Reflection and Generative Communication
The practice of reflection need not be limited to an end-of-year activity! You may recall from earlier blogs that a key feature of Generative Communication is deliberately capitalizing on our human gifts of consciousness and cognition in every interaction we encounter.
Unlike all other life forms on earth, we have a unique ability to reflect on past occurrences and find meaning that informs our ability to co-create our future in our subsequent interactions with others and our circumstances. As such, humans have an inherent responsibility to use our gifts of consciousness and cognition for common good. (Read more: A New Approach to our Everyday Interactions: Generative Communication).
Two of the five portals leading to the practice of Generative Communication, Stay Awake and Take Responsibility, highlight how our conscious thoughts and actions can lead to shared understanding and solutions to mutual challenges.
Reflecting on past events, trends and interactive encounters is a conscious act that enables us to take in information “from a distance” and make sense of it in a larger, sometimes better-informed context that surfaces with the passing of time. And don’t forget, we can also practice reflecting on the immediate interactive dynamic that informs our participative choices right now in relation to our intentions.
Reflection Reflexivity and Generative Communication
Technically speaking, reflection is the return of light or sound waves from a tangible surface; think of an emerging image from the surface of a still pond. It also refers to something folding back on itself, i.e., an event or action mirroring itself in one’s memory.
Conscious reflection—that is, deliberately thinking back on an event or interaction in context—is key to Generative Communication, but on its own, it is not enough. Change happens when reflection informs meaningful interactions going forward.
Reflexivity—or reflexive action—follows acts of reflection and fuels the practice of Generative Communication. A reflex refers to an action in response to a stimulus. Some reflexes are involuntary, i.e., kicking forward when one’s knee is tapped just so. However, the reflexive action I refer to is a conscious act in response to the stimulus of reflective observations and insights.
Conscious reflexivity goes hand in hand with reflection, particularly self-examination of one’s own attitudes, thought processes, values, assumptions, prejudices, and habitual actions. We must know ourselves before we can truly communicate generatively.
If reflections refer to what we observe, recall, and believe about past happenings, then reflexivity is about what we choose to do with that information going forward. I look forward to exploring Reflective Practice with you in a future article.
End-of-Year Reflection
Our reflections on what has occurred in the past year give us much to ponder. We can do so as a meditation, an expression of gratitude for the gift of life. Our reflections also trigger self-examination and learning, preparing us for the work ahead in anticipation of a new year of hope and resolve—for the responsibility we all share: to generate together through our thoughts, words, and interactions a world that honors life in all its forms.
Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Generative New Year.
Mary