assignment

Part 1

Please re-read chapters 24-25 in the Happiness Trap before completing this stretch. As part of deepening your clarity and understanding of personal values, you can consider the values of others that you respect and admire.

For this stretch, please choose one adult that has been (or likely will be) influential in your life. This can be a parent, mentor, community activist, supervisor or someone who works in your chosen career. Please select someone who is at least 10 years older than you are rather than another student who is about your age. Draft a list of at least 10 potential questions that you would like to ask this person which might help you better understand their core values. You will be turning in your interview questions with this assignment. A few ideas are listed below, but you will want to personalize this for the individual that you have chosen to interview. Then conduct an interview of that person. This interview is best conducted face-to-face. However, if that cannot be arranged, then an electronic interview where you can see each is acceptable. Plan to spend at least 20-30 minutes interviewing. Be sure to practice active listening including repeating, paraphrasing and reflecting.

Sample Interview Questions:

• What are some of the most important lessons you feel you have learned over the course of your life?

• Some people say that they have had difficult or stressful experiences but they have learned important lessons from them. Is that true for you? Can you give examples of what you learned?

• As you look back over your life, do you see any “turning points”; that is, a key event or experience that changed over the course of your life or set you on a different track?

• What’s the secret to a rich, full, meaningful (marriage/career/life)?

• What are some of the important choices or decisions you made that you have learned from?

• What would you say you know now about living a happy and successful life that you didn’t know when you were twenty?

• What would you say are the major values or principles that you live by?

Part 2 Reflection:

After engaging in any stretch, it is important to reflect on the experience to assess its impact and increase personal awareness. Please reflect on the questions below and answer each of the following prompts. A recommendation is that the total length of the first three responses should be approximately 500 – 600 words in length.

Prompts:

1. What values did you hear reflected in the interview? Which of these values do you and your interviewee share, if any? How do you define the identified values for yourself?

2. Active Listening: What is active listening? How well were you able to practice this skill? How do you know whether you were successful?

3. What did you learn in this values interview that may be significant for you as you imagine your future?

4. Please attach your list of interview questions to your response.