The world of personal development used to be dominated simply by self-help books, which divided people into a definite camps.
Some people thought they were really useful for certain professions, other people thought they were simply psychobabble and should be completely ignored. Nowadays it’s a very different story, and personal development is seen as an integral part of someone’s career path.
Reflection
In certain professions, most notably healthcare and the caring professions, the value of what is referred to as reflection has become established as an important part of someone’s career path.
Reflection itself is not the whole spectrum of personal development, but is certainly an important part of it and in many ways highlights the real value of personal development in terms of self awareness.
Types of reflection.
The importance of reflecting on one’s day or one’s life has long been held an important principle in many types of religious and spiritual traditions. It is becoming more mainstream in business as people recognise the value of how it helps to manage their own life, both at work and at home.
There are many different types of reflection, ranging from using prayer and meditation, to visualisation, to writing, to guided practices online.
The method chosen is secondary to the very simple principle behind all types of reflection. This is that the person takes time, even a couple of minutes, to consciously stop and look objectively at their day or some aspect of their day, and see how it has affected them.
Self awareness.
The value of reflection depends to a degree as to how open the person is about themselves, and their willingness to own their own behaviour and/or to blame other people. What has happened in their day, week or life.
Where personal development works is when the person is open to their own truth. This allows them a much greater sense of freedom to question and challenge themselves, and other people, without judgement.
The reason this matters, is because when a person does any type of job it is an expression to an extent of who they are as a person. This inevitably gives them information about themselves and makesthem a better employee, co-worker, colleague and friend.
