Called Life Lab: Taking Initiative
Due in class by Session 10: Rest
The readings and refraction video for the friendship session claim that cultivating the necessary good of friendship often requires taking initiative. Similarly, the resources for the community session suggest that living well involves practical acts of love not only for those close to you but also for all members of your community.
This Life Lab invites you to practice taking initiative in friendship or community. Such action may be one way of responding to a calling to recognize the belovedness of others.
Follow the instructions below to complete one of the two options for the assignment.
option 1: Initiating in Community
- Engage in service facilitated through an organization such as a club, a residence hall, a community partner, or Campus Ministry’s Mercy Works.
- Note: Participating in the co-curricular event, “Volunteer Opportunities with the Robinson Community Learning Center,” counts both as a co-curricular event and this Life Lab. If you pursue this option, then write “see Called Life Lab” in your co-curricular event reflection pages.
- Beginning on page 236 in your Moreau FYS commonplace book, summarize your experience, connect it to the texts from the course, and apply it to your practice of living well.
option 2: Initiating in Friendship
- Identify an acquaintance whom you would like to get to know or a friend with whom you wish to deepen a relationship.
- Note: If you attend the “Dating at Notre Dame” co-curricular event, then you may complete the associated Dating Assignment for this Life Lab and write about that experience.
- Invite this peer to join you for a meal, activity, or conversation. Recall Imfeld’s counsel to “have courage and take a chance.” Your shared experience should last at least 30 minutes. You may use the included question list to spur conversation.
- Beginning on page 236 in your Moreau FYS commonplace book, summarize your experience, connect it to the texts from the course, and apply it to your practice of living well.
suggestion questions for friendship conversation
- What was your childhood like? Where did you grow up? What were you like as a child?
- What teacher or other adult had a big impact on your life while you were growing up? How did they shape you?
- What have you accomplished so far that makes you proudest? Why? (Think of something that you would never put on your
resume.) - What was one time in your life when things were not going your way? How were you able to persevere? Did things get better?
- What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?
- What role has religion/spirituality played in your life?
- How do you hope to be formed by your time at Notre Dame?
- How do you hope Notre Dame will be formed by you?
- How would you like to be remembered?