Reflection
Welcome to ATTUNEMENT, my monthly blog!
Each month we “tune into” a theme related to mindfulness
and explore a creative practice and tune based on this theme!
This month of August we’re TUNING INTO the frequency of:
Reflection.
Every five years or so I look back on my life, and I have a good laugh.
-From the song "Watershed" by the Indigo Girls
Mabel Yu writes that "self-reflection, as defined by Morin (2011), is the 'genuine curiosity about the self, where the person is intrigued and interested in learning more about his or her emotions, values, thought processes, attitudes, etc.' (p. 809)."
Yu makes the distinction between self-reflection and self-rumination, which is "the anxious attentional focus one pays to one’s own self worth".
I consider self-reflection an applied mindfulness practice because it involves intentional, non-non-judgemental focus on an aspect of one’s experience.
Mindful self-reflection (rather than self-critical rumination) has been linked to a number of positive outcomes, including increased self-knowledge, self-regulation, and subjective happiness.
There are many creative ways to engage in mindful self-reflection.
Image by Juan Davlia
Songwriting is one of my favorite ways. When I create songs about my feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, I’m able to alchemize my self-critical ruminations into self-reflective art.
Intuitive collage-making also has the same effect for me. I started creating collages in my journal during my college years. I’d write a journal entry then flip through magazines until I found images that elicited the sentiments I was trying to express in my writing. This helped me be with and honor my experience in a non-judgmental, creative way.
SoulCollage® is a mindful, soul-nourishing, self-reflective practice that connects you to your inner wisdom through the creation of 5”x8” collages from images that catch your eye. This method of making then “speaking from” these cards (through journaling, visualizing, and other activities) allows you to creatively, intuitively reflect on the many facets of your experience—your inner process, your relationships and larger community, your animal guides and archetypal influences, and Source itself. It is an active, fun process that I’ve found very helpful in promoting self-awareness and self-reflection (rather than rumination!).
I am a trained SoulCollage® facilitator and will soon be sharing some opportunities for you to be introduced to this practice, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, I encourage you to try this month’s Creative Mindfulness Practice below…..
Creative Mindfulness Practice: Make a SoulCollage® Card
A quick intuitive image creation exercise:
Grab a journal and a couple of magazines (if you don’t have any, doctor and dentist offices often have old ones you can take, or you can find them for $.50 at Half Price Books), a glue stick, and a pair of scissors.
Flip through the magazines, tearing out any images (no words, just images!) that speak to you in some way (don’t analyze why you’re drawn to them, just select any that pop out).
Sort through these images and begin to arrange them (one, some, or all) onto a blank page in your journal. You might find a larger image that could serve as the background for a smaller image or collection of images, perhaps. When you get the “right” layout for you (you’ll know because you’ll be able to feel it), glue them onto the blank page.
Look at your final image* (*which might be a collection of smaller images, or just one or two images pasted in any sort of arrangement) and use your imagination and intuition to “listen” to it. Pretend you are actually becoming its energy.
You’ll now ask the image a few questions which you’ll answer as if you’re the card.
Ask the image “Who are you?” And reply as the card with the phrase “I am one who…" or “I am…”. Write down the reply in your journal or simply speak your answer outloud or quietly to yourself (but it’s kind of cool to write down your answers so you can go back to them later for more self-reflection). Allow the image to tell its story to you in this way.
Then ask the image, “What you do you have to give me?” And answer as the image in this way: “My gift to you is…” or “I give you…”. Again, speak or write down this answer until it feels complete.
Now ask the image, “What do you want from me?” And answer as the image saying “I want you to know that…” Again, write the answer down in your journal if you’d like.
Finally, ask the image, “Is there anything else you want to say to me at this time?” And answer accordingly if there’s anything else that comes up from the image it wants to say.
This is of course simply a practice for your own creativity and self-reflection. It is not a form of psychotherapy or treatment of any kind. This exercise gives you a taste of what SoulCollage® is about, but it’s not the complete method; there’s so much more depth to it that I look forward to sharing with you in future offerings!
This Month’s Tune:
Each month I share a tune that resonates with the newsletter theme. For this month’s theme of Reflection I’ve chosen “Hammer and Nail” by the Indigo Girls.
This song reminds me to pause when I find myself overthinking. Yes, it’s important to engage in mindful self-reflection, but alchemizing that self-reflection into soul-aligned action is essential.
As the song goes:
I gotta get out of bed and get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands, not just my head
I think myself into jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose
