Reflection - a vice?

We say stop, listen, reflect, measure up, act, for if we don’t how can we move forward in a focused and clear way and become better at our craft and living...



But have you found that sometimes our reflections are negative? They stop us in our track, they slow us down; they take our minds away from simple solutions; they distract and can distort our views. We start comparing our craft or ourselves to others and start seeing only our flaws...These moments of doubt or fear on our very being take great courage to overcome. They should provoke us to action, but how many of us get bogged down in our own vanity; our fears rise to the surface, masking our expressive selves. Isn’t it a paradox that at times I feel we value ourselves too highly that it stops us from living our passions, our desires our dreams but in actual fact the vanity manifests itself into a low self-worth breathing giant...I certainly am one of those individuals who needs to stop thinking and jump in to the activities that bring me great enjoyment and satisfaction...i shall keep moving...

Reflecting and moving forward...

Yes it’s the end of another academic year and I’ve completed reviewing all my personal, professional and departmental targets...the evidence for progression has been accumulated, documented and filed away. Do these documents make me a better teacher or is it the doing in the classroom and out that make me a more proactive teacher and reflective learner? The documentation, we are told, shouldn’t add more burden to our daily loads, since it is just a formal way of expressing that what we are already doing...and why does it have to be the painful process it is perceived to be...another of the to-do things on our lists that might not necessarily enhance our teaching and learning? but perhaps educators haven't considered the interactive and visual ways we communicate...perhaps this is how we ought to be evidencing our work? Can blogging make the processes less painful...



There’s certainly a record of progress to look back at...we can see trends, we become forgetful of the good things we do, we see activity, we invite discussion and we see the vision and direction all headed towards improvement. Surely this is a good thing...Look at Leonardo Da Vinci and his inventions and notes on the human body as they developed. Did they not move him forward? Look at the diary of Ann Frank...did she not work through her emotions and feel reconciliation through her ability to express her fears? And what of the artwork of Kelly Rae Roberts, Teesha Moore or Maitha Demithan...do they not grow as individuals through reflecting on the personal experiences which are manifested in their visual expressions of the self and of the progress being made? Are these individuals just geniuses or have they grown and developed from their very own recordings of events and experiences? Some of us are very fortunate in being able to share our experiences in complete confidence with our soul mates. But these are largely intimate and often manifest themselves as shared private verbal exchanges and through them we surely grow...But the communication of experiences, emotions, joys and difficulties to a public who choose to listen are often expressions of the self and of progress made that make these people more than just visionary thinkers, but also doers.

What better way to communicate and treasure one’s experiences and share our gifts, processes and outcomes other than through a reflective journal, diary or blog...