Reflections: 8 Questions to Help Discover New Beginnings – Joy & Happiness

Reflections – 8 Important Questions

To help Discover New Beginnings

Building Strength: Restoring Joy & Happiness

Reflecting on the previous year, month, week and sometimes even the previous day helps you discover new beginnings, to Build Strength: Restore Joy & Happiness . Every day you have the opportunity to let go of painful experiences and accept love into your heart to begin a new day.

Reflections can be overwhelming, exciting, and daunting at the same time. Where has the time gone? What have you achieved and done during this time? This is what I like to call the time of reflection: To take a deep look at yourself in the mirror and see yourself for the kind, loving person you really are. To acknowledge what you have achieved and what it is that you still want to achieve. Taking the time to reflect on what you have learnt, to understand the power of your mind, importance of balancing your emotions and why this is important for your health and continued growth.

In this article you will learn the benefits of reflections, how to practice reflecting on a day to day and yearly basis, as to why it is vital for building emotional strength, restoring joy and happiness.

Taking Time to Reflect Benefits you Health & Life

Taking time for reflection is a valuable practice that can benefit your health and life in many ways. Reflection is the process of examining your own thoughts, feelings, actions, and experiences to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your surroundings.

5 Main benefits of Reflection:

1. Reflection can help you improve your self-awareness, which is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. Self-awareness is an essential skill for emotional intelligence, providing you with the ability to manage your emotions, relate to others effectively and build emotional resilience to stressful, anxious times.
2. Reflection can also enhance your learning and memory by helping you consolidate and integrate new information with your existing knowledge. By reflecting on what you have learned, you can identify what you know, what you don’t know, and what you need to learn more about. This can help you improve your academic performance, problem-solving skills, and creativity.
3. Reflection can also reduce your stress levels and improve your mental health by allowing you to process and cope with negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, and guilt. By reflecting on the causes and consequences of your emotions, you can gain a better perspective on your situation and find healthy ways to deal with it. 
4. Reflection can also help you cultivate positive emotions, such as gratitude, happiness, and optimism.
5. Reflection can also strengthen your relationships and well-being by helping you feel more connected to yourself and others. By reflecting on your values, goals, and dreams, you can align your actions with your true self and live more authentically. By reflecting on your interactions with others, you can improve your communication skills, empathy, and compassion. 
6. Reflection can also help you appreciate the people and things that matter to you, expressing your gratitude and love.

Upon Reflection

By reflecting on the year, there were times of change, grief, sadness, trauma, and happiness that you handled. However, it can be so easy to get caught up in all the things that did not work out, that you will forget what did work, what you coped well with and what you achieved and made you joyful.

For instance, you may be feeling overwhelmed and anxious because you didn’t save the money that you had planned, because you wanted to lose a certain amount of weight and did not quite lose it all, because you did not move forward as you would have liked in your business or got that promotion at work, or because you did not get a job that you so wanted. Nevertheless, there were also some very special moments that made you happy and proud of yourself.

When I look back and reflect on my year, I realize that things that stood out to me, that seemed important suddenly did not matter. I also saw that things that shook me during the year, some deeply traumatic and upsetting, led to something deeper. They built strength and character in me that I did not know I had. The unexpected or unwelcome events brought a dimension and realm to my life that gave it greater purpose and meaning. I do this exercise regularly throughout the year as well to help me stay focused and on track.

A 5 Step Guide to Practicing Reflection

1. Set aside some time each day or week to reflect on your thoughts, feelings, actions, and experiences. You can do this in the morning or evening, or whenever it suits you best.
2. Find a quiet and comfortable place where you can focus without distractions. You can use a journal, a notebook, a computer, or any other medium that works for you.
3. Use open-ended questions to guide your reflection. For example, you can ask yourself: What did I learn today? How did I feel today? What did I do well today? What could I have done better? What am I grateful for today? What are my goals for tomorrow?
4. Be honest and curious with yourself. Don’t judge or criticize yourself harshly. Instead, try to understand why you think, feel, and act the way you do. Be open to new insights and perspectives.
5. Take action based on your reflection. Use what you have learned from reflection to make positive changes in your life. For example, you can: Apologize to someone you hurt. Thank someone who helped you. Try something new. Seek feedback. Learn something new. Practice a skill. Express your feelings.

Reflecting on the Past year

Answer these Questions!

1. What were some of the Happiest Days of the year? Who were you with and What were you doing?
2. What was the best meal/meals you cooked?
3. What was the most enjoyable and or exciting outing, adventure or new things that you learnt?
4. What was the best thing that you bought during the year?
5. What was something you bought for you, that made you feel happy?
6. What was a great gift that you shared or gave during the year?
7. What was one thing that you achieved for the year, that initially you found daunting, but it all fell into place and now you feel happy and accomplished.
8. One thing that happened during the year that was terribly upsetting, unexpected and painful but you not only worked through it, it had a very positive outcome that you are truly grateful for?

Reflections on your Answers: Responses and Confirmation

1. What stands out the most and what are you most grateful and proud of. This might be more than one thing, maybe something you are truly grateful for and something that you are very proud to have achieved.
2. What did you miss or feel you may have missed out on, that you want to make a priority for the New Year ahead?
3. What is the most important thing that matters most that you would bring further Joy, Happiness, Love and Peace into your New Year.

Sharing my answers with you as Inspiration

1. The happiest day of the year for me was when my husband got a final health check that everything was fine. After a long stent in hospital with pneumonia that went on to cause some heart difficulties, that is now all on the mend.
2. I decided to have an Indian night with my family, and I have never cooked Indian Food proper before, and it was a great success.
3. My most enjoyable outing or outings are having dinner with my husband and my family.
4. I guess my most exciting adventure for the year was that I chose to retire from the massage side of my business after 35 years. I must say this surprised me with the transition as ended with ease and great peace, having many wonderful memories from my career in this area. I have learnt that I am very resilient and that I am very much loved. I do not think life gets much better than, that.
5. We purchased a new air conditioner and it is just great.
6. I bought myself some leggings and singlet top, wearing them around home helps me to feel relaxed and happy.
7. The Greatest gift I was able to share during the year was supporting my husband in his return to health.
8. I think the main thing that I achieved during the year and must admit found very daunting and challenging was closing my physical Naturopathic Health Clinic and moving totally online. Even though I had been working toward this for 4 1/2 years. I am gradually feeling more competent and at ease with it all.
9. The most upsetting thing that happened during the year was my husband getting ill, then during his treatment in the hospital there were further complications that put his mortality at risk. Fortunately, due to a great deal of communication and support with medical professionals and of course my darling husbands’ determination. All is now on the mend.

Summary of What is Reflection!

Reflection is a process of thinking critically and analytically about examining one’s own thoughts, feelings, actions, and motivations. It helps to build self-awareness, self-concept, and self-development. It also enables learning from positive and negative experiences, improving practice and service delivery, and improving mental and emotional health and balance.

Reflection can be done in various ways, such as writing, talking, meeting, or coaching, as long as they involve examining one’s own practice and generating insights for improvement. Reflection is important for various professions, such as teaching and health care, as it contributes to better outcomes and ethical standards. Reflection is also beneficial for personal growth and resilience, as it fosters a deeper understanding of oneself and one’s values.

Say this Everyday

To Restore Emotional Balance: Happiness & Joy

Restoring and Maintaining Emotional Balance is a Daily Task that should “Always be a Priority” it is the Road to a Healthier and Happier Life. That Builds Mental Clarity and Strength.

Other Daily Suggestions to Restore Emotional Health & Balance

• Get 6 – 8 hours sleep daily
• Manage stress levels by staying focused on what you want to do
• Have a daily routine.
• Eat healthy fresh, whole food.
• Stay hydrated drinking 1 – 2 litres of fresh, filtered water per day.
• Spend time in nature daily
• Do 30 – 60 mins of physical exercise daily.
• Meditate take to time out and let your thoughts arrive then leave.
• Take time each day to Practice mindfulness, to be aware of your thoughts, feelings and actions.

Further Support to Brighten your Day!

Making positive changes can seem very complicated and exhausting. That’s why many people fall back into old negative habits. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. When you learn these Key Elements, building and developing Optimal Health, Happiness & Vitality becomes much easier.

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