The Power of Reflection
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My ultimate happy place during this quarantine has definitely been my balcony. I live on the 40th floor of a high-rise building right in the middle of the city fortunate enough with a view that allows the eye to see as far as it can see.
I have yet to encounter a person that walks into the condo who does NOT take a moment of stillness to have a look at the view (with the exception of someone with a fear of heights). I have observed how people are naturally curious and drawn to take a look, allow their eyes to see, their breath to slow down and their shoulders to drop. And, just for a moment, stand there and “take it all in”.
It’s glimpse of the much needed PAUSE we need in our life.
What makes reflection important?
Viktor Frankl has been attributed to have said: “ Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” It urges us to honor the pause as a time to REFLECT on our next choice, action, response.
The word “Reflection” comes from the Latin: Reflectere, re-“back” and flectere, “to bend” – bending something back. Allowing ourselves to reflect means we are bending something back, something inwards, allowing our thoughts to bend back inwards.
American Educator and philosopher John Dewey said: “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.” Reflection is an essential part in learning, growing and creating our desired future.
What is the beauty that unfolds in a reflective space?
As Haraya Coaches, we are trained to take our clients on a transformational coaching journey that is deeply rooted in creating and facilitating a reflective learning space for them. Beauty starts to unfold when our client is able to access their reflective thinking capacity and have a space to “think about their thinking”, to “see” their situation from a different perspective, to bring confused thoughts into clarity or to think about things they may never have thought about before.
Reflection gives us a space to:
- Get in touch with what is most meaningful to us
- Helps bring our own learning to life
- Gain perspective
- Become clear on where we want to make a change and take action
- Appreciate and be grateful for our experiences
It is no secret that 2020 was a one crazy experience. Imagine all the gems of wisdom available to us because of the unprecedented year we have had. Now, is a beautiful time to “take it all in” – to integrate our learning and insights of the year into what is to come for 2021.
To get you started…
The Haraya Team has pulled together some of the questions that we have been reflecting on the past few weeks:
- What is your biggest win and made you come alive during 2020?
- What wisdom did you gain from the struggles of the past year?
- What are you most grateful for?
- If 2021 were to be your best year yet, what would you be doing?
- What trait, strength or characteristic in yourself would you need to activate to achieve that?
Enjoy this time of pause, reflection and gratitude.
We will continue to hold the space and bring life coaching in the Philippines within your reach.
Merry Christmas everyone and a wishing you all a blessed 2021.
Stay curious,
Cecilia
