Why Reflection is Essential For Health

Reflection is a rear-view mirror helping us look at our lives to see if we’ve been living healthily and to make adjustments. Too many of us live without it. Are you one?

My view is that God created you to be amazing – a brilliant diamond, a unique multi-faceted jewel. But life is muddy. Inevitably most of us find ourselves not shining. Reflection – looking in the rear-view mirror – cleans the grime away so you can shine as you were meant to.

When you reflect, you sort through the things that have brought you pain to better understand what is true and what you need to learn and change.

Distraction & busyness

So many things get in the way! Distraction and busyness keep us running on our hamster wheels, stuck in neural loops. And social media turns habits into addictions.

The result? We live our lives down in the weeds, not able to sort through cause and effect, repeating the behaviors that messed up our lives, keeping us from shining.

Here’s my testimony: While I have my days, in general I’m blessed to not struggle with fear or anxiety as much as many folks. Why? One reason is that I regularly reflect on my life. I’ve been reflecting on reflection since starting this blog nearly 20 years ago (eg. from 2006 Why Reflect and 2013 Reflection Deficit Disorder).

3 Steps

It’s a good day to get off the hamster wheel. Here’s how:

1. Set aside time (2-4 hours) and ask a friend for accountability.
2. Get a good set of questions/prompts like this year-end debriefing tool.
3. Write down your answers. Then go deeper – ask Why? Then ask Why again.

Here’s to a great 2024! Here’s to you shining as you were designed to!