Blog 3

This week has been eventful! I would show off pictures of my work from this week, but I forgot to take one. I have been back to working on the blanket for my daughter. I have practiced, but nowhere near as much as I would have liked to. It had me sad to be unable to practice as much as I would prefer. Crochet has been put on the back burner this week, as I have been running every which way and have hardly had a moment to sit down. As I write this, I keep looking at the clock and thinking, "Well there goes some of my precious sleep time." I am an old lady. I go to bed by 9:30 most nights.

I am honestly unsure about what to say as far as the question about spirituality and our occupations goes. I feel like for me, my occupation enriches my spirituality as well as my spirituality enriches my occupation. When I am crocheting, I put a lot of emphasis on family, and crochet has been something I have been able to do to connect with my family. I have only made things for those whom are close to me. I like to think this helps me become more spiritual. I also believe that as I am being more spiritual, I am getting more into my occupation. I have also been trying to be more mellow and I have noticed that as I mellow out, I am able to more readily focus on my work, and in turn, I can mellow out even more. I have been working on mindfulness exercises in order to achieve the mellow nature that I have been describing. But, as I described, as the mellowness increases, I am able to do more of my occupation, which in turn allows me to become more mellow. This is the perfect example of how my occupation affects my spirituality and vice versa. 

I think that the placement of the word "spiritual," along with its meaning, was placed perfectly within the Framework. It is mentioned within the "Client Factors" section, and is seen near the words "beliefs" and "values." I think it is important that it is mentioned separately than "beliefs" and "values." It defines a "belief" as an opinion that a person would consider to be truth, and a "value" as something that a person considers worthwhile. The term "spirituality," however, is described as a deep experience that takes place when a person is doing an occupation that coincides with their values and beliefs in a setting in which they are supported. There were two parts of that definition that jumped out at me. 

The first part that jumped out to me was where it says that spirituality is a deep experience. That is the first way in which spirituality differs from values and beliefs. Spirituality is an experience, while the other two are not. The second part that jumped out at me was where it says spirituality takes place in a supportive setting. Because spirituality requires the experiential part, it also requires a setting in which to experience it. I found this very interesting. It also made sense to me why they added that part on spirituality. You can have beliefs and values, but you can only do so much with just these while doing your occupations. 

I think it is so important to have the term "spirituality" included in the Framework. Without it, you take away the requirement of a supportive setting, as well as having a deeply meaningful experience. I think these are both really important when it comes to occupations. Without these, occupations may feel like a waste of time.