MAKING PEACE – ASSIGMENT #2
FOLLOW UP TO GENEAGRAM ASSIGNMENT #1—looking a little deeper…
Take another look at your geneagram.
1) Starting with YOU, consider how you would categorize the relationship (think specifically
about the quality of communication) you share with each of the people directly connected to
you? Mark a word to describe this on the “bar” connecting you to them. (e.g., trusting, open,
playful, respectful, tense, volatile, nonexistent, etc.) You may want to take this a step further
and describe the relationships between the people who are also connected to you (e.g., between
your parents, between your parents and siblings). There is no need to do this for EVERYONE
on the geneagram – focus mainly on the relationships that have impacted your growing up.
Basically, these are the building blocks of your “emotional environment”.
2) Look again at each person/relationship in your geneagram. Did or do any of these people or
relationships have any particular ‘issues’ which impact the family dynamics? (e.g., illness,
addictions of any kind, divorce, abandonment, unexpected early or tragic death, unemployment,
other family tragedy? Also consider positive types of issues: emigrated to find a better life and
did so, “first in the family” to do something significant, heroic contributions to others/society)
Think about how this affected/s the people around them, including you.
THE ABOVE IS FOR YOUR PRIVATE REFLECTION. THESE ARE STRATEGIES TO
HELP YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR ‘MAP’ IN BETTER DETAIL. THIS MAY BE EASY
FOR SOME BUT BE VERY CHALLENGING FOR OTHERS. IT TAKES COURAGE TO
BE REALLY HONEST WITH OURSELVES!
* * *
BELOW IS YOUR WRITTEN REFLECTION TO BE HANDED IN
(Typed, 1 to 1½ pages double spaced)
Having done the above reflection, please consider in sharper detail the person you are today
and continue to become. What influences in your family system do you see as having directly
or indirectly contributing to the person you are? What qualities in yourself do you believe were
actively nurtured by yourself or others? Are there any aspects of yourself that you can identify
as there in reaction to family influences? Which do you see as your truest self? Are there any
aspects of yourself that seem to ‘get in the way’ of feeling at peace with yourself others?
The focus of this essay should be on YOU (with your family as a ‘backdrop’).
Worth 20 points DUE DATE: Mon., 3/3 (Day 6) GRACE DATE: Weds., 3/5 (Day 1)
(You can also hand in early for bonus points – by Friday 2/29 latest!)