How do you self reflect?
First of all, what even is self-reflection and why do you need to do it?
Self-reflection is taking the time to analyse and interpret your thoughts, emotions, actions, and many more things your "self" may experience on a daily basis. It is what builds self-awareness and self-awareness is what helps us avoid being on autopilot, experiencing life and its stresses the same way every-day.
The idea of sitting down with your thoughts may seem scary to most people and that’s what makes this practice even more necessary to do in my opinion, as constantly avoiding unpleasant thoughts will only lead to a miserable life.
Putting in some effort to understand why these thoughts arise, and what lead to them in the first place will help you actually formulate ways to deal with them rather than miserably suppressing them all the time.
Alright how do you do it..
It is important to pick the right time so you can achieve a calm headspace before and during self-reflecting. Don’t start self-reflecting when you’ve got a report due tomorrow.
For me, there are 2 main ways one could go about self-reflecting:
Journalling
Journalling can be a great way to get all of your thoughts and feelings out before analysing them. Whether you randomly jot down everything you felt that day or follow a specific writing exercise, journalling will help you empty your mind of all the pent-up emotions. Bonus is being able to look back at your entries and see how much your mindset and feelings have changed.
Meditation / Going for a walk
Technically these are two different things however I found that a good walk can be just as meditative as a seated session, try it. This one is all about sitting/walking in silence and seeing where you mind wanders. Observe your thoughts.
For example, you stumble upon some anxious thoughts, label them, identify their source and what aspect in your life is causing them and think about the measures you can take to minimize them. A lot of the time you'll realize some of these thoughts are not actually justified by anything at that moment and were just lingering.
Key Questions to ask yourself:
If you’re still lost and need some direct examples of things to ponder, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What worries me most right now?
- What worries me most about the future?
- Am I letting matters out of my control stress me out?
- Am I living on autopilot or am I constantly reviewing and updating my tasks and goals?
- Where was I on this day last year? How much has changed? For better or worse?
A lot of these are open ended as to encourage you to let your mind wander and discover new things to question and think about.
Conclusion
Self-reflection might seem silly at first, however it’s a necessary and an extremely helpful practice to incorporate in your life.
Hope you enjoyed this and good luck self-reflecting!
Go back