It is a common belief by many people that past occurrences should be left there and never be brought back again. Others, however, see it as a sentimental value which aided in shaping their characters and behaviors, and by extension their current selves. It is prudent to pick up, move ahead despite the effects of negativity on the past and adhere to stick to aspects of life that breed optimism. The traditions, personal memories, and myths would not have been here if it were not for the past and they have been a learning basis for future generations. Immaterial of the degrees or education we get, some lessons and teachings can only be gotten from past experiences in the school of thoughts and life. It liberates and aids in adaptation to change when we nurture our capacity to regard our past and current challenges as chances and opportunities to learn from. The decisions we make either catapults us in the direction to succeed or towards the opposite of success. The ability to learn from the past is considered greatest in decision-making for future endeavors. This paper evaluates various ways that prior experiences help a person to learn.
There are three conditions requisite for people to use previous emotional experiences to learn. First, a clear comparison between past experiences and current or future happenings need to be made, instead of merely contemplating on the current or future alone without referring to the past. Secondly, if in an effort to refer to their past, the applicability of the past experience to the current or future event should be accessed and discerned carefully. Lastly, after recognition of the most applicable experience, it is imperative to vividly and concisely remember the feeling associated with the events. These conditions are from the analysis of Brisa Galindo et al ‘s article “Challenging Our Labels: Rejecting the Language of Remediation” where various authors share their ideas on their experiences (Galindo, 9).
Experiences from the past help us define our purpose and reason for living. Sandra Cisneros, in her article “Only Daughter”, clearly elucidates how the past lone experience she had as she grew up in a household of six boys enabled her to have time to meditate over and over, to fancy, to read and molded her to be a writer she is (Cisneros, 1). Nonetheless, it is agreeable that a person with a purpose and reason for life will definitely attain their set objectives in life. Essentially, it could be possible that one is conferred with honors, choose a great career and unfortunately still consider them unfulfilled and that is the point upon which we then conclude the pertinence of discovering purpose and reason for our lives which supersede the realms of job security and a decent education.
From my perspective, for self-discovery, one has to think for themselves. Past experiences are vital in the quest for autonomy. It is for individuals to stand for themselves since their lives are determined by on their own personalities. In particular, past negative experiences gives a person the onus of being open-minded and the ability to depend on themselves to avert similar horrible experiences from taking place ever (Young, 1). I am in agreement with the assertion that all of us are entitled to our own lives and consequently, to gain new stratagems on autonomy, past experiences serve as the greatest teacher for us and shape us to be the best we ever wish to be.
Furthermore, past experiences facilitate the cognizance of time movement and the fact of variation and occurrence of experiences with change in time. Case in point, “As time went on, Piestrup saw students withdraw into “moody silences”; when they did speak, their voices were soft and hesitant.” (Brennan, 3). All experiences cannot be encountered at once and are therefore required of people to learn to be grateful and be good time managers. I am in tandem with this that in individuals daily lives experiences as they move along, they should be aware that whatever they want may not be there for them immediately, thus teaching that regardless of how efficient time management skills one could ever get, one cannot control time entirely. There is nothing people can do when the time has not yet come.
People are motivated and made courageous to defeat failures in current or future endeavors by their past experiences by serving as lessons. People are made to understand that success is not finality nor is failure fatal, but rather what matters is the courage for continuing. For example, we could fail a class in school, and to compensate it was easier, or to work hard to be better in the subsequent class while in life, failing can scathe us and entirely alter our views on what life means. We are taught by our past experiences that to fail is part of life and hence success is attained after undergoing various failures. Accepting failure as an element of our journeys and moving on from it is necessary. This is in contravention to the assertion that bad experiences always stick with people in every situation (Galindo, 7). It is apparent that people must move on after a failure and be positive that it will not resurface again.
Despite the bitterness of tenacity, its outcomes are always sweet. people gain patience and tenacity when they encounter some experiences. The realization that one is not able to control time shows the need to be patient and tenacious for the attainment of set goals (Galindo, 8). There is no particular timeline and deadlines that life sets on people, instead people learn to be patient and optimistic that they will achieve their goals when they are prepared for them rather than when they are in its dearth. I contend therefore that patience and tenacity are founded upon the past experiences.
Past experiences let people comprehend that no condition or situation is permanent. It teaches that success and failures sometimes happen when people do not expect, and thus prepares them for any eventuality. “Some start during kindergarten, then we see a big wave at the end of first grade and another at the end of the second. Then you get to third grade and it’s over” (Brennan, 3). I, therefore, contend that when one is succeeding, they should be happy because it is difficult to determine how long it will be. Equally, if one is failing, they should take heart and push forward keeping in mind that no situation is permanent
An experience from the past shapes one’s ethics and egos. Despite the urge to prove others wrong, the need to be humble supersedes the ego that a person has. Of course, when faced with challenges, people usually find that some forces could be the administration of the school or relation have lost hope in them, and do not foresee any potential in them, the need to prove them wrong after succeeding for some people maybe be up. But in most cases, past experiences make people strong and humble. Contrary to what Galindo says “I started to feel more confident—even proud” (Galindo, 9), the point is, past humiliations serve as a basis for humility.
In conclusion, the authors’ ideas seem to be similar. They argue agreeing that past experience enables a person to learn. However, it as well appears to be a paradox in the ideas of these authors. The authors contradict their statements by agreeing and disagree at the same time. Therefore, I agree that past experience helps a person to learn. This is because past experienced usually have an impact on our lives. This impact however positive or negative enhances the ability for that person to learn how to embrace or overcome such impacts.