“Compare less. Reflect more.”
-Unknown
Self-Reflection is powerful and can transform your life, if you make time to continually practice it. What is Self-Reflection? It’s meditation or serious thought about one’s character, actions, and motives. It is also like looking in the mirror and describing exactly what you see. It’s a powerful way to stay in tune with yourself, so that you can change and become who you were created to be. Self-reflection is important because in life you experience certain situations or circumstances that can taint the way you see life. It’s so important to take time to process, and ask yourself questions so you don’t allow your experience to detour or derail your destiny. The questions that you ask yourself and the clarity you gain through reflection will give you insight on how to move forward.
When was the last time you took a step back to reflect on your life? How are you doing? How do you really feel? What’s been consuming your mind? It is important to ask yourself questions and to take time and discover what’s really going on inside of you, because whatever you are experiencing on the inside will manifest on the outside. If you’re filled with chaos and confusion on the inside , it will show on the outside and vice versa. I think self-reflection is such a powerful tool to keep you mentally and emotionally strong. I like to take time every night, five or ten minutes just to sit by myself think and write down what’s going on in my mind. I ask myself questions like, “How do I feel today?” “Why do I feel this way?” “What’s a good thing that happened today?” “What’s something I want to improve?” This helps to keep me in tune with myself and give me insight on the things I need to change.
Have you ever taken the time to sit back and really think about your life? Where you are in your journey? What obstacles you are facing? How you are going to get to the destination you desire? How you are feeling about life? What you are expecting from your current season of life? Sometimes we have to take a step back from the busyness of our lives and examine where we are. We can get so caught up with everything thats going on around us that we begin to lose touch with our true selves. Think about a time where you were overwhelmed and you didn’t know how to express what you were really feeling? Sometimes we don’t understand the important of stopping for a moment to really examine how and what we feel? Self reflection is such an important part of learning, and growing through life. If you are not aware of where you are and what you are feeling in your journey through life; how will you know where to go or what you need to help you reach success. When you take the time to reflect it helps you to understand where you are and what changes you need to make to help you continue to grow.
I remember a few years ago I started to feel overwhelmed. I had a lot going on in my family with the loss of my uncle but also a lot of everyday responsibilities with my kids and household that needed to be taken care of. I had to stop to reflect and realize why I was feeling overwhelmed. I was grieving and trying to continue about with everyday life. I needed to take time to allow myself to grieve because apart of my life changed. Whenever I started to feel sad I would just stop and allow myself to feel those feeling and emotions. After I had my moments I would pray and ask God to give me strength and comfort to help me continue on. Slowing down really helped me to process everything and get me to a place of peace in my mind and emotions. It helped me to see that it’s okay to slow down and feel those feeling so that I discover the best way to help myself to move forward.
I learned about the importance of self reflection daily during my time in quarantine for seven weeks in June of 2020. It was one of the hardest yet transformative seasons of life I’ve ever experienced. One thing I learned during that time was the importance of taking care of myself but also the power of self-reflection. I had so much time to really think about my life and everyday I would ask myself the questions I listed above. Those questions helped me to stay in tune with how I was feeling while also helping me to stay focused and mentally strong during a time of total isolation. Self reflection allowed me the opportunity to step back and truly process what I was going through and how I was going to move forward. It allowed me to be face to face with reality while I reflected on solutions of what would help me to best move forward while not losing my mind.
These are some things I learned about self reflection from that season of my life:
1.Self-Reflection helps to build self awareness
Self reflection helps you to gain a better understanding of your emotions, strengthens, weakness, and driving factors. When you understand those aspects of yourselves you are better able to understand the changes you need to make. This also helps you learn how to adapt and change through the different seasons of life.
2. Self-Reflection helps to measure your effectiveness
Self reflection helps you to determine what actions and habits are working and not working . When you understand the things that are not benefiting you, you can make adjustments that will help you reach our goals. As you make that needed changes it keeps you on track to reaching your goals.
3. Self-Reflection helps you to stay on right track
Self reflection helps you to stay on the right track in reaching your goals. When you constantly take the time to examine where we are and make the changes needed, this keeps you on track to reaching your goals.
Self reflection is like looking into a mirror and describing exactly what you see. Take time to stop and look into the mirror of your life, which consist of your choices, attitudes, actions, behaviors, thought, etc. Do you like what you see? Is there something you would want to do differently? If so, don’t be afraid to stop and make those changes. Self reflection keeps our mind and bodies healthy. Don’t allow the stress of your current season to keep you in distress. Stop, reflect and and change. If you ever find your self feeling overwhelmed or stuck in life take time to stop and reflect on your life. Sometimes just stopping to think for a moment can give you the clarity you need and the peace to move forward.
Thank you so much for reading! What do you love the most about self reflection? What’s something you have learned about yourself through self-reflection? Comment below I would love to hear your story.
Intentional Hope 