11 april 2016
my former colleague and spiritual co-sojourner reggie used to say that if the lord sends a message, he always confirms it.
today is the start of a rare FREE 3-day trainers' training on positive education at quezon city academy by experts emily larsen & alejandro adler of ipen (international positive education network based in london), mentees of dr martin seligman, the founder of positive psychology from the univ of pennsylvania in philadelphia.
guess what?
in the gospel reading today, i saw the 5 factors identified under positive psychology / education! i.e., PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement or Flow, Relationship or Connectedness, Meaning [and Purpose] or Optimism, and Achievement or Accomplishment) in my self-critique, i thought i could just be seeing too much into the text until i read the commentary of my high school classmate and psychologist colleague glenn gomez who finally confirmed my personal interpretation.
gospel: john 6:22-29 discourse on the capernaum synagogue (people looking for jesus because the ate bread and had their fill)
1. P = Positive Emotion: Gratitude (v 22 "when the Lord gave thanks" - New American Bible)
2. E = Engagement (v 25 the people looked for Jesus across the sea of Tiberias and said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?")
3. R = Relationship (v 29 "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.") [Addition & Confirmation: the commentary for 12 April 2016, continuing on the discourse on the eucharist from John 6, fr estomo said that jesus "PERSONIFIED" the bread of life; he not only wanted physical salvation alone, but also spiritual.]
4. M = Meaning & Purpose (v 27 "Do not work for food that perishes [extrinsic motivation] but for the food that endures for eternal life which the Son of Man will give you [intrinsic motivation].")
5. A = Achievement or Accomplishment (v 28 "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?") [Note: the word "accomplish" is another confirmation because "Accomplishment" as another term for "Achievement" was just added today during the lecture; whereas, i read the gospel BEFORE going to the seminar today!]
commentary:
my friend glenn mentioned Abraham Maslow [he was also mentioned by Joanne, the local assistant trainer, in her group's presentation], i.e., his "Hierarchy of Human Needs...., five (5), namely: Physiological, Safety, Belonging, Esteem, and Self-actualization." to this, glenn added "self-transcendence" to represent the Spiritual aspect of human needs. thus, ending with EXACTLY the same dimensions being responded to by PERMA in our framework, namely:
1. P = Physical (Maslow's Physicological and Safety needs)
2. E = Emotional (Maslow's Belonging needs)
3. M = Mental (Maslow's Esteem needs) [Note: although this can be also under Emotional, he classifies it here.]
4. S = Spiritual (Self-transcendence)
i like what glenn said about self-transcendence: "Constant fulfilling of one's needs without making SACRIFICES could led to selfishness."
Let me just end with glenn's punch line:
"Needless to say, material food perishes; only spiritual food lasts. Do we want to gain eternal life? Transcend! Go beyond material / physical needs!
"Let the words of Jesus be out guide here on earth: 'Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.'"
Amen!
final confirmation: during mass which i gratefully was able to offer today, our guest priest fr ferdie referred to the word of God and the eucharist as our food that endures for eternal life!
i feel guilty for not reading the whole dissertation of a student as a panelist due to short notice and the thickness of her paper (~300 pp!). i was on positive discipline.
during the positive education seminar last week, a colleague-friend mentioned the concept again.
and so, i researched wikipedia. this is my summary:
"love the sinner, hate the sin," a quote rephrasing st augustine.
it's roots are alfred adler and rudolf dreikurs. i immediately recalled STEP (systematic training in effective parenting) advocated by the PMHA (phil mental health assoc) and in which i was trained.
theoretically, adler went against the behaviorist core tenet of reward good behavior and punish bad ones (external motivation; object). he went deeper into the NEED of the individual in the context of a good RELATIONSHIP (intrinsic motivation; subject).
ex: i recall the "goals of misbehavior" such as calling attention up to display of inadequacy. the teacher, parent, psychologist goes to these NEEDS beyond the delinquent external behavior and tries to satisfy them legitimately.
finally, i have a word for what i've always admired the americans in terms of finding and pursuing what they really want to do in life:
i n t r i n s i c m o t i v a t i o n
our resource speaker alejandro shared that he was "programmed" by his culture to be rich. and so, he took up economics in college at upenn. while doing his OJT at godlman sachs NY (the biggest / most prestigious investment banking institution in the US & probably in the world), he witnessed unethical behavior of colleagues from harvard (2) and princeton (1) u, the best schools in the US done against an asian colleague, effectively cutting her off in the competition for a job in the company!
that event was the last straw, an eye-opener that this was not what he wanted in life.
he spent the next ~7 months in thailand trying to figure out what he really wanted in life. his search led him to positive psychology!!!
application:
i can relate with alejandro here. after my MA, i volunteered to be assigned to taiwan as part of our overseas training program as a seminarian of a missionary congregation. i had entered the seminary to follow the footsteps of my two elder bros & supported by a very strong religious tradition in our family and the PH (philippine) culture!
thank god for the non-christian atmosphere in taiwan, i was able to find my INTRINSIC MOTIVATION to pursue counseling psychology instead. well, it was not "and he lived happily ever after" following that. at the present moment, i'm also limited by what is available in the market and my own personality as well as health (physical and mental) status. but, i hang on to the lord's promise in jeremiah 29:11 that he has "plans" in mind for peace and a future full of HOPE.
april 4-8, 2016: first PH teachers' training on positive education by ipen (international positive education network) director emily larsen (MA positive psy, univ of penn) & alejandro adler (PhD cand in pos psy, u penn) in marikina attended by ~300 mostly public school teachers of marikina (~200).
this is the outline of this blog group, as i learned from emily and alejandro:
A. P = positive emotions
1. mindfulness
2. gratitude
3. optimism
B. E = engagement
4. character strenghts
C. R = relationships
5. ACR (active constructive responding)
D. M = meaning & purpose
6. intrinsic motivation
E. A = achievement
7. growth mindset
8. SMART goals
9. shared vision
