Artifact 3

The artifact that most engaged me from Modules 11-13 was the artifact from Module 13 concerning happiness. I liked it because it made me reflect on what makes me happy. I appreciate that the activity asked for me to think about my happiness at different points in my life and whether my happiness is influenced by having better physical health or does better physical health lead to my happiness. I have never thought of happiness in this way so it was interesting to give this deep thought.

I learned several things from this activity. I learned that my happiness is triggered by different things during different times in my life. My happiness looked different prior to getting married, starting a family, and having my son. My happiness also looked different after having my son. My happiness was different before I had the responsibilities of caring for someone else and only having to focus on myself. My happiness was also influenced by my career success while I was working in the Navy and spending most of my time with my co-workers. Now, as a full-time student, wife, and stay at home mom, my happiness comes from how well I can manage my busy lifestyle and the positive impact that it has on my family. Maintaining high achievement goals for myself and doing well on my assignments also makes me happy. In terms of physical health, I feel that my happiness is influenced by how well I take care of my body. The results of taking care of my body through a balanced diet and going to the gym have a positive influence not only on my physical condition but on my mental health as well.

This activity expanded my knowledge on culture and health by having me examine my own life and what value happiness holds in different aspects of my life and how it changes throughout my life span. This activity also had me examine my culture and health and how they interact with one another. The way culture and health influence each other in other cultures may be different than my own. What is considered healthy in one culture may not be considered healthy in another. The way that other countries handle and view healthcare may also be different than what I am used to.

I chose the image below because it is a good representation of how cultures differ from one another. All of these differences can be seen even when looking at health and culture but in the end, we are all “people.”

Artifact 2

I chose artifact #5 as my top artifact because the concepts of independence and interdependence of the self are very interesting to me. I also enjoyed reflecting on happy moments in my life and finding pictures that were taken during those experiences. This activity taught me a lot about myself regarding self-construal and emotions. I found that majority of my emotions are socially engaged and reflect interdependence of self. When I thought of my happiest moments in life, I thought of how I felt in certain moments when engaged with others and how my relationship with others impacted my happiness.

This activity expanded my knowledge on socially engaged and socially disengaged emotions and how they relate to independence and interdependence of self. Everyone has their own unique perceived sense of self, and it is heavily influence by the situation at hand. For example, this activity specifically asked about happy moments. If this activity had asked someone about sad moments, then the results of whether a person’s emotions are socially engaged or disengaged could vary.

I chose this picture of my son when he was born because one of the happiest moments of my life is when I became a mother. I had a mix of emotions that day and all of them reflect interdependence of self. I wondered if I would be a good mother to my son. I also wondered how this would affect my relationship with my husband.

Artifact 1

I chose artifact #1 as my top artifact because my Filipino culture is so important to me and I was excited to showcase something that could represent my culture. This activity has taught me that everyone, no matter how big or small a family they may come from, has a unique story to be told that is heavily influenced by their culture. Their culture is influenced by their own unique experiences, environment, and family history. To elaborate, no one will ever have the same two experiences. This is in part, due to the experiences themselves being influenced by other factors as well as the interpretation of them by the individual. Depending on where an individual is in the world will also determine what makes up their culture. For example, western culture varies greatly from eastern culture. The interpretation of history may also influence culture. Family history or stories can be likened to family heirlooms because they contain the stories of previous generations and can be passed down from one generation to the next.

This is a picture of a parol which is a lantern usually made from seashells and handpainted and is displayed during the holiday season. This picture represents the stories of my parents which resulted in the melting pot of culture that exists in my family today. I hold my culture close to my heart and it is one of the few things that I can proudly share with my son. I hope to be able to pass on what I can to him. Although I did not grow up in the Philippines or speak the language fluently, it is through the stories I can tell him about his family and culture that I have adopted along the way is where it can possibly stay alive.