1. HRE 4O1 Unit 2

2.  As Christians, we are called to be fully alive! To be fully alive means that we need to have good self understanding.  Knowing yourself means addressing these questions:  What am I feeling?  What do I want”  What are people telling me?  What are my talents?  What is out of control? What is within my limits?

3. What am I feeling?  We need to acknowledge the feelings we are experiencing  We cannot control what we feel – what we can control is how to respond to our feelings  Our feelings can be either a dictator (when we allow them to control us) or a friend (when we allow them to teach us about our self) For Reflection: What is the easiest feeling for me to express and why? What is the hardest feeling for me to express and why?

4. What do I want? - We need to establish goals in our life - Goals give our life hope - Goals give our life a sense of direction and purpose What are people telling you? - People give us insight into ourselves – they help us to know our own strengths and weaknesses - We shouldn’t just accept what others say about us – we should examine what they say to see if it is true For Reflection: What do others typically say about you? Describe how these comments make you feel. Do you accept or reject their opinion.

5. What are my talents? - A talent is the ability or an aptitude that has value, it is often thought of as a gift, in the sense that a person seems to be born with it - It is the Christian belief that God gives us our talents to help build His Kingdom – they are to be used for the good of others and our self - There are physical talents (good at soccer), intellectual talents (good at math), and aspects of personality (good listener) For Reflection: Make 5 “I Can” statements in reflecting on your talents!

6. What is out of your control? - Things happen in our life over which we have no control and some of these things have a large impact on our life Factors out of our control: Cosmic factors – we do not control when we live or when we die; we do not have power over the forces of nature Genetic factors – our genes which come from our parents have a strong influence on who a person is Culture factors – we have no power over the culture we are born into Circumstantial factors – many events which occur in our life we have no control over

7. For Reflection: 1. What a 5 things in your life that you do not feel in control of right now, but that you could eventually get control of? 2. Pick one area in your life over which you wish to have more control. Is your desire for control realistic? Why do you lack control in this area? Is it really important to control this area? 3. List 5 aspects of your life that you are glad you have no control over. Why are you glad?