enlightenment is the process of thinking
for yourself for using your intellect to
decide what to believe and how to act
it means removing from the sheep
mentality and examining things for
yourself deciding on your actions
deciding on your behavior deciding how
to behave in a rapidly changing society
is technologically driven and social
media-driven
what does it mean for you the above
definition requires you to reflect more
specifically to self reflects the murray
webster online dictionary this
definition of reflection is an opinion
that you form or remark it you make
after carefully thinking about something
whereas self-reflection means careful
thoughts of your own behavior and
actions and beliefs this is key you’re
thinking about your behavior your
actions or your interactions towards
yourself towards others you’re thinking
about your beliefs whether they are
harmful or good for others so what do I
do about my self-reflection the best way
to explain is to tell you a personal
experience that I had I had this
incredible fear of heights by incredible
fear I mean it got to the point where I
couldn’t visit a friend in a high-rise
apartment building because I would be
walking along the side of the wall like
this because the corridor was open on
that side I couldn’t change a light
globe there was a nightmare I couldn’t
walk down a flight of stairs because I
would get dizzy looking down sometimes I
fell down and so when I was brushing my
teeth I would regularly ask myself why
is this fear
growing why are you so scared this is
ridiculous you got to do something about
this
because it was really limiting and so
one day I found the courage to do
something I signed up for parachuting
classes yes I signed up to jump out of
an airplane on my own and so for three
weeks I went for training three weekends
we practiced and we practice and we
practice and eventually but the time to
climb into the airplane it was a tiny
little sis known as airplane it sounded
like a mosquito when I took off and
there were only space for five people
the pilot the instructor and the three
of us that were going to jump I was the
last one to jump so as I got too close
to the door my fear just just rose and
rose and it was my turn to be by the
open door I looked out and I looked down
everything was these tiny little images
on the ground and I didn’t know if I
wanted to faint or vomit so I looked at
my instructor he smiled
is his out
I don’t remember going onto the wing the
next thing I remember was staring at my
white knuckles hanging on to the side of
the wings looking down there was 1500
kilometers between myself and Mother
Earth I looked at my instructor and he
said jump my hands betrayed me my hands
opened just pure reflex from the
training and the next thing I was
falling in this space my mouth opened
and this terrible scream came out I was
supposed to be counting and my parachute
opened an era was floating and I looked
up everything was okay I looked around
and I was like wow it’s so quiet up here
and then I looked down and I was
actually this isn’t so bad
this feels really exhilarating I grabbed
the toggles and I started playing with
the parachutes and started to expand and
sing when I landed I wanted to go again
my fear was gone because it was a
ridiculous fear and it would mean so
limiting and since then I’ve done the
highest courts swing in the world I’ve
done ziplining I’ve done hiking don’t
get me wrong I still get scared but it’s
a normal person scared so how do i
reflect overcoming my fear started a
deeper self reflection of growth change
self reflection became a daily exercise
and a call to action
self reflection means looking at
yourself in the eye I mean the tree take
a mirror and look yourself in the eye
ask yourself hard questions ask yourself
about things that happen that day how
did I handle the situation could have
handled the situation better do I need
to apologize for how I handled the
situation should I have done something
better could I have been better you get
the idea
self reflection should
habits something you do every day always
think about the actions you need to take
to improve once you have reflected so
what is the point of self reflection
self reflection helps you to assess who
you are and to understand yourself
better honest self reflection not easy
looking yourself in the eyes and asking
hard questions not easy making changes
even more difficult you need to find
those changes to be able to mature to
break habits that are easy and
comfortable changes are uncomfortable
for example when I finished school I
decided to be a Chartered Accountants so
I started my internship with KPMG a peck
KPMG one of the big accounting companies
you know I was gonna make a lot of money
never worry about money you know it’s
gonna be rules of boodle and two years
into my internship I didn’t like going
to work I felt unfulfilled so I started
asking questions why do you feel like
this is it my environment that’s making
me feel like this is it me that break
feels like this so the tender age of 21
I went back to university for four years
to study to be a teacher one of the best
career moves I ever made I have never
looked back
as you understand yourself better
through self-reflection you find
yourself making changes challenging
yourself to do better to be better some
reflections might result in you being a
better son a better daughter a better
students a better friend a better
defender of the helpless self reflection
crowns you it matures your reasoning and
understandings because it requires
changes as this happens you start having
a better relationship
yourself you start to like yourself a
bit more you start to do things that
make you a happier person you start to
think clearly on your day to day
interactions as they are happening you
start to think clearly on situations as
they are happening because reflection
has become a habit
so you reflect almost immediately I had
one of those moments when I turned 14
I reached one of my dreams I became a
principal one of the youngest principals
in a chain of colleges in South Africa I
got the smallest college it only had
around 250 students and one of my jobs
besides being principal was to grow the
college and to also collect all the
outstanding fees and so the team that I
inherited and myself got together we
talked about the problems we discussed
the problems and my style of management
is more humanitarian so people came up
with ideas and of that great idea you’re
in charge of the project and so
everybody bought into solving problems
in the college and within 10 months we
grew 110 percent so we had over 500
students in 10 months to the point where
I could rearrange and restructure the
internal organization and classrooms of
the college the unpaid fees suddenly
were down to like 5% of unpaid fees and
those were people who were struggling
and we made arrangements for them to pay
off their debts I had a director
brilliant brilliant woman near the
education system understood educational
theories I have the utmost respect for
her but she was a autocratic manager so
you got a human man humanitarian and an
autocrat my autocratic manager said I
needed to harm manage my staff the same
way I needed to be autocratic and it
made me really unhappy too
kind of pressure and I reflected on it
and eventually I picked up the phone of
Hardin asked for a meeting and we sat
down and discussed our differences in
management she was insistent that I
still be an autocratic manager so I
resigned a couple of months later this
is where the 2008 tea and the two
suitcases happened I ended up in Taiwan
in this day of digital technology many
people stopped reflecting they’re
distracted by these smart devices and
social media I know I’m guilty too
they spent countless hours on these
devices social media creates a lot of
influence whether you realize it or not
it influences your self perception it
influences your self-image it influences
how you perceive the world how you
perceive other people you need to
reflect on your use of digital media and
make the necessary changes but this I
mean you ask questions like do I spend
too much time on my social media and so
honestly is this influence a positive
influence is it a negative influence how
much is it interfering in my life does
it make me depressed
does it interfere with my self-image is
it interfering with my relationship with
other people are they more constructive
things that I can do with my time your
sort of affection is dependent on your
use of social media the decision to
change is yours and yours alone but
making the change does not have to be
done alone what a self-reflection is
realizing that maybe you need help to
make the changes and that help might be
in the form of some professional help
the help might be in the form of asking
a trusted friend to be your sounding
board that help might be as
your friend she’ll help you stay
motivated in your path of change and she
push you back on the path when you start
falling off so when you go home look at
yourself in the mirror look at yourself
in your eyes don’t look at your features
like oh my nose is too small and my
mouth is too big and all my ears they
cats you far actually want you to look
in your eyes it’s weird it’s
uncomfortable looking yourself in your
eyes then start asking yourself
questions starters I mean I don’t know
you’ve suffered something complex like
Who am I or you could start with
something a little easier what if I get
out of this TEDx event that I spent my
Saturday afternoon at the great thing
about self reflection is that you could
spend time on reflection you don’t need
an immediate answer some questions
require yours and the way you examine
that question changes over time because
you mature and your perceptions around
you to change some questions are
repetitive in nature like the question
Who am I be proactive if you’re one of
those people who walk around complaining
about everything we’ve all got friends
like that and they do nothing but
complain take a moment stop ask yourself
why am i complaining so much what is the
problem
what can I do I’ll give an example
you know people complain about it that
term litter in the ocean let’s earn this
on the beaches and are you one of those
people that complain about litter as
you’re stepping over an empty Cola
bottle and carry on walking and say Oh
somebody needs to do something about
others litter why not you why don’t you
make the change
self-reflection covers many areas of
your life is your reflective change that
promotes growth and maturity in yourself
it
it’s a strong relationship with yourself
and a love for yourself it is the
beginning of a journey to enlightenment
thank you
for yourself for using your intellect to
decide what to believe and how to act
it means removing from the sheep
mentality and examining things for
yourself deciding on your actions
deciding on your behavior deciding how
to behave in a rapidly changing society
is technologically driven and social
media-driven
what does it mean for you the above
definition requires you to reflect more
specifically to self reflects the murray
webster online dictionary this
definition of reflection is an opinion
that you form or remark it you make
after carefully thinking about something
whereas self-reflection means careful
thoughts of your own behavior and
actions and beliefs this is key you’re
thinking about your behavior your
actions or your interactions towards
yourself towards others you’re thinking
about your beliefs whether they are
harmful or good for others so what do I
do about my self-reflection the best way
to explain is to tell you a personal
experience that I had I had this
incredible fear of heights by incredible
fear I mean it got to the point where I
couldn’t visit a friend in a high-rise
apartment building because I would be
walking along the side of the wall like
this because the corridor was open on
that side I couldn’t change a light
globe there was a nightmare I couldn’t
walk down a flight of stairs because I
would get dizzy looking down sometimes I
fell down and so when I was brushing my
teeth I would regularly ask myself why
is this fear
growing why are you so scared this is
ridiculous you got to do something about
this
because it was really limiting and so
one day I found the courage to do
something I signed up for parachuting
classes yes I signed up to jump out of
an airplane on my own and so for three
weeks I went for training three weekends
we practiced and we practice and we
practice and eventually but the time to
climb into the airplane it was a tiny
little sis known as airplane it sounded
like a mosquito when I took off and
there were only space for five people
the pilot the instructor and the three
of us that were going to jump I was the
last one to jump so as I got too close
to the door my fear just just rose and
rose and it was my turn to be by the
open door I looked out and I looked down
everything was these tiny little images
on the ground and I didn’t know if I
wanted to faint or vomit so I looked at
my instructor he smiled
is his out
I don’t remember going onto the wing the
next thing I remember was staring at my
white knuckles hanging on to the side of
the wings looking down there was 1500
kilometers between myself and Mother
Earth I looked at my instructor and he
said jump my hands betrayed me my hands
opened just pure reflex from the
training and the next thing I was
falling in this space my mouth opened
and this terrible scream came out I was
supposed to be counting and my parachute
opened an era was floating and I looked
up everything was okay I looked around
and I was like wow it’s so quiet up here
and then I looked down and I was
actually this isn’t so bad
this feels really exhilarating I grabbed
the toggles and I started playing with
the parachutes and started to expand and
sing when I landed I wanted to go again
my fear was gone because it was a
ridiculous fear and it would mean so
limiting and since then I’ve done the
highest courts swing in the world I’ve
done ziplining I’ve done hiking don’t
get me wrong I still get scared but it’s
a normal person scared so how do i
reflect overcoming my fear started a
deeper self reflection of growth change
self reflection became a daily exercise
and a call to action
self reflection means looking at
yourself in the eye I mean the tree take
a mirror and look yourself in the eye
ask yourself hard questions ask yourself
about things that happen that day how
did I handle the situation could have
handled the situation better do I need
to apologize for how I handled the
situation should I have done something
better could I have been better you get
the idea
self reflection should
habits something you do every day always
think about the actions you need to take
to improve once you have reflected so
what is the point of self reflection
self reflection helps you to assess who
you are and to understand yourself
better honest self reflection not easy
looking yourself in the eyes and asking
hard questions not easy making changes
even more difficult you need to find
those changes to be able to mature to
break habits that are easy and
comfortable changes are uncomfortable
for example when I finished school I
decided to be a Chartered Accountants so
I started my internship with KPMG a peck
KPMG one of the big accounting companies
you know I was gonna make a lot of money
never worry about money you know it’s
gonna be rules of boodle and two years
into my internship I didn’t like going
to work I felt unfulfilled so I started
asking questions why do you feel like
this is it my environment that’s making
me feel like this is it me that break
feels like this so the tender age of 21
I went back to university for four years
to study to be a teacher one of the best
career moves I ever made I have never
looked back
as you understand yourself better
through self-reflection you find
yourself making changes challenging
yourself to do better to be better some
reflections might result in you being a
better son a better daughter a better
students a better friend a better
defender of the helpless self reflection
crowns you it matures your reasoning and
understandings because it requires
changes as this happens you start having
a better relationship
yourself you start to like yourself a
bit more you start to do things that
make you a happier person you start to
think clearly on your day to day
interactions as they are happening you
start to think clearly on situations as
they are happening because reflection
has become a habit
so you reflect almost immediately I had
one of those moments when I turned 14
I reached one of my dreams I became a
principal one of the youngest principals
in a chain of colleges in South Africa I
got the smallest college it only had
around 250 students and one of my jobs
besides being principal was to grow the
college and to also collect all the
outstanding fees and so the team that I
inherited and myself got together we
talked about the problems we discussed
the problems and my style of management
is more humanitarian so people came up
with ideas and of that great idea you’re
in charge of the project and so
everybody bought into solving problems
in the college and within 10 months we
grew 110 percent so we had over 500
students in 10 months to the point where
I could rearrange and restructure the
internal organization and classrooms of
the college the unpaid fees suddenly
were down to like 5% of unpaid fees and
those were people who were struggling
and we made arrangements for them to pay
off their debts I had a director
brilliant brilliant woman near the
education system understood educational
theories I have the utmost respect for
her but she was a autocratic manager so
you got a human man humanitarian and an
autocrat my autocratic manager said I
needed to harm manage my staff the same
way I needed to be autocratic and it
made me really unhappy too
kind of pressure and I reflected on it
and eventually I picked up the phone of
Hardin asked for a meeting and we sat
down and discussed our differences in
management she was insistent that I
still be an autocratic manager so I
resigned a couple of months later this
is where the 2008 tea and the two
suitcases happened I ended up in Taiwan
in this day of digital technology many
people stopped reflecting they’re
distracted by these smart devices and
social media I know I’m guilty too
they spent countless hours on these
devices social media creates a lot of
influence whether you realize it or not
it influences your self perception it
influences your self-image it influences
how you perceive the world how you
perceive other people you need to
reflect on your use of digital media and
make the necessary changes but this I
mean you ask questions like do I spend
too much time on my social media and so
honestly is this influence a positive
influence is it a negative influence how
much is it interfering in my life does
it make me depressed
does it interfere with my self-image is
it interfering with my relationship with
other people are they more constructive
things that I can do with my time your
sort of affection is dependent on your
use of social media the decision to
change is yours and yours alone but
making the change does not have to be
done alone what a self-reflection is
realizing that maybe you need help to
make the changes and that help might be
in the form of some professional help
the help might be in the form of asking
a trusted friend to be your sounding
board that help might be as
your friend she’ll help you stay
motivated in your path of change and she
push you back on the path when you start
falling off so when you go home look at
yourself in the mirror look at yourself
in your eyes don’t look at your features
like oh my nose is too small and my
mouth is too big and all my ears they
cats you far actually want you to look
in your eyes it’s weird it’s
uncomfortable looking yourself in your
eyes then start asking yourself
questions starters I mean I don’t know
you’ve suffered something complex like
Who am I or you could start with
something a little easier what if I get
out of this TEDx event that I spent my
Saturday afternoon at the great thing
about self reflection is that you could
spend time on reflection you don’t need
an immediate answer some questions
require yours and the way you examine
that question changes over time because
you mature and your perceptions around
you to change some questions are
repetitive in nature like the question
Who am I be proactive if you’re one of
those people who walk around complaining
about everything we’ve all got friends
like that and they do nothing but
complain take a moment stop ask yourself
why am i complaining so much what is the
problem
what can I do I’ll give an example
you know people complain about it that
term litter in the ocean let’s earn this
on the beaches and are you one of those
people that complain about litter as
you’re stepping over an empty Cola
bottle and carry on walking and say Oh
somebody needs to do something about
others litter why not you why don’t you
make the change
self-reflection covers many areas of
your life is your reflective change that
promotes growth and maturity in yourself
it
it’s a strong relationship with yourself
and a love for yourself it is the
beginning of a journey to enlightenment
thank you
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