Reflecting on reflection.

At a recent counseling session, my counselor and I discussed being mindful.

Being mindful entails being aware of where your mind is at and what to do once you figure out where it is.

As someone who reflects often on my life, my thoughts, and my actions, I constantly find myself in the mindset of analyzing the past.

When you take a look into the past, you are pulling memories from all over the place to piece together an outlook, idea, situation that occurred.

Looking into the past can be beneficial and dangerous at the same time.

During reflection, I start to piece together what happened in my mind and figure out the causes of the thoughts, emotions, and actions that arose.

This is all good reflection because I am learning how each situation affected me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc.

Where mindfulness comes in is realizing when you have learned about the situation you have analyzed.

I often figure out what I wanted to know about what occurred in my mind, but I often stay in the past for long beyond that.

I start to think about the trigger that made me sad, the event that made me mad, or the thought that made me confused.

I start to dwell.

I sit on that thought and think about what I did in order to make a mistake.

I then realize that I made a mistake.

I put myself down because I made a mistake.

It all goes downhill from there!

I realize now that being mindful requires a lot of concentration and determination.

I have to really hone in on where my mind is while I am reflecting and where my mind was in the past. I have to stick to the place I am at and not get wrapped up in outside things.

Whenever I drift off into those outside thoughts (that I know aren’t productive), I get so drawn in by my emotions.

Emotions are a strong force, and when they come all at once for me, it’s hard to fight.

I don’t even want to fight it a lot because I feel them there and think I need to address them.

BE MINDFUL. This is where I need to realize that these emotions don’t stem from what I am reflecting on, they stem from my thoughts once I drift away from the focus.

That’s why being mindful requires seeing the goal that you want to get from your reflection.

Reflection time, for me, has a beginning point and an end point.

Once you have reached your goal at the end of the road, that is where you stop.

If you keep driving, you’ll go over the cliff.

Instead, realize that you achieved what you wanted to achieve and turn towards a new road.

There is always a new road to turn to once the current one has ended.

Be mindful of where your road begins and ends because this will help guide your reflection and put you in a good place with both hands on the wheel.

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In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

~ Proverbs 16:9