Self-Reflection Goes Beyond The Mirror

 

Self-Reflection is a major key to mastering self-improvement. By continually journaling and meditating over your daily successes and failures, you gain the ability to better recognize the areas in which you need the most improving. It takes constant effort to grow a little bit in each area every day. If you don’t self-reflect, you aren’t learning as much as you could be about yourself.

           

Many times, my own efforts at self-reflection can be lacking in the way of relatable material. If anything, I've done my best self-reflection indirectly through poetry. Poetry has always been about turning my thoughts inside out and turning them into something constructive.

 

Wikipedia reminds us that self-reflection is a uniquely human capacity. Having the capacity to be introspective, that is, examining one's own conscious thoughts and emotions, can seem more of a curse than a blessing.

 

It's quite possible to be too introspective, to the point that you may not know where to start in self-reflecting. It's too easy for me to avoid looking in the mirror not to have to stare myself in the face. It's because most of the time I don't know what to think of myself.

 

Sometimes, my self-reflection will lead to writing something that isn’t my typically upbeat and peppy motivational material that I like to write. But, being honest is the most important thing when it comes to writing. If it's worth writing, you have to just be real about it. That being said, my recent self-reflections tell me that I simply don't reflect enough as I should.

 

I'm often far too critical of myself. So, it's hard for me to even write about myself sometimes. That's why I've often written rather abstractly about reality in the past. I'd define terms and try to only sprinkle myself in here and there. It's rare that I'd simply "let go" and truly pour my heart onto the page.

 

Entire books could be written on the topic of self-reflection, but these are my few thoughts for now. Self-reflection really is all about being truthful with yourself. But, don't be destructively critical of yourself. Instead, accept the areas that you need to improve in and work at them. More importantly, you need to reflect on what you are good at. Focus on building those strengths as best as you can. Then, use those strengths to improve in those lacking areas of yourself.

 

How can you learn to do better self-reflection today?

 

~ Amelia Phoenix Desertsong