Self-reflection or introspection means being impartially self-aware and analyzing your beliefs, feelings, actions and emotions. You should use self-reflection to think about how your life is currently like and your role on earth. Self-reflection, when used well, will turn your life around. On the other hand, when misused or when you become obsessed with it will turn you into a self-judgmental person.
In this article, I am going to discuss how self-reflection can improve your life and make you happier, positive as well as help you grow.
It helps you focus on your goals
After the soul search of self-reflecting, you will then know which things in your life to focus on and which ones to discard. This means you will strategize afresh and commit your life to the things that will make a difference. The result will be perfection on the specific things that you have decided matter in your life because you will give them your all.
It shows you what you can control
Sometimes we tend to think the world revolves around us, or we have the full responsibility to change the world. Ok, it might not be the whole world but even a small world like our bodies. Once you give yourself that duty you eventually overwhelm yourself by trying to change things that you cannot. Self-reflection will help you know what you can do and what you can control hence reducing the pressure you put on yourself. So relax if everyone in your family has blue eyes and you are stressing over how to make yours the same color.
Makes you treat people better
Lack of self-reflection makes you become biased towards people. You become judgmental and might even treat people unfairly. This may lead you to create enemies where there are none. Self-reflection will help you learn to understand the words and actions of other people. You will then be slow to judge the people and then treat them better which will foster your interpersonal relationships.
Helps you change your personal life
Self-reflection makes you more self-aware by helping you understand yourself. It will help you understand why you act the way you do, why you have the thoughts you have, and why you respond to people as you do. You will then identify the areas you are struggling with and lay down procedures to deal with them. When you work on these areas, you will be more alert and able to see opportunities and utilize them. You will also avoid those things that are not helping you to grow.
Helps you know your true values
Self-reflection is an in-depth exercise searching the core of your soul to know what drives you and what makes you come alive. It will help you dig out what matters to you and discard whatever doesn’t. This way your true values will be uncovered and you will be able to act on them. At the same time, you will get rid of values that you thought made you who you are but they are just superficial. This way the real you will come out and help you grow to the maximum. Do not be surprised to find yourself coming up with new values for your life once you understand yourself and ditch the meaningless values you had picked from other people.
Makes you sleep better
Making a habit of daily reflecting on the happenings of the day and what they mean before falling asleep will give you clearance on issues. When your mind is clear and not clogged with thoughts and ruminations of issues, you get to sleep better. Sleeping better, in turn, means your life will not stall because you are irritable, sickly and foggy and cannot focus.
Gives you confidence
Self-reflection will provide you with more confidence because you will know what matters in your life and you put all your concentration in it. You will know yourself better which in turn helps you to tackle matters with a sober mind. Confidence is a crucial ingredient in successfully running a busy life full of delicate commitments. Confidence will help you speak your mind clearly and also help you make decisions wisely. This means you will make decisions full of integrity that you will not regret and are suitable for specific situations.
Reduces stress and anxiety
Because self-reflection gives you higher self-esteem, you will then have reduced stress and anxiety. Stress is damaging to your life because it prevents you from making clear-headed decisions because it clouds your judgement. This is because you will act out of uncontrolled emotions and pressure instead of using integrity. On the other hand, if you self-reflect and evaluate issues before you act, you will make better decisions.
The bottom line
You can work on your self-reflection by getting in a quiet place and journaling, meditating, breathing exercises, reading, asking questions and counting all that you have. You can decide to self-reflect on your own, but using a life coach or mentor will give you better results.