Reflect & Celebrate

Lockdown actually taught me how to relax, reflect and better celebrate my work.

To be more precise, my community taught me to trust in the good work done to date. They showed their support and love for the business in so many ways. It wasn’t until then that I realised, even 7 years on from launching Tribe Porty, I had a fear of it all going wrong. I finally exhaled and trusted that what we had built was strong and resilient. It would take more than a few months of lockdown to stop us.

For the first time, I felt like I could really enjoy celebrating. Don’t get me wrong, I ‘celebrated’ before now but I never felt relaxed. It felt like something I should do.

I find it easier to celebrate others then myself and I am sure I am not alone.

My new ‘P’ priority is Pleasure.

Over the years, I have explored ways to inject more play into my life. I have recently discovered play’s older (and hotter) cousin- pleasure!

Celebration builds your pleasure muscle. When we recognise and celebrate the little wins, they stack upon one another and build your pleasure muscle. The little wins train your nervous system to want to do more of those practices, so you ingrain pleasure as a habit into your daily life. My achiever self has clamped on to this idea of building my pleasure muscle. It feels more practical and motivating than just being told to celebrate (I am celebrating this realisation!).

When you celebrate your wins, you realise more deeply the progress you’re making. This creates a loop of success. Training yourself to get more of what you want in your life.

Reflection is a great antecedent for celebration.

I recently facilitated a course online with a group of participants in the new from ScotWomenSkills programme. This programme supports young women under 30 who are (re)entering the job market. (This is a free programme which will run again in February and June, To register, please fill out this basic form with your details: https://forms.office.com/r/kChH6Bgv1c ).

My session was around transferable skills and I talked through my own career timeline. I find that timelines can organise information in a chronological sequence so that you can better understand growth, change, recurring events, cause and effect, and key events of significance. So why do most of us not reflect regularly? I think it is in part because we are too focused on consumption. Taking the time for reflection is a bit of a lost art. Most of us, unfortunately, are living unexamined lives.

Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Here is School of Life’s video on why introspection matters.

A lack of personal reflection may lead us to stay in a job we don’t like or a relationship that isn’t going well.

Most of us have been there. So to encourage more self reflection, check out Holstee‘s top reasons why we should reflect;

1. It Allows You To Gain Perspective

Emotions can cloud your judgment and you can lose sight of what truly matters. Some things seem bigger and worse than they truly are.

Self-reflection allows you to take a step back and gain perspective on what matters and what can be ignored. It allows you to process events and achieve clarity on them.

2. It Helps You Respond More Effectively

Most of the time, we simply react to whatever circumstances come our way. This can lead to us saying and doing things we regret. When we’re in a reactive mode, we don’t take the necessary time to consider our actions and words.

Personal reflection allows you to consider the consequences of your words and actions. It also enables you to consider the best, most effective, most helpful way to act in a given situation.

3. It Promotes Learning and Understanding

When we go through life without pausing to think and reflect, we don’t learn or gain a deeper understanding of life. We simply move from one thing to the next, never pausing to consider what valuable lessons we might learn.

Self-reflection, on the other hand, enables us to evaluate and process what we’ve experienced. It allows us to think deeply and ponder the meaning of our circumstances, emotions, and motivations.

Reflection enables us to live holistic, integrated, and healthy lives. Now that sounds like something to celebrate!

I would really love to know how you invite in more pleasure or great ways you celebrate.

Thanks
Dani Trudeau