“We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience” - John Dewey
Have your parents ever told you to take a minute and pray to god before you go to sleep? If so, then you know why. It’s because praying before you sleep is a way of expressing your gratitude to God for keeping you healthy, alive, ready for the next day to come, and so on. Now let’s look at another scenario. Have your parents ever told you to go stand in front of the mirror, look at yourself and think deeply about how your day went and who are you going to be tomorrow? That’s because every day is a new day we look forward to in the hopes of experiencing or being a part of something new in our life, which can hopefully be remembered and cherished in all our years to come. We immerse ourselves in a pool of thoughts, incidents, memories, and aspirations to understand ourselves and ponder the question of who we are, what is it that we can expect for ourselves tomorrow, and most importantly, how we can be better people day by day and give value to the lives of the people who are a part of our lives, whether they are our friends, family members, colleagues, and acquaintances.
What is Self-Reflection?
Throughout our daily lives, we tend to think about a lot of things such as relationships, friendships, our future prospects, the guy or girl next door, the latest gadget or apparel that caught our attention, etc. The list just goes on and on. But it feels funny and ironic coming to the realization that we’ve spent a lot of our time and energy thinking about other things, while this entire time, we never stopped to think about ourselves and introspect our thoughts, behaviours, actions, and goals that define who we are every single day.
This is where self-reflection comes into play. It is a mental process where we temporarily detach ourselves from the rest of the world and enter into a state of solitude and self-contemplation. In the midst of all the peace and quiet as well as our time, we collect our thoughts and reflect on ourselves by looking back at the events that happened throughout the day. Any bad incident happened in school or at work? You look back into it, analyze the situation, and later come up with other ways in which you could have handled it better. Got financial problems? You sit and brainstorm some new ideas that can help you solve your problems. Had a dispute with your friend? You recall the incident, try to figure out the root cause of the dispute, and come up with a couple of alternative ways by which the issue could have been resolved.
Self-reflection is an essential part of one’s personality and character development. It not only helps us on a personal level but has also proven to be of great significance in our professional lives as well. By practicing the art of self-reflection, one can achieve the following personal development traits:
· Improving self-awareness
· Being ready to take on new challenges
· Looking at the bigger picture and perceiving matters from different angles
· Enhancing our ability to make better decisions with a sound and collected mind
· Preparing us to face our fears and work through hardships
How Do You Self-Reflect?
The process of self-reflecting is nothing but simple and straightforward. It can be done in any way deemed comfortable by any individual. You can either stand in front of a mirror, take a good look at your own image looking back at yourself and talk to it. It is one of the best ways to build a connection to your inner self. Talk to yourself and reflect upon your day, so you can look forward to a better tomorrow. Another way is to look for a quiet place, sit down, close your eyes, meditate for a while if preferred, and then think about your day and some prominent events that stand to have had a personal or professional impact on you. Be calm and think about how you could have made your day better and how you can be refined even further.
To conclude this, I personally would recommend my dear readers to practice the art of self-reflection, as it is a very powerful form of mental and emotional exercise that helps us raise our moral standing, diversify our thinking, and enhance our potential to achieve greater things every day. Self-reflection is an art that requires our undivided cooperation, patience, and persistence. Once we master this art, it can help us become better individuals and take us on a path towards a happy and successful life.
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