Reflection versus rumination
- yourinsight
- Apr 12, 2019
- 1 min read

Few will argue that awareness and insight leads to better decisions as well as personal growth. We all need to regularly step back from our busyness to ensure a healthy work-life balance and prevent potential burn-out as well as so-called tunnelling, when we're only able to concentrate on the immediate and urgent matters in front of us.
Reflection is a powerful activity to provide clarity and perspective, awareness and a longer term view. It is different from introspection, which can turn into rumination. Rumination and questioning yourself can be disruptive and give a sense of loss of control.
Rumination often follows when asking repeatedly the question 'why'? 'Why did that happen to me, why do I feel like I do, why did I get that wrong?'. By all means start with why to establish a purpose, to make decisions going forward or to diagnose the reasons for what happened.
However, to increase awareness and personal growth, a more beneficial question is 'what?'. "What happened?'; 'What did I think or feel and behave like when it happened?'; 'What can I learn from this?' and 'What will I do next (time)?'. Reflecting by using those 'what' questions support personal development and growth and improve performances over time.
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