MY

SIGNIFICANT
EXPERIENCES
Writing down my life experiences in 7 days
that truly helped me know more about
myself while pursuing my journey.

Jennelyn Lora Duran

1BSED Major in Filipino Block B
DAY ONE

Today is another chance to make myself improve my lifestyle for the

betterment of my mental health. For the past few weeks I’ve been
feeling down caused by the pressure of studying and taking different
examinations, along with family problems, and financial struggles.
These difficulties truly worsen my mental health as I think for the
solutions that never really helped me solve the problem. However, I
think of it as a blessing in disguise. Maybe I am ought to encounter
these kind of problems so that I could know myself more, my
capabilities, my potentials, as well as my coping mechanisms. As I
endure the stress and the pain that I’ve been feeling, I realized that
this significant experience in my life will help me have self-
knowledge. As I was trying my best to deal with it and resolve it, I
didn’t notice that I gained more self-knowledge. Self awareness is
essential for personal growth, decision-making, and accurate self-
assessment. It is the opposite of ignorance and helps us make sense
of our experiences. It is important that self knowledge is a
fundamental tool to support the change process. Having a good
understanding of your own goals, motivations, strengths and
weaknesses will help you make decisions that really suit you. The
philosophical perspective applicable to this situation is
Progressivism mainly because it follows a clear pragmatic ontology
in which the student focuses on solving real problems through real
experiences. This experience I’ve deal with today will make me more
of a risk-taker in the future because I have the capability to handle
and manage well any life complications that will come in my way.
DAY TWO

This day, I learned how to play an instrument, guitar, without

someone assisting me. I’ve been wanting to learn how to play it ever
since I was 12 years old but I think I never had the time to master it
because my mind is too occupied for other things. Luckily, earlier
I’ve had the chance to borrow my cousin’s guitar and stayed in my
room for a while. I follow the tutorials that I see on the internet and
after some hours of mastering it, I can finally ply a song using the
guitar! Self-knowledge is truly important owing to the fact that our
self-awareness is your main guide in making such decisions. Having
a good understanding of your own goals, motivations, strengths, and
weaknesses can help you make decisions that really work for you.
This will make you a much happier person in the end. And perhaps
you do not forget that the decisions in your personal life, outside of
your work, also influence and develop you. Perennialism is
applicable for this experience. Perennialism is committed to
seeking, teaching, and learning universal truths that span historical
periods. These truths, perennialists argue, have an eternal role in
helping people solve problems regardless of time or place. While
perennialism at first glance may be similar to essentialism,
perennialism focuses on individual student development rather than
emphasis on skills. Perennialism supports liberal arts curricula that
help produce well-rounded individuals with some knowledge of the
arts and sciences. This encounter will influence myself on the future
by trusting my abilities in learning something contributive all by
myself.
DAY THREE

It’s more convenient when you choose not to argue with someone
who doesn’t really have the ears to listen for your very own point of
view. I and my friend argued about the running politicians today.
She told me that my vote for my chosen president is not going to be
worth it in view of the fact that I’m choosing the wrong man to lead
the country. I told her my insights from some of my readings on the
internet and from the book but she refused to listen and even told
me that she will dumped our friendship once I started voting for
that politician. This experience helps me gain more self-knowledge
as I recognize the real meaning of “maturity” and “respect”. I reckon
that it’s more convenient and more peaceful if I let her win the
argument but still sides on my opinion. The philosophical
perspective applicable for this situation is perennialism. As we can
see, I teach myself some insights and facts about my chosen
president for the e=next year. I seek for some answers that would
certainly help me whenever someone will try to attack my decisions.
In the near future, at least I have an extensive critical thinking
because of what I learned from this experience today. I believe that
critical thinking allows you to better express your thoughts, ideas,
and beliefs. Better communication helps others understand you
better, resulting in less frustration for both of you. Critical thinking
encourages creativity and innovative thinking that can be applied to
any area of your life. One of the most important critical thinking
skills you need every day is the ability to examine the implications
and consequences of a belief or action. In its deepest form, this skill
can help you shape your own belief in everything from yourself to
the entire world.
DAY FOUR

Self-knowledge is a broad term that implies awareness of one's own

feelings, traits, motivations, and abilities. It is important to note that
self-awareness is not a static type of information that must be
acquired, but is as dynamic and constantly changing as you are. As
you learn and grow throughout your life, your ability to know
yourself and who you are is constantly changing. While learning
about yourself is an enlightening journey in itself, it is not
necessarily easy. Our minds intelligently create mechanisms to keep
uncomfortable or anxiety-provoking thoughts and feelings out of
our awareness. These mechanisms, such as deliberate forgetting or
unconscious repression, can lead us to avoid the reflection necessary
for self-knowledge. This is because we have a stronger desire to hold
onto a certain inner image of ourselves than to know who we really
are. The bottom line is that we often lack self-awareness and are
unaware of its benefits in our personal and professional lives. This is
what I’ve learned and gained right after choosing what the best is for
me, today, I let go of some specific people that continuously affected
my mental health. They always try to attack me in the ways that
worsen my state of mind. This day, I finally had the courage to let
them go and wash them away from my life. In this life experience,
progressivism is present, I made my own progress, I learn by doing
or performing without some telling me to do it, I did it for my self-
discipline. I can assure myself that this significant experience will
help me in the future to become braver and more courageous of
facing my fears in losing some people that aren’t meant to be in my
life.
DAY FIVE

Today, I and my family have attended a worship service. We do this

once in a week, on the fifth day of the week. Altogether we seek for
God’s guidance to our lives amidst this pandemic. Worship can
change the way you think and change your perspective on the world.
Worship can push you toward your destiny and cleanse you of your
past. Worship heals wounds and breaks generational curses.
Worship, make you listen to God and make God listen to you. This is
not something you can do while traveling alone. We respond to what
God tells us and that is a good discipline to learn. Prayer is also your
conversation with God and how you can develop a personal and
meaningful relationship with the God of the universe who loves you.
So that he can work miracles in your heart. Through prayer, he can
align his life with his vision and plans. Social Reconstructionism is a
philosophical perspective applicable for this great experience, as you
can see, I have my family with me to reconstruct ourselves with God.
Social reconstruction is a state in which the population reaches a
level of tolerance and peaceful coexistence; gains social cohesion
through the acceptance of a national identity that overcomes
individual, sectarian and community differences; has the
mechanisms and the will to resolve disputes. In the future, this
amazing encounter will help me grow and develop deeper faith in
the Almighty God so that I can rely on him each time life feels
terrible and horrifying. I learned that developing a mindfulness-
based meditation practice can allow you to gain intimate awareness
of your thought patterns, emotions, and experiences of stress and
happiness.
DAY SIX

Today, I attended an 18th birthday party of my friend, Sarah. From

the moment the celebration begins, I can see how truly happy she
feels for her day. With that, I came o a realization that being grateful
for the things that you have and you’ve achieved will always take you
to the next level of life. Gratitude promotes optimism and helps us
develop more positive attitudes. It makes us pause for a moment to
think about something we have in our life right now instead of
always fighting for more. It's easy to focus on the negative aspects of
life. All people have stress and difficulties that we have to endure;
that is unavoidable. Even when we are faced with challenging
elements, it is important to be grateful for all the wonderful things
we have or the people we meet. Practicing gratitude can play a
revolutionary role, as it positively impacts many aspects of our lives,
from mental health to our relationships. As I think of the
philosophical perspective, I think the Social Reconstructionism is
the best suitable for it. By socializing with my friends and other
people, I was able to conduct a new knowledge, a new realization
that truly changed my way of thinking. I hope this winsome
experience helps me someday in having complete gratitude towards
the people in my life as well as the things that I receive and take no
matter how small or big it is. When you're grateful for the things in
your life, even if it’s something as simple as a beautiful sunset, it
gives you more self-esteem. This means that you will be more
confident and less worried about comparing yourself to others.
Being grateful is contagious and others will want to be grateful just
like you!
DAY SEVEN

Looking back on all of my life experiences for the past few days in
one week, I can say that it’s a good progress. I’m making myself a
favor of improving mainly because of the insights I have gathered
from all the encounters. Today, on the last day of this week, I failed
an exam. I got a very low score on my test. I cried for a few minutes
because I feel ashamed for myself. It really feels like I’m dumb and I
can’t do anything good without messing up myself. Nonetheless, I
motivated myself in the way that I could catch up for my mistakes. I
told myself that it’s normal having a low grade and it doesn’t even
want to sum up my whole personality. I gained this self-knowledge
that many students with poor grades do not understand or plan, and
their attempt to study is more random and unsuccessful. They
realize that this is what depresses them and makes them less
effective. You should find that having a good understanding of your
study goals and a plan will make it easier for you to get the job done.
“Getting a bad grade is not the end of the world; what matters is
how you do it and how you learn from your mistakes.” That is very
true and many students do not understand it. What matters is the
overall performance. If you don't pass a final exam, you can always
retake it for a better grade. In the end, I told myself that I know I
didn't get the grade I wanted, but I'm glad I did the best I could.
Now I can learn from him and improve even more next time! As
perennialism values knowledge that transcends time, this is a
subject-centered philosophy. The goal of a perennialist educator is
to teach students to think rationally and develop minds that can
think critically. This experience will impact positively on my future,
as I take the tests with all my intelligence and courage in my heart.