“Follow effective action with quiet reflection.
From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter Drucker
Reflective practice is learning that is directly linked to our actions, thought and feeling – to our direct experience. As a practice, reflection offers us a way to explore and direct the development of our abilities, habits and potential. Conditioned as we are, we tend to accept things as they are and don’t question what is happening or look for better ways until we find ourselves in a crisis. Decisions we make and actions we take are constrained and shaped by our conditioning and life experience. We have a repertoire of expectations, images and techniques, ways of being and doing that we and others identify as who we are.
The more stable and comfortable we are, the more stuck we become in these conditioned patterns of doing and being and yet, at some level of our consciousness, we know that being stuck in our comfort zone can be a life-numbing experience.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool
I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
Because almost everything — all external expectations,
all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure –
these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die
is the best way I know
to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
You are already naked.
There is no reason not to follow your heart.”Steve Jobs
Reflective practice opens up your mind and helps you shift perspectives, enabling you to see the experience in a new light. It also offers a way of paying attention to and trusting your inner knowing allowing you to become mindful of each emerging and unfolding experience in a way that enables you to learn from that experience and make more compassionate choices that develop more skillful practice and move towards creating a more desirable and satisfactory life.
“When we engage in reflection we become clearer about who we are,
aware of and gain access to our deepest self and knowing.”
Dolores Krieger, RN. PhD
Reflective practice transforms information into knowledge. It may include a clear assessment of the situation or situational analysis; an analysis of who all was involved, their roles and relationships to each other; and the feelings each person experienced. You may also include a qualitative, reflective analysis of the experience from an individual or collective perspective and a summary of the event. The summary may feature insights and knowledge gained from the experience along with options for next steps or suggested actions for creative response if the same or similar situation may occur.
Reflection can occur before an action, during an action or following an action taken and can uncover knowledge. It can involve envisioning a possible action or scenario in advance of taking action, allowing us to consider the impact and potential consequences of the action, if taken. Reflection, while performing an action can create awareness illuminating the dynamics involved in the action. Reflection after an action, creates the opportunity to review and relive an experience, bringing it into focus, allowing you to explore aspects of behaviour and experience, gaining insight and a greater understanding of both those aspects that have become habitual and those aspects that energize you.
Flashes of insight enhance inner and outer listening skills to let you see the ways of perceiving, knowing and discovering that bring you peace and joy. Reflective practice challenges your assumptions, refreshes and enhances your body of knowledge and gives you the confidence and self-assurance that comes with knowing and fully accepting yourself. It’s what coaching facilitates.
“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that
but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.”
William Butler Yeats
About Julia von Flotow
