By Klaus Döring
Reflection is a practice and a skill which can be learnt and developed over time. It allows us to create a pause between our thoughts and often emotional responses and actions. Reflection helps us gain perspective, come to terms with events, learn from our experiences and enjoy moments of gratitude.
It allows us to examine our beliefs, priorities, and aspirations, helping us gain a deeper understanding of ourselves. This process is not about dwelling on past mistakes or regrets but about taking a conscious look at our lives to ensure that our actions align with our values and aspirations.
Simply put, self-reflection (also known as “personal reflection”) is taking the time to think about, meditate on, evaluate, and give serious thought to your behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, motivations, and desires. That’s what I do now.
Not long ago, I passed a milestone marking 59 years since I began writing my first published article in a daily newspaper. I started keeping all the clippings since then. Believe me, it’s like a book. As I re-read my first articles, I was amazed, I ever kept it up. But now you couldn’t pay me to stop.
Nowadays all my publications are stored in my electronic-archive.
Back to my clippings. Can you imagine that there are some benefits from keeping them? From life experiences, I see that progress and failure are both parts of my journey. My columns are mostly a view into a mirror. I am reminded of God’s grace when I read (and wrote before) how He helped me to find solutions to problems. I also gained insight from past struggles that help with issues I am currently facing. I remember one of my previous columns entitled “If failures get results”.
God has indeed been faithfully working in my life.
I read a story by Dennis Fisher, who didn’t keep publishing clippings but a spiritual journal. He advised: “Journalism may be useful to you too. It can help you see more clearly what God is teaching you on life’s journey. To begin a journal, record your struggles, reflect on a verse that is especially comforting or challenging, or write a prayer of thankfulness for God’s faithfulness.”
The most awaited season of the year has finally come. For many of us, December is still a glow that blossoms across the eastern horizon bringing the promise of a new beginning. December and Christmas should be the song to awaken our hardened hearts, to touch those people around us, who might have waited a long time for such a move. Let’s become “new people” at last.
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn or visit my www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com .
