Identity
A Sense of Who You Are
What makes up your
identity?
• Combination of personality, abilities,
strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values
• Continually shaped by every experience
• Never final
• Ultimately a mystery
• Composed of millions of bits of information
Why is it important to
develop a sense of who
you are?
• Helps us make better choices
– College
– Career
– Family
• Helps us deepen and develop our
relationships
• Gives us a greater appreciation for ourselves
and others
• Self-esteem: an understanding of our own
worth and an attitude of cherishing ourselves
Story of Zach
• What are some of Zach’s
personality traits?
• Which ones does Zach
recognize?
• Which ones does Lisa draw
out?
Knowing Yourself
• What am I felling?
• What do I want?
• What are people telling me?
• What are my talents?
• What is out of my control? What is
within my limited control?
What am I feeling?
• What do you remember about feelings?
Feelings
• Can be friends or dictators
• Do not let them take over
Make a list of 5 things that you
really want either today or in
the near future.
What do you want?
• Know wants and desires
• Need to know what we truly want
• Society constantly tells us what we
want
• Forms our identity and shapes our life
Make a list of characteristics
that you think teachers would
use to describe you.
• How does this make you feel?
• What do we need to do to
change that?
What are people telling
you?
• Relationships provide millions of pieces of
data about you
• All of these pieces contribute to a sense of
who you are
• Must examine what we learn about ourselves
from others
– Ex: wild trouble maker
– Ex: Blue eyed/Brown eyed experiment
What are your talents?
• Talent: ability or aptitude that has value
– Gift in the sense that you are born with it
• Not always physical or intellectual
• Can be aspects of our personality
– Listening
– Compassionate
What is out of our control?
• The gifts/talents we are born with
• What we do with our talents is within
our limited control
Certain factors that are out
of our control
• Cosmic: born, die, natural disasters
• Genetic: genes affect our appearance,
health, aptitudes, talents, personality traits
• Cultural: family, country, region, particular,
religious, ethnic, economic setting
• Circumstantial: major historic events,
accidents, chance meetings affect us, shape
us
We have some control
over how we respond to
these
• Move with the grace of God
Autonomy
The Ability to Shape Your Own Life
• Different from independence
• Rely on your judgment and
competencies to make decisions
• Give and take
• Interdependence: a delicate blend of
dependence and independence
False Autonomy
• Groupthink: make a sharp break from
parents and take on practices and
views of another group
– Trading one form of dependency for
another
• “Jailbreak” pregnancy or marriage: may
see these as ways to escape their
family
Lessons of
interdependence
• Learning to be strong enough to be
sensitive to the needs of others
• Growing into a firm identity that sllows
us to consider other points of view
• Becoming aware of our own resources
• Recognizing that we sometimes need
help
Freedom
• “Freedom is just another word for
nothing left to lose.”
• Who is the person in society who has
nothing left to lose?
Christian Freedom
• We can see the big picture beyond our
own narrow interests, and are able to
respond to the needs of real situations
and real people
• Include responsibility
• We grow and express ourselves within
the context of others needs as well as
our own
• Acting freely means that we consider
the entire situation and respond
according to the good for all
• Freedom is seen in the context of
freedom from sin and freedom to love
Personal Power
• The ability to influence our own life and
the people and events around us
• Christians are meant to be powerful
people who empower others
• We need power
• The deprivation of power, can lead to
violence and tragedy
