Reflecting is one of those beautiful processes that often get forgotten in our busy, action-based, results-producing society. It’s a process that allows us to take stock, to look around at where we’ve been so we can then determine where we want to go from here.
In order to get the most out of the Reflection process this year and in the future, here are 3 main guidelines for you to follow.
1. Choose Your Powerful Question/s: To get the most out of the Reflection process, you need some questions that will best lead you where you want to go. So the powerful questions depend on you. You can ask yourself, “What would serve me most right now?” “What do I most want to explore right now?” “What answer do I most want to find right now?” From there, you’ll have a starting point. Also, here are some favorite end of the year Reflection questions:
- What were some of the highlights of my year?
- What qualities of myself made those highlights possible?
- What were some of my biggest challenges this year?
- If I could start the year over, what (if anything) would I do differently now that I have this last year of experience?
2. Time & Space Required: Once you have your question/s chosen, you must slow down the pace a bit to get in Reflection mode. It’s impossible to truly tap into the learning available for us in the Reflection process if we are going at full speed. Give yourself a bit of time – a bit of space . This is the key to allowing the Reflection gems to appear. This could mean you take a walk by yourself or give yourself 30 minutes of uninterrupted journaling or meditation or some other activity that allows your brain to slow down and have some breathing room.
3. No Judging: There’s no judging allowed in Reflection. Sure, we can have preferences and we can look back and see that there were definite highlights and other things we might do differently. But the art of reflecting is leaving the judgment out of the picture. Look at where you’ve been with curiosity instead – “What did I learn here? what I might do differently next time?” Reflection is all about an openness to see with the eyes of an explorer – what’s going on here and what can I learn from it?
When you use the Reflection process regularly, there is a continuous cycle of learning. Since you leave judgment out of the picture, there’s more space to experiment – no need to criticize, but instead you get to tap into how you might like to shift or tweak something in the future. As a result, new ideas, new thoughts, new ways of doing things come to you more easily. With the reflection process firmly in place, there can be a sense of lightness, more openness and peace.
So, go ahead and bring in some reflection this week. See what you notice and how it feels. And feel free to share any comments or thoughts you have in the Reply box below.