The Reflective Human is a non-profit organization dedicated to building a community of critical thinkers and practical problem solvers.
What Does It Mean To Be A Reflective Person?
A Reflective Human
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a reflective person as one who looks back on things that have been said or done in order to think calmly and quietly about them.
Being a reflective person means taking the time to deeply contemplate and analyze one's thoughts, actions, and experiences. It involves a willingness to question oneself, challenge assumptions, and seek a deeper understanding of oneself and the world. A reflective person engages in introspection, seeking insights and lessons from their past, and uses them to inform their present and future choices. They are open-minded and curious, always seeking new perspectives and willing to change their views based on new information. Being reflective means embracing the discomfort of self-examination and growth, as it leads to personal development, empathy, and a greater sense of self-awareness. It is a journey of ongoing learning and adaptation, enabling individuals to navigate life with greater wisdom and authenticity.
Why is this important?
The ability to impartially analyze our personal feelings, words, actions and interactions is essential to attaining self-awareness. It is our opportunity to be honest with our self without fear of judgement. An exercise of self-reflection can produce profound results:
1) Reduce anxiety and impulsive reactions, allowing for calmer, more thoughtful response sometimes even in the face of an emergency.
2) Improve relationships with people as we’re not prone to blurting out the first thing that comes to our head.
3) Deeper understanding of issues as we take the time to ponder on them and find out as much as we can before coming to a conclusion.
What it is not: It is sometimes easy to confuse despairing to being reflective, as we helplessly churn an issue over and over in our mind without a way forward. Reflective thinking is calm, analytical and progressive, with a view to improving self-awareness, skill and effectiveness.
Can we all be reflective people?
This certainly, is a goal we can all strife to achieve. Becoming a reflective person is not an innate trait, but rather a skill that can be developed with practice and intention. It requires a willingness to examine our thoughts, actions, and beliefs, and to question their validity and impact. Reflective individuals possess a certain level of introspection and open-mindedness, which allows them to navigate through life with greater self-awareness and understanding. While it may be challenging for everyone to embrace this mindset initially, it is certainly possible for all of us to cultivate reflective habits.
A great starting point to becoming a reflective person, is by gradually engaging in meditative practices such as journaling, mindfulness exercises, and seeking feedback from others, that helps us build control over our emotion. It provides the ability to quieten the turmoil that is our thoughts and listen to our inner voice, we can foster a reflective mindset that benefits both ourselves and those around us. Ultimately, by making a conscious effort to continually learn and grow, we have the potential to become more reflective individuals.
The Value of Community
Why do we form communities?
“No man is an island” is a common refrain that has been repeated since the 1624 prose “No man is an Iland” by poet John Donne, it has been the title of songs, movies, books, and TV shows alike. A core message they point to is the fact that no one man can go at life alone. It is just not possible, we all need a hand once in a while. Even from the days of the hunter/gatherer, humans have always depended on each other to build their communities, to maintain its growth and protect its inhabitants. The current ideology of rugged individuality is perpetuated by a few, who are often driven by greed and selfishness and benefit from divisions among us.
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Fostering Connection and Support
A community is a group of individuals who come together, sharing common interests, goals, or geography and are bound by a sense of belonging and mutual support. While the practical benefits of community are tangible, such as security and shared resources, the true value lies in its ability to provide emotional well-being, personal growth, and a sense of purpose. Community is not just an essential part of human existence, but a catalyst for a harmonious, fulfilling, and resilient society.
In today's individualistic society, we are told to quit complaining and pull ourselves up by the bootstrap, when it comes to issues of social safety nets. The theory of rugged individuality where each person is supposed to go at it alone and not expect ‘handouts’ from the government, has perpetuated the society as the way to go to make progress in life and this ideology has taken over mainstream thinking. This ideology has only served to pushing people further away from each other. The prevalence of internet and social media has further exacerbated our separation. A by-product of this separation is anger and distrust, an unwillingness to listen to dissenting voices and resentment among various groups, especially those who have an upper hand.
A strong community (big or small), where the citizens are able to rely on and trust one another provides an environment for growth, security and a sense of belonging. The expectation that a child born in poverty with no solid societal support – in terms of education, housing, food security, is able to focus enough, to plan, educate themselves, and rise out of poverty is disingenuous. A major part of any society’s social contract, is the understanding that there are certain things within society that is imperative to pull resources together to provide services and support that would benefit all and stop the more vulnerable from falling through the cracks.
The belief that it takes a village to raise a kid still holds as true today as it did in the past, where most adults felt a sense of responsibility to the young ones in the community and could provide care, safety and discipline to the child.
It is past time for us to stop and reevaluate this trend of separation, individuality and distrust, that seduces us into believing that those who make it in society did it all on their own, without the help, influence or support of the society, - no schools, mentors, public services such as police, libraries, fire departments, community centers etc. We are always stronger together, regardless of whatever cultural differences that seem to separate us today.
Co-operation is the opposite of rugged individuality and the key to a strong thriving community, state or country, from raising funds for well-equipped schools, hospitals, construction of good roads, electricity, recreational centers, parks and other common amenities that serve the good of the people, to electing individuals from within the community to represent the interest of the people and ensuring there is funding for maintenance of these institutions so it continues to provide services that all of society can equitably benefit from. The significance of community cannot be overstated.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Our Story
Hello there!
I am Rebecca Daré - A Business Process Manager, Learning and Development expert and Life Coach. I am also an entrepreneur, wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, citizen…. (you get the picture!) I am passionate about Humanity, Social and Economic Justice and Equity. Because I come from a country where these values are not upheld and currently live in one that champions it all over the world, but does not always practice it, these are issues that are especially dear to me.
We are all more than one thing and my hope is that someday we can all look past our differences and labels, and celebrate the commonalities of our shared humanity.
The Reflective Human was born out of the need for my husband Tayo and I, to teach our two sons good morals and values, without the threat of fire and brimstone, or the expectation of eternal reward for being decent human beings. I would often find myself giving lectures at awkward times when we encountered certain situations. It took teachable moments to a whole new level, sometimes robbing the fun out of special experiences. My husband and I quickly realized we needed an organized approach to these conversations.
As a Business Process Analyst and Learning and Development expert, I created learning guides on topical issues and we began selecting one topic a week to discuss - focusing on personal, socioeconomic and political aspects of human interactions. This gave us the chance to delve, providing our boys the opportunity to share their thoughts, connect it to our daily lives, habits and engagements, while having fun with music and other entertainment. Over time we have covered topics such as mindfulness, the common good, fear, self-expression, depression, peer-pressure etc.
It is our pleasure to share these guides of moral and ethical issues with you. We hope you can find value in them and make them a part of your daily life, as we all learn, teach and grow together. We hope you will join us!