Mirror of Self Reflection

The mirror of self reflection. Above all, taking a look at yourself from the outside in (or possibly the inside out). Simply put, the self-reflection (also known as “personal reflection”) is taking the time to think about, meditate on and evaluate on. Also, give serious thought to your behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, motivations, and desires. It’s the process of diving deep into your thoughts and emotions and motivations and determining the great, “Why?” behind them.

Therefore, personal reflection allows you to analyze your life from both a macro and micro level. At a macro level, you can evaluate the overall trajectory of your life. As a result, you can see where you’re headed, determine whether you’re happy with the direction, and make adjustments as necessary.

Consequently, the average human has more than 50,000 thoughts per day; more than half of them are negative, and more than 90% are just a repetition from the day before (Wood, 2013).

This means refocusing your mind on positive thoughts through introspection is essential for personal ascendance and growth. As a matter of fact, most people take the end of the year as an opportunity to reflect on the past and set goals for the following year.

Examples of a Personal Reflection

The mirror of self reflection. Who do you see when you look into that mirror? At length, the practice of self-reflection is an extremely powerful one, but it can be uncomfortable. It takes vulnerability, bravery, space, commitment and time. Hence, these self-reflection examples help you thinking about your own feelings and behavior, to eventually grow as a person.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

What is my ultimate career goal? Equally, is my current role going to help me achieve it?

How do I personally define career success? At the same time, are my goals truly fulfilling me, or is that definition impacted by the opinions and perspectives of others?

How will I feel in five years’ time if I don’t make any changes to my current career trajectory?

At this point, if I’m coasting in my current role, what is the root cause?

Do I know what my current skills gaps are and how I can fill them?

What are the self-limiting, negative stories I tell myself every day that could be holding me back? Whereas, do those stories originate from and on what facts (if any) are they based?

If I think back to a time when I was performing at my best, what was I doing, thinking and feeling?

What am I naturally good at? Likewise, what comes easily to me and puts me into that ‘flow’ state?

Which strengths do I most admire in myself? Therefore, which accomplishments am I most proud of?

When did I last push myself out of my comfort zone? In reality, do I really have a growth mindset in terms of my career?

What could I have achieved over the last year that I didn’t? Why didn’t I?

Whenever you’re answering these questions, try to take a step back. They don’t need to be answered instantly. In time, reflect on them and mull them over. Subsequently, my personal trick is to think about them as if you’re a stranger to yourself, ridding yourself of bias or beliefs. In the same fashion, never answer them in ways you think others in your life or society would want to hear. Therefore, look at a situation as if you were the third person evaluating it, and find that ‘detachment’ helpful when exploring your own story. Most important, examine your behavior, decisions and actions with no judgement and an open mind. This is what will allow you to make the right career decisions for you going forward.

Self Introspection

The mirror of self reflection. Therefore, doing a self introspection could give you the key to your existence and inner peace. When faced with a challenge, where do you find the insight to move your life forward? To demonstrate, last year, over fifteen million books were sold in the self-help genre. But, that doesn’t account for the videos, courses, and workshops that fuel this multibillion-dollar industry. Include business and diet books, and that number balloons to over $1.7 billion spent on advice-seeking books. But there’s a secret the masterminds don’t want you to know—many of the answers to life’s most important questions can be found inside of you, for free. It’s called introspection.

Reflection and Personal Development

Mirror of self reflection. Reflection and personal development encourage self development to become the best that you were made to be. Thus, reflecting helps you to develop your skills and review their effectiveness, rather than just carry on doing things as you have always done them. It is about questioning, in a positive way, what you do and why you do it. Then also deciding whether there is a better, or more efficient, way of doing it in the future.

In any role, whether at home or at work, reflection is an important part of learning. In short, you wouldn’t use a recipe a second time around if the dish didn’t work the first time would you? You would either adjust the recipe or find a new and, hopefully, better one. When we learn we can become stuck in a routine that may not be working effectively. Thinking about your own skills can help you identify changes you might need to make.

Reflective questions to ask yourself:

Strengths – What are my strengths? For example, am I well organized? Do I remember things?
Weaknesses – What are my weaknesses? For example, am I easily distracted? Do I need more practice with a particular skill?
Skills – What skills do I have and what am I good at?
Problems – What problems are there at work/home that may affect me? For example, responsibilities or distractions that may impact on study or work.
Achievements – What have I achieved?
Happiness – Are there things that I am unhappy with or disappointed about? What makes me happy?
Solutions – What could I do to improve in these areas?

Although self reflection can seem difficult at first, or even selfish or embarrassing, as it does not come naturally. But you will find it becomes easier with practice and the end result could be a happier and more productive you.

Self Reflection Therapy

Self-Reflection Questions About Purpose

The mirror of self reflection. What questions do you ask to get to your true self? Some days you feel super confident in who you are. In contrast, other days, you wake up questioning if you’re who you want to be. In the meantime, ponder these questions to learn more about your sense of purpose.

Firstly, What activities really light you up?
Who do you admire? What do you admire about them?
What was your biggest dream when you were seven years old?
What are you really good at? Do you have a lot of opportunities to do it?
Finally, What does the word “success” mean to you in your work, relationships, and life?

Self-Reflection Questions About Emotions

Consequently, it can be hard to tune into your emotions when you aren’t sure how to recognize them. These self-reflection questions will help you get in touch with your emotions and recognize where you can continue to grow.

Firstly, What feelings are you the most comfortable with?
How do you react when you feel an intense emotion?
What are you thinking about and feeling at the present moment?
Is there a certain emotion you’re comfortable accepting and feeling?
Are you comfortable supporting others when they’re experiencing a difficult emotion?
Lastly, Do you often take the time to reflect on how you think and feel, or do you tend to push your emotions down and distract yourself?

Self-Reflection Questions About Self-Love

In the event that on the days when you feel like you could use an extra dose of self-love, explore these questions to boost your relationship with yourself.

Firstly, How do you love others unconditionally?
What’s your favourite way to show yourself love?
Do you believe you’re worthy of unconditional love?
Is there someone in your life who loves you unconditionally?
Have you ever criticized yourself for doing something that you’d forgive someone else for doing?
Finally, How do you tend to your emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental needs? Can you add something to your daily routine to help with this?

Self-Reflection Questions About Relationships

In truth, humans are hard-wired to need relationships with other people. Whether you’re looking to deepen your romantic relationships or platonic friendships, check out these reflection questions to connect with how you really feel.

Firstly, What do you value most in a friendship?
What do you value most in a relationship?
Are there any past relationships you still think about?
Additionally, Do you think that you’re a good friend? Why/why not?
Do you think you’re a good romantic partner? Why/why not?
Are you comfortable communicating openly and honestly about your needs in a relationship?
Finally, What was the most difficult breakup you experienced? Was it a friendship or romantic breakup?

Time Management Reflection

The mirror of self reflection. How do you spend time reflecting on your inner self? In the final analysis, time management skills increase your focus and productivity. At the same time, they reduce distractions and procrastination. In time, taking control of your time through good time management increases your productivity. It also helps you get more of your important work done simply and easily.

What are the benefits of managing time?

Subsequently, here are 10 benefits of time management

Less stress
Better work-life balance
More time freedom
Greater focus
Additionally, higher levels of productivity
Less procrastination
Things are simpler and easier
Less distraction
Increased energy
Finally, time to think

Conclusion

The mirror of self reflection. Now you know the true you and what you’re capable of. At any rate, the value to reflect on yourself lies in its power to help identify what’s working well in your life and develop insight into what isn’t — and why. Contrarily, without the self-discovery that comes from introspection, you can become stuck in a routine that’s neither productive nor inspiring. Emphatically, you may not understand why you’re dissatisfied or what you can do to improve your circumstances if you don’t know what you truly want.

What is personal reflection? Notwithstanding, at its heart, personal reflection is setting aside time to think deeply and evaluate your thoughts, attitudes, motivations, and desires. Therefore, it’s examining your emotions and behaviors and then asking yourself, “Why do I feel and act this way?”

However, personality development is a more holistic process that looks for insight into everything you do — both personal and professional. Obviously, once you understand your whole self better, you can enhance and improve your unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Personality development reflection impacts both professional and personal growth. In brief, several topics fall under the “personal development” umbrella, but there are five basic categories. There are five categories: mental, social, spiritual, physical, and emotional. Particularly, if you struggle to meet new people or make conversation, working on your interpersonal skills can help you better connect with others (personal). It can also improve your ability to work on a team (professional). When you’re trying to set goals for personal or professional growth, or both, think about the work you need to do at the personality level.

Well, that’s going to do it for me on my self reflecting journey. Accordingly, I hope you start your journey because it gives you insight into your own personal growth (and maybe even some flaws-to be fixed). Until next time…

Articles on Self Reflection

–25+ Reflection Questions for the End of the Day

-The Importance of Self-Reflection: How Looking Inward Can Improve Your Mental Health

verywellmind.com/self-reflection-importance-benefits-and-strategies-7500858

-Self-Reflection 101: What is self-reflection? Why is reflection important? And how to reflect.

https://www.reflection.app/blog/self-reflection-101-what-is-self-reflection-why-is-reflection-important#:~:text=Simply%20put%2C%20self%2Dreflection%20(,attitudes%2C%20motivations%2C%20and%20desires.

Have a Good One,

Cindee Murphy, One Voice in the Vastness of Emotions

“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s you.” —Rita Mae Brown (December 2002)

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References

https://www.betterup.com/blog/activities-for-personality-development#:~:text=Personality%20development%20is%20a%20more,thinking%2C%20feeling%2C%20and%20behaving.

https://www.betterup.com/blog/self-reflection