Intentional Reflection – I Think It’s Good

For me, blogging serves multiple purposes.  A blog is really just a vehicle equipped to do just that for its users (those who publish it and those who read it).  It’s inanimate until it comes to life through those people, and through that use.  One of the things I most enjoy about blogging as a form of critical reflection is that it’s exposed.  In large part I engage in reflective writing because I wholeheartedly believe it enhances my life.  I think that intentional reflection is good.  I’m convinced that it helps me become an ever-better husband, father, son, brother, friend, educator, leader, and person.

I reflect publicly because I hope that my written reflections trigger thought and affect positive progress in those who read them.  I think that hope, thought, and affective positive progress are all good.  I think that sharing reflective growth in reasonably transparent ways is a wonderful gift.  For that reason, I enjoy reading blog posts as much as I enjoy writing them.  Doing both seems to have increasingly opened me up to a style of communication and development that calls for focused consideration and deliberate progress; two growth concepts I have come to value deeply.  I think they’re good.

As an educator I work hard to remind myself that if even one student moves forward in learning as a result of my efforts, I’m doing a decent job.  The same applies to my work as a blogger.  Every so often I get a comment or a tweet expressing that some growth experience or idea I posted has meaning for a reader.  Every time I do, it makes me smile.  I’m happy to know that this effort has a positive impact on people looking to learn.  Just like with the students I serve, if any given post impacts even one person, I’ve done a decent job.

The point is that I’m intentional about the ways in which I reflect.  I could keep the thoughts I post in a private journal, but because one aspect of my intention is to reach others, that wouldn’t do it for me.  Posting them on the blog serves my purpose better.  Why would you/do you blog?  What would your purpose be (or what is it)?  In what ways do you reflect?  Are you intentional about it?  Does your reflection serve an identified purpose?  Consider your learning and growth as it is today.  How might you augment it to better serve your intentions?  Maybe it’s blogging, maybe it’s journaling, maybe it’s engaging in varied dialogues with particular people, maybe it’s painting, drawing, or sculpting, maybe it’s cooking or gardening, maybe it’s doing puzzles or listening to music?  What is it?  Are you doing it?  Are you engaged in it with intention?  Is it meeting your needs?  Is it serving your purpose?  Think about it.  You would know.

I’d love to tell you that blogging is the way to reflective growth and progress, especially because it works so well for me.  I can’t though.  I do believe it’s a great way, but I also believe that there are many other ways.  I believe that each of us has to find our own way.  Some might be congruent, but (and even if only slightly) I believe that each way is unique.  After all, aren’t we each unique?  What I’m relatively certain of however is that each of us should be intentionally reflecting in some way (or some ways).  I’ve found that subscribing to, and actively engaging in a reflective growth process is really helpful for maximizing individual and collective progress, and, as you might have guessed…I think that’s good.

Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.