I don’t mind being unsure, frustrated, annoyed and so on as long as it comes with flashes of realization, joy, understanding, competency and (if talking work) again and most important I am interested in the subject. I also wanted to make sure I took time to do the things that are meaningful to me (and my relationships) but are easy to neglect in the crush of life.

“Cognitive psychologists are interested in how people understand, diagnose, and solve problems, concerning themselves with the mental processes which mediate between stimulus and response.”

Sounds about right to me

I tried that once and ended up with as hazy a picture of what that day included as is the picture of what I want to do for a job. I could detail how I wanted to feel, but not exactly what I could do to feel that way. But I have a better idea now so it’ll be worthwhile doing it again, I think.

Something you might want to try as you figure out what the future holds. I’ve been doing this and the results are very interesting especially if you want to incorporate your feelings into your decision making process a bit more.

I sat down about six months ago and realized that the things I thought would make me content weren’t and couldn’t quite figure out why. I decided to start figuring out what direction my life should go by identifying as near as possible what a “perfect� day in my life would be. I started with a weekday, and then added what a perfect weekend would look like (and funny enough in “perfect land� they weren’t all that different…). This was a good start but just looking at a daily/weekly view wasn’t enough as it left some things out that I really love but wouldn’t necessarily want to do every day or even every single week such as get a pedicure. So I added the things that I would do to make a perfect month (theatre, a road trip or dancing), then a perfect year (traveling, visiting family, setting aside time for reflection & planning).

The whole process was very enlightening and quite different than what I would of expected! It took me awhile to figure this out because inevitably I started with what I thought would make a perfect day instead of what really makes a perfect day in my life (I say this realizing of course that perfection doesn’t exist). I’ve done three trials of an ideal day and this last one was very, very close. The cool thing is as I’ve become more aware of what I value on a daily basis my life has started gradually shifting that direction and I’d guess at this point approx. 60% of my day corresponds to my ideal day.

You’re right, sociology is another option. Thanks, I needed to make the decision harder. Melbourne Uni’s new model is looking promising; generalised to begin, then specialised in the third year. I could potentially cover all my areas of interest before finding out which I really want to focus on.

Seriously though - perhaps sociology would be an interesting place to look from. You ask the question, why do people need spirituality - is that not a question of society, more than any individual?

Chris (posting a comment, as promised)