Our Influences Activity/Worksheet

Identify and change your influences

What we learn as our influences

Practically every person alive is influenced by a layered sum of different viewpoints/philosophies/assumptions that stem from many different sources. The word layered is used here, because it means that, most often, we think and act based on more than one influence at a time. Think about a casserole or any food preparation where many ingredients are stacked or blended together. Then, imagine that your thoughts and actions are like the taste you receive after taking a bite from that food. What you judge as the overall taste is not one but many ingredients working together. Some bites will taste different from others, because you might have only consumed part of the ingredients over here, another part there, and so on. This activity seeks to find what or who influences your actions, and what messages you receive from those influences. To complete this activity you will need to consider what assumptions and ideas are most and least important to what you do and think.