Let’s talk about self-reflection…

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope that you’re having a cracking start to the weekend 🙂

Over the last couple of years, I have loved learning more about mindfulness and self-reflection, the different ways we can do them, and the immense value they create in our lives. We’re going to be taking a closer look at this in today’s blog, as we dive into the world of self-reflection.

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Last Sunday, I met with some of my incredible friends from the Undefinable Community for our virtual monthly reflections call. We’ve been doing the sessions for a couple of months now, and they are absolutely fantastic.

This month’s call started a little different, with one of my friends Kyle running an awesome little introduction on box breathing, to help kick us all off. I’ve been using box breathing as a way to help manage my stutter and stress levels for a couple of years now, so to get another example of how we can do it and the release that it gives us all was great.

If you are unfamiliar with box breathing, it is a deep breathing technique that helps you to slow down your breathing and bring yourself back into the present. A very common approach to box breathing is to breathe in for five seconds, hold it for five seconds, exhale for five seconds and then leave your lungs empty for five seconds. You can do this for whatever duration you find works best for you – whether that’s two minutes, five or even a quick minute here or there – give it a try if you’re interested 🙂

In our monthly calls, we each share something that we are grateful for, a challenge that we have faced and a request for the community each month. Self-reflection allows you to step back and gain clarity on everything that has happened in your life. Things feel like they are moving so fast lately, you’d be surprised when you think back over just how much happens each and every day.

The fact that we do it as a group allows us all to grow together, helping to support each other as we move through the year. The whole process enables you to evaluate what truly matters to you and to use that to guide future decisions and changes.

We usually find that there are a couple of similarities that cross the different challenges that we have faced each month. We dedicate some time to chatting these through, helping to share some potential resolutions or things to try to work on for the month ahead, to help resolve and grow from each opportunity. I find the calls such a valuable process, I’d highly recommend trying it out if you can 🙂

Plus, you get to have a laugh with some truly inspiring people, what more could you ask for? 💁‍♂️

That’s all for today’s blog, what do you think? How do you reflect on everything that happens in your life? Would you like to see more blogs on mindfulness and self-reflection moving forward?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!