Often several times in a day I reflect on my day, my life, on what I’ve been doing right and what isn’t working. I reflect on every aspect of my life and from this habit of reflection I am able to continuously improve.
Reflection is an extremely empowering habit. Most of us can do an absolute turnaround if you spend some time every day on reflecting. Do not get confused with meditation and reflection. They are both at different ends of the spectrum. By reflecting on your life you are bound to get some amazing insights about yourself. As Life Coaches we tend to reflect on an individuals life and navigate our way through. I strongly believe that some of my deepest questions have been answered through reflection. I can’t find a better time than writing about it especially when we see lot of issues around us. If you have not tried reflecting then I would highly recommend it to bring about a drastic change in your life. Some of the biggest advantage of self reflection are –
It helps you learn from your mistakes: All of us have committed our share of mistakes intentionally or otherwise. When one commits a mistake, the smartest thing to do is to reflect on it and see what best you can learn from it. I know it is easier said than done but if we do not reflect on our mistakes ,then we are prone to do it again. However if we focus on what went wrong then we are sure to gain some valuable insights which will definitely makes us wiser. I realized that I was having my last meal of the day later than desired. By reflecting on why this was happening i realized that I could gain an hour or two by ensuring that I head home immediately after my workouts and not socialize everyday .Now I am pretty proud that I reach home much earlier than before and prepare for the next day. Yes, I did compromise on meeting my like minded friends and sharing experiences. Now I do this by carefully planning my activities and keeping my long term goals in mind.
It does help you gain ideas: I get some incredible ideas from self reflection and would never have done so many things in my own life if I had not reflected on the challenges I was facing. Doing something what I am doing right now i.e. helping people transform lives was basically an idea which came to me when I was reflecting on what to do when I was on a sabbatical. For quite some time I did not know what I would be doing especially after putting in my papers. What I am doing now was an idea conceived through self reflection which has changed my life for the better. At the end of the day when you realize that this one action has helped somebody immensely, there is a greater sense of satisfaction.
It helps you to help others: The ideas for my Blog post and social network feeds does come from actual reflection. what really gives me a high is when I know that these ideas have helped someone in changing their life for the better. I have realized that through reflection small ideas have incredible power to change people’s lives drastically.. I’ve had quite a number of mails from readers who tell me how my little tips to them like how to wake up early or start the exercise habit has changed their lives and made them do a complete turnaround . That’s an incredible feeling. I’m overjoyed that by these simple ideas I was able to help people or inspire them.
It makes you more happier and content: By reflecting on what is going on right in your life you can focus on the positives. I believe that focus on the positive and you will eventually end up attracting more positive things in your life. I strongly believe that by not reflecting we usually tend to focus on our failures and end up not being true to ourselves.
It gives you a better perspective: I see that a lot of people are caught up in their life’s struggle be it working against some deadline or struggling to achieve their work-life balance. stepping back and looking at the pressing issues from a different perspective will surely give you a different view and probably a better solution. This will surely calm us down and reduce our stress level which has already touched the tipping point for most people.
There are many a way to begin some kind of self reflection and there is no one right way. I personally reflect a lot during my exercise time either when i am running or swimming . This is the best moment for me to reflect especially when I am drained of my physical resources and pushing myself through with my mental toughness.
I urge each one of you to spend some quality time in reflecting since you will tap into your subconscious mind and that is where the answers to most of our questions are hidden. By working on reflecting you are also getting into a more powerful habit of communicating through to your sub conscious level. I would love to hear from you as to how you have developed your own methods of reflecting in your daily life. Do share your thoughts on my Face book Fan page or on my mail id coach@satishrao.in