An Essential Skill Of Reflection

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Reflection is the ability to be aware of your state, to be aware of the causes, factors and conditions that affect the state. This ability to look at yourself from the outside, without which it is impossible to develop your emotional intelligence, you can only become more erudite in this topic.

Reflection itself is not included. It is a form of the subject's activity, therefore it is possible develop only strong-willed way, trying to realize what is happening with oneself and others, with the world around, in attempts to see oneself through the eyes of other people and with the help of self-distancing, considering oneself mentally from the outside.

When communicating with other people, we, as a rule, pay attention to only a small part of the information, which, in fact, we broadcast ourselves. We convey this other information by the polysemy of the words used, gestures, intonations, etc. The more aspects of interaction fall into your observation, the higher the level of your consciousness. In this way, we ensure the ability to respond appropriately, and not as necessary. People with whom we communicate often pay attention to pieces of information that are completely different from us. And if we ourselves are not aware of what we are broadcasting, then we will not even catch the moment in which they do not understand us.

It is very important to learn in the background to be silently aware of the fact of one's existence, one's actions and words, as well as the effect they produce.

Reflection can be carried out on several levels, moving between which you can change the position of the observer. You can change the position of the observer and move to a higher level of reflection by asking yourself questions. These questions are:

• What am I doing? With this question, one can activate reflection and move from the position of an included agent, who has actually dissolved in what he is doing, to the level of an observer.
• How do I interpret what I observe? With this question, we rise to the level of the researcher, at which it is possible to be aware of what theories and attitudes we use for interpretation, being in the position of an observer.
• Why do I choose these interpretations? With this question, you can help yourself focus on the awareness of which cognitive strategies we use to select existing theories or create new ones that are necessary for interpretations. Thus, from the position of a researcher, we rise to the level of a methodologist.
• Which interpretations would be more appropriate? This question allows you to rise to the position of a meaning-maker, in which it is possible to be aware of why choose one or another cognitive strategy, it is possible to create a meaning that answers the question of why to use or create any theories

You need to ask yourself such questions more often, in order to pull yourself out of the swamp of everyday life and provide yourself with the opportunity to think logically, and not according to established cognitive schemes.

Also, for the development of reflection, special attention should be paid to feedback channels, because it is through them that far from always accurate, but invaluable information about what and how we are doing is received.

The most important is the feedback from close people, competent colleagues, as well as technical forms of feedback (voice recorder, video camera - some qualified trainers use these tools in their trainings on communication and emotional intelligence).

The article appeared thanks to the works of Vadim Levkin, Evgeny Dotsenko and Nossrat Pezeshkian.

Dmitry Dudalov