The Importance Of Self-Reflection

When I was an 8 year old kid, I would cry to my parents to take me out with them wherever they went.  Ten years later, I cry to my parents to go without me so that I can be alone for a while. There are also instances when I skip meeting my acquaintances to have a moment of solitary. Make no mistake, I am not a loner. I have a huge group of friends that are more active than Kamal R. Khan’s twitter account. But once in a while all I want is to stare into oblivion, sip onto my mocha and try to figure out the direction I am heading towards.

                Everybody needs to go through that occasional moment of self-reflection. Self-reflection is the practice of assessing oneself as an object on the basis of past, present and future avenues. It is said that a man’s creativity and potential is highest whilst in solitude. It is imperative to sometimes detach yourself from the material objects around you and focus on “YOU”. However, in order to truly gain from the solitary meditation, one needs to focus on the positive and not the negative. One needs to keep his mind optimistic in order to work in a productive way. If a person focuses on the negative aspects in his life, he is bound to have a moment of inferiority complex and worthlessness.

                There are a number of ways one can go in this state of trance viz. walking, meditation, listening to music, etc. One such method of self-reflection is writing. Herein, you don’t filter what is going through your subconscious mind, but just write down your train of thoughts on a piece of paper. Every individual may have a different method that reaps them benefits in an optimum way. There is no set, hard and fast rule as to following these meditation techniques. Customization is the key to optimization.

                These sessions of self-reflection need not be frequent as they might drift you away from reality. However, it is advised to do this exercise occasionally in order to stay focused on an individual’s life goals. Self-reflection is thus an oxymoron that acts as a way of escaping reality, whilst working on improvising it.