Identifying moments of resonance
This tool is a simple adaptation of existing practices that focus on identification of strengths through clients’ stories of success (e.g. the Story wheel by Norman Amundson). It can be used with individuals to identify their interests and project themselves in line with the needs of the world.
Inspiration for the tool
Hartmut Rosa : The Uncontrollability of the World
Cathy Brown: Introducing career resonance https://nicecjournal.co.uk/index.php/nc/article/view/481
Humans are not autonomous, self-sufficient beings; they are relational and live through connections with the world. Resonance is a concept developed by a german sociologist Hartmut Rosa – it is a mode of encountering the world that allows for a sense of aliveness, connection, and meaning, in contrast of a mode characterised by conquest, control, utilitarianism… Rosa outlines resonance through essential moments:
- Affection – Being touched or moved by something; an experience that calls us.
- Emotionally Responsive Reaction – We respond back in some authentic, emotionally invested way and experience self-efficacy.
- Transformation – A resonance experience transforms both the individual and the world encountered.
- Unavailability – Resonance cannot be controlled or forced. In contrast, in today’s world we are used to everything being available, controlled, used (as a resource or commodity) – the experience of unavailability.
Modern societies often produce alienation (a cold, mute, disconnected relationship to the world) due to pressures of control, speed, performance. Resonance is proposed as an alternative — not constant harmony, but a living relationship with friction, transformation, and meaning. Rosa identifies four key domains where resonance can occur: interpersonal (family, friends, community), material/technical (working with hands, crafts, tools), institutional (school, work, political engagement), Existential/natural (nature, art, religion, death)
Rationale: Why is this needed?
In career development, the concept of resonance can counterbalance the dominant utilitarian logic (“Where are the needs of the labour market, what’s the most efficient career path in terms of labour market perspectives?” or “Where’s the best return on investment if I go for a training?”), with a deeper reflection: “Where do you feel alive, connected, transformed?”). These experiences resonate with the affective dimension of career guidance. Many clients feel disconnected not just from themselves, but from society or nature (experiences of bullshit jobs, lack of meaning). This phase surfaces that something is “off” — including, sometimes, the ecological crisis.
Objectives
At the end of the session the clients and students will be able to:
- Understand the idea of resonance
- Identify their experiences of resonance in different areas of life and use them to think about their future path
- Critically think about the alienation in the current system of employment
Resources needed
The workbook below.
Activities
1. The career development professional can introduce the activity as follows:
“You don’t need to know exactly what you want to be doing in five years’ time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a perfect plan. What we’re going to look for together are signals, moments when you felt good, useful, curious or connected to the world. From these moments, we’re going to explore, little by little, possible directions. The aim is not to plan everything, but to find what calls to you, what resonates.”
First, ask the person to recount a resonant moment – when they felt good, useful, proud or in their place (in a job, an activity, a commitment, a training course, an informal situation, etc.).
| Sample questions | Examples of answers | |
| What gave me energy→ What did I enjoy doing? | What exactly were you doing? What did you like about that moment? | “I was focused”, “I felt useful”, “It was well done”, “I had confidence in myself”. |
| With whom or for whom was it important→ With whom was I connected? Who did it matter to? (a person, a cause, the environment) | Did anyone count in that moment? Was it useful to someone? To something bigger than yourself? | “I helped someone”, “We did it as a team”, “I saw that it was useful”. |
| What it taught me or changed in me→ What did I understand or learn? | After that moment, did you see things differently? Did you understand anything about yourself or the world? | “I saw that I was capable”, “I’d like to do it again”, “I made a decision afterwards”. |
| What I hadn’t planned→ What came as a surprise? | Did anything unexpected happen? Did it surprise you, shake you up, make you think? | “It wasn’t planned”, “I didn’t think I’d like it”, “It just fell into my lap”, “I hadn’t planned anything”. |
2. Depending on the time available, it is possible to identify and describe several resonant experiences in several areas of life (people/relationships, nature/place, work/activity, spirituality/culture) by adapting the questioning. The career development professional then invites the person to project their future based on these elements
| Sample questions | Examples of answers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. What I’d like to find again Rediscover the energy, meaning or pleasure of a past moment | What would you like to relive? – What would you like to feel again in your future? Has this moment given you a desire for tomorrow? | “Feeling useful to someone”” Being outside, on the move”” To be with nice people”” To do something concrete with my hands” |
| 2. What I see in the world that speaks to me Identify things around you that arouse interest or curiosity | Is there a job, a place or a person that you find inspiring? Is there a problem in the world that concerns you? Where would you like to help or get involved? | “Working with children” “Taking care of naturem animals” “Helping isolated or elderly people “” Participating in a shared vegetable garden “ |
| 3. What I could try now Identify a small, concrete action that can be tested and is engaging without pressure | Is there anything you could try out without putting too much pressure on yourself? A visit, a meeting, a short activity? Someone to talk to? | “Accompany a friend who does voluntary work” “Talk to someone who does this job”. |
3. To conclude, the career development professional can suggest sentences to complete, to encourage people to take action and strengthen their connection to the needs of the world.
Workbook
1 My moments of resonance
| What gave me energy→ What did I enjoy doing? | |
| With whom or for whom was it important→ With whom was I connected? Who did it matter to? | |
| What it taught me or changed in me→ What did I understand or learn? | |
| What I hadn’t planned→ What came as a surprise? |
2 I don’t need to know everything. I can move forward by listening to what’s calling me.
| What I’d like to find again In the future, I’d like to experience this kind of moment again… (e.g. feeling useful, helping, creating, being outdoors, connecting with people…) | |
What I see in the world that speaks to me Around me, I see things that attract, challenge or touch me… (e.g. a job, a cause, a need, a place, a person…) | |
| What I could try now A small action, a test, a meeting that I could do soon… To see if I like it, if it speaks to me (ex: talk to someone, visit a place, do an immersion, meet an association, get information…) |
3. I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that…
- A small step I can take without putting pressure on myself:
- One thing I’d like to “feel” before deciding:
- What sometimes blocks me (and which I don’t need to solve right away):
- I feel freer to move forward when…
- One thing in the world that moves me and to which I would like to contribute, even a little :
Extension activities
Alternative questioning can be used with clients that experience burn-out, alienation:
- In which settings do you feel disconnected, numb, or like you’re just “functioning”? Where do you feel muted or drained in your work?
- What would a less alienating, more “resonant” version of your work look like?
To enlarge the scope of discussion beyond the traditional understanding, client can be encouraged to identify moments of resonance in the following areas:
- People/Relationships
- Nature/Places
- Work/Activity
- Spiritual/Cultural
Optional: Help clients explore focal activities – commitments that help us interact with others not as mere objects, resources, and consumers, but as ensouled persons with something to say. It is similar to “social prescribing” used in mental health care, that supports clients in connecting to real-world groups, activities, or spaces of meaning.