Have you ever wondered why you think or behave the way you do? Or thought about the choices you made in your life and what has driven you to make them? Well…it might seem a bit pointless to spend time analysing what has already happened, it’s not like you can go back in time and change them anyways. Valid point! Self-reflection doesn’t change the past, but it can definitely help you change your future.
Sitting down and reflecting on the past is probably not on anyone’s top of their “to do list”. It doesn’t have to be on the top of the list…but it should at least be ON the list! It’s important to stop and reflect on our actions, behaviors, and feelings. We can easily go through life in a robotic manner, feeling the same way, making the same decisions and mistakes again and again…and AGAIN. This eventually becomes the norm where you get stuck in a routine that does not let you grow or thrive. One of the essential ways to get out of the rut is SELF-REFLECTION.
What is Self-Reflection?
Self-reflection is the process of simply analyzing or examining our thoughts, actions, feelings, behaviors, decisions and experiences. Simply put…it’s reflecting on us as an individual and our life. We can learn so much about ourselves from reflecting on our past…from our experiences, failures, success, happy moments and even sorrow ones. This practice gives us a deeper understanding of who we are, why we behave the way we do, who we want to be and what we want out of life.
5 Benefits of Self-Reflection
- Self-Awareness:
Self-reflection increases our emotional intelligence, where we are more aware of our feelings, behaviors, strengths and weaknesses. Reflecting on our past, we can learn from our experiences, whether it’s success or failures. It’s helpful to understand what worked and didn’t work for us in the past.
This will allow us to make better choices now and in the future to avoid making the same mistakes again and falling into a pattern you much rather avoid.
- Self-Development:
You can look back on a certain situation in the past and analyze it to see how you felt, the decisions you made, what worked and what didn’t. Through this process you can better understand your actions and why you behaved or felt the way you did. This will allow you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and allow you to recognize your areas of improvement.
It further helps you appreciate what your beliefs and values are and if your behaviors and actions are aligned with them. This awareness can help you make changes to develop yourself and grow as a person.
- Sense of Closure:
There can be many difficult situations or experiences in life which can hold us back from truly being free. The feelings associated with the experiences can creep back into our minds when we least expect it and hamper our ability to make the right choices in our life.
In order to move on from these emotions is to have closure with that particular event or experience. The first step towards that is through self-reflection, by acknowledging it, understanding why it happened and your feelings, behavior and actions when it happened and thereafter.
- Keeps you Accountable:
Self-reflection forces you to evaluate your past goals and if you were able to achieve them or not. This can assist you in identifying your actions or lack thereof. You can learn in depth what steps worked for you to complete certain goals and which ones prevented you from achieving them.
If you dig a bit deeper, you can in fact understand your behavioral patterns and feelings associated with each goal to learn what worked for you. This will keep you accountable with your current and future goals by learning from the past experience and implementing the necessary changes in your strategies and actions to achieve them.
- Mindfulness:
The process of self-reflection requires a certain level of focus and concentration on your part. This naturally paves way to a state of mindfulness which keeps you in the present moment while you are reflecting on your past actions and emotions.
As you navigate through your past experiences through self-reflection, you will find yourself grounded in the present and more aware of your thoughts and feelings surrounding it.
CUP OF FINAL THOUGHTS ????
Self-reflection may seem like an overwhelming task which takes effort and focus to be able to reflect on our past experiences and actions…but it is a crucial step for our growth and self-development. When we understand why we think or behave the way we do, we become more in tune with what works for us in our life. We become more efficient in navigating our feelings and be in more control of how we behave and act in response to any life’s challenges going forward.
Let this post be a reminder to start your self-reflection…like right now!
