What is the Meaning of Reflective Practice
Reflective practice is the art of thinking in a way that not only brings a deeper understanding of an issue but, more importantly, fosters real change in our lives. More effective than a pill. Cheaper than therapy. Faster than aging (and for some of us, that is pretty darn fast!)
We all pretty much know what the word ‘practice’ means. When I was a kid, I was expected to practice the piano, my times tables, and folding laundry. I was told ‘practice makes perfect”. That is one of the biggest lies I received but that’s another story.
I have been writing TheReflectivePen for several years now and never really looked at the practice of reflection as a spiritual practice until recently.
It is not the same as contemplation, though that is a piece of it.
A reflective practice (Finlay, 2008) is ‘learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and practice.’]
I agree with Rollo Mays, who writes that we are all addicted to something. One of my addictions is to insight. I get a little. I want more and more. In some ways I am a slow learner. I can recite the facts after studying something, but to go deeper and understand how the ‘facts’ apply to my life, to gain insight and wisdom that will impact everyone I touch—that is my heart’s desire.
When I reflect not only on what I read but photographs, music, nature…even why water runs downhill, I eventually begin to recognize my weaknesses and strengths, guiding my continued learning.
I divide reflective practices into three areas:
1. Descriptive reflective practice.
My journals are full of these. What the day looks like, how bread smells when it cooks, and the sound of frogs on a summer evening. If that is all I ever wrote it would be enough. I think of the poetry of Mary Oliver!
2. Dialogical reflection
is a conversation with divergent opinions, maybe in person, but most often in reading. My journal entries are full of dialogue as questions I ask of my muse (you might be doing the same thing with prayer).
It is asking “Why?” of everything I see, feel, and experience, then holding the answer I receive in a sacred place of yet another “yes, but why that?”
3. Critical reflection
is the most challenging because it tests ideas I always took for granted. Like gravity. Here I challenge long-held beliefs by looking at things from various perspectives and opening my heart to receive new insights and understandings.
There are four steps to reflective practice.
Step 1 Ask WHAT.
Look back at a situation or experience that happened or some thought you find yourself focusing on and describe it briefly. What happened? What was said? What was forgotten? What was lost? Did it have a smell? Or taste?
Step 2 Ask WHY.
Think in depth about your experience or thought. Why did it happen? Why does it matter? Why does ‘mattering’ matter? (This can be followed many layers deeper).
Step 3 Ask HOW.
Consider the effects on your life. How did this happen? How is it affecting me? How is it impacting other people? How do I bring about change? This is where I have the most trouble, especially in my journal, because it gets so personal.
What will I think of myself? What if someone reads this? This self-introspection often brings me to ‘shoulds’ and can be a great challenge. But it is also the great fruit of reflection. It is how we grow the most, the fastest.
Step 4: THEREFORE.
This is the step where I plan what to do next. It may be to change a habit, to ask forgiveness, to persevere through difficulty, or to commit to more reflection.
It is often at this stage I begin lusting for a new journal that ‘’fits’ the plan. Will it be a 50-cent binder, a digital journal, or fine paper wrapped in leather?
This in itself leads to more reflection. Why do I think like this? Etc. etc. etc.
This is why the poet Ranier Marie Rilke wrote in his Letters to a Young Poet to live the questions.
“And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far into the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.”
If we don’t move from step three into step four with a plan to live a changed life our reflection might as well be navel gazing.
How to develop a reflective practice
TIME
Make sure you allow yourself time for a reflective practice. It doesn’t have to be long, but it needs to be intentional. This is one of the reasons I get up early in the morning. Reflective time is not only available but can be as short as a couple of minutes. I usually take about fifteen minutes.
SLOW DOWN
Take away all distractions and allow yourself to be in the moment with your thoughts.
This may sound very scary if you are prone to negative thinking. But remember that there is no such thing as pure darkness or pure negativity.
It only takes a crack to let the light in, and when you let go of busyness for a few moments, make a cup or tea or light a candle…or both… you may be surprised at the light that arrives in your understanding.
CURIOSITY
Develop the habit of asking questions: Why? What? What now? Why (again)? Only cats are rumored to be killed by curiosity. I think their propensity for sticking their nose into everything and then curling up to reflect on their experience is the essence of reflection. But we will never know…..
The gift of reflection is like a birthday present wrapped in many layers to stretch out the surprise. My mother used to do this.
If I stopped after the first (or fifth) layer of paper, I would never know what was inside. The same is true with reflection.
It is like peeling back those layers one by one until, voilà! You have a totally different or deeper understanding of what you had assumed to be true.
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