If you’re struggling with understanding yourself, this habit will help.

By Dayana Sabatin

How well do you know yourself?

How often do you reflect on your life? Your progress? Your goals?

If you had asked me those questions a few months ago, I would have lied and told you I know myself pretty damn well. But, in all honesty, I’m 23 years old and I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Author Julia Cameron created a tool for endless creativity called “Morning Pages.”

This consists of 3 pages of longhand writing; as Cameron says, these are strictly a stream-of-consciousness. Write down anything that comes to mind, and always in the morning. The reason for doing them first thing in the morning is because you’re prioritizing the day you’re about to have rather than reviewing what’s already been done.

There’s absolutely no wrong way of doing this, and remember that nothing you write is stupid, dumb, silly, or strange. The sole purpose of this brain dump is to get all that nagging, questioning, and thinking written down so that it miniaturizes your censor, calming you down, cheering you up, inspiring you, consoling you, and most importantly, emptying yourself of disturbing distractions.

Consequently, your minds and heart open up to deeper reflections when utilizing this tactic.

A few months ago, I started making Morning Pages a habit, and the benefits have been incredible. I reflect on everything from my day — my life, on all of the things I’m doing right and what I’m struggling with. I try to reflect on essentially every aspect of my life from my relationship, my finances, my writing, my goals, and from these reflections, I am able to continuously improve.

If you haven’t tried reflecting, it’s high time you develop this habit in your own unique way. It can and will have some profound changes in your life.

Here are a few reasons why you should try this out and how.

Reflection can inspire you and motivate you to create bigger and better ideas.

By reflecting on your work, you’re essentially visualizing and manifesting your goals. You’re able to analyze what you’ve done, what more you could do, and ultimately how much more work needs to be done before you can get the results that you desire.

For example, I started doing weekly/monthly reflections on my goals a few months ago. It worked really well in helping me understand whether or not I was on the right path, and each month I would make adjustments depending on if I reached or came close to meeting my set goals. However, daily reflection ended up working miracles for me.

I was able to brain dump everything, every question, every thought — and in return — this process allowed me to find a hidden purpose in the midst of all the thoughts that I was spilling out on the paper.

It motivated me to dig deeper, and by doing so, I came up with more and more ideas of what I could do in order to create the life that I really want for myself.

Reflection gives you perspective.

You’re almost always caught up in the busyness and troubles of your daily life.

A go-go-go lifestyle and the pressure of a few little mistakes can seem like the world is ending; it’ll often overwhelm you and make you feel like your life is a lot more stressful than it really is.

I’ve been there. I’m the type of person to go from 0 to 100 real quick, and unless I remind myself to mentally take a step back, I immediately feel tension and anxiety overwhelm me so much so that it feels like not only the day is ruined, but the whole week — maybe even entire month.

It’s hard to look at things from a different perspective; when you’re sitting in a mess of stress, bills, and problems, all you can think about at that moment is how on earth will you dig yourself out of this hole?

If you just take 15–20 minutes to step back, reflect, and see how, in the grand scheme of things, your problems are fixable, it can calm you down and potentially even lower your stress levels. I’m not saying reflection will fix all of your problems and pay your rent, but I am saying that this process will help you gain perspective.

And that’s a good thing.

Reflection helps you learn and grow from your mistakes.

You’re going to repeat your mistakes if you don’t learn to reflect and learn from them.

You need to figure out what went wrong, how you can prevent them in the future, and utilize them to get better. Mistakes are a valuable learning tool; you don’t need to feel embarrassed or upset about them.

It’s easier said than done, but the moment you accept your failures for what they really are (lessons), it’s going to get a lot easier to work through them.

Reflection is one of the best ways to do that.

How to make reflection a daily habit:

If reflection isn’t something do enough, consider making it a habit. Here’s how:

1. Start a one-sentence journal. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, says it’s an incredibly simple way to develop a journaling habit. If you’ve tried and failed at journaling in the past, try this method. It’s a habit that you’ll come to love, especially when you look back on a year’s worth of entries.
2. Try to do things at the same time every single day. If you’re starting a one-sentence journal, do it at 8 am, every single morning after you make yourself a cup of coffee. If you don’t start journaling in the mornings, get into the habit of reflecting on your day at nighttime. Personally, I like to reflect in the mornings. I write down what I’m doing, what my plans are, how I’m feeling. I do this every single morning around 6–7 am with a scalding hot cup of coffee. It’s my form of meditation.
3. Exercising is another great time to reflect. I used to go on runs frequently, and I’d blast some music when I didn’t want to think at all — and on the days I did, I’d run with my own loud and chatty thoughts. If you don’t like to run, consider doing it on a walk or during some yoga. The point is to make a daily appointment for reflection.

When it comes to reflection, think about your day. Your work, your life, what you’re doing well, what you’re struggling with. Dig deep. Think about what you can improve on or what you’d like to pick up. This is a form of meditation — a way for you to connect with your most true and authentic self.

Happy reflecting.