Looking back helps you forward

Self-reflection – considering your experiences, feelings and thoughts deeply – can help you gain new insights into yourself and how you live your life. Activities such as writing and collaging can help you make time for this valuable practice. 

“In contrast with evaluation, reflection does not work toward a specific goal. When you evaluate a process, it’s resultsdriven. And after evaluation, you make a value judgement: it went well or it went badly. Reflection, on the other hand, is not about judgement. “With reflection, your mind roams free,” Saskia de Jager, psychologist and philosopher, says. “Reflection starts with a question and then, layer by layer, various aspects of a theme or issue are revealed. For example, in mindfulness trainings, I let clients work in pairs, taking it in turns to ask each other the same question over and over again.”