Reflection as Resilience

Updated: 12 Feb 2023

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When I think of self-reflection as an act of repair, I feel permission to be fluid, open, and experimental. I feel more resilient.

I'm able to become present in thinking about the intentions, values, and needs that are drawing me to act. I feel less consumed by the infiniteness that is the set of reasons I can use to excuse myself for not acting.

As a result, I notice the hold I've assumed start to relax. I no longer feel the need to exert energy towards controlling an outcome I might not yet be aware I've developed expectations for. [i]

I start to trust that whatever the outcome, reflection will create the space I need to heal, to make sense of what happened, and to decide what to try next.[ii]

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i. "One of the most powerful thoughts people have is the thought of necessity. It is much more than a thought. The word 'necessary' means 'it cannot be otherwise', and the Latin root means 'don't yield'. It suggests the emotional-physical stance of resisting, holding. That's the other side of the reflex system: when you say 'it cannot be otherwise', in effect you're saying: 'It has got to be this way. I have to keep it this way'. You have a hold." David Bohm, Thought as a System

ii. "A special target of examination ought to be how societies differ in making room for pauses in the midst of life, for it is during such pauses that individuals are able to appraise the meaning of what they have undergone." Yi-Fu Tuan in Life as a Field Trip