to self-authenticate “who” we are, but they also allow for asking ourselves salient questions pertaining to “what” demands further exploration. Merely writing out these questions creates a rehearsal process that attempts to tap into these experiences for accentuated contextual reference points. This critical self-inquiry allows for constructive insight that guides the progressive meaning of “living into” our role as future self or “who” we have wished to become all along.
 
Vocational Identity
Drawing from our authenticated or true self and adopting character traits of our role models, allows for a co-constructive process of epic proportion. This identity manifestation of “who” we wish to become sets our sights on “why” occupational domains hold meaning for us. It is a process of extending and expressing our character strengths, values, and abilities in a way that becomes a vocational identity.
 
If nearly 70% of our present workforce is disengaged, then this disconnect reflects an underdeveloped vocational identity. Individuals yearn to discover the purpose of their work and to be rewarded for the efficacy of what they may offer. This is precisely what narratives furnish, essential component parts in order to assemble the foundational constructs that evidence congruence. It is that innate need to identity with “what” we do and that it represents our capacity to share our gifts with others.
 
Finally, what we require is a pathway to channel our gifts in a way that connects us with “what” we do in our personal and professional lives. It is a developmental process where our authenticated self elevates our perception of our intrapersonal intelligence sufficiently to be fully present when we connect with others. This emotional intelligence prepares us for owning a pathway that cognitively tunes our hearts and minds to a self-understanding that “what” we do truly matters. In that process, we find meaning and purpose through “living out” our vocational identity.
 
 
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February 18th, 2017

2/18/2017

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Efficacy of Understanding Spatial Intelligence in Defining Work Roles
 

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Spatial Abilities have the propensity to impact reasoning when individuals are confronted with problem solving in their work roles. Spatial Relations Theory (SRT) is the ability to think about interactional systems, that relate to both the mechanical and interpersonal world. It is the capacity to relate to tangible systems like structural, computer, and manufacturing design. These all represent products that have interrelated components that must function in harmony.

However, SRT also pertains to the interpersonal world. Interpersonal systems exist in organizations, in work related relationships or any domain that comprises groups who interact. The functional efficacy of their ability to work as a group, or team is contingent upon their understanding of “how” they process this dynamic when interacting with one another.

Spatial Relations Visualization (SRV) by contrast is the ability to see in three-dimensions when only given two. It is the capacity to regard a blueprint and construct an animated 3-D visual image. This innate ability may be used to spatially evidence the integrity of a project’s design that actualizes a sense of accomplishment. However, another person’s measureable spatial acuity might be satisfied with the mere concept alone. Their perception is focused more on the task at hand and “what” needs to be done to complete the project itself.

Spatial Abilities in Context
In its simplest terms, the blend of spatial intelligence reasoning defines “how” individuals perceive problems and “what” is required to affect change. The following descriptors differentiate “how” individuals are hard-wired to respond to problems in their purview:

Engineer: (H SRT + H SRV)
An Engineer is fulfilled when given a task to conceptualize or produce something tangible that needs to be designed and built. In order to engineer the creation, a person has to comprehend the theory behind it so the tangible creation will function according to its design. This represents a spatial need to be a part of the process from inception to completion, so that they might say, “I designed that.”

Builder: (L SRT + H SRV)
A Builder is fulfilled when given a project to construct a concrete product that is tangible. This “hands on” pattern empowers individuals to relate to the concrete or real world. While working with or producing “things,” this combination of abilities emphasizes the construction or production of physical results.

Theoretician: (H SRT + L SRV)
The Theoretician is fulfilled when fully engaged in determining “how” something works, whether it is tangible or intangible. Further, they have an appreciation for the acumen of others who can actually build it. It is the natural capacity to understand theoretical positions. However, they do not feel the urge to work with physical tools, equipment, or objects on a daily basis. This ability pattern emphasizes the theoretical and intangible world of relationships, systems and interconnectedness. It facilitates a “what if” systems thinking understanding of the big picture or the “why” that undergirds the method.
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Executor: (L SRT + L SRV)
An Executor is fulfilled when they know “what” needs to be done (expectations) and are not subsumed with the need to know “why” or “how” it is going to function. They develop their abilities through experience using visual references to evidence “what” works based upon their experiential knowledge. While they may have an affinity to working with their hands, they may feel challenged if their job responsibilities are related to the creative R-directed (right brain) thinking that is outside their realm of spatial acuity.

Spatial Relevance
Delineating spatial acuity is relevant to individuaitve work roles. It defines their capacity to comprehend “what” others may be expressing theoretically and then visualizing “how” its application is appropriate in resolving problems. If they cannot follow the linear logic of an approach on one level, they may be able to construe “why” a solution works using their R-directed spatial abilities to remediate the problem itself.

From an enterprise perspective, drawing out the potential of each employee is critical to effective team dynamics and morale. If one leader presumes others understand their role and appears dismissive, the cohesive veracity of the team will cycle out of synch. In response to this, tuning the minds of certain team members may be required by partnering with another counterpart to explain the spatial dynamic. This collaboration offers an intuitive method to align others on the same wavelength to embrace any enterprise solution as being efficacious.

Finally, if each individual possesses a gifted mind, then understanding “how” they work and “why” deploying these abilities in their work roles converge, offering the synergy to flourish. It is a matter of being assigned tasks that tap into their unique reservoirs of talent. Individuative minds function best when they find their ideal work “flow.” They accomplish tasks by drawing upon their gifted resources. Formatively, they are allowed to project their insight as a mechanism to make value-oriented and innovative contributions to the team. As a result, interpersonal dynamics will be accentuated through a collaboration of spatial strengths to fulfill work role expectations and performance in any goal-oriented value based system.
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January 11th, 2017

1/11/2017

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 A Efficacy of Narrative Therapy

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In the world of analytical left brained (L-directed thinkers) individuals who thrive upon using their linear logical abilities, narratives provide a unique process of imagining, planning and explicating a deeper sense of who they are (Pink, 2005). It taps into self-knowledge and expands the meaning of experiences and places them in context mirroring our value sets, our true self, and what we yearn to become.
 
Norman (1994) argues, L-directed thought attempts to generalize or “strip” the emotional value of subjective emotions that encapsulate meaning. Narratives “capture the context [and] emotions” that frames decision-making offering a greater understanding of its importance. They offer a platform to pursue meaning in what our stories tell us about ourselves.
 
Narratives have been recognized by Xerox, NASA, and medical schools as a vital process to depart from reductionist thought to a more holistic way of understanding individuals. They recognize that we filter, retain, and compress years of experience, thought and emotions that may be extrapolated on paper to illumine, “who we are and what we are about” (Pink, 2004, p.115). Narratives develop a process of pathway thinking that reconstructs the “artifacts” of our lives.
 
The efficacy of its application is that knowledge (L-Directed) is often insufficient to confront a transformative crisis resulting in resistance to change. Trauma creates cognitive blockages that serve as defense mechanisms deployed to protect one’s self. In response, the narrative process normalizes dysfunction (Hammer et al, 2012). Hall and Powell (2011) contend that the chronicling process draws together divergent elements of the self that construct an “overarching self-narrative” that amplifies meaning (p. 2).
 
Larsson, Lilja, Braun, and Sjoblom (2013) contend narratives offer a subjective inquiry into “the psychological worlds of individuals,” where they implicitly draw from experiences that express the realities of their life (p. 1,286). This empowers them to objectify the problem itself as distinctly separate from themselves (Beck & Beck, 2011). Hammer, Dingel, Ostergren, Nowakowski and Koenig (2012) argue the biological or pathogenic approaches have the propensity “to become dominant narratives of addiction” (p. 712).
 
Formatively, this offers individuals utilizing narrative therapy
the opportunity to engage in a subjective process that has the propensity to circumvent impasses. Narratives animate experiential strengths used to address challenges drawing upon the right brain (R-Directed thinking) to actualize pathway thinking. This creates a path to reconcile methods of change (R-Directed) in order for the left brain (L-Directed) to logically implement change itself. This represents an integration of both hemispheres where individuals inhabit both worlds (Pink, 2005).
 
Cognitively, this builds a new subjective understanding that false narratives found may be reconstructed from this newfound knowledge. It is an emotional response to past behavior that is incongruent with that dynamic tension between the “real self” and the “ideal self,” or who they wish to become (Boyatzis & McKee, 2006). It is a holistic process that allows individuals to validate their strengths as a mechanism to change.
 
Finally, McLeod (1997) argues the narrative is “at the heart of the [therapist’s] work,” taking a constructionist position (p.54). Deconstructing disrupts automatic thoughts and enables individuals to rethink who they are and who they strive to become. Intentional change is a healing process where emotional insight from recollections offers a pathway to “overcoming suffering,” and in that change process meaning is found (Frankl, 2006). It reveals a subjective understanding that each individual is of inestimable value and that intentional change holds new meaning to a life filled with purpose.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
 
Resources
 
Beck, J. S., & Beck, A. T. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. New York:
            The Guilford Press.
 
Boyatzis, R., & Mckee, A. (2006). Intentional change. J. Org. Exc. Journal of Organizational
Excellence, 25(3), 49-60. doi:10.1002/joe.20100
 
Frankl, V. (2006). Man’s Search For Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
 
Hall, J. M., & Powell, J. (2011). Understanding the Person through Narrative. Nursing Research
and Practice, 2011, 1-10. doi:10.1155/2011/293837
 
Hammer, R. R., Dingel, M. J., Ostergren, J. E., Nowakowski, K. E., & Koenig, B. A. (2012). The
Experience of Addiction as Told by the Addicted: Incorporating Biological Understandings into Self-Story. Cult Med Psychiatry Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 36(4), 712-734. doi:10.1007/s11013-012-9283-x
 
Larsson, S., Lilja, J., Braun, T. V., & Sjöblom, Y. (2013). Chapter 1. Introduction: Using
Narrative Research Methods for the Analysis of Use and Misuse of Alcohol and Drugs. Substance Use & Misuse, 48(13), 1286-1293. doi:10.3109/10826084.2013.814979
 
McLeod, J. (1997). Narrative and psychotherapy. London: Sage Publications.
 
Norman, D. (1994). Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the
Machine. New York: Persus.
 
Pink, D (1994). A Whole New Mind. NY: Penguin.
 

 
 
 

 


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1/10/2017

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Differentiating the Meaning Drugs Hold For Addicts From the Greater Meaning Found in Recovery

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"The only thing that will truly change the addict’s deep, emotional attachment to their drug and the personal meaning they give it is something deeper, more personal, more emotionally and more spiritually meaningful. The only way to compete with the meaning that drugs have for the addict is to validate that meaning and then help the addict find greater meaning from things in recovery" (McCauley & Reich, 2007).
 
There are many reasons individuals reach out to drugs or alcohol but the primary underlying factor is a sense of meaninglessness or isolation. Life has lost its meaning and substances offer a means to temporal relief from their condition. Despite valiant attempts to resolve this disconnect by self-directed methods, individuals just want a pathway that embodies purpose.
 
Neurobiology
Neurobiology instructs that protracted substance abuse affects the brains ability self-regulate inappropriate behavior. This skews our thinking into believing we can manage substance use and that it is a mechanism that subdues our anxiety sufficiently to offer balance. Yet, this only perpetuates the problem until the addict admits that they are powerless to quell this behavior.
 

If addicts uses substances that are attractors to sooth this consternation, then they assign meaning to it as an attachment. The greater their use, the greater it holds meaning in subduing the emotional strife they are experiencing. This creates a circular causality that entraps them in a cycle of distorted thinking. The paradox here is that we are each endowed with a drive to find purpose but when that pathway is obscured by horizontal stressors, they are drawn back to the false narrative that substance relief is the only pathway left.
 
Abstract Versus the Tangible
Many individuals have difficulty grasping a spiritual understanding and require science to evidence that this is not just an abstract approach, but one grounded in something tangible. So, consider what it is that we process as meaningful and something phenomenological such as love. Why are we born with something so pervasive that it connects us to something or someone other than our self? 
 

What is it about the nature of a mere family pet such as a dog that is hard-wired with the propensity for unconditional love, even when we may be unworthy of it? Where does this come from? It is not endowed in all of creation, nor is it something that evolved from anything we can explain. So, for the person adversely impacted from experiences in church, or simply as a nonbeliever, neurobiology offers this platform for further explanation.
 
Spiritual Approach
This approach of submission and acceptance is rooted in the belief that (1) we are hardwired to find purpose and (2) that substances do not hold the key to that actualization (Newberg, D'Aquili, & Rause; May, 1988 ). The twelve-step method and its counterparts each hold that meaning is ascertained through an existential self-understanding and that we are meant to connect in relationships.

On a deeper level this manifests the belief that there is a greater power at work that created everything we see, feel, and touch. Expanding upon this, meaning is found in tapping into the understanding that we were designed to channel our gifts to impact the lives of others and find relation with that greater power.
 

Neurotheology has bridged science with religion to map the brain and validate cerebral activity using fMRI's during prayer (Newberg, 2010). It inculcates the idea that science is beginning to evidence that mankind was designed to connect with this higher power. If we zoom out for a moment and consider this notion, then this suggests that we are never alone, and that there is a greater power at work in this world that seeks to connect with us. This opens a doorway to an alternate pathway, to a spiritual attachment that supersedes the meaning of attachments to substances themselves.
 
Method
Submission or acceptance that we are constrained by substances leads to the proposition that lifting up or objectifying our weaknesses can be discharged and replaced with the meaning that living free of substances holds (May, 1988). This requires guidance to comprehend how to work through a process of intentional change. However, the foundational element here is recognizing there is hope.
 
Conclusion
The mechanism for transformative change within the mind of the addict is that an alternative pathway has more profound meaning than an attachment to substances. It is an attitudinal personification that substances hold no promise for sustainability. It progresses to an understanding that somehow we are not alone.

​In this transformative struggle this belief empowers meaning in change itself. It embodies that we were born with the capacity to reconcile our past and move forward to something greater. In that visioning, we find meaning and purpose that offers the resilience to stay the course worthy of that new pathway thinking.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
 
Resources
 
Newberg, A. B. (2010). Principles of neurotheology. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub.
 
Newberg, Andrew B., Eugene G. D'Aquili, and Vince Rause. Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New York: Ballantine, 2001.
 
May, G. G. (1988). Addiction and grace. New York: HarperCollins.

McCauley, K.T., & Reich, C.A. (2007). Addictions: New understanding, fresh hope, real healing. Salt Lake City, UT: Institute for Addiction Study.

 

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January 10th, 2017

1/10/2017

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​To Know Where You Are Going, You Have to Know Who You Are and Where You Are in Life

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The greatest obstacle to discerning a meaningful pathway in life is the “self.” Call it pride, call it ego, or call it a blindside, no one has it all together. Consequently, our individuative growth is skewed, offering a distorted understanding of who we are.
 
Our goals are subjectively influenced by our environment. What we process from the media and others shapes us into manifesting a perception that we must have the next iPhone, look a certain way, or drive a certain car if we are to be successful and accepted. If we live witnessing others who possess what we do not, it impacts our state of mind for not having what we implicitly feel we need.
 
In our early years, did we morph into adorning identities from others to fit into a particular peer group? If so, have we not in some way stuffed down who we are in exchange for adding layers of psychosocial traits to meet the expectations of others? So, as we progressed we added a bit of others to who we are leaving much of who we are in our past.
 
So, subconsciously we operate as if we have it all together, when in fact we constrain the inner tension about this ambiguity that reveals we really don’t know ourselves or what happiness really is. Nevertheless, we strive to find what may be an arbitrary vision of what delivers joy only to feel unfulfilled.

Pursuing goals that we envision as worthy endeavors, yet represent an uphill battle, may elicit feelings of depletion. This could lead to a sense of isolation that leads to depression. We may question the purpose of this pathway and what it ultimately delivers in terms of emotional rewards. 

The consternation we feel necessitates pealing back the layers of who we are. We need time to discern what drives us, why certain value sets have always been components of our worldview, and how expressing our uniqueness in what we do may coalesce into what resembles an avocation worth pursuing in life. This prompts the distinctive questions that requires subjectivity and objectivity.
 
Admitting we are struggling to find that pathway is the first important step in resolving this impasse. Committing to developmental self-inquiry into who you really are, what is truly causing our discontent, and how this reframes a new way of looking at our life is the second step to finding joy.
 
Being willing to work through self-reflection brings clarity. Recognizing that intentional change is necessary demands honesty and a willingness to objectively understand that pathway thinking compels us to own a new way of living. Do we have the courage to ask for guidance, to dive deep into revealing your blind spots, and to find meaning in a transformative process? Then this could be the most important new year’s resolution we could make that will forever change our life. In that choice, we will know where we are going in life.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.


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January 04th, 2017

1/4/2017

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Mental Health: Six Dimensions of Wellness

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Individuals in pursuit of goal-oriented endeavors frequently obfuscate the reality of the multiple dimensions of wellness and their role in offering the balance we require in life. Focusing on a singular dimension directly impacts other facets of ourselves and the lives of others. It is important, therefore, to illuminate the dynamic importance that each contributes to wellness and sustaining that equilibrium in life.
 
To expand upon this Hettler (2016) defines wellness as:
 
“an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.”
 
The following represent the six dimensions of wellness:
 
Occupational
The occupational dimension of wellness identifies personal satisfaction and improvement (goal orientation) in one’s life avocation. At the core is the belief or hope that one’s development is manifest in an attitude about their work; that it has purpose (vocational identity).
 
Physical
The physical dimension of wellness focuses on optimizing health and recognizing those substances that inhibit maintaining a proper balance to sustainable mental health.
 
Social

The social dimension (intrapersonal-interpersonal) of wellness illuminates that engaging or contributing to others or our community nourishes us and affects how we see ourselves.
 
Intellectual
The intellectual dimension of wellness (multiple intelligences) identifies one’s unique cognitive architecture that empowers individuals to understand how to problem-solve, contribute to affecting change, and impacting the lives of others.

Spiritual
The spiritual dimension of wellness represents an inherent hard-wired drive to find meaning and purpose in our personal and professional lives. It is a subjective yearning to find our calling in this world and to connect our multifarious attributes in a way to leave our mark on this world. In many ways, it is a search for something beyond ourselves to actualize this and to find harmony in living.

Emotional
The emotional dimension of wellness is an actualization and acceptance of our emotions and attitude about one’s self and life. This extends to discerning how our attitude affects behavioral management. Pathway thinking inculcates the confluence of feelings, beliefs, and values all that influence behavior.  
 
Synthesis
The central binding agent of these six dimensions is hope. Hope is the manifest belief that we are endowed with inborn intelligence (intellectual) to function in life roles (occupations) where deployment of inherent talent impacts others (social). The positive or negative effect (emotional) of our endeavors influences self-efficacy and our mental state (physical) that drives our behavior. To place all of the above in context, we search for the meaning of who we are and what we do in life. This represents an existential validation of self and serves as a mechanism to reconcile our role in this world (spiritual). Ultimately, developing wellness requires a process of critical self-inquiry grounded in the belief that we find meaning through making adjustments in these six dimensions, that tune our attitude and corresponding behavior. In that pursuit, attenuated wellness offers the richness of fulfillment and purpose.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
​

Source: (National Wellness Institute, 2016).
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December 22nd, 2016

12/22/2016

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Why Neuroscience Research is Vital to Understanding a Dynamic Correlation Between Substance Abuse and Gambling Addiction

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Neuroscience research offers substantive evidence that there is a dynamic relationship between lower activity in certain regions of the brain for both individuals engaged in substance abuse and/or gambling. What was first construed as a mere behavioral problem gambling is presenting patterns representative of a processing disorder. Importantly, the evidence from FMRI studies confirms that this oversight is now validated by important research for which neuroscience has played a significant role.
​
Historically, what may have limited the scope of research on gambling may be due to its definition. Gambling is defined as a practice of placing something of value at risk in the hopes of gaining something of greater value. As such, this attitude of hope is manifest in certain behavior that has the propensity to impact finances, interpersonal relationships and family itself. However, what recent research presents is that like substance abuse, gambling activity changes the brain and how it processes information.

Neuroscientific Evidence
Neuroscience studies the functional operations of the brain and its component parts. Important research has made the connection that gambling is both an addiction and a disease. In particular, their findings suggest that there are two contributing domains that impact the brain of the substance abuse and gambling: (1) the ventral striatum and (2) the prefrontal cortex (Reilly, 2011).

The ventral striatum is the reward system that produces neurotransmitters that sends signals that create dopamine, which activates feelings of accomplishment. FMRI research suggests that addicts and gamblers each share the same low activity levels in this sector of the brain. This points to the concept that users/gamblers suffer from the need for more stimuli to produce this sensation in responses to these lower levels. Gambling activates that sensation that drugs offer and the need for more stimuli to be satiated. Hence, the impulse to protract this behavior continues.

The prefrontal cortex represents the executive functioning sector of the brain that makes decisions. The relationship between this frontal lobe with the reward center is that it is designed to manage irrational thoughts to quell inappropriate behavior. Normally, when the limbic system is in balance the frontal lobe effectively guides prudent actions. However, research suggests that this domain registers low activity as well in both substance abuse and gambling studies. The impact of this dynamic relationship between the reward and executive centers is that the former requires the latter to offer safeguards. However, if executive signals are blurred then individuals operate unaware that they are venturing into dangerous territory.

Importantly, the substance abuser or gambler each crave the sensations from using substances or gambling but don’t know when to stop because there is delayed reaction from consumption and its physiological or psychological affect. Inebriation or gaming euphoria clouds the frontal lobe rendering it useless in stopping this abusive behavior.

Similarly, gambling offers an illusory distortion or an “illusion of control” (Potenza, 2008). A recent study found that pathological gamblers displayed a greater tendency to overestimate their control of positive outcomes. What this suggests is that gambling not only mirrors dysfunction within the ventral striatum and the prefrontal cortex but that it is a processing disorder.

The distortion of gambling as a problem, draws upon the illusion of control but the disconnect is that the gambler like the alcohol see no need to quit (Potenza, 2008). Their perception is that they have the capacity to quit and are seen as in denial. They process this inference through a distorted lens. When confronted by peers the sympathetic nervous system (limbic system) activates the fight or flight defense mechanisms creating cortisol. This destabilizes the anterior cingulate sufficient to render the prefrontal cortex useless in making rational decisions or processing reality.

Just as the dopamine overload clouded the frontal lobe from ceasing inappropriate drinking or gambling, this processing disconnect occurs when the brain effectively blurs the prefrontal cortex from correcting this behavior. The high obfuscates normalized behavior, which surfaces later where the truth or reality of what has occurred is actualized. Consequently, it is hypothesized that gambling mirrors addictive behavior in alcoholics and other substance abuse preferences.

Treatment
Presently pathogenic approaches have found that Opioid antagonists have been successful. In particular, naltrexone indirectly inhibits brain cells from producing dopamine, thereby reducing cravings. However, in cases where individuals have experienced depression Opioid antagonists may elevate this condition.
​
Saultogenic or more holistic approaches have found that cognitive behavioral therapy teaches people to resist unwanted thoughts and habits. Gambling addicts may learn to confront irrational beliefs or automatic thoughts to discern when triggers emerge and how to manage them (Beck & Beck, 2011). Homework is assigned including journaling to evidence automatic thoughts to tune the mind (attitude) in order to augment the urge (behavior) to pursue addictive stimuli.
 
Further Study
 
Pathologically one area that may offer substantive data for research in the origin of gambling addiction is an inner need to visualize distinctive competencies. The illusory perception of gambling acumen and the ability to attain winnings to elevate the reward system, may correlate in such a way as to provide evidence that gambling represents a need to validate one’s talent. Importantly, assessment questions should include whether individuals experience doubt about their self-worth and how triggers may lead to mechanisms to stimulate reward-seeking endeavors such as gambling.
 
Genetic research may also be explored to further study how genetic markers may offer individuals with a history of alcoholism or drug use, may predispose one to gambling addiction. If so, functional MRI studies may evidence early signs of the need to fill reward –seeking needs due to weaker activity in the prefrontal cortex or ventral striatum. Finally, cross-sectional studies between the efficacy of pathogenic treatment may examine how cognitive behavioral therapy may provide a more viable holistic approach to treatment.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
 
References
 
Beck, J. S., & Beck, A. T. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. New York:
The Guilford Press.
 
DeCaria, C., Hollander, E. Grossman, R. & Wong, C. (1996). Diagnosis, neurobiology, and
treatment of pathological gambling. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, (57), 80-84.
 
Jabr, F. (2016, October 04). “How the Brain Gets Addicted to Gambling.” Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-gets-addicted-to-gambling/
 
 
Potenza, M., (2008). The neurobiology of pathological gambling and drug addiction; an
overview and new findings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 363: 3181-3189.
 
Petry, NM, Blanco C, Auriacombe M, Borges G, Bucholz K, (2014). An overview of and
rationale for changes proposed for pathological gambling in DSM-5. Journal of Gambling Studies. 30(2): 493-502.
 
Reilly, C. (2011). Gambling and the Brain: Why Neuroscience is Vital to Gambling Research.
National Center for Responsible Gambling. (6):1-32.
 


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November 24th, 2016

11/24/2016

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A Pathway to Purpose

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Individuals enmeshed by uncertainty are often challenged cognitively by a sense of fear or the inability to regulate their pathway thinking. In this culture, self-management is promoted as a mechanism to circumvent the anxiety that perpetuates ambiguity. Yet, the fundamental challenge is to somehow bypass this impasse sufficiently for self-clarity to ensue.
 
However, the ubiquitous problem is that this process to reconcile our discontent doesn’t work. Individuals keep chasing a pathway to provide meaning and purpose. Yet, for many they pursue success, power or prestige. Sadly, it is never enough and their attitude never changes while their behavior remains the same.
 
What if individuals could engage in self-reflection to discover their true self, who they really are? What if they could strip away the layers that insulate them from seeing what they have become? What is they could find the clarity required to envision their future self, who they ultimately wish to become? We argue there is a  process that may achieve this self-clarity to elevate their cognitive perception to discern what pathway is required to attain intentional change, back to a life that has purpose.
 
Process
This process is hope-centered, an approach that inculcates attitudinal and behavioral needs that are foundationally derived from an innate drive to find meaning in life. It acknowledges this hope for self-understanding, that evokes a need to reconstruct plans to meet new goals and the capacity to adapt to life challenges. Owning a new sense of purpose elicits the capacity to believe in goal-oriented behavior that represents a cognitive attitude and desire to meet those expectations. Essentially, there is a dynamic symmetry between tapping into this need (agency thinking) and the hope that creates a cognitive platform for managing life challenges. Hope then creates the foundation for intentional change.
 
Hope manifests the belief that authentic goals inherently have purpose. This subjective understanding offers substantive behavioral motivation and an attitudinal understanding to one’s capability to derive pathways to those desired goals, and the motivation to use those pathways. This positive attitude incorporates three fundamental elements of hope: (1) innate motivation, (2) pathway thinking, and (3) goal orientation. Importantly, self-directed motivation is required as fundamental basis for authenticating goal-oriented strategies. 
 
Subjectivity
Self-reflection is a subjective inquiry into one’s attitudes, behavior, and capacity to manage one’s self. It is an actualization of their perceived capacity to understand their inherent strengths. As a support system, this tunes the mind to their innate competencies. It entails a validation of values that drive purpose and is compared to experiences that evoke benchmarks for positive behavior. This represents an identification process of the “true self,” the “future self,” and the “gap” or dynamic tension in between. Consequently, working through this process of self-reflection identifies distinctive needs that may be developed in order for clarity to be self-evident. 
 
If we are honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that the environment (media, peer groups, etc.) attempts to shape much of who we are. As we mature, we soon lose a sense of who we where from the past and remodel our behavior to fit in and make adjustments in how we behave in order to adapt to life. Consequently, we stuff down those memories of what we truly were: our true self. Life becomes performance driven, beginning in school where we are measured by our rhetorical learning prowess. Further, our identities are modeled after others in order to find social acceptance.
 
Clarity
Self-clarity is required to offer the developmental insight derived from self-reflection. It reveals much of what we have subdued about our true nature. Behaviorally, the efficacy of this progression reveals who we were, how we deployed our inherent strengths during past challenges that serves as a basis for strength authentication. It tells us this is who we were before we felt the need to remodel our self. It serves as a mechanism to awaken and focus our attention on early role models that hold foundational memories of who we hoped to become and the values required to perfect that future self. This then offers as an attitudinal benchmark for new behavior that is worthy of being remodeled.
           
Objectivity
If subjective self-inquiry reveals an accurate self-portrait, then objectivity reveals our inherent competencies. We each yearn to know what we are good at. Standardized tests only measure a fraction of our multiple intelligences. Importantly, they miss dimensions of our abilities such as spatial, emotional and other specialized intelligences and how they influence cognitive reasoning. So, we are left unaware of our true potential and are therefore reliant upon what others perceive as our measurable talent.
 
What if we could grasp a deeper understanding of what we were born with and how this could be channeled in our work? If we were designed to flourish in different work settings, then understanding  our gifts offers opportunities to reflect upon our uniqueness. Formatively, the use of both objective and subjective assessments provide useful information in developing self-clarity for creating a hope-centered vision of our future.
 
Visioning about pathways, to becoming our ideal or future self, is manifest through this progression from self-reflection to self-clarity. It extrapolates the meaning from self-authentication revealing why goal pursuits have purpose. If goal determination (attaining future selfhood) allows for an expression of one’s uniqueness, then envisioning that pathway activates the motivation in order to enact strategies. When challenges present obstacles to goal achievement, the resiliency derived from hope offers the sustainable belief that adaptive behavior is attainable in order to achieve a positive outcomes.
 
GAP
Developmentally, if individuals reflect upon who they were and what they hope to become, then they may envision that gap to goal attainment, which lies before them. This gap represents the impasse that must be objectified in order to visualize the path to reconcile or remediate its influence in their lives. This process of traversing that gap requires intentional change. Through self-reflection, hope illuminates the meaning of maintaining that vision, which sustains goal-oriented behavior, leading to a life that holds new purpose.
 
Conclusion
The application of a Hope-Centered model offers counselors a unique construct that engages individuals in the subjective inquiry of self-reflection that has the propensity to detach cognitive barriers to positive goal-oriented outcomes. This awakening offers the capacity to recognize conflicts as originating from environment stressors and reconciled as faulty thinking. This enhances internal belief systems heightening the sense of self-management that is implicitly understood as authentic hope. This activates self-authenticated  purpose-oriented behavior. It creates the motivation to pursue goals, stay the course and use innate gifts in work that alters how they see themselves as living out life with new meaning.
 
Hope is fundamentally a cognitive attitude fostered by the belief in one’s capacity to achieve positive outcomes. It is the resilience that empowers adaptive behavior to meet goals in the face of life challenges. This perception of hope is manifest through subjective critical inquiry that unifies objective assessments into a dynamic process that illuminates why pursuits have meaning. This process allows individuals to own their pathway in life.  Developmentally, it creates a sense of adaptability to take on new roles required to bridge that gap and relinquish roles that are no longer relevant.
 
The application of this new way of living may be channeled into both personal and professional settings. Formatively, if frees individuals from living counterfeit lives that serve to meet the expectations of others and instead to live out lives that have purpose. It begins with self-authentication and crystalizes into identifying the person that they always hoped to become. That pathway lies before each individual and requires a process of both attitudinal and behavioral change to actualize their goals. Finally, this transformative process offers hope to individuals who yearn to identify their unique giftedness and a platform to express it in the world of work; one that becomes the basis for living out a life that is abundantly filled with purpose.

Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
​Crossroads Consulting, Inc.


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