Reflective practice: practice to pause
The suggestion to cultivate a reflective practice can feel like yet another thing to put on our to-do list, or another technique in self-betterment. It can be seen as indulgent navel-gazing in a world that needs decisive and urgent action. Ultimately, isn’t reflection something else we’ll fail to stick with?
For some, the thought of a reflective practice can feel uncomfortable because being idle isn’t part of how they see themselves and they imagine reflection as a quiet, solitary, meditative thinking activity. (I still remember my discomfort when I tried – and failed - to answer Tara Brach’s question “Who are you without the doing?”)
Others will doubt the benefits of reflection, especially if they focus, consciously or unconsciously, on productivity and results, and spending time without something to show for feels uneasy.
Yet, many of us feel pulled into reflection, especially as we move from one year to the next.
In her book The Storm of Creativity, Kyna Leski writes that what proceeds a beginning is a pause.
As December draws to an end and in the early days of January… do we feel drawn to reflect because we need a pause before we begin again?
There are countless accounts of those who solved big mysteries and made great discoveries, that they did so while pausing.
Whether they stepped away from the problem that occupied their minds in frustration or out of exhaustion, or simply because they were called by other duties or interests, people often report that it was exactly the pause that made the eureka possible.
“Distractions, which seem so counterproductive to the creative process, have a role to play, breaking the silence and stirring the unconscious mind in a new direction.”
Pausing with purpose
If it were true that pausing helps us begin with fresh eyes and an open mind - how would we meet the challenges of our times if we managed to schedule regular pauses into our lives? Not pauses of collapse, because we’re exhausted and overstretched, but purposeful pauses. How would we manage to keep going or how much further could we go in our efforts to do what matters to us if we paused regularly and deliberately?
Reframing reflective practice as a practice to pause
There are so many ways to pause and reasons why.
Recess at school was playtime (at primary school) and morphed into time to chat and connect with our peers as we got older (and cooler…)
Many pauses are breaks to refuel: we take tea breaks and lunch breaks. We have invented snacks.
We sleep to let our bodies and brains rest, process and recalibrate.
When we exercise or train for physical performance, taking breaks aids recovery and, in the long run, we’re not only more likely to avoid injury, we’re also more likely to achieve higher levels of performance or endurance.
If we reframe reflective practice as a practice of pausing so that we can begin again, maybe we could look at it in a more expansive way.
We could bring different qualities to reflection:
Being playful and inquisitive, not gloomy, serious or deep.
Connecting and co-creating, not sitting in solitary contemplation.
Pausing to celebrate what worked, not just to shine a light on what isn’t working.
Resting, recovering and refueling, not navel-gazing self-improvement.
Preparing fertile ground for fresh ideas, not an unproductive use of time.
Engaging the mind, not trying to empty it.
A regular reflective practice gives us agency.
“Without reflection, we drift, others shape and direct us. With reflection, we can understand and even bend the trajectories of our lives.”
If you feel curious, intrigued, in need or even ready to cultivate your reflective practice, join me at Sensemaking Studio - a 4-month reflective practice with a small group of like-minded Sense Makers.
We’ll work online and use arts-based processes without a need to see yourself as a creative or artistic person.
We’ll have the opportunity to work in a deeply personal way and enjoy the support and care of being in community.
Sensemaking Studio is the place to shape a reflective practice around your needs, interests, time constraints, and life rhythm.
We’re getting curious about the full spectrum of reflecting: what could a personal retreat day look like and how can you build micro-reflections into your day.
Runs from June to September 2024
Find out more… here:
