The Power of Reflection: Bringing the Unconscious into the Light

By: Alana Karran Days filled with endless tasks and deadlines often leave little time for quiet. Yet, it is in these rare moments of stillness that change becomes possible. Taking time to reflect on the day, the week, the year, can offer opportunities for personal and professional learning and growth. It can also stop the cycle of anxiety, reactivity and panic that comes from a problem-focused mindset. Reflection sometimes begins with pain. Things are not going as planned. Life has become a series of frustrating experiences. Your words and actions are not having the impact you expected. You don’t feel fulfilled. Life holds little meaning. “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful,” states author, professor and organizational development expert Margaret Wheatley. Taking a moment to stop and consciously reflect