Reflective Practise

I wrote about Reflective Practise on this website a couple of years ago. My thinking has moved forward since then – you could say, the result of reflective practise itself!

Here’s what I wrote back then:

What do I mean by ‘Reflective Practise’? This is the regular habit of asking yourself questions about how you are going about your work, your daily habits of living. Finding the opportunity to step back, and take a critical (but positive) look at what is working, what is not working, and what the key learning points are from the day.

Doing this on a regular basis is key, writing it down is also a fundamental part of the learning process. The act of writing ensures that the points are captured for future reference, but it also ensures a level of objectivity through the writing act. Seeing the words on the page helps to detach me from the points that are being made so that I can reflect on them, look at what they mean and take action based on them.

Key questions for this reflective practise would be:

• What was good about today?
• What 3 things worked really well?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What have I learnt from this?

Not too many questions – this isn’t meant to be a major exercise. And the questions are just pointers to prompt thinking.

If we are to move habits and behaviours, embedding those which are productive and doing something about habits which don’t serve us, we need reflective practise to act as a prompt to move us forward.

What did you do today? What were you proud of? Can you point to something and appreciate it, so that tomorrow you begin the day from a positive place and continue to build?

Commit to this new practise for 30 days and see where it takes you. New habits take this long to become embedded. Work with this as a form of self appreciation, and see how it builds a sense of direction and esteem. Good luck.

So, what have I learnt that is new?

Well, the 30 days exercise is very helpful. I am using it to reinvigorate this blog for example. It is important in using this exercise to take account of the realities of life. So, don’t expect to be active at weekends if life will get in the way. And if you miss a day just keep going. It’s not the end of the world. So, for 30 daily routines I am producing a blog post. Some I am scheduling into the future so that I don’t overwhelm the reader. It is going really well after 10 days.

Also, being in the chaos of everyday can makes us very poor decision makers. This is why it is important to have time alone. In a future post I will describe a 24 hour retreat which I took back in April. It was a powerful experience. It is also important to find small segments of time in the day when we can centre and ground ourselves. This not only helps with clear thinking, but it is also a space where we can reflect. Even if it is just for 10 minutes.

Constant improvement as reflective practise