Reflection and self-reflection as conditions for personal development

Reflection is a special quality inherent in human nature. It is not characteristic of animals and is present only in humans. Thanks to it, we are able to evaluate and rethink our own actions. Unfortunately, reflection often has too strong an impact on our mood. We tend to think about irrelevant events, spending a lot of time and emotional energy on it. In this article we will talk about what reflection is, how it manifests itself, and how to learn to use reflection to your advantage. So,

What is reflection?

In psychology, reflection is the ability of a person to evaluate himself as a unique individual within the society of which he is a part. It includes many aspects, such as awareness of one’s own purpose, assessment of one’s moral and moral qualities, and rethinking of actions.

Philosopher and anthropologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said that reflection implies not only the presence of certain knowledge, but also the ability to analyze and evaluate the level of this knowledge. By reflecting, a person tries to look at himself from the outside. He evaluates how adequate, moral and moral his behavior appears to others.

Reflection also implies internal self-knowledge, awareness of one’s own uniqueness, search for purpose, and the desire to determine one’s value to the world. This is an important mechanism for personality formation, determining behavioral patterns. It affects perception, reaction to surrounding events, decision-making and other individual aspects of human behavior.

How does reflection manifest itself?

Reflection helps a person understand how he looks from the outside, therefore it is one of the most important mechanisms of personal development . Under its influence, a person engages in self-analysis, forms desired habits, and learns to better understand the connection between his actions and the events that follow them. This ensures the development of one of the most important components of our intelligence - the ability to foresee the consequences of our own actions.

Influencing our perception, reflection performs such functions as:

• getting rid of destructive and simply unwanted thoughts;
• formation of logical thinking;
• improved control over one’s own thoughts and actions;
• understanding your own advantages and disadvantages;
• development of self-criticism;
• developing the ability to see the relationship between actions and consequences;
• planning training;
• finding solutions to complex problems;
• finding hidden talents and abilities.

All of the above points are positive, but reflection is not always beneficial. Excessive thinking about one’s own mistakes causes a person to waste a lot of emotional energy, and this is not the worst consequence of self-examination. Therefore, it is important to learn to reflect moderately and consciously, without causing damage to your own psyche.

Less stress and anxiety

One of the key results of knowing yourself more deeply is that you become more confident in yourself and your actions.

You find more confidence in this uncertain world because you are grounded in your sense of self. With more confidence comes less stress and anxiety.

You worry less about the “what ifs” and focus more on what you can do to best align your actions with those guiding principles we talked about above.

And you worry less about what other people might think of you and your choices because you know you're doing what's right for you.

Why is reflection needed?

Trying to define what reflection is, scientists came to the conclusion that its most important function is self-knowledge. By contacting the outside world, observing people’s reactions to their own actions and comparing their behavior with his own, a person forms a set of requirements for himself - a kind of set of rules that he strives to adhere to.

Reflection is necessary in order to accumulate life experience and respond to external events not affectively, but in a balanced and deliberate manner. A person constantly monitors his mood and well-being, tracking the emergence of certain emotions in time, dealing with them and consciously selecting the most adequate response option.

In some situations, a person has to turn to a psychotherapist to understand how he developed certain feelings. A developed ability to reflect makes it possible to understand such things independently. It significantly improves understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and time dependencies. For most people, this understanding is determined by emotions, so quite often it turns out to be wrong.

A person with a developed ability to reflect can draw knowledge from all events that occur. He learns to better understand his own inner world, discovers new features of his character, discovers hidden talents, abilities and predispositions.

But sometimes self-analysis can cause sharp negative emotions. If a person perceives his own mistakes too painfully, reflection can provoke the development of complexes and other problems with his mental state. In this case, it is recommended to consult a psychotherapist who will help you take control of reflection and get rid of its negative manifestations.

Self-examination: how to get rid of the habit of looking for flaws in yourself?

Self-examination is harmful. But what to do? The following principles can help a person get rid of a bad obsessive habit:

• Physical health leads to high spirits . No matter how trivial it may sound, in order to overcome self-digging, you first need to cut off those reasons that are related to physiology. If a person has illnesses or unhealed wounds, then they need to be eliminated, and then wait to see if his life becomes more joyful and fun.
• "What's the worst case scenario?" . If your physical health is normal, but thinking about life and your loved one still makes you sad, then you can ask yourself: “What will happen in the worst case?” The technique is designed for a person to ask himself again and again about the consequences, then become convinced of their ridiculousness or insignificance, and then get rid of the habit of bad introspection.
• Ban on hypotheses . Self-examination is not a very useful thing. What it leads to is already clear. A problematic situation arises when a person does not live in the present: he either regrets the past or fears the future, using thoughts about existence as an instrument of torture. A person must adjust himself to the fact that the main thing is the present, push away from this thought and live day after day, without thinking about the future or the past. And if you choose between two not very pleasant possibilities, then it is better to make plans for the future than to drown in bitterness about what has not come true.
• “Cosmetic and major repairs” of personality . Self-examination is defeated by reflection directed at it, which presupposes action. A person should ask himself not why he has so many shortcomings, but why he even thinks about it. It’s obvious: people are not perfect, and “everyone has their own shortcomings.” If a person understands why he is thinking about this, he will be able to sketch out a specific plan that will eradicate real, rather than imagined, shortcomings. Self-digging is most afraid of action; when there is action, there is neither time nor energy left for self-digging.
• Self-development as a healthy alternative to “mental chewing gum.” Moreover, the term “self-development” in this case includes: mastering new knowledge, skills, obtaining new information, or doing what you love – a hobby. Digging occurs in the psyche of a person who does not learn anything new and is not satisfied with the periodic revision of his values, beliefs - worldview. Passivity gives rise to groundless torment and reflection.

Forms and types of reflection

As we have already found out, reflection is a complex process that can lead to both development and destruction of personality. To better understand why this happens, let's consider the main forms of reflection that psychology identifies. There are several approaches to classification.

Based on the type of influence on a person, there are two types of reflection:

1. Constructive self-reflection
   . This form of reflection helps to better understand your own inner world, adjust behavior, avoid repeating mistakes and discover new abilities in yourself.
2. Destructive self-analysis
   . This form of reflection is often called “soul-searching,” meaning meaningless worries about old mistakes. A person becomes fixated on the problem, constantly increasing his feelings of guilt, feeling helpless and hopeless.

Based on the time of the events being comprehended, there are 3 types of reflection:

1. Situational
   . Analysis of a problem that is relevant at the moment.
2. Retrospective
   . Understanding events from the past.
3. Promising
   . Planning actions, assessing the likelihood of success and predicting possible mistakes.

Depending on the object being comprehended, there are 4 types of reflection:

1. Self-reflection
   . Understanding your own inner world, experiences and emotions.
2. Communicative
   . Analysis of interaction with surrounding people.
3. Sanogenic
   . Understanding your own emotions in order to take control of them in order to minimize meaningless mental suffering.
4. Intelligent
   . Thinking about existing and necessary knowledge, searching for opportunities for its practical application.

Having a good understanding of what reflection is and how it works, you can learn to manage its various forms. Correct combination and combination of these forms allows you to achieve the best results in self-knowledge. It is important to consider that different combinations need to be used for different situations.

How to use reflection to your advantage?

Any skill develops effectively only with regular use. To develop reflection, you need to practice it regularly. There are several exercises that will allow you to do this as consciously as possible:

1. Be aware of current feelings

. This is a useful habit that should be applied whenever there is a change in environment. Did you feel that your emotional state had changed? Listen to your feelings, try to understand what you feel at the moment, what worries you. Quite often, non-obvious things are discovered.

2. Highlight the situations to which you react most painfully

. Understanding which events trigger strong emotional reactions can help you identify problem areas and target them.

3. Learn to intentionally stop self-searching

. In most cases, self-digging does not bring any benefit, but only worsens your mood and reduces productivity. Fortunately, this process can be controlled intentionally. Just tell yourself that you will think about it later, but now you need to get busy.

4. Don't try to control everything

. It is impossible to control everything; some things are truly better left to chance. Allow surprises to happen from time to time, and focus on controlling the most important aspects of life.

5. In the evenings, reflect on your day

. This is a healthy habit that many successful people practice. Just think about what made this day remarkable, what useful things were done and what mistakes were made.

6. Think in detail about everything that interests you

. Choose any subject that interests you and think about its nature. Thanks to interest, this process will be uncomplicated and enjoyable, while you will develop deep analysis skills.

Constant self-examination and its reasons

• The problem of loneliness. As sad as it is to say this, single people are more prone to self-examination than those who have a family or at least a couple.
• Unsuccessful, exhausted relationships. Also, the cause of senseless and merciless self-picking can be unhealthy “love” or “infatuation.” For example, a person has an overdeveloped conscience, and he met a tyrant partner who exploits this quality every single day. The despot reprimands his “beloved” that he and only he is to blame for the troubles. Against this background, a need and habit of self-examination arises, which begins with the words: “What did I do wrong…”. And it must be said that there will always be reasons for such reflections.
• A long search for oneself and one’s place in life leads to endless soul-searching, when a person does not work for a long time, searches and does not find a worthy sphere of application of his skills. Unemployment does not come alone, it brings with it disappointment in life and attacks of frantic introspection without purpose, subject or end.
• Illnesses provoke attacks of joyless thoughts about oneself. When a person is seriously or slightly ill, he believes that this will last for a very long time. Further, memories of past failures cling to these thoughts. The disease draws a person into a circle of aimless reflection, worsening his condition.
• Self-examination as a symptom of general dissatisfaction with life. This is the most interesting group of reasons from the point of view of psychologists, but the saddest from the point of view of their clients. When there are no problems, but you still want to take out the knife of self-analysis and open old, healed wounds. And here the reasons are varied: conflicts at work, work is not satisfactory or does not bring pleasure. Self-examination can also cause people to become seriously ill or suffer from hypochondria. And in each individual case, the true reason hides itself, including dressing itself in the clothes of introspection.

Constant self-examination is an alarming symptom with the help of which the psyche sends SOS signals to a person. They are not difficult to decipher: “You need to change yourself and change your life.”