Meaning and Values

            This past week’s class was very exciting. I loved getting to do Zumba with Hillary. It was fun getting to do a dance/aerobic routine with the class. Music, dance, and theater are my 3 favorite things and since Zumba combines two of the three….I love it! I know Hillary is very passionate about dance and I wish she’d shared more about her passion in general, but I think she did a great job and took a big risk in leading us all in Zumba…I can only imagine how scary that would be to have everyone watching you to know what to do in such a high energy, rather sexual dance.

            I also really enjoyed Jason’s game and his presentation. As someone who has really strong roots in religion it’s always nice to see someone else growing through religion. I’ve never played that game before so that was interesting as well. It was fun trying to determine who the mafia was because in some ways it was easier than I expected, but in others it was more difficult. I think it was nice seeing how well we have come to know each other in these weeks of class together because we were able to recognize thing that made people seem guilty even when they were doing their best not to give off clues.

            I really enjoyed sharing my presentation. As some of my classmates know, I’m especially proud that I was able to share all of my information without anyone (myself included) crying. I’ve wanted to write a book about my life for quite some time but I never really knew how to write it. About a year ago I became determined to write it and having to do this project really just acted as a spring board to give me the motivation and drive to do so. There is so much more to say about each aspect of my life and my stripes that I think so many people could benefit from. I’ve also learned about drama therapy from having to do this project which has gotten me very interested in that field as well. I love psychology and how the mind works and I love the idea that the three things that I love the most (dance, music, and theater) all fit neatly into my passion (psychology) under the guise of drama therapy. I was also very excited about the overwhelming response to my presentation. It was so great knowing that everyone was able to take something away from my experiences. I don’t think I’ve ever seen our class as alive as we were when we were playing party quirks. That was amazing to see how much fun we all had with such a simple game. I am so grateful that everyone was willing to participate and have a good time so that I could really share how freeing and fun improve can be.

            This week our Corey and Corey chapter is on meaning and values. I thought this was very appropriate considering Jason’s topic of religion. As many of my small group members discussed when we covered emerging adulthood, I feel that most of us have a pretty good sense of self at this age and know our identities at this point. However, because I previously thought that my passions were not connected (theater and psychology) I felt that my life lacked meaning and direction. Because of my background (and the fact that I never made it as an actress as a child…not that I tried more than one time either) I have always wanted to know that I wanted to help children in some way relating to psychology. It took my some time to search and decide on school counseling. But now that I know that I can combine my two passions and share my story all together in a meaningful way, I feel so fulfilled and excited to move forward with my direction. The embracing diversity section of the chapter also struck close to home with me. Particularly the section on embracing versus denying our cultural heritage. This struck a chord with me for two reasons. One I know very little about the culture from my father’s side other than that his grandmother was a full-blooded Native American (but I don’t even know from what tribe). Secondly, because Josep’s father’s family is from Spain. However, just like the example story in the book, his father was so consumed with trying to learn English that they never taught Jordi (my son’s father) or his brother and sister Spanish. Currently I’m more fluent than they are in Spanish. So we decided to give our son a Spanish name (Josep is the Spanish version of Joseph) in honor of his Spanish heritage and name him after the Barcelona soccer teams head coach Pep Guardiola (Pep is the nickname for Josep in Spain). I’m determined to teach Josep Spanish and allow him to embrace that part of his heritage.

References:

Corey, G. & Corey, M. S. (2010). Meaning and Values. In Brooks/Cole (9^th edition), I Never Knew I Had a Choice (372-404). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.