The Beauty of Reflection

February 01, 2012 10:28 AM

Not everybody reflects.

Thanks to our backwards school system, most of us were never taught us how to reflect. Only to sit in straight rows, follow the rules, solve the next problem, memorize meaningless facts, take the test, accept our grade and move on to the next assignment.

God forbid we stop for a moment to look back on life.

No, that would require independent critical thinking. That might even lead to questioning authority. And you can’t control people who do that. You can’t grow them into obedient, productive cogs for the corporate assembly line if they’re too busy contemplating how baldy they’re being screwed by the system.

For this very reason, we owe it to ourselves to introduce rituals of reflection into our lives. Even if it’s only five minutes a day, we always benefit from looking back.

It’s not a form of narcissism – it’s an act of introspection.

It’s not about living in the past – it’s about confronting our history.

Only then, when we know where we’ve been, can we decide where we need to go.
Only then, when we know who we’ve become, can we decide where we need to grow.

And yet, many of us still won’t do it. Not just because we think it’s an unproductive use of our time, but also because we’re afraid of what we might see, what we might realize we were dead wrong about.

But that’s the beauty of reflection.

That which stares back at us is that which we most need to see.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What are you afraid to reflect on?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “10 Ways to Make the Mundane Memorable” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting

[email protected]

Never the same speech twice.