Self Reflection

Days by days, life is still rolling on to another point that we are trying to face it. Some are sure to discover what the life is and get successful in it since they have been preparing into the world of their own by setting clear goals, experiencing every new things, and then putting their careful efforts to achieve their wishes, hopes, and dreams. However, some people are trying harder to grow better in their own ways due to lack of observing themselves and getting a reflection to it immediately. For sure , there might be a doubt in mind what to reflect and how to do it! The answer is that there are many ways that people can reflect differently based on their personalities and experiences. Of course, i am falling in the latter person i am talking about since long long time I haven't observed about myself and done a reflection. It is just due to not knowing what to do and how to do it as i have mentioned it early. Actually, I came across one article telling about the personal reflection which is about taking time for yourself. Anyway, it requires me to have a better understanding in reading. Unfortunately, I am not such an effective or even good reader. " My thought(brain) is like a Shrimp." Luckily, i went to ask my friend's recommendations, and then he gave a lot of advice since i have troubled in reading. He told me that it is time to Start Reading now,& your life would be changed. you know what " Reading is the source of Knowledge". Continuing, he also woke me up from the unknown world of my own(Laziness)that i rarely notice the important of it. Just now i realized that i haven't had much thought cos of it, and i quickly woke up to prepare myself in this kind of battle. In the mean time, i like to thank my friend Panha who gave me the starting point which is a story book( Not a bad one lolz...) After all, comiing to our point: the reflection, you can read this article as a sake of your thought. And u can reflect as much as you can based on what you are able to interpret it into your own use.

Date: 27 February 2007
Headline: Don't forget to set aside time for yourself


A fortnight ago, I wrote about life's priorities and how important it is to give more time to those who are close to us. This was after I read about the six concentric circles of priorities, as told by Mr Eugene O'Kelly, the ex-CEO of KPMG, in his book Chasing Daylight. The circles classify people we know in order of importance, so that we will be able to decide how much time to spend with those in each “ring”; the inner-most circle consists of those closest to us.
Those who read it found the article a wake-up call. But some have told me the "circles" are impractical in real life.

One of the most interesting comments I got from a close friend was that I left out a major person in the circles. And that person should be given more attention than anyone else. To be sure, this person should form the core of-the concentric circles. Wondering who it is? That's right. Me Or you. I was forced to think about what he had said. Indeed, it is true that the person who deserves the most attention is that person himself (or herself). Imagine that you are a high-performance race car. You are going at breakneck speed, negotiating sharp bends and dodging other cars at the same time, and still emerge the winner.

What if there were no pit-stops?
You would be out of fuel in no time and the tyres would burn out before you know it
That is really how it is with all of us caught up in the grind. Unless we nourish our body and mind, we will not be able to function optimally.
To say that we have no time to spend on ourselves is to say we are going for a long drive but have no time to stop and fill the tank. I was also motivated by another book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin Sharma. It's about how a hotshot lawyer detaches himself from the material world- and that includes selling his Ferrari – to go in search of the "true meaning of life" in the Himalayas. The book suggests a number of things we can do to nourish ourselves. And one of them is - surprise, surprise - reading. At least, I'm assured I am doing right to "fuel" myself.

And another activity the book emphasizes is personal reflection. Reviewing our actions regularly and thinking hard about how we can improve ourselves and our behaviors is something we do not do enough.

At end of the day, we all know what a hectic lifestyle Singaporeans have. So it is perfectly all right to feel overwhelmed (or underwhelmed?) by such concepts like personal reflection, and spending time with yourself and close ones. But I feel it's still possible. For example, it's really not compulsory to have lunch with our colleagues every day. Why not meet up with old classmates or friends one or two times a-week for lunch, when you are near their workplaces. They will appreciate it.

As for spending time with ourselves, waking up half an hour earlier and going to bed 30 minutes later than usual is not that big a deal. It may be difficult at first, but once we get into the habit, we would wonder why we thought it was so hard in the first place.

The mornings could be spent reading, and the times before sleep in personal reflection. No matter how many friends we have and how much time we spend with our families and at work, it is important never to ignore the one engine for survival -ourselves. Me, myself and I is not such a selfish thought after all.

The writer is a final-year student at the School of
Information Systems at Singapore Management University.

Source: The New Paper O Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction.