Reality therapy and the human energy field : working with needs that influence mind and body

There is accumulating evidence that body and mind, or rather the physical and the non-physical, are intrinsically connected. The mechanisms through which reality therapy works on mind and body may be explained via positive dynamics in the central nervous system, the body's biochemistry and the human energy field. The purpose of this paper is to show the relationship between choice theory and the nature of the power centers in the human energy field. Understanding the drivers behind human behavior and facilitating the choice to think realistically and to make responsible choices assists wholeness and enhances the physical, mental and spiritual health.

Representing the mind: adult talk to speech-delayed preschoolers

There is evidence from a range of studies that adult input influences a young child's language development Of interest is how adult input contributes to emotional and cognitive understandings. Children with special needs in mainstream schools are expected to develop social skills which entails the understanding of a situation from the perspective of other participants. The question is whether children with a speech delay hear adult language that helps them develop a theory of mind. The study of the acquisition of a theory of mind has focused on children who have been asked to carry out tasks demonstrating their understanding of what another person might be thinking. Tager-Flusberg et al. (2001) have found that children who perform better on theory of mind tasks are children who talk about thoughts and feelings. The present study looks at mental state language input provided to children that might help them learn to talk about thoughts and feelings. Activities involving children and their mothers, and activities in a preschool program were studied for cognitive and emotional content in the adult input. The input provided to normally developing children would be more supportive of the development of their talk about thoughts and feelings.

Portals of the mind

The idea of a gateway or portal to another world is common in myth and fantasy, and, obviously, far older than the use of the same notion in computing. While computing portals take researchers to other domains of data, the use of portals in myths is often far more complex. In creation myths, the passing of portals has immense consequences for humankind, as in Adam and Eve's expulsion from their carefree existence in the Garden of Eden (unleashing the world's woes upon their descendants), and in the carrying away of Persephone by Pluto into the Underworld (leaving a legacy of cold and sunless months each year). In other types of myths, and in the fantastic tales they have bequeathed, portals provide heroes with strange and wonderful adventures, and with experiences that leave heroes irrevocably changed. This article will now explore these types of portals in more detail.The idea of a gateway or portal to another world is common in myth and fantasy, and, obviously, far older than the use of the same notion in computing. While computing portals take researchers to other domains of data, the use of portals in myths is often far more complex. In creation myths, the passing of portals has immense consequences for humankind, as in Adam and Eve's expulsion from their carefree existence in the Garden of Eden (unleashing the world's woes upon their descendants), and in the carrying away of Persephone by Pluto into the Underworld (leaving a legacy of cold and sunless months each year). In other types of myths, and in the fantastic tales they have bequeathed, portals provide heroes with strange and wonderful adventures, and with experiences that leave heroes irrevocably changed. This article will now explore these types of portals in more detail.

The body, mind and soul of AFL footballers: tales of identity from the global sports entertainment industry

The paper discusses some of the findings of a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) titled: Getting the Balance Right: Professionalism, Performance, Prudentialism and Playstations in the Life of AFL Footballers. The research explored the emergence and evolution of a professional identity for AFL footballers – an identity that has many facets including the ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future, to life after football. The AFL is a high profile, sports entertainment business in which brand relationships between the industry and its sponsors generate substantial income for the League, for Clubs, and for Coaches and players. In addition the AFL’s equalisation policies tightly regulate the ways in which Clubs can recruit, maintain and develop playing lists. In this context various tools of analysis are used to identify and characterise the particular Body, Mind and Soul elements of the young men who might be recruited to a Club; who might have significant time, money and effort invested in their development (as players, as persons); who might develop an identity as an AFL footballer. Drawing on Foucault’s work on the care of the self we argue that in this situation, narratives of identity necessarily involve a struggle for the Body, Mind and Soul of these young men.

The life cycle of the AFL footballer : If you sell your body, mind and soul what is left when the cheering stops?

In this paper we will draw on research conducted for the AFL which, in part, illuminated aspects of the Faustian pact that many young men enter into in order to become an elite level, professional footballer in what is increasingly a global sports entertainment industry. In order to develop an identity as an AFL footballer these young men willingly sell their body, mind and soul to one club, or to many. For varying lengths of time these pacts can have significant payoffs - in terms of a sense of self, and in monetary terms. For many though, these payoffs are limited and must be accounted for sometime in the future - an accounting that in Faustian terms, can carry significant costs to the body, mind and soul long after the cheering has stopped, and when the benefits come mainly in the form of memories. In this paper we argue that elements of these pacts can be identified and analysed via the following: understanding AFL as a sports entertainment business; using Foucault's work on the care of the self to explore what it means to be an elite level professional and the demands made by others on the body, mind and soul of players; and the idea that a career as an elite level professional footballer has a number of phases (early, mid and late) in which the nature of a professional identity - shaped by different demands on the body, mind and soul- changes.