Women of Excellence Practical Reflection !

Let"s talk "practical reflection"!
What in the world is that, you might ask.
Well, it"s putting into daily practice the "art" of personal reflection. Reflection that looks back at what went before in order to glean some meaning and make that meaning meaningful for another period of life.
A few days ago, I mentioned on our blog, a simple exercise that is reflection - pure & simple!
Reflection need not be time consuming or difficult. But it does take "practice" to form the habit of reflection. Consistent practice of the process of five (5) minutes of reflection time over seven (7) to fourteen (14) days will form the process into the habit of reflection!
Why is it important?
It isn"t if all we want from our lives is to go from stage to stage without much to do about little.
It is very important if life has thrown us a curve (divorce or separation after years of marriage; death of something significant to us - whether a job, a person or the goals we wanted to achieve).
It"s also important if we"ve been the decision-maker of change and transition in our lives!
What do we do? How do we start this process called reflection?
One way that works for many women is to take no more than five (5) minutes at some point during our day to be quiet and turn our minds to the events of the day. To do so may take leaving the "hubbub" of our daily routine and finding a place where we won"t be interrupted during the process.
This sounds laughable, but I used to make my quiet reflection time in the bathroom. Remember yesterday"s e-letter "inspiring words" - if you have something tough to tackle - TAKE A BATH!
A locked door, warm water running, pleasant fumes rising from the water and enough candle light to make writing possible is not only engaging the reflection process - it relieves stress!
As the thoughts rise to the surface of your mind - write them down (yes you"ll have to keep a towel handy). Make sure to put the date at the top of the page so when you go back to see the threads, the date gives you a frame of reference!
But if five (5) minutes is all you can carve out at the end of a hectic, packed-full day - then find a quiet place somewhere in your home or yard. Sit quietly; let the stressors and hyper-energy flow out of your body and mind and then turn your thoughts to the events of the day (don"t forget to take that notepad with you). Mentally look back over the past 24 hours! And remember, it"s not so much about the reality of the events, but what the events meant to you and how they might be relevant to life now - or in the future.
As women, we come to a number of junctions (crossroads) in our lives! We roll from one role to the next - especially if we are parenting - or have parented - retired or preparing for retirement - finished a leg of our education or starting a new one.
You get the picture!
We roll from one task to another - tasks that are often totally unrelated to one another because we are involved in myriad numbers of projects. When we come to those junctions or crossroads, the next part of the trip will have more clarity, focus and direction if we"ve taken just 5 minutes daily to put the day"s events and the meaning we attach to them - into a perspective.
And perspective is an aspect of the reflective process!
I"d really like to hear from those of you who have or continue to engage in consistent reflection.
What do you do and how has it been helpful to you as you"ve moved from stage to stage; season to season?
What tools, if any, do you use?
What"s the most positive thing that has happened for you in life because you took the time to consistently practice the "art" of reflection?
Oh, and what, if anything, did you discover during the process?
I know that your willingness to share will be helpful to other women who need what you offer. Especially as it relates to the tools you"ve found work for you!
Tomorrow, we"ll move from reflection to discovery! If you recall I said the first key to the 2nd half of the journey is reflection and that leads to discovery.
Now that you"ve got a sense of the process (reflection) and some sense of how it can be helpful and empowering for you and the important matters in your life - we"ll spend some time talking about discovering.
Discovery, I have found, is one of the single most exciting things in life! It"s like being a babe again who first discovers his or her hands. It"s so much fun to watch a baby discover those funny-looking things hanging from chubby things that seem to go nowhere!
So without going there ("discovery") before going there - we"ll save the fun for tomorrow!
Let me leave you with an "encouraging metaphor" for the day!
"Yellow lights have a purpose - they slow us down. Red lights have their purpose too - they halt us on our way. We can view them as frustrating obstacles of delay. Or we can use the time for productive thoughts as we wait for life to turn "green"!"

Keywords: