Reflect Your Way to a New You
Three ways to self-reflect on your life.
1. Asking yourself questions that provoke thought.
2. Spending time journaling.
3. Meditating.
Augh!
Is this how you feel right now. There is a desire to create life-changing goals for your life but don’t know where to start.
Looking at your life and recognize that you had plans to work on things this past year, but the year has gone by, and you are still at the same spot that you were at the beginning of the year.
You have tried repeatedly to sit down and create goals for your life. But you feel stuck because you don’t know where to start.
Personal Reflection Example
I know how you feel. I felt like I was repeating the same life year after year, and nothing was changing for me. Every year I would create goals or what we usually call New Year’s resolutions, and by mid-February, I found myself not working on anything.
I wanted my life to change, but the way I was going about it did not bring me results. Ended falling back into old habits and old patterns of life.
I took a class at the local college on self-exploration. The book we used, I still have it, and it’s called “I Never Knew I Had a Choice: Explorations in Personal Growth by Gerald Corey and Marianne Schreiner Corey. That class had me in tears most of the time.
Don’t worry I do not have plans on going that deep with you.
Areas I explored at That Time
I explored different areas of my life that I had never thought about before. It gave me a deeper understanding of who I am, what I love and do not love, and my characteristics, values, and morals.
That’s when I took the time to recognize myself for myself.
It helped me to focus on what’s going on inside of me; who I want to become, and how that was different from who I was at that time.
That was the beginning of self-reflection for me. Every year I take some time for self-reflection to see where I am at, and I make sure that I am on the path I desire and not someone else’s desire for me.
I’m going to help you to begin a lifestyle of self-reflection.
And we’re going to focus on self-reflection to create goals for your life.
This article will discuss:
- What it means to self-reflect on your life.
- Why is self-reflection important in life.
- How do you self-reflect on your life to create goals?
What it means to self-reflect on your life
Reflection is taking an introspective look into every area of your life. You take the time to analyze those areas profoundly and think about how you ended up where you are and how you will get to where you want to be.
For example, one of the areas of my life that I am looking deeply into is my health. My doctor told me that I needed to lose some weight and increase the intensity of my exercise. And because of years of living a highly stressful lifestyle, I have developed other health issues that I am currently working on reversing.
I have discovered how I developed these health issues by reflecting on my health, and I recognized how stress played a significant role in my life and health. And I have come to an understanding of things that I need to change and things that I need to accept.
In addition, I also begin working on my thoughts, feelings, behaviors, motivation, and desire to change.
That is an area that I am constantly analyzing, listening to my doctor’s advice, and listening to my health coach’s advice.
Take the time to analyze your life. You may want to choose one area at a time to work on and begin implementing change. One area can bring multiple goals to work on, and each goal may have numerous sub-goals to work on.
So start with one.
Begin asking yourself questions to think:
1. Am I living true to myself?
2. Am I where I desired to be?
3. What’s holding me back from moving forward?
4. What are my fears?
5. Are there things that I need to let go of?
6. What do I need to change to reach where I want to be?
7. How will I make those changes?
8. What steps do I need to complete to reach my goal?
9. Which obstacles will I need to overcome to work on my goals?
10. What beliefs will I need to change to reach my goals?
Why is reflection important
Reflecting on your life will bring self-awareness about who you are and your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, motivation, and desires. It will help you recognize your own beliefs systems and the changes you may need to make to move forward in life and reach your goals. There will also be a shift in your mindset and beliefs, and recognizing what you feel is essential in your life; will help you realize the path you were on and where you desire to be in life. Reflection is necessary, which will keep you aware of where you’re at and where you want to go, and how you will get there.
How do you self-reflect on your life?
- Start with the list of questions from above and begin to ask yourself those questions and other important questions that will help you understand where you’re and how you got there. You can find a list of other questions here.
- Spend some time journaling. Write down whatever is on your mind. Take some time to think about what you were thinking about. At times you may need to do what is called a brain dump. You will sit down and write down everything you were thinking about, and it helps clear your mind and give you the ability to refocus.
- Meditate. Find a quiet spot with no interruptions and just begin to think about your life, recognize what comes up in that quietness. You may even want to journal whatever your mind thinks about or whatever your body desires to release. Let the thoughts come, let the feeling flow, and just sit with it for a while. If it brings tears, do not stop them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you are ready to move on in life. You desire to develop a lifestyle of self-reflection to create the goals that will move your life forward. Begin to take time to self-reflect on the different areas of your life. Start with a list of questions to ask yourself and think about. Spend time journaling about whatever is on your mind. And you will spend time meditating, bringing those unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and feelings to the conscious, and begin working on them.
This is a start. It is a small start, but it is a start. And that is all you need; it is just to begin. Begin to become aware through self-reflection and create life-changing goals that will move your life forward in the direction you desire for it to go.