Creating Space for Reflection and Review

It's strangely difficult to know if things are going well or not without some kind of review process. Our assessment of the entire year can be strongly affected by how the last couple of days or weeks have been, and it's hard to spot larger trends in our lives if we don't look at things from a higher point of view. 🗓️

If things aren't going well, then having space for reflection and review allows us to notice this, search for the causes, and create a plan going forward. Without this space, we are likely to stay caught in the immediate currents of life without seeing the bigger picture that we're trying to create.

If things are going well, then reflection can help us see and appreciate this, and we can take steps to keep things moving in a good direction.

If you don't already have a reflection and review process, here's a very simple one that might be useful:

1. 🕰️ Choose a time and a place that you'll actually keep. If 30 minutes on Friday morning doesn't work, try 10 minutes Sunday evening. Something is better than nothing. ("Floss one tooth"; this is how I started flossing every day, actually, after years of resistance.)
2. 📝 Use your preferred method of reflection (writing, typing, etc.) to answer these questions—or other questions of your choosing:
   1. What has gone well recently? Why?
   2. What has not gone well recently? Why?
3. 🌱 Finally, ask yourself if you want to incorporate any of the learnings above into your life going forward. If you do, figure out how and create a plan.

Even this marvelously simple process can help you notice when life is off track and get it pointed back in a direction that feels good. You can do this type of review weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

And in addition to the difference this can make in our personal lives, it also helps us become more intentional, effective people when it comes to making a difference for animals.