Letter about Reflection (Week 6)

Dear Darreon,

Hope all is well man! As you know, I write to you regularly and share with you my innermost thoughts. This week, I was consistently thinking about reflection and how it has infused itself into my daily life. In the beginning, I only superficially used reflection. I looked at an outcome and if it was positive it served as reinforcement to continue doing as I was, but if it was negatively I would adapt for future situations. I don't know if you write a journal but it seems to aid me in gathering my thoughts about complicated subjects and allows me to recall important memories clearly and precisely. Unlike a "diary", psst how feminine sounded, I don't record every meaningless detail but rather on how I perceive the small things, which is almost always different than how others recall them. Remember that wedding we attended, well for some reason I remember the nervous look on the groom's face as the bride walked down the aisle with her father. Well, for some reason, everyone else recalls him as smiling cheerfully. Maybe my knowledge of them divorcing in the past year has influenced my memory. My journal entry clearly writes "beads of sweat, anxious eyes, beating heart". Perhaps that was how I felt of the wedding, as our friend had only known this woman for 3 mere months before deciding to pop the question.

Anyways, more recently I have begun implementing reflection into my daily life and it works wonders. I suggest you do it. It's easy, let me take you through the process. So first off, whenever you are in an unfamiliar situation or are faced with a predicament (any uneasy situation where you have doubt) take a moment to think. Clear your mind of any distractions, and direct your focus to your situation. Think about any prior knowledge you may have, it may seem completely unrelated but it can be applied. Then keenly observe the surrounding area for clues, they will often times support or oppose your belief. Yes, it requires directed thought and investigation but it is so worth it. It has helped me out of jams loads of times and more often than not when I do this I make the appropriate choice for the situation. Trust me, it works! See, it is more than intuition and pure intellect that drives us to make our decisions... it is our upper level reasoning appointed to us as humans.

I think I will continue to use this practice in the future! It seems like it would help me adjust to uncomfortable situations and be able to make perceptive, on the spot adaptations. I am sick and tired of standing out like a sore thumb in social situations and then having my peers scrutinize me behind my back. I mean all the signs are there, and before I just wasn't paying attention to them. Did you know that reflection works just as well during an action as after it? Yes, you don't have to wait until something is over with in order to reflect. That is because action is innately attached to reflection and if one is changed the other is immediately altered. Also, if I am able to give reasons to support acting a certain way I think I'd be a lot more outgoing and grab life by the horns. Dude, I want to finally ask out hot Monica and nothing is going to stop me any more because when I reasoned through it the worst thing that is going to happen is rejection which leaves me no worse off than I am at the moment (unnoticed). I will also use it in my career as a marine biologist to determine whether the research I am conducting is leading my in the right direction or if I need to adjust something procedurally that will direct my work to more substantial and conclusive findings. Also, reflection will be looking ahead to see how potential findings could help be useful in saving endangered species which would give me the motivation to continue doing my best every day. As always, thanks for listening!

Your pal,

Brian