Reflection: a Spiritual Practice For Your Soul
I wasn’t paying attention. How many times have you heard that? Said that? It’s a common phrase to say or hear and I might even suggest that it is a perfectly fine thing to say. We understand it when someone says it — because we’ve all done it. We’ve all failed to pay attention at one time or another.
In my previous blog post, “Intentional Attention” I briefly explored the connection between attention and love. My suggestion was that the intentional giving of attention was an expression of love to others. Here, I would like to explore the idea of paying attention through reflection as a way of loving and nourishing your soul.
Reflection is a normal part of our human experience but comes in many different forms and expressions. It’s not unusual for someone to ask, “How was your day?”. To answer that question we need to reflect or think back on the events of the day. Reflection is unique to each person. Some people would say they reflect a lot. I have friends who say they are almost constantly thinking about how an event in their day played out and how they did or didn’t perform. I have other friends who when you ask them questions that require reflection will almost certainly reply, “I don’t know.”
The intention and purpose of the practice of reflection is to nourish your soul. It is not important whether you are naturally good at it or not.
About two years into my spiritual direction journey, reflection became my friend. At that time, I was in a monthly spiritual direction group with two strong, grounded Christian women whom I greatly admired. When they spoke, I paid attention. In this particular session, both of the women shared stories of recent events in their lives. Each woman — separately— mentioned the inclusion of reflection in their stories. The word caught my attention and I felt a Holy Spirit nudge to investigate this more.
Immediately upon finishing the session, I hopped on Google and searched “reflection for Christians.” The first thing that popped up was a familiar name and title, The Next Right Thing Guided Journal by Emily P. Freeman. I had been listening to her podcast on and off over the years and had also read one of her earlier books, Grace For the Good Girl. So, I did the “one click” checkout on Amazon and the guided journal was on its way.
That happened less than two years ago, and it changed my life.
The Next Right Thing Guided Journal helps me be intentional about using the practice of reflection. This spiritual practice helps me pay attention to my life and what God is doing in it. I like what Emily says in the beginning of the journal,
“The practice of looking back and paying attention serves as an anchor for the soul in a fast-moving world. Instead of waiting for the world to stop so we can catch up, we slow ourselves, look around and name what we see.”
This guided journal is arranged to be used for one year and you can start at any time. I use it weekly for just a few minutes each time. Because of the way it is formatted, I am able to go back and read over my entries as a way of remembering what I have been learning each week, month, and season. If this sounds interesting to you, please check it out here. Do some exploring and you will see why this book is listed as one of the items on our Resources for Nourishing Your Soul blog post. Alisa also loved the book with the same title. In fact, she listed it as one of her favorite books of 2022!
If this journal isn’t for you, there are many other ways to practice reflection.
Here are a few:
*The Prayer of Examen — here is a link to an article from Soul Shepherding explaining how to use the prayer of examen and its benefits.
*Reflection by journaling — if you already journal, this may be a great idea for you. You can practice reflection by going back in your journal and highlighting things like answered prayers, challenges, life-giving events and life-draining events, or simply highs and lows.
Speaking of highs and lows, this is one way we have been using reflection during our Sabbath dinner —
*High, Low, Buffalo — on Friday nights, after our Sabbath meal, we will often go around the table and listen to each adult share the highlight of their week, the low point in their week and something surprising (Buffalo!) that happened during their week.
Reflection can be fun or serious but most importantly it can be nourishing to your soul. Here are some of the ways reflection has benefitted me:
*Lessening my anxiety — by looking back on the good things and the God things, it helps my brain move away from anxiety-producing thoughts.
*Identifying positive and negative patterns in my life — when I can identify these patterns, it helps me to be intentional to choose life-giving activities and make changes regarding life-draining activities.
*Becoming more aware of God’s presence — when I am being intentional to look back over my days, weeks, and months through the lens of what God is doing in my life, I am able to feel closer and more connected to Him which is also a great source of inner peace and comfort.
Each of our souls are invaluable and in need of attention. I hope you will consider the simple practice of reflection as a way of loving and nourishing your soul.