Last year, Faith van Horne, a PGR in the Department of Theology and Religion, led an activity with Careers Network on guided imagery for career decision-making.
Many career exercises focus on cognitive, logical activities. These ‘left-brained’ approaches include making lists of one’s strengths and experience, applying them to different careers, and so forth. Guided imagery, on the other hand, is a ‘right-brained’ activity, stimulating non-cognitive responses such as those produced by art, music, etc. By engaging your creative mind, guided imagery can stimulate career ideas you might not have otherwise considered.

The American Psychological Association defines ‘guided imagery’ as ‘a mind–body technique involving the deliberate prompting of mental images to induce a relaxed, focused state with the goal of achieving such varied purposes as managing stress or pain, promoting healing, or enhancing performance.’ In the case of career decision-making, the goal is to stimulate creative images and ideas around potential careers. Other aspects of life and well-being can arise as well. For example, one workshop participant noted the presence of a particular family member in the scene they imagined, prompting them to take into account geographical distance from family as they thought about their career. Creative engagement through guided imagery opens up all kinds of possibilities when thinking about potential careers, including other aspects of life than work.
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