Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintented consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.
-Margaret J. Wheatley-
The ability to observe and assess one's own cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes is known as self-reflection. Personal reflection is key, as opposed to simply continuing to do things the way you have always done them. It involves constructively challenging what you do and why you do it, then determining whether there is a more effective or better way to do it in the future. It is a skill that is required to give your mind perspective, not an idea.
A few days ago, I came across a remark that summarized the purpose of reflection: "Sometimes you have to take a step back to see that you're moving forward in the right direction."
How To Establish Healthy Self-reflection Practices
Focus
Being preoccupied makes it impossible to reflect on oneself. It needs your complete attention, not minding the duration you intend to spend doing so. It is important to reserve a time that one feels is most appropriate, comfortable, and distraction-free for self-reflection.
Be honest with yourself
If we don't tell ourselves the truth about how things are really going with us and how we behave, we won't be able to use self-reflection to determine whether we are on the right road and, if not, to work toward making improvements where necessary.
Keep track of your recurring behaviors.
Another practice that improves self-reflection is becoming conscious of the patterns in our behaviour and how we react to circumstances. That's because we learn about our genuine behaviours by doing this. We can work to strengthen the positive traits and change the negative ones in return.
Pardon yourself
Life itself is not extremely easy. We are put to the test by many circumstances every day, and occasionally we are tempted to compromise our principles or even completely derail. It's acceptable to acknowledge that you make mistakes when you find yourself in this scenario because you are just human. Apologize to yourself and make an effort to reset your course.
Know what your guiding principles are
It's critical for each person to determine the values they hold most dear. In this manner, you may determine whether or not you are leading a life that is consistent with your ideals.
Keep a record of your introspection
Every time you conduct a self-reflection, it's critical to note your findings and list the items you intend to work on. Are you doing better in the areas you intended to modify, for example, so that the next time you reflect, you can determine if there has been a new discovery? Have you developed any new good or harmful habits? This will allow you to gauge your level of progress.
Benefits of Self-reflection
Aids in strategy
Self-reflection is basically a process of self-evaluation that aids in creating a plan of action to achieve a particular goal. You must train your mind to concentrate rather than to wander. Your mind reviews issues more methodically when you reflect on specific issues and consider suitable remedies. Self-reflection enables you to set priorities and identify the most effective solutions to problems.
Development & Productivity
Self-reflection keeps you on course and boosts productivity. This is because we focus our thoughts and efforts on the clearly defined goals that we came up with during our reflective times, and this eventually results in progress.
Making Decisions with Clarity
Clarity, which improves decision-making, is one of the greatest advantages of self-reflection. When we take time to reflect on ourselves it gives us an insight into our worries, flaws, objectives and opportunities. If you always have our goals in mind, your mind will search for the most effective strategies to get those objectives.
Conclusively...
The inability to reflect on oneself prevents you from progressing. You can always do it in little doses and figure out your best course of action, but avoiding this process will stop you from developing personally. Self-reflection's primary goal is to evaluate problems, take them in, recognize them, and find answers. Even though it could take some time, the results are worthwhile. Take time to reflect!
All images used in this post were made by me using Canva
About The Author
I am a little adventurous girl who loves to sing, take pictures, teach and travel. I am currently an English Education student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. I am also a young children teacher who home school's kids during holidays. I love to share my life experiences through writing with the hope of inspiring as many people as possible on the Hive space.
