Every day we, as human beings, take on new experiences that teach us more about the world, other people, and ourselves in the process. However, sometimes because of the trivial, daily, purposeless things we do, we fail to truly live in the present and take the time to reflect on our purpose and why we do the things that we do.
During quarantine, I was able to embrace my love of reflection and analysis that has enabled me to learn more about humanity and myself in the process. I began to write again for myself. I would journal everyday with my reflection on the times we were living in. Sometimes, I would even creatively write based on whatever I was feeling that day to understand my own emotions.
The use of reflection on our lives and about anything in general allows us to make sense of the world around us. This can be done through routine journaling, meditation, deep conversations with others, or even going to therapy.
My beginning with reflection began when I found my love for books, television, movies, and music. Each night during quarantine, I made it a point to read a new book, binge a new show, or listen to a new album. After consuming new content, I would take the time to reflect on what I watched or read to understand humanity more. I would analyze the characters I read, and why the author chose specific decisions, and what it was supposed to say about humanity in the process.
All of this content was created by people who wanted us to be able to connect to characters, words, lyrics, ways of expressing humanity in a simple artistic form. Whatever we consume, we find consolation in. It makes our lives feel less lonely, more understood, or our heartbreak or loss more bearable. We learn empathy as we embrace all different forms of storytelling. It makes the world feel smaller as you can understand your place and purpose in the world through other content.
The blessing of quarantine was that it gave us the time away from all the changes to work on ourselves and do the things we never got the chance to do before. I was able to adapt my use of reflection into my life, and with this gave me a newfound wisdom about the world, my life, and the complexity of human beings in all.
Reflection is a necessary and easy skill that brings awareness to us all. We become more aware about other people’s life experiences and learn empathy and sympathy for others. It helps understand why things happen to us, and how we can help others in the process. Awareness makes us more whole, especially when we reflect on how our own actions and words affect others.
This entire process can be accomplished in so many different ways, and we probably don’t even realize we do it. It connects us all together to remind us all of our common humanity, and deep feelings and questions that we have about the world around us. Because let’s face it, no one has all the answers and wisdom to know everything about the expanse of the word and understanding human beings due to the deep complexity of life.
Reflection of why things occur and our role in all of the changing, tumultuous times we live in may just allow us to feel more real in our own reality, rather than feel separated from everything that goes on around us. I encourage all to work towards more reflection and awareness of our actions, society, and what we content we consume. It may just teach us more about ourselves and bring us closer together with our commonalities, than focusing on our differences. Reflection of these aspects of life brings unity. This is the beauty and art of reflection.