Part I: Your Internal Guidance System and Professional Development

An article by Latoya J. Williams    No Comments

In my early life, I tested much more dominantly as an “intuitive” type than as a “sensing” type, according to Carl Jung’s (i.e., Myers-Briggs) personality typology. My first full-time permanent work environment created conditions where the dependable intuitive ways that I solved problems did not improve my situation and seemed to make me feel even worse! Although I performed the work very well, I did not feel as though I fit in with the corporate culture and I found no real meaning in the work that I performed. I could not “make sense” out of spending long days and sometimes weekends building corporate information systems that were never used. There also seemed to be no solution for feeling like a misfit in a corporate environment, other than to resign. Resign from the well-paying corporate position that I had spent high school and college working toward and go where? None of my friends, who graduated with me, seemed to be happy at the companies where they worked either. So, I felt stuck, baffled, and unhappy with my professional life.

When those early professional experiences created such a sense of fragmentation in my life, I began searching and considering new thoughts and new methods. I found myself opening up to a variety of alternative and holistic healing modalities. During this exploratory phase, I made “first contact” with my body. I originally heard the phrase “first contact” used by characters in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, which I have loved watching for years. “First contact” is a term used to describe “the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another.” During my mid-twenties, I finally became aware of sensations located in different areas of my body that I did not recall detecting previously. I knew intuitively that these new sensations were a form of body communication. Because I had ignored and had not been aware of these body-based messages, those first moments of contact felt as though I was hearing a muffled voice, whose words could not be translated, over a radio frequency with a lot of static.

I decided to give attention to those newly discovered sensations and kept tuning in to myself. Eventually, the “messages” became clearer and my body’s communication map emerged. What do I mean by a body communication map? For instance, I discovered through my own qualitative research, by observation and correlation, that a sensation of heaviness in my right arm indicates when I am feeling resistance to someone or some idea, my body temperature drops when I am feeling disconnected from someone and I crave warming foods, and an uncomfortable sensation of movement in my lower back tends to indicate anxiety. Anecdotal experiences of body-based messages abound. People speak about a feeling of butterflies in their stomach or having a feeling of openness in their heart. Now, I readily attend to my bodily felt sense of an idea or situation to provide clarity, inspiration, and guidance.

I was relieved to discover that my relationship with bodily sensations has been recognized in the field of somatic psychology and by American philosopher and psychotherapist, Eugene Gendlin, in his concepts of focusing and the felt sense. I am sharing this aspect of my experience because my bodily felt sense informs how I work with and engage with others both personally and professionally. In addition, I believe that skillfully navigating your professional development will require the integration of more holistic and pioneering ways of thinking about and approaching your work life and a willingness to tap into internal guidance, given the complexities and rapid-changes in modern life.  Many readers may not be familiar with somatic psychology, Eugene Gendlin, or additional fields of study and innovators that I will present in my writings. I hope that some of the exceptional ideas and knowledge that has enriched my life will also enhance yours.

Recently, a pressure located in my lower heart region has motivated me to explore a distinction between professional identity and my ideas of the professional sense of self. Earlier this month, I provided a preliminary explanation about the professional sense of self representing the integration one’s personality (e.g., sense of self) with one’s professional work. When I first thought of the term “professional sense of self,” I immediately recognized a difference between that idea and “professional identity.” I associate professional identity with different external roles that we may take on in our career (e.g., teacher, lawyer, counselor, doctor, etc.). As I gathered definitions for the words “professional” and “self”, I also reviewed definitions of “identity.” Because of my graduate studies in Transpersonal psychology and exposure to both somatic and integral psychological systems, I gravitated toward the psychological and spiritual definitions of these terms. I will approach my discussion of professional development from a more psychological, developmental, and spiritually-based perspective.

I recognize that my desire to explore the differences and connection between the professional sense of self and professional identity is influenced by several factors. To begin, I have been challenged by the idea of choosing a professional identity. I believe that the common struggle with claiming a professional identity is demonstrated by the fact that many students experience major selection as a dilemma and many people struggle with educational and career decisions. Furthermore, current employment statistics, retrieved from the following video clip on exponential change, indicate that:

• The US Department of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the age of 38.
• The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 may not have existed in 2004

As a result of reflections on my experience and current trends, I feel as though professional identity has become more transient. Consequently, I believe that focusing on your professional sense of self will provide you with a more enhanced sense of coherency, harmony, and internal stability than a fixed identification with any professional role. In part II of this thread, I will share additional thoughts about the professional sense of self and professional identity.