Tag Archives: becoming your best self

22

My Reflections

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Reflections– serious thoughts or considerations.

reflectionLife is the most magnificent classroom we will ever find.

For the lessons to have value, there needs to be a concerted effort at reflection where severe thought or consideration is spent determining the meaning of things to you.

There is value in all experiences, but you have to look for it many times. Being more conscious of the moments we have to learn from and reflecting on them for value begins with your thoughts, emotions, words, and actions. The Purpose of reflection is thoughtful contemplation of events to become the best we can be.  

The Value of Reflection

One of the rewards of reflection is that a person can take a complex, tumultuous situation and my valuable, meaningful moments from it. The human mind is always trying to make sense of things and determine where something fits in their experience. Without reflection, there is no room to reflectionlearn about or consider any new situation or results leading to learning. With a bit of contemplation, each case brings an opportunity for growth. Take advantage of that chance and become a better version of yourself.

This choice is not easy because the swirl of activity can be disorienting. Like a carnival ride, a lot of input in a short time. That is where reflection allows you to walk back over it, look for the value, and disregard the parts that aren’t helpful. Considering the amount that exists at the moment will give you the ability to grow almost as much as you choose to. You can find the calm in the chaos of life and provide that to other people as well. That is the value of reflection.

Reflect and Grow

One of the issues with being human is that we all have faults, and no matter what we are doing, we can do it a little bit better. It is only reflectionthrough thoughtful reflection that improvement can come. Even at a job you have been doing for years, and you can do it better. Reflection will show you potential paths for development and growth in all situations.

To refuse to reflect on performance and possibility is the only limit to improvement in anything you do. It is easy to get comfortable and think you have mastered any particular skill or activity. This complacency is the way to limit what you can be and grow into as your best self. Become conscious of what you are doing and never stop looking for potential innovation you can create. It is only through the reflection of people performing a task that improvement will arrive. One of man’s most significant faults is to believe they know it all. There are always new frontiers to conquer.

Reflections

Today I urge you to be conscious of the situations in your life. At work, at play, or home. Look at what is happening and ask yourself reflective questions. How can this be better? What is of value here? What lesson can I learn? What else is here that I may not recognize on the surface? How can I be a better person because of this situation?

Being conscious of your thoughts, emotions, words, and actions will create more value from what you experience. Every moment is a chance to learn something, or it is a chance to know nothing, and you decide that value. 

Questions for Reflection:

What have you recently experienced that was painful but made you a better person for going through it? 

What is the most valuable lesson you have ever learned? 

What makes you the right person?

How can you improve at your job or a talent you participate in every day? 

Quotes on Reflections

“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” ― Yvonne Woon, Dead Beautiful

“To reflect is to allow yourself a moment to learn valuable lessons every experience gives you.”

“Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” Bob Seger

 

21

Silence and Space

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Silence and space are two of the factors that allow all things to exist, but they are there lying in the background of life largely unnoticed, unappreciated, or even unwanted. But without them, we could speak no word, or we could bring creation into existence.  I am taking a moment to appreciate both the silence and space with all of their magical capabilities today.  There is a power in the silence of a moment that many feel we need to fill with some noise to be comfortable. The same can be said for space, and we often go through our days paying no attention to space all around us. We focus on the things that exist, not seeing the opportunities all around them. Let’s focus today on the power of silence and the space in our lives.

Hear the Silence

It is normal to pay attention to the sounds we hear. For example, a voice brings us information, a song that touches our soul, the dialogue in our favorite shows,  or just the sounds all around us. But to focus on the silence all around us makes all of these sounds possible. Pay attention to the quiet and ignore the sounds for just a short time every day.  When you pay attention to the outer silence, you pay attention to the extreme silence. You create an inner silence inside of yourself.  This allows your mind to become still.

By bringing your mind to stillness, you can see and feel everything around you calmly. The outer silence creates the palate for sound to come into being. The inner silence provides a canvas for the clear internal words and noises to be spoken as well. Honest thoughts of value can come to you out of the silence of your mind. The answers to questions asked, the route to find your happiness. Stillness inside starts with paying attention to the silence without. You can’t pay attention to outer silence and not become still inside, and that contains within it the possibilities of all things.

Wide Open Spaces

For anything to come into being, there has to be a space for it to exist. The power and value of a room are not the four walls but the space inside the walls. It is the same for everything and every place else. It is the absence of things that creates the potential of our world. A blank page is an ultimate playground for great.

Do you see an empty room or a room full of potential?

art of all kinds, writing a story, a thought, or drawing a picture. The space we see is the potential for everything to exist. Space itself has no actual existence, but it allows all other things to exist.

Become acutely aware of the space all around you. If you look closely, you will become aware of the space and the feeling of no thinking, which allows all thoughts to come into your head. Look at the nothing in the room and see its potential. You might see the potential in the space inside you as well—space for creation, caring, and kindness.  There is no limit on the number of these things you can create. Like the silence, space is still and infinite in potential. Look for your creations in the space in your life. It can be shaped into what you need or desire to create.

Connections

Both space and silence allow you to calm and silence your thoughts and allow for the things inside you that are a gift to the world to rise to the top and be shared with all. The cap on the bottle can be removed by becoming still with the silence or empty like space. It allows for things to come out hidden by the sounds or lost behind the things that we already are occupied with. Change your focus from the sounds you hear or the things you see to the silence behind the sound and the space surrounding everything in the world.  This observation is a doorway to creativity and understanding yourself.

“Space and silence are two aspects of the same thing. The same no-thing. They are externalization of inner space and inner silence, which is stillness: the infinitely creative womb of all existence.” – Eckhart Tolle. 

“Let silence take you to the core of life.” ― Rumi

“Never say anything that doesn’t improve on silence.” ― Richard Yates