Arizona State University Management Essay
Description
This week, we are going to approach your “three good things” practice a bit differently. Rather than noticing things around you in the moment, this week you are going to look retrospectively at your experiences and see if you can “re-write” a narrative you hold around something that perhaps was challenging into a story of resilience and growth. Stephen Joseph (Links to an external site.), psychologist at the University of Nottingham, says:
“The ability to abandon the old assumptive self or narrative and to develop a new one is at the heart of the process that can result in post-traumatic growth. People are always telling themselves stories; it is how we make sense of the significance of what has happened to us. In the wake of trauma, people are often telling themselves stories of mental defeat and hopelessness. And they need to be in a position to begin reframing their story, as one that looks to the future and begins to view things in a beneficial way.”
We suggest that you approach this exercise by following the 3 phases of instructions mapped out by Linda Graham (Links to an external site.):
- Identify one event you want to work with. For the sake of practice, I do strongly suggest this be an event that you already did cope with, processed and learned from. It’s in the past. For the sake of practice, it’s important to work with something with not much risk of being re-triggered. Work with some event that you can safely work with, so you can get the benefit of the exercise.
- Reflect on these prompts and journal your reflections. Take your time. The journaling itself helps your brain process the experience.
- This is what happened; these were the consequences.
Mindfulness and self-compassion can be so helpful here, to be able to come to an observer awareness and stance of acceptance and relate to the event somewhat objectively rather than being caught in the emotional turmoil of the trauma response. - These were the resources, practices, tools and coping strategies I used at the time.
An honest awareness and acceptance here, so no shame-blame. Also recovering strengths and resources we did have at the time. - These are the resources, etc. I would use now if I could do this over.
Because there has been new growth and new learning. This step integrates that learning. - These were the lessons I learned, the growth I experienced, the positive meanings I found.
The silver lining, the gift in the mistake, the teachable moment, whatever has redemptive value looking back on the entire experience of the event and recovery from the event. Taking time with this because this IS the turning point of post-traumatic growth. And this is the step that can be reflected on again and again. - This is what I now appreciate because of the event.
Post-traumatic growth is more than coping, it is learning, redeeming, thriving. This step make take some time also.
Your deliverable is a 2 – 3 page reflection that summarizes:
- Your learning from this exercise (Note: You do not have to share your traumatic experience or personal story rewrite, that is for you, rather this is about capturing your reflections on your experience of doing this exercise).
- How can you bring insights from this practice into your work as a Positive OD practitioner?
References:
Tags:
management
Trauma
Hopelessness
