Class Report
35 Questions to Soul & Career
When was the last time you took a minute to truly think about the direction your life is heading and where you want to go — professionally and personally? In 35 Questions to Soul & Career, we were able to do just that.
Caitlin Magidson, a licensed professional counselor, national certified counselor, and career coach at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, guided her first KCDC class through a number of exercises and discussions that were all about helping us find our path in life and our true calling.
For the first exercise, she prompted the class through a series of questions aimed at encouraging us to think intentionally about our personal and professional lives. Here are a few of the questions she asked to get us thinking:
- Who am I today?
- If I were not afraid, I would…
- What are one to two peak life experiences I’ve had so far? And career experiences?
- If I couldn’t fail, I would…
- How do I want to be remembered?
“What I’m hearing is that you’re all human,” Caitlin said after we shared some of our responses.
She reminded us that this is an ongoing story, that there may be different callings throughout the seasons of life, and that it’s normal to still have questions about our life’s path. In the meantime, she recommended we incorporate the things that make us happy into our personal and/or professional lives, and find mentors to help give feedback, direction, and advice for those of us unsure of our paths.
After the conversations surrounding the initial questions died down, Caitlin led us through a guided imagery exercise to pinpoint an “aha!” moment.
If you want to try it at home, here is the picture she painted (go slow):
Imagine you’re waking up five years from now. Look around. What do you see? What do you hear, smell, feel? Who else is in the room? Now, you get up, stretch, and walk to your closet. You put on your favorite outfit and look in the mirror. Again, what do you see, hear, smell, feel? Walk toward the kitchen, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds around you. Continue this, slowly, as you head into the office — getting there is half the fun! — and take in your office surroundings. What are you doing, how are you feeling?
That was just a taste of the exercise, but you get the gist.
Based on the exercise and after some discussion, Caitlin encouraged us to think about the next steps of how to achieve the five-year plans we personally pictured during the exercise. She acknowledged that the journey will take lots of conversations and sharing, but was also confident we would all find our “aha!” moment when it comes to soul and career.
If you are interested in delving deeper into the topics covered in the class, Caitlin recommended Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life.
Melinda Tolliver is one of the newest members of KCDC’s communications volunteer team. She loves the thrill of stringing together powerful, eloquent messages in under 140 characters, and creating thoughtful visuals to go with them. For her full-time gig, she executes digital communications at a higher education–minded association. Follow her tweets and grams with @mmptolliver.