What were you doing six weeks ago? Even a week ago? Everything has changed drastically. Once you are clear on the precautions you need to have in place to stay safe and also to protect others, you can sit still and self-reflect.
What’s self-reflection? It’s going home. I call it going home to that place inside of you that only you have access to and only you know. Dive inside of you and close your eyes. Get in a place where you feel peace. You can listen to soft music. What goes through your mind, what are you feeling? Be aware of everything that’s going on inside of you. That’s self-awareness. Don’t judge your thoughts or your emotions. Embrace and honor all of them. Check on yourself like your best friend. What bothers you? What brings you joy? What do you want to change? How can you change it? Ask with compassion. This to me is self-reflection.
These are some of the questions I’m using to reflect. What is this situation showing me? What is this situation teaching me? I think that if you and your family are healthy from the virus the planet is facing, this is a time of healing. Healing in general. Life is so fast nowadays that we don’t even pause to contemplate anything. We don’t even breathe consciously. We don’t notice the colors of the trees or the sky. We don’t even sit and look inside. We always leave the resolutions to the last day of the year and then we forget about them.
When was the last time you sat and thought about your life? When was the last time you sat and breathed or contemplated or sat just to be? You have the power to create these magical and healthy moments. It’s the only way to inspire our lives, to get some positive stimulation and not be numbed.
Self-reflection gives us clarity, perspective. It helps us to see our mistakes and think about better ways to do things, to improve the situation. When we sit still and quiet and reflect we activate our inner wisdom and great ideas can come to our minds, our inner creators open up.
In general in your life and so far this year, how often do you make the conscious decision to have joy? Do you do things that bring you joy? Are you making healthy choices for your mind, body and spirit? How do your relationships make you feel? What did make you grow? What have you learned about yourself lately? What is happening in your life? What do you want? Do you even ask? What would you like to change? What makes you sad or uncomfortable or unsafe? What can you do to change it? Can you ask for help?
Being intentional is necessary to self-reflect. I invite you to put it in your agenda, to plan that alone time to self-reflect because it has many benefits. Start small. Here there are some of them:
1. Learning. What is this person showing me? Teaching me? What is this situation showing me? Teaching me? What am I learning here? These are some of the questions that can help you to see the lesson in experiences. It can also help you to learn from your mistakes and find better ways to move on. And most important, it can help you to reflect and learn from your successes. What did I do right? How did I do it? Celebrate and acknowledge your successes.
2. Understanding. When we step back and reflect we have a better chance to understand somebody or a situation. Even our reactions, emotions and actions.
3. How to respond. When you pause and reflect it can help you to explore how to respond with words or actions in a given situation.
4. Self-awareness. As I explained above dive inside of you and go home. Explore your thoughts and emotions, feelings. What do you like? What you don’t like? How can you improve this or that in your life? Is this what you want? How can I change this or that? If it’s hard for you, start with only witnessing what happens inside and ask one simple question? Only one. Then another day you can ask a couple. Little by little, be patient with yourself.
5. Helping Others. It can help us to help others. We can teach and share our experiences. What we learned.
New Year’s Eve is the day we all pick for self-reflecting and make a list of resolutions, but the thing is that we can do it anytime. In fact, it’s good to do it often. We get caught in our busy lives that we forget to sit down and just be. Many of us got caught in the fast pace life and we don’t even ask how are you? But really how are you and listen to the answer. Feel the other person being present. Self-reflection helps you to remember that home is inside of you. That connection. And that connection then happens outside with those around you. Self-reflection brings positivity to your life, solutions, answers, questions that can lead you to adventures, growth, evolution, learning about your weaknesses and your strengths.
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