How Self-Reflection Helps You to Know and Grow Yourself?
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
We live in a fast-paced world that requires us to learn quickly, stay up-to-date with what’s happening online and offline, and juggle multiple things at once. We are so focused on getting ahead and achieving the next task, that we don’t necessarily take the time to reflect on what’s going on within us. It is important to pause on the chaos of life, check in with yourself, consider your experiences, and learn from them. Self-reflection can help you to stay grounded and focused on your own needs while ensuring your physical and mental well-being.
Self-reflection is a conscious process of getting to know yourself – your life, beliefs, and behavior, and it is the basis for personal development. Without knowing yourself you can’t really grow or change yourself into the person you want to be.
What are the benefits of self-reflection?
Know yourself to love yourself
Most of you look at the mirror pretty much every day, either to fix your hair or put on some make-up. But how often do you look inward to become more familiar with your inner self? When your inner self does not match with your outer self – your actions do not represent your true self and the values you hold dear – you experience existential conflict. It is very difficult to accept and love yourself truly if you don’t take the time to get to know yourself.
Know your true values
Knowing your values is at the core of knowing yourself. Having the guiding principles that you would like to live by can help you take action and create a future that reflects your core beliefs. Instead of reacting to things, you can take more deliberate and well-intended actions that represent the person you want to be. It keeps you grounded and aligned with your values and helps you to live life with more intention.
Locate yourself
If you have a vision for your future, you need to determine where you are at the moment so you can get where you want to be. Self-awareness can help you to know what you are working with – your strengths, weaknesses, skills you lack, or negative thought patterns you have. It becomes easier to reach your destination once you know your starting point.
Learn and grow
Reflection is an open-minded and growth-oriented approach to self-awareness. You can analyze and draw meaning from your experiences and learn from them. Reflecting on past events, observing yourself in those situations, and determining things you want to do differently next time around can help you learn and grow. This process can change your mindset, inform your future actions, and help you get where you want to be in life.
Declutter your mind
Self-reflection is a wellness treatment for your mind. It brings greater clarity of thought and vision. It is difficult to focus on the task at hand if your workplace is in mess, or choose an outfit when your closet is disorganized. The same can be said about your mind. How can you make a clear decision when your mind is in mess? Reflection can help you declutter your mind, bring order to your thoughts, and get rid of the beliefs that no longer serve you.
Improve decision-making
On average, we make 35,000 decisions per day, most of which are insignificant. Self-reflection can be truly instrumental when making important decisions that can alter the direction of your life. Knowing yourself, your values, and your vision for life, you can make decisions that are in your best interest and put you on the optimal path to personal growth.
Lead peaceful life
Regular self-reflection can clean up your mind from negative thoughts that make you anxious and keep you awake at night. It can help you improve your shortcomings and build confidence, which will also help to minimize your levels of stress. If you designate a specific time in the day to analyze your thoughts, past events, and your response to them, it can bring closure to any unresolved feelings or worries. Now you do not have to dwell on them all day and can move ahead with your life.
Improve relationships
Did you ever say something or act in a way that you regret immediately afterward? Maybe you were rude to your colleague or hurt the feelings of your partner. You said you will not do it again and yet you continue doing it. By reflecting on how you treat and how you would like to treat others you can make the changes that can lead to improved relationships.
Recognize and own your progress
When you are going through tough times or failures, it is easy to feel hopeless and want to give up. However, through self-reflection you can remind yourself of countless times in the past you overcame the odds and succeeded in your endeavor. By documenting the process, you can also track your progress and remind yourself that the things you were worried about before were not that significant after all.
Reach the right goal
So many times, we work tirelessly to achieve a goal only to realize later that we reached the wrong one. Regular self-reflection can help you to keep track of your daily activities to make sure you are working on the right goals and that most of your energy is directed toward achieving them.
Now that you see value in self-reflecting, take a look at my next blog on How to Exercise Self-Reflection on a Regular Basis? It provides practical steps you can take to get to know yourself, acknowledge your strengths, and determine areas you want to change.
This post is part of the 5-Step Guide to Personal Development blog series.
Do you find the self-reflection process useful? How often do you do it, if at all?
