Vocation

Vocation Co-curricular Lab | Vocation Conversation

“Callings are strange things. I think I have heard many voices in many times and places, but it may be that I have heard only One.”

- Vincent Harding, “I Hear Them...Calling” (1972)

For this co-curricular event, you are invited to consider the various callings in your life by sharing and reflecting upon a conversation outside of class about your vocation, discernment, and lifelong endeavor of living well. This conversation should help you practice considering the most timely questions of “What should I do with my time at Notre Dame?” and “Who am I called to be while at Notre Dame and afterward?”

Often, others can help us see things we cannot see alone. This brief conversation may help you integrate the readings and your class discussion with an outside perspective on your life, memories, and callings.

Click here for a PDF version of the Vocation Conversation co-curricular lab

Guidelines

1. Identify a conversation partner who can offer a nuanced and informed perspective on your life thus far. The best partner for this conversation knows you well, has witnessed you in a variety of environments, and can be honest and direct. Invite this partner to join you in an intentional conversation in which you both can offer full attention and thoughtfulness. Your conversation should last at least 40 minutes.
2. In your commonplace book, beginning on page 232 (or later), summarize your experience, connect it to the text from the Vocation session, and apply it to your practice of living well.

You may wish to use the following questions to ignite your conversation. These questions should not, however, dictate your discussion. Rather, they should help spur dynamic and honest conversation.

Suggested Questions

1. Why do you think I am studying at the University of Notre Dame?
2. What do you think I most value, most believe, or most desire in life? Why?
3. Can you reflect on a specific episode when you saw me “in the zone,” when I was at my very best and experiencing deep joy? What was I doing? How/Why does this episode demonstrate my best self?
4. What issues are important to me? Or, what do you think I want to change in the world?
5. What life lessons have you seen me learn and/or apply?
6. What specific worthwhile endeavors do you imagine I am especially capable of undertaking at Notre Dame or beyond?
7. What is something that is difficult to say but important for me to hear?