Reflection Quotes

“It’s hard to look at modern life and see our capacities for reflection or meaning-making.  We don’t use our gifts to be more aware or thoughtful.  We’re driven in the opposite direction.  Things move too fast for us to reflect, demanding tasks give us no time to think, and we barely notice the lack of meaning until forced to stand still by illness, tragedy, or job loss.  But in spite of our hurry, we cannot stop life’s dynamic of self-reference or the human need for meaning. If we want to influence any change, anywhere, we need to work with this powerful process rather than deny its existence.”

Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler 

Publishers Inc., 2006) at 147.

This quote reaches me because of the fact that life does get busy and we make a plethora of reasons not to reflect and ponder why things happened the way they did. We too often make the same mistakes again, because we weren't thinking about the steps we could've changed to change our outcomes. It reminds me to take time and make reflecting a priority. 

“The capacity to reflect on one's own strength and weaknesses, to learn from constructive criticism, and to practice critical reflection by monitoring one's own work performance and interpersonal interactions is essential to the ability to learn from experience and is the cornerstone of the journey to becoming a lifelong learner.”

Judith McNamara & Rachel Field, “Designing Reflective Assessment for Workplace Learning in Legal Education” (Paper presented at the ATN Evaluation and Assessment Conference, 29-30 November 2007) online: <http://www.eac2007.qut.edu.au/proceedings/proceedings_ebook.pdf> 87.

This quote makes me think about building character and integrity. It reminds me to slow down a digest what is going in my life both personally and professionally. We can learn so much from other individuals, but we can also learn a lot from ourselves. 

“The word “professional” originally meant someone who makes a “profession of faith” in the midst of a disheartening world. That root meaning became diminished as the centuries rolled by, and today it has all but disappeared. “Professional” now means someone who possesses knowledge and techniques too esoteric for the laity to understand, whose education is proudly proclaimed to be “value free.”

The notion of a “new professional” revives the root meaning of the word. This person can say, “In the midst of the powerful force-field of institutional life, where so much conspires to compromise the core values of my work, I have found firm ground on which to stand—the ground of personal and professional identity and integrity—and from which I can call myself, my colleagues, and my profession back to our true mission.”

Higher education needs to educate people in every field who have ethical autonomy and the courage to act upon it—who possess knowledge, skill, and the highest values of their vocations. Can such an education become a reality? Yes, if we who educate can think and act like the new professionals we need to raise up.”

From Parker Palmer’s The New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited retrieved 2 February 2010 http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/November-December%202007/full-new-professional.html

This quote reminds me that reflecting leads to change and change is growth. By reflecting, I can see the differences I make in the lives of others, and I can also see my values and beliefs integrated into my daily routines.