Page 53 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

LIFE VISION PORTFOLIO

Key Highlights

In order to set goals for the future, it is often best to begin by thinking about things we have accomplished
or joys we have had in the past. In your Life Vision Portfolio, write about one or more of the key
highlights of your life. This entry in your portfolio should be two to four pages in length.

Why

Reflecting on the highlights of your life will help you to become aware that life is precious. Our
memories of the highlights of our lives make us happy, fill us up emotionally, and enhance our
emotional well-being. Understanding that our lives are indeed full of precious moments will help
us through the times in our lives that are complicated and tragic.

What

As children, we are told about the milestones that most people try to achieve in their lives: turning
16, getting a driver’s license, going to senior prom, graduating from high school, going to college,
turning 21, securing a satisfying job, getting engaged, getting married, buying a home, having
children, and eventually retiring with a tidy savings and playing with the grandchildren. We look
forward to these milestones and work towards them. They bring us satisfaction and happiness in
achieving them, and we look back on them with fond memories.

In fact, many people who don’t achieve some of these milestones can become very disillusioned
with their lives, feeling as if they don’t belong or that they have failed in some way. So these key
highlights make us feel good about ourselves and enhance our emotional well-being.

But as we proceed through these milestones in our lives, we have other experiences that are so
precious and significant to us that they also become highlights as well. They are the simple times
in your life that have a lot of meaning to you, the sweet, special days you spent with family,
friends, and significant others. They may be even more important than the milestone days. For
example, certainly the days that both my kids were born were key highlight days for me—more
than any others in my life. But I also remember playing a spontaneous game of chase with my
kids when they were toddlers that had both of them laughing in that sweet way that babies laugh.
I was so touched by their laughter that I still remember this moment eighteen years later. What a
precious moment in my life! When I reflect upon memories like these, I realize that my life has
been worthwhile, that I have had valuable times in my life, that I have experienced great joy and
love. And this particular memory and ones like it have helped me as a mother to get through some
of the more complex times with my children. Knowing that you have had some joyful times in
your life can help you to keep perspective when you are going through some rough times.

Chapter 2 — Strengthening Identity 47