Enhance Your Mental, Physical And Emotional Wellbeing Through ‘Reflection And Self-Awareness’

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• what is reflection and self-awareness?
• what are the benefits of practicing daily?
• what can we do and how can we get started today?

The practice of ‘reflecting on our personal experiences’ offers us gentle guidance on how we can improve our lives for the benefit of our self and others.

By increasing our self-awareness we are able to identify what needs healing within ourselves and so begin the process, through our own holistic healing, to function at a higher level, achieve our goals and enjoy a peaceful and fulfilling life.

Practicing reflection and self-awareness together leads us to increased wisdom and a deeper understanding of who we are and how to function at our best in the world.

Reflection.

We experience our greatest learning through reflection on our personal experiences and the lessons we are being taught every day. Our life is a series of lessons wherein we are given the opportunity to learn something which we need to know and, if we don’t, it will keep happening over and over again until we do. We are usually so caught up within the spontaneity of the moment that we fail to realise that ‘the lesson’ is even happening.

Using reflection every day helps us towards identifying and knowing who we are now so that we can start work towards who we would like to become. We can begin to think about and decide what is most important to us and what we want to achieve in the future. By taking positive action in setting out a series of steps to take we know that we are taking responsibility for ourselves and this keeps us firmly within our own power. So long as we are prepared to commit to putting in the work we cannot fail.

Self-Awareness.

This is where increased self-awareness comes in. Slowing down and taking time to consider the consequences of what we say and do will result in us making more positive choices and less harmful ones.

Developing self-awareness will also alert us to our ego’s constant desire to pull us this way and that in its battle to always come out on top in any situation.

We often call this ‘awakening’ because as we become more self-aware we become more open to pursue deeper self-exploration and discovery. This is what forms the basis of our ongoing spiritual journey.

By working holistically with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies we can bring about the necessary balance, harmony and alignment which will enable us to live our life’s purpose and achieve our goals.

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To recap then, when we begin by reflecting honestly on our experiences of the past day we will see what went well and what didn’t. We might be able to see some of those lessons I mentioned, which we often refer to as deja vu moments, or feel remorse over something we said or how we said it or maybe something we did which we now regret. As we continue to practice in this way our self-awareness will develop and we will begin to notice a decrease in the negative aspects of our recollections resulting in a more peaceful heart-mind and feelings of balance and harmony. This is our goal.

The Benefits of Daily Practice.

Creating the space and dedicating time to practice anything we want to improve at leads to increased competency. Whether it’s learning to play the piano, writing or meditation the more we consistently practice the quicker we will see improved results.

By taking a small amount of time each day to combine reflection and self-awareness we can overcome many negative attributes and emotions which lead us into suffering. Writing in a journal daily is a good practice to help keep track of what you notice, how you feel and where you may be struggling or making progress.

Your self-questioning following reflection should always feel empowering as it should put you back in control. If you experience continued or strong negative and overwhelming emotions it might be time to look for some help and support to help you overcome what you are struggling with. The most important step is to accept your feelings and emotions and begin work to move yourself back to a place of balance and harmony.

How to Get Started.

You can begin this simple but deeply transformative practice today by setting the intention to:

• Create space for yourself to reflect in order to increase your self-awareness
• Dedicate 10-15 minutes of time for quiet, *seated meditation or journaling
• Be honest with yourself about your feelings and emotions. (Note what triggers you and what you enjoy most each day and you will begin to see patterns emerging)
• Gift yourself this time and use whatever comes up as your starting point to work from

*If you are not comfortable with seated meditation at first, start by journaling for a week or two and then move to meditation if and when it feels right for you. Always be gentle with yourself – body and mind – never forceful as that can be counterproductive.

The important thing here is not any terminology or methodology but the fact that you are taking time for yourself, holding space in order to become fully aware of what you are thinking, saying, doing and why; understanding how that makes you feel and, intuitively, finding ways to manage and make things work better. You will soon find that you are growing into a new way of looking at yourself and the world. 

Each of us already holds all the answers we seek within our mind and body. By working gently and patiently with ourselves we can bring out those answers and begin to effect lasting positive change for the benefit of our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing as well as also achieving our goals and enjoying a peaceful and fulfilling life.

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