The idea of reflection

Only reflected feelings become experiences. 

(Y. Hlibovytsky)

Picture from movie Ex Machina, yansue.exblog.jp

When we see yourself in the mirror before going out - to make sure that we look great (or think that look great/ in a way we choose). So the mirror is reflecting ourselves and giving us a feedback. Based on this feedback we can make a decision by evaluating the feedback: to go or not to go yet (fix hair/ change shirt) - and then go.

Wouldn't be nice to have something like this for our brain? I don't mean CT-scans and MRI machines, but actually something about our thoughts and actions. About our experiences. Something which could help us to see ourselves in different situations and evaluate it. And decide whether we would do it again. For example, foodie type of people would love the idea of non-stop eating or eating as much as they want. But people around would give immediate feedback - 'oh you are getting fatter', which is in the most if the societies is not a good thing (the doc may say it's not good for your health), so the decision would be to eat less or make another effort to lose weight.

Self Reflection Art, nanozine.org

So I would draw the formula of reflection like this:

Reflection = feedback + evaluation + decision

Quite often we do things repeatedly and over and over again without reflection. As a result, one morning we wake up and may find out cardio-vascular disease and high blood pressure. Or suffer depression and unhappiness. Why is that happening? Life gives us plenty of opportunities to reflect and correct our actions.

Life gives us plenty of opportunities to reflect. It also sends signals when something is not right. Taking the chance to give yourself a feedback: compare what we aimed for with what we achieved, what we dreamed with what we have; evaluation of it: how do we feel about it, judging it; and decide: to take or not to take corrective action - can be pretty helpful to stay on course.