6.3 Integrating Spiritual Formation.Life Coaching. and Positive Psychology
Getting Started
We covered a lot of ground in this course and it can be very helpful to take time to think carefully about what you’ve learned thus far. An important concept in the learning process is often referred to as integration. The root of that word is integrate. To integrate something is to make it whole or complete. That is really your ultimate goal in your learning: to bring together the most important ideas you’ve been exposed to, like pieces of a puzzle, and figure out how they fit together to form a whole, complete picture. If you can see how those pieces relate to one another, then you can leverage that powerful learning as you move forward in all realms of your life.
In this assignment, you will have the opportunity to pull together much of your learning from the course with an integrative or synthesis paper on the Good Life. It will bring together concepts from positive psychology, spiritual formation, and life coaching. You’ll need to put on your critical-thinking cap in order to thoughtfully answer the questions for this assignment. But that is actually good news. The more you are prompted to think deeply about these ideas, the more you grow in knowledge, faith, and personal insight. The effort spent on this integrative paper has the potential to pay big dividends over time.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
· Integrate learning from the course on spiritual formation, life coaching, and positive psychology.
Background Information
This concept of critical thinking is frequently referred to in academic settings. But it is often assumed students know what it is and how it should be applied. A simple definition of critical thinking is: using careful analysis and judgment to determine what is true or of value. So, to apply critical thinking to the questions in this assignment, here are a few practical suggestions:
· You could raise questions or pose problems that you might try to solve.
· You would want to adequately gather or review information about important ideas and concepts you’ve been exposed to. This might involve going back over previous workshops or assignments to review your initial thoughts on the subject and see if your views have changed.
· You would also want to take an open-minded approach that considers various alternatives before making any conclusions. The skill of critical thinking, if learned during your academic years, can serve you in limitless ways in virtually all areas of your life.
Instructions
1. Read Chapter 11, “Leveraging Positive Psychology in Culturally Competent Coaching,” in your textbook Positive Psychology in Coaching: Applying Science to Executive and Personal Coaching.Review/watch the following:
a. TED talk: What Makes a Good Life?(new tab)
b. Article: Good Genes(new tab)
c. Article: Psychology & Spiritual Formation(new tab)
d. Video: “Mark McMinn, Ph.D. Interview – Integration of Psychology & Theology Perspective” and/or read the video transcript(Word document):
2. After completing these steps, write a five to six-page paper addressing the following:
a. Open the Good Life Synthesis Paper Outline(Word document) and integrate your conversations, research, and lessons learned in this program in a five-to-six-page paper.
b. Be sure to provide a title page, an introduction, a summary of your Good Life Conversation, additional content with in-text citations in the body of the paper, a conclusion to your paper, and a reference page.
c. You will need to cite 8 sources in your paper and in a reference page according to APA formatting.
3. Use at least six scholarly resources in addition to the readings assigned in this workshop.
a. Use in-text citations and APA format for direct quotations and references to the readings.
