Do you ever take some moments, sit down and try to think about, meditate on and evaluate your behavior, desires and attitude. According to Cambridge dictionary, self -reflection is the activity of thinking about your own feelings and behavior, and the reasons that may lie behind them. Self-reflection is not about focusing on the negative alone, it also enables you to think about what you do well.
It promotes learning and development, personal growth and better understanding of oneself. This process helps individuals to identify their strengths and weaknesses and areas in their life where they need change and improvements well as appreciating what they are getting right.
Self-reflection requires one to be authentic and be brutally honest with yourself. That way you can get correct information about yourself from yourself, learn and use the knowledge that you get in the future. This helps to bring about emotional stability which helps one to deal with different situations better, and self-esteem which brings about effective communication and informed decision making.
Lack of personal reflection causes people to waste their time and energy on things that are not working for them. Some may only realize it later that they did not think things through when they get stuck. Some people do it but not so often which brings the needed results or perspectives late.
HOW TO PRACTICE SELF-REFLECTION.
- Journaling: write down your thoughts, feelings and experiences. It serves as a way of expressing yourself and you can come back do evaluate later.
- Meditation and mindfulness: focus (meditate) on one thing and reflect on it. Mindfulness is complete awareness of one’s thoughts, behavior and emotional state. This enhances self-control.
- Practice gratitude: applaud yourself for your achievements no matter how small they are. Thinking about things that made u happy can help keep you motivated.
- Set your goals and reflect: write down your goals and give timelines for achieving them. Reflect on your progress. Find out what you need to do or where and how you need to make improvements.
- Reflective conversations: can be done alone or with trusted friends. Discuss your thoughts with someone you can trust and who is sincere. You could consider talking to yourself first to get your thoughts organized and understand them clearly.
- Go out into nature
- Mantras and affirmations.