“An unexamined life is not worth living.” (Socrates)
I have witnessed people from all walks of life; Young, old, black, white, poor, rich — you name it. Amongst the people I have encountered throughout my life, especially now that I am self-aware and aware of the reasons in which others operate the way that they do, I can tell when someone is a reflective person or not. I have found that come hell or high water, reflective people have the ability to set their attention on positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors once the water clears. And when seasons are beautiful, they embrace such seasons with thankfulness, love, and light. Overall, those that are reflective show up in the world positively, and their light is noticed.
Reflecting is to think deeply about something or someone — including oneself. When we reflect and allow ourselves to face the deepness of our internal beings, we are faced with the rawness of who we really are; our flaws and strengths. Reflecting on our strengths allow us to celebrate and feel confident about ourselves, and our flaws allow us to be reminded of our wounds that need healing or simply what makes us, us as imperfect human beings!
I’ve come across a lot of people that are reflective and others that are not reflective. Surely, there is an obvious difference between both. Being one that is reflective allows us to show up in the world with an awareness of ourselves with the consequence of desiring to evolve while being non-reflective can cause us to be bound as we never investigate who we are at our core — leading us to never allow our wounds to be healed and our strengths to be exposed. In the end, reflecting is a gift that is worth using. I remember Lauryn Hill once sang “How you gone win if you ain’t right within’?