ABSTRACT
Approaches to counselling and therapy are far more ready to emphasize personal relationships than rewarding activity. Occupations possessing meaning entail activities of importance, significance and concern to individuals. Meaninglessness is a state of despair. It is characterized by boredom, apathy and the feeling that both oneself and the world are a void. Occupations provide people with opportunities for creating and defining themselves. Occupational development is sometimes seen as the implementation of self-concepts. Occupational self-definition also includes performance and directional choices regarding leisure. Counsellors can help people during a number of occupational transitions: for example, from school to work, and from employment to unemployment or retirement. Tendencies to feel incompetent also result from negative events in people's pasts. The area of rewarding activity is wide. The presentation of a rationale for focusing on rewarding activity can be interwoven with increasing clients’ existential awareness.
