Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Reflection: The Reality

One of my beliefs is that reflection builds profound understanding.  I love reflection.  I love to stop, pause, breathe, think, write, and wonder.  I thrive on pondering and tinkering and thinking of the what ifs.  I think that is the spark that causes real change, when you really think deeply about something and jot a few words on a sticky note or a Whataburger receipt.
Except I don’t do it enough.  We all say we reflect.  I mean, we really want to.


But things happen.  Someone pulls the fire alarm or a parent causes a stir in the front office or you have to make 4,538 more decisions today than you made yesterday.  Your brain fatigues, and the last thing you want to do is ponder and reflect. You just need a really quiet, dark place to take a nap, but it’s only 9:30 a.m., and you are the principal.  


One of my staff members gave me a journal at the end of the school year and suggested I use it to capture the awesome and not so awesome things which happen each day.  I am usually a little too scatterbrained to keep up with a daily entry of things, but I made a goal to at least fill the thing out twice per week during this school year, partly because I could turn it into a book called Things You Would Not Believe Happen at School, and partly because I believe that reflection builds profound understanding.  


It’s pretty awesome to look back, even to last month (because I can’t really even remember what happened last week, let alone last month) and see that what I was afraid of or what I was worried about had been resolved or didn’t matter as much as it did in the moment.  Looking at the good things is even better and will lift your spirits and give you hope for a better day tomorrow.

Join me in reflection for three minutes a couple of times per week to stop, breathe, write and wonder.  It’s good for the soul.   

7 comments:

  1. Love your humor and candidness! I have now set a goal to join you in reflecting a few times a week whether it be about something that went well, went wrong, or was just memorable. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have found myself waking up in the middle of the night with a thought of something that happened or a better way to do something and I have to text it to myself before I wake up for the day and get engulfed with the multitude of events and issues that need attending to. This also me to go back to it when I have a moment to not allow this thought or reflection to be sacked into the abyss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spell check! allows me to go back and sacked into the abyss

      Delete
    2. Spell check! allows me to go back and sacked into the abyss

      Delete
  3. Sucked into....it's like that word is not recognized

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sucked into....it's like that word is not recognized

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have found myself waking up in the middle of the night with a thought of something that happened or a better way to do something and I have to text it to myself before I wake up for the day and get engulfed with the multitude of events and issues that need attending to. This also me to go back to it when I have a moment to not allow this thought or reflection to be sacked into the abyss.

    ReplyDelete