Understanding the Self

Module 2 MATERIAL / ECONOMIC SELF

Learning Activities

Name: Zion R. Desamero Year & Sec: BSMA 2-C

Learning Activity 1: Card Challenge

A very wealthy person gave you a debit card and told you to use it as much as you want to make
yourself happy. What are you going to do with it? Make a list of what you want to have. Write as
many as you want (please make use of the next 30 minutes to make your list).

▪ Dentures for my parents

▪ Spa and massage
▪ A one week trip to Japan
▪ Lot
▪ A factory (for the family business)
▪ Car
▪ Foods and supplements
▪ Flower pots/flower garden
▪ Fish tank/pond
▪ Dog food, shampoo and collars to donate in a dog pound
▪ Albums of Taylor Swift
▪ Concert ticket of Taylor Swift
▪ Art Materials
▪ DSLR
▪ Books
▪ Anime figures

Learning Activity 2
On a piece of paper list down at least 3 different beliefs that you had embraced
since you were a kid up to now. Who influenced you in these beliefs?

To say “tao po or tagbalay” everytime to come in other peoples house What

goes around comes around
Always pray before you sleep in order to avoid bad dream
These are the beliefs that my parents told me when I was a kid that until now I
still hold into. To say “tao po or tagbalay”, I still practice this belief not just to excuse
yourself for the bad spirits but it is also a sign of respect. What goes around comes
around, I still hold on into this since that I believe that what you do to others will come
back to you. We should always think before we do a move, that if this could benefit or
hurt to others. Always pray before you sleep in order to avoid bad dream, this really
have a great help since that I can really sleep peacefully at night. This is why that I still
embraced this beliefs until now.
Learning Activity 3
1. Go back to your Debit Card Challenge List. Put a mark on the left side of
each item with relation to the following categories:
B – body
C – clothes
F – family
H – home
Family
▪ Dentures for my parents
▪ Spa and massage
▪ A one week trip to Japan
▪ Lot
▪ A factory (for the family business)
▪ Car
▪ Foods and supplements
▪ Flower pots/flower garden
▪ Fish tank/pond
 Home
▪ Albums of Taylor Swift
▪ Concert ticket of Taylor Swift
▪ Art Materials
▪ DSLR
▪ Books
▪ Anime figures

2. Answer the following questions:

- Which among the categories you have most on your list?
Family and home are the categories that I have most on my list. To be happy is
to be able to share the blessings that I have with my family and on the things that I
enjoy the most.

- What do you think these things tell you about yourself?

I rely my happiness on the people who are close to my heart. I’d like attain
happiness from the experiences that I have with my family. Spending time with them
and prioritizing their needs. It also tells that I am fond of doing some arts. Fond of
listening to the music of my favourite artist, because this is only my escape in the
reality.
Through this I can explain more the thoughts and feelings that I have. It is not just this
material things that make me happy but the experiences that I can gain from these
things.

Learning Activity 4
Make a reflection paper about material self. You may use your answers from the above
questions in making your paper.

• Movie showing – “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. Write down your personal realizations

about a certain addiction to material things and how you could practice taking care of
your material self.

Confession of a Shopaholic is a movie about a girl (Rebecca Bloomwood) who

has an addiction on spending too much on material things. Prioritizing the things that
she wants more than she needs. Upon watching this movie I learn some lessons that
must applied in order to take care of material self. Avoid impulsive buying, in
purchasing an item the usefulness and importance of an item must be consider first to
avoid buying more and wasting money. Prioritize the things that is needed over the
wants. It is important to always purchase first those things where you can benefit over
the things that will just give you pleasure. Make a budget, to manage addiction over the
material things we must plan out a budget. Listing the things and the amount to be
spend in that certain thing to avoid spending too much. Control yourself, we must
learn how
to limit ourselves when to stop. In our modern world, most of us now value material
things, since that these possessions that we have on the material things gives us
happiness.
From the movie Rebecca said that “when I shop, the world gets better, and the
world is better, but then it’s not, and I need to do it again” this just means that is like an
escape in the reality. All the possessions we have over the material things is about
filling the empty space that we have. It is like escaping from the situation we are in
just to feel better and to breath. But we must set in mind that there are other ways to
escape and breath. We must widen our thoughts on how we perceive life, that there are
greater things waiting for us aside from this material things. We should not limit our
happiness over a material thing, we must appreciate the experiences life gives us
because in this we can find the pure treasure and happiness.

• Make a virtual interview of 5 people whom you consider to be a “shopaholic”. Ask

them how are they able to deal with their material self?

Material self is the concept of one’s self that is reflected based on the tangible
things that you own. This includes the possessions in material things that give us the
identity on how others sees us. Based on the interviews they said that it’s hard to deal
with this situation. Everytime that they saw something new in their eyes they always
grab it. To deal with this uncertain condition they came up with a solution that is to set
aside all the wants and prioritize the needs. Setting limits and avoidance to the
shopping area. Avoid impulsive buying and try to ask yourself if the thing that you
want to buy will be useful. In today’s generation, it is evident that people value more
on the material things. They find happiness on the things that can satisfy their
possessions over the little things. It is fine to improve our material self in order to
boost our outer self, but it is also important that we have to set our priorities because
there are greater things that can satisfy us aside from this material things.