Reflection is the process of going deep into your thoughts and feelings. To understand yourself better, your philosophies and beliefs for self-improvement.
What reflection means
Reflection is the process of going deep into your thoughts and feelings. The purpose of which is to understand yourself better, your philosophies and beliefs. In so doing, you improve yourself and your circumstances.
Another perspective is:
Honest self-reflection opens your mind to reprogramming, change, success, and freedom.
– Unknown
Reflection is also having a record of your thoughts and actions during a certain period of time. It’s a record of your life that you can review and see what’s working and what needs to be improved or better yet changed.
According to Jim Rohn, a well-known, motivational speaker reflecting is an extra way of getting value from what you know. He adds that reflecting is going back over where you have been. What you saw, what you heard, and what you felt.
He says re-living your day will add multiplied value to you. The day you’ve just been through will be more valuable for your future. If you just go back through it.
Importance of reflection
Reflection is an important aspect of life. But most of us don’t take the time to sit back and review how we go about our daily life.
Because most people view reflection as a waste of time. As an activity where nothing is gained.
However, if you just took time to reflect, you will learn how transformative reflection can be. And you will enjoy a life that is less stressed, happier, more meaningful, and more fulfilling.
When you develop the habit of reflecting, you will most definitely change your life and benefit from the following:
Mindfulness
When you reflect regularly, you become more aware of your actions. You become truly present in your life, and there is no time wasted ruminating over the past or worrying about the future.
Self-awareness
A reflecting habit will also expose who you truly are. You will get to know yourself better. And with this self-awareness, you can then strive for self-improvement for a better life.
Improved mindset
Taking the time to review and reflect on your day allows you to see things from a different perspective.
When you go through your day, you will no longer be as emotional as when you first encountered an event or project. With this, you can then view it more objectively and learn something from what has transpired.
That is, if things went bad, you can think of ways to improve from there. If everything went well, you can then duplicate the process so you can repeat it the next time.
Act instead of reacting
Regular reflection allows you to become more aware and thoughtful of your emotions, feelings, and actions.
As a result, when things happen during the day, you will be more capable of thinking things through before acting rather than simply reacting to an event.
Better understanding
Developing the habit of reflecting allows you to have a better understanding.
Reflecting on things that transpired, new ideas or new learnings allow for better retention of information that can become useful in your life.
Boost confidence level
Taking the time to reflect and review your day will have a tremendous impact on your life. Because it allows you to change tactics on things that are not working or improve further on things that are working.
And with each improvement, day by day, little by little, your confidence in yourself also rises with each improvement.
Have an open mind
Finally, developing a reflecting habit allows you to have an open mind.
When you reflect often, you will learn that some of the things you believe to be true then may not be true now. And that it’s okay to change your mind- and your actions- if it leads to self-improvement.
As quoted by John H. Patterson:
Only fools and dead men don’t change their minds. Fools won’t. Dead men can’t.
When to reflect
According to Jim Rohn, the best times to reflect is at the end of the day, at the end of the week, end of the month. And finally, at the end of the year.
He suggests you spend a few minutes each day to reflect at the end of the. At the end of the week, take a few hours for reflection. Half a day should be spent on reflection at the end of the month. Then, a weekend at the end of the year.
Again, the purpose is to learn about yourself. And more importantly, to make what you’ve been through, your past, become more valuable.
How to develop the habit of reflection
Reflection or review of your day doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need is a quiet place. And a few minutes at the end of the day to re-live the day that just transpired.
Write about how your day was. How it started, how it ended. Were there significant moments? What happened, how did you feel?
How would you describe the experience you had during the day? What would you have done to make it better? Did you learn something new? What interesting ideas did you have?
Pour all of these into your journal. Describe your day in detail, the sight, sounds, feelings, and experiences.
The important thing is to write it all down. So you can review and go through them from time to time. Certainly, you can’t go through your personal experiences only in your mind. Because the tendency is, you will forget.
And the learning, the experience, the idea that might have come from that day will be forgotten. The opportunity for self-improvement, for something to share, for something to cherish will be gone.
Repeat this process of going over your day, your week, your month, and your year. And this habit will certainly give you something of value that you can use in your future.
Summary
To summarize, developing the habit of reflection is an important part of life. Reflection allows you to know yourself. And in so doing, seek ways to improve yourself in order to live a happier, more fulfilled, and meaningful life.
Developing the habit of reflection allows you to experience its many benefits, which include:
- Mindfulness,
- Self-awareness,
- Improved mindset,
- Acting instead of reacting,
- Better understanding,
- Increased confidence level, and
- Having an open mind.
Additionally, you should schedule a few minutes of reflection time at the end of each day. Then at the end of the week, spend at least a few hours reflecting.
You will need about half a day at the end of the month and one weekend at the end of the year to devote to reflection.
Finally, take time to write all your review and reflection in your journal. So you don’t lose the valuable learnings, ideas, and experiences that can improve your life.
Please share your thoughts or ideas about How The Habit Of Reflection Can Change Your Life in the comments below. And if you liked this article, you might be interested as well in these articles:
Why Good Habits Beat Motivation
How To Define Yourself By Your Habits
9 Simple Habits You Can Learn From Vampires
9 Effective Habits For A Happy Life
Building Good Habits For Your To Be
How To Break 9 Bad Habits That Keep You Down
7 Tips On How To Develop A Persistent Habit
5 Organizing Habits You Can Learn From Organized People
7 Good Habits To Develop (Inspired By Gardening)
Outside resource/s:
How Self-Reflection Gives You a Happier and More Successful Life
How to Get Most Out of Your Life
Great post! I agree. I have always been a reflective person. It is so very important to evaluate life – both as it happens and in hindsight – and it’s so very exhausting to have to deal with people who don’t.