Personal Development: 5 reasons for self-reflection

We explain the strengths of self-reflection so you can get to know yourself better.

The personal development and self-reflectionare two of the keys to your emotional well-being.

The importance of self-reflection

Practicing self-reflection is a very important aspect of a person's development. Intuitively, many would agree that experience is one of the best ways to grow. one of the best ways to grow.

Learning from mistakes is something that has happened to all of us, but experience can have different consequences for each person: not everyone will perceive facts in the same way. Without an active thought process about what we experience or without questioning the meaning of those experiences, learning will often not occur. In other words, what takes us from simple experience to learning is self-reflection. self-reflection.

Self-reflection will allow us to learn in a deeper way by looking at situations from different lenses and by encouraging challenging questions that will lead us to question our own beliefs about the world. If reflection is correct, it will help us to be more realistic and to follow our path of personal development.

Reflection and emotions: walking towards well-being

We have already discussed the relationship between well-being and emotions in our article "What is emotional intelligence?".

For example, the development of self-control refers to an improvement in impulse management, emotional self-regulation and emotional self-regulationemotional planningplanning, self-awareness self-awareness and social adaptationwhich are absolutely essential for human well-being and which are fully in line with meaningful learning for and by life. In order to acquire good self-control, this requires a good level of inner reflectionThe connection between self-reflection and well-being seems obvious.

The word well-beingthat is to say, being wellrefers to "being in the place I want to be", and implies achieving balance and harmony in our daily life; in our relationship with ourselves and in our interaction with others. Therefore, well-being is not a constant, but a dynamic component, which is built throughout life and can change at any time.

However, well-being can become a relatively stable characteristic if we have a good relationship with our inner self.. By achieving this, we will be able to cope with the various experiences that come our way in our daily lives. This is what personal development is all about.

Personal development and self-reflection: curiosity and pain

In order to build the internal support that will allow us to face the situations and problems of our daily life, it will be necessary to make difficult decisions, to assume a position or a certain point of view and to decide the best choice. If we want well-being to be a more or less stable feature, we will have to ask ourselves the following question from time to time: "is this where I want to be?".

This question is going to let us to know if we are really in the place we want to be (our job, our partner (our job, our partner, our city, etc.). If the answer is yes, we will be in a state of Flow and everything will seem to be in harmony. If the answer is no, then we will be in the place of discomfort. The way to get back to well-being is self-reflection: moving towards personal development.

Therefore, the path of personal development is neither more nor less than the path to well-being, to the place where I want to be, but this does not mean that we are constantly reflecting. We have already commented on the importance of living in the present in the article "Mindfulness: 8 benefits of mindfulness".

Even so, Mindfulness requires reflection and an awareness of our emotional state, and then accept ourselves as we are. In addition, the present will also indicate whether we are at ease or not, as there are two paths that will lead us to self-reflection: curiosity and pain.

The problems of avoiding reflection

Constantly living far from the present, in the past, in the future or in the excessive self-demands that we place on ourselves are not due to a full self-knowledge, but to an unbalanced and not very objective image of ourselves, which generates low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy, social withdrawal, poor assertiveness, constant stress and anxiety, psychosomatic problems and poor emotional wellbeing.

Although reflection towards personal development might seem easy at first glance, many people turn to coaching professionals in order to unblock themselves. The coach, as a facilitator of personal development, gets the client to reflect through socratic questions, allowing the client to continue to grow as a person. The coach helps to connect with desires and emotionsAlthough reflection may seem like an intellectual act, it is an emotional act: detachment plays a decisive role in our growth as individuals.

In fact, avoiding self-reflection is commonplace. When it is curiosity that leads us to reflect, and we avoid it, we become rigidity appears. If we consider that there are other ways of doing things, but we are afraid of this possibility, we will probably never leave our comfort zone. comfort zone. On the other hand, if it is Pain that leads us to reflect, but we do not attack this detachment, surely we will experience sadness. In the long run, sadness will turn into melancholy and we will continue to think that the past was always better.

The 5 reasons to reflect

We live in a society that has undergone profound changes in recent decades. Globalization has brought another way of thinking in all of us and capitalism has influenced our lives. to the point of being objects rather than subjects. It is not easy to look inward when culture leads us to constantly look outward, to compare ourselves, to be more successful, more consumers, etc. In the midst of so much information (or infoxication) we stick to old certainties to feel safe, unable to describe reality as it is.

Thus, we deny our emotions, we deny our emotions and we coexist in an unreflective psychic-emotional state.. Our value only seems to have value in the approval of others. In order not to be left over we have to have branded clothes, a pretty girl, a successful profession, a good job, a nice car, etc... building a path of suffering, far from a true sense of personal development, emotional well-being and with our backs turned to our own desires.

Fortunately, we have the reflexive capacity to detach ourselves from certainties, to connect with ourselves and to self-reflect. In the personal dimension our arguments and actions are always guided by our emotions, so it is important to understand and accept them. We do not know what is going to happen in the next present, but whatever happens will be different if it happens in the emotion of expectation, control, superficiality, hypocrisy, or if it happens from the emotion of self-respect, acceptance, gratitude, trust, tenderness.

Summing up: the 5 fundamental points for self-reflection

In summary, these are the five reasons for self-reflection that will guide you on the path of personal development:

• It helps you learn from mistakes
• It helps you to have good ideas
• It helps you relate to others
• Makes you happier
• Helps you see your perspective on things