SELF I. IDENTITY Internal identity dictates external lifestyle, just as nature dictates action. A fish swims because it is a fish.

Your identity dictates how you lead your life. Unfortunately, many people live their lives not knowing who they really are. They have assumed an identity that was dictated to them by their circumstance, people around them, culture, etc. Well look into some of the pitfalls of not knowing your identity.

A. Pitfalls of not knowing your identity Objective: To realize the importance of knowing ones identity Activity: Random roles (Appendix W2) (Point: Not knowing your identity will render you clueless of your purpose, causing you to wander aimlessly in life) 1. You Wont Know Why Youre Here Not knowing your identity means not knowing your gift area, not knowing what you are created for. When you are operating outside your makeup and purpose, you are more prone to fatigue and failure, you will be striving. Video: show clip of Ice Age Just like the mammoth-turned-possum Ellie, not knowing and understanding how you are wired will cause you to be awkward in life, unhappy, constantly searching for more.

2. You Wont Know Your Worth If you dont know who you really are, youll never realize just how special you are. You will never realize that there are many things in this life that only you are qualified and wired to do. Not knowing your value will directly affect how you treat yourself. (Illustration: paper plate vs. ceramic (any, more expensive) plate) Take for instance you were handed a plate. Once you realize the identity of that plate, you figure out the worth of that plate, hence will determine how youll handle it. If you were handed a paper plate, you know that it only costs roughly 5 pesos per piece, it is something you dispose of after use, and you dont have to worry about dropping it. It will be a different story though if you were handed a ceramic plate. Taking this principle, knowing your value will determine how you will treat and take care of yourself.

3. You reduce your identity to the sum of your upbringing (where you were) and

your environment (where you are at) Studies propose that identity is constructed by the factors surrounding a person growing up. Through these factors (people around you, circumstances encountered) you form a set of beliefs through which you define yourself, which then forms your self-concept. That, is who you say you are. Mike Tyson - youngest heavyweight champion ever at age 20 in 1986, earned $140 million at the height of his career, got hooked in drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality and failed marriages along the way has nothing but this to say today, I don't know who I am. That might sound stupid. I really have no idea. All my life I've been drinking and drugging and partying, and all of a sudden this comes to a stop. Even his therapist, Marilyn Murray, stated that he exhibits a pattern typical of people who were traumatized at an early age by circumstance and environment. Haling from the Brooklyn slums, he grew up watching his alcoholic mother being beaten up by multiple boyfriends, and was in a juvenile detention center by age 12. Because he grew up in a destructive and dysfunctional environment, he has also been leading a destructive and dysfunctional lifestyle. Although the influence of our upbringing and environment is very real and not negligible, there is much more to our identity than that. Since we live in a flawed world, with flawed people, basing our identity on that gives us a flawed self-concept. Therefore, to know our real identity, we have to turn to the right source, our Designer. (Psalm 139:15-16a) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

Activity: Students form groups of 3 or 4 members and identify and discuss which pitfall they can relate with. Journal: (homework) Write about your past experiences in life and how you think it has influenced who you are today. [ Note: it will be helpful for the facilitator to give an example. This will be a chance to share a bit of ones testimony. This act of trust will also draw the students to trust you.]