The Way of Water: Reflecting Pools

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

– Carl Jung

Yet, as the Bible reminds us in Jeremiah 17:9,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

So, as I invite you to begin gazing into your heart, just remember it will be challenging. It will frankly be a bit like staring into a fun-house mirror. It is for me.

Perhaps you’ve read “The Way of Water: Writing and Retention.” If not, I suggest you check it out.

In that piece, I discuss how speaking is like holding water in your hands. Writing is like containing that same water in a bucket or container. The water represents the river of individual experiences flowing into the ocean of human existence.

In this follow-up, I want to explore the concept of staring into the water of our wanderings. This is the way of reflection.

I admit most of us don’t write. I didn’t for most of my life, at least not in the capacity that I do today. Continuing my analogy from the way of water. If we do not write, we simply hold our experiences in the palm of our hands. We hold our experiences in the palm of our hands. Therefore, like holding water in our hands, our “EXP” points are always leaking. Worst of all, we splash this water on one another. This happens through our projections, assumptions, and railing against one another. Maybe we only splash those within our own sphere, our friends and family. Perhaps it’s the more proverbial “they.”

Either way, this playing in the pools of life is only ensuring that we stay wet and stuck.

But what if we stare into the palms of our hands and see our reflection in the water?

Or into the buckets and containers that we have filled through our writing, and truly show and know ourselves?

What might we do, what might we become, if we only looked down and saw the reflection true?

There is quite a value in reflection.

There is certainly a universal nature of reflection.

Reflection is a practice that transcends cultures, professions, and personal backgrounds. It is a tool that anyone can use to gain deeper insights into their lives. By reflecting on our experiences, we can identify patterns, understand our emotions, and make more informed decisions.

As I mentioned previously, simply keeping a daily journal helps capture thoughts. It also captures emotions. This provides a space for self-reflection. This practice can lead to greater self-awareness and personal growth. In my professional setting, there are daily documenting processes. No one likes them, except those who want to measure our successes and failures. Everything written seriously can help us learn from our experiences and improve our performance, personally or professionally.

I will do my best to save you from my own railing. In my line of work, if there is a two-year lapse, it is no big deal. A great opportunity for documentation and improvement. However, every once in a blue moon, one of those historic intermittent projects comes along. I will come across a program or something that I will not accept. I must redo the entire thing. Due to my divergent path and various roles, they are usually my own doing in the first place. So, when I ask you to look down into your hands, I must do it for my daily bread. Sometimes, we must laugh at ourselves and move on. We should be thankful for the growth and wisdom we have earned along the way. One thing I have learned is that we must engage in deep and meaningful reflection. This involves not only looking down into our hands and seeing ourselves in the pool we carry. It also involves looking at the drip-stained walls, the wet clothes, or at old buckets of our experiences.

Always Asking:

What did I learn from this experience?

How can I apply this in the future?

What needs to change?

What does it need to change to?

What am I doing to make these changes, today?

This type of reflection is a powerful tool. It offers us a better understanding of ourselves. It also provides an alignment to achieve our goals. Here is a personal way I practice reflection. I wear a bracelet, a purpose point. This totem is my means of reminder. It calls my chaotic self to get back in line through reflection. It serves to remind me. What I do and what I say must be in constant alignment. Otherwise, I will not have eyes to see nor ears to hear. I desire foresight and guidance, so I must always be realigning, and reflecting.

We can all start by simply staring into the reflecting pools of our experiences.

There we can gain valuable insights and navigate the river of life with greater clarity and purpose.

So, take a moment to investigate your own reflecting pool.

What do you see?

What can you learn from your reflections?

How can you use these insights to grow and thrive?

If you care to share, shoot me an email. I would love to hear it.

What are you Thinking?