Welcome this blog on ways to practice self-reflection as a teenager in 2022!
I’m not going to spend too much time on an introduction here, as I want to cover what self-reflection actually is. Before understanding ways to practice self-reflection, it’s necessary to know what it means to self-reflect so that we have a greater understanding of how to do it.
Self-reflection is a process by which you grow your understanding of who you are, what your values are, and why you think and act the way you do.
https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/10258/self-reflection/
When you self-reflect, you look back on your life’s work, whether it is positive or negative. You can see how much you’ve accomplished or what you need to work on. This helps you reach your maximum potential and achieve more success than you’ve ever thought of.
Self-reflection is a necessary element on our journey in life, as it helps us assess if we are truly happy and content with how our life is going.
Because of how busy our lives as teenagers can get, we forget to focus on ourselves and check-in with how we are doing. Self-reflection is the solution to this, if, of course, we commit to doing it.
It helps you press the “pause” button in life and fully understanding where you are right now so you know where you want to go forward on your journey.
Self-reflection is a crucial skill for self-improvement as it gives room for you to shift your mindset, be more positive, and become more self-aware. It gives you the chance to dive deeper into who you are and what makes you who you are.
Hopefully, this section above gave you more clarity on what self-reflection is. Essentially, self-reflection helps you be in the present moment, see how far you’ve come, and give you direction for your future.
If you want to better understand yourself, you’ve come to the right place by reading this blog on self-reflection. At this point, you may be lost and confused on where to start. But, this next section will walk you through the process and make sure you get the most out of self-reflection. And, of course, if you have any questions, you can let me know in the comments.
Without further ado, here are 10 ways to practice self-reflection!
1. Meditate
If you want to self-reflect, definitely try meditating. It will be uncomfortable and feel weird at first, but it is a great way to reflect on yourself and be calm.
Try sitting in silence as long as you can and see where your mind wanders. Close your eyes and be one with yourself.
If you find yourself thinking about specific things, take note of them.
Meditating may not be for everyone, and that’s totally okay. But, there’s no harm in trying it out!
2. Journal
If you want to get into the habit of self-reflecting consistently, get a journal. Whenever you want, whether it is every day, every week, or even every month, start writing and jot down everything that’s on your mind.
My goal for the next month is to journal in the night at least 3 times a week. With school starting, I want to have all my thoughts organized and clarified so that my mind is free and I’m ready to hustle the next day.
Journaling not only helps you reflect on the past, but also focus on the future.
It doesn’t matter if your journalling is jumbled, all it matters is that you are transforming your thoughts into words.
If you decide you want to start doing this, here’s the perfect place to start: Recharge: A Day and Night Reflection Journal (Inner World)
The link to buy this journal on Amazon is here: https://amzn.to/2VtAk5T
3. Do a writing exercise
Besides journaling, you can also do writing exercises. Set a time for 5 or 10 minutes and simply start writing. Write down everything that comes to mind and don’t worry about what’s being written.
These writing exercises are great to clear your mind if it’s jumbled with several thoughts. They will help you organize them better and make better decisions.
After doing a couple of writing exercises, you’ll start to notice patterns in your thoughts – do they reoccur in the second or third writing piece or have you moved on to another thought?
4. Take a walk in nature
There are plenty of studies that support that being out in nature improves your mood.
Go out and take a walk. Take in the fresh air and clear your head.
Don’t worry about your to-do lists or school or work. Just think about yourself and your life. Let your mind wander and see where it lands!
Out in nature is the perfect environment for self-reflection as you are not confined to a small space, and being surrounded by nature will make you calm!
5. Read
Reading may seem like an unusual way of self-reflecting, but think about it: Reading washes you over with calmness.
First off, when you read self-improvement books, you think about how you can implement the advice in the book in your life. If this isn’t self-reflection, what is?
And, it is not just self-improvement books that give you an opportunity to self-reflect. Reading fiction or realistic fiction books helps you get a realization of what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy.
6. Assess what you are grateful for
Practicing gratitude is another great way to practice self-reflection.
Taking time at the end of the day to think about what you are grateful for can improve your mood and way of thinking.
Think about +3 things that you are grateful for and take personal time to reflect on them. Expand on not just what you are grateful for, but why.
This will help you feel calm and boost your happiness!
As teenagers, we often take many things for granted. Practicing gratitude and self-reflecting is a great way to appreciate our life and the things we have!
7. Identify the important questions
Asking yourself deep questions and recording the answer is a great way to practice self-reflection. Here are some example questions you can use:
- Which goals did I achieve this week?
- What did I start but never finish?
- What can I better improve on?
- How did I feel overall today?
Sometimes when self-reflecting, your mind may go blank and won’t know where to start. These questions are the perfect solution to give you a starting point!
If you want more questions, you can search “introspection questions” on Google and you will come across several wonderful questions!
Also, check out this YouTube video on the 5 best self-reflection questions to ask yourself!
8. Track your progress
By self-reflecting, you are seeing how far you’ve come by reflecting on the past. You can do a check-in with yourself: have you reached your goals or are you not quite there yet?
Goals are not the only way you can track your progress. You can see how long you’ve been continuing your habits for, or you can also realize things that are different in yourself. Maybe you are feeling a lot less stressed than from a month ago.
Whichever way you track your progress, your motivation will definitely go up. This will improve your mental health, give clarity, and also help you live a meaningful life!
9. Schedule a meeting with yourself
If it’s not on the calendar, you won’t do it. Schedule and block time on your calendar for self-reflection. This is the best way to not allow “life” to get in the way of living an examined life. It doesn’t have to be a lot – you can schedule even just 10 minutes in the beginning. But no backsies. This time is for you and not for moving around to tomorrow’s to-do list. This way you are held accountable and it will make you more committed to developing a habit of self-reflection. Starting small is a good way to ensure you stick to the practice. Earlier, I used to block time for 10 minutes and write. Every week, I increased this time by 5 minutes until I reached the ideal 30-minutes or so that suits my needs.
https://addicted2success.com/life/5-ways-you-can-practice-self-reflection-to-uncover-your-best-self/
Often times, I have procrastinating working on something because I haven’t scheduled a day or time to work on it. When this happened, I would always get frustrated at myself because sometimes I just forgot about the task.
So, the moral of the story is that it is extremely important to schedule time beforehand to self-reflect. If you don’t, you might end up not even doing it.
10. Evaluate your day before sleeping
This is a simple practice that can help you a lot. Every day before sleeping, just revisit your entire day – the things you did, the people you met, the thoughts you had, and the choices you made. This is the easiest way to ensure you practice self-reflection every single day. Narrating your whole day to yourself will help you isolate the negative thoughts, unhealthy reactions, and self-limiting beliefs that you hold unconsciously. It helps if you question everything you did from a third-person lens: Why did you act the way you did? Why were you constantly thinking of the future instead of being in the present? Were you talking unkindly to yourself? On the days you don’t have time to do the writing practice, or meditate, or do your primary self-reflection activity, this small exercise can help you stay on track.
https://addicted2success.com/life/5-ways-you-can-practice-self-reflection-to-uncover-your-best-self/
The Takeaway
Self-reflection will help you grow as a person as you know who you are and you can be much more peaceful and secure with yourself. It gives us the opportunity to grow and mature, and to become the person we’ve always dreamt of becoming. By taking time out of your day to reflect, you will have a better sense of self. So, here are 10 different ways to practice self-reflection!
- Meditate
- Journal
- Do a writing exercise
- Take a walk in nature
- Read
- . Assess what you are grateful for
- Identify the important questions
- Track your progress
- Schedule a meeting with yourself
- Evaluate your day before sleeping
You now know about what self-reflection is and ways to practice it. So, check out my blog on the importance of self-reflection as a teenager to learn about the benefits of practicing it. This will surely give you an extra boost of motivation to actually start making self-reflection an important habit in your life.
I want my next habit to be practicing self-reflection at least 5 times a week. Whether I am just thinking about my life, journaling, or meditating, I want to be sure that I get self-reflection in multiple times throughout the course of a week.
So, who’s in? Let me know in the comments if you’d like to do this as well! I promise you, you won’t regret it.
I hope this blog gave you helpful tips and advice on what self-reflection is and ways to practice it. Hopefully, we can now all implement this in our own lives and improve ourselves significantly. With that, good luck on your self-reflection journey!