The first half of the year is over – and precisely because the last 6 months for many of us were anything but easy, it is worth taking a look back. Not to chew all the negative again. But to direct the focus on the positive sides.
To draw strength from your experiences – and to start the second half of the year with confidence. In this article, I will show you 4 creative reflection methods with which you can do exactly that.
Half-year reflection – why?
Especially in recent years, the word “reflection” has been on everyone’s lips. Some do it regularly and fill dozens of sides of their bullet journal, the others only on special occasions (aka New Year’s/New Year). And then there are those who only skeptically turn their eyes on the whole “ESO stuff” – and wonder what the whole thing is supposed to do.
Whatever group you belong to, let me a promise: to try out the four reflection methods from this article is guaranteed!
Why? Here are 5 good reasons:
1- You set the right focus
When you set the right focus, you proactively develop a growth-oriented mindset. By directing your energy towards meaningful goals and learning opportunities, you foster self-improvement and adaptability.
This mindset encourages continuous development, allowing you to embrace challenges and turn them into stepping stones toward personal and professional growth. Such a review can be quite frustrating, especially in a year, which is primarily shaped by fears and worries.
But he doesn’t have to – and that is exactly the point!
By taking time to reflect on the past six months consciously and with a positive focus, you can solve yourself from the “Everything is bad” glasses that many of us have not only worn since this year.
- Was every day a disaster?
- Or were there no moments when you performed joy dances and didn’t even get out of laughter?
You decide what you focus on. But of course, I selected the reflection methods so that they steer your focus in a positive direction. And help you to look at the beautiful, joyful, and instructive moments of the first half of the year.
For moments when you got a very unexpected compliment. In which you were fully in the here and now. Or in which you have grown beyond yourself.
You will see – with this focus, you will draw strength from your half-year review. The positive feelings that you revive when remembering and reflecting will strengthen your resilience. And make you more resistant to everything that the second half of the year has ready for you.
2- You break away from negative reviews
The right mindset plays the main role when looking back. It is crucial how you evaluate the experience of the past six months. And unfortunately, our assessment is often negative at first.
This is quite normal – we are evolutionarily programmed to focus on negative things. Which also made sense in the Stone Age than lurking everywhere. Unfortunately, this programming – this “negativity bias”, as we call psychologists – has been preserved to this day. In plain language means:
- Your brain has a preference for bad news, they are a feast, and are significantly saved.
- That is why you can stupidly remember unpleasant, failed, and negative things faster and better than neutral and positive things.
However, you can also consciously counter this distortion – by asking yourself the right questions and using the reflection methods from this article to look for the positive.
There was certainly crises, anger, and argument. Maybe also losses or failures. It is completely fine to annoy you about it for a moment. Only you shouldn’t get stuck in this feeling. But ask yourself what you learn from these experiences and how you grew from your problems. This can create a completely new look at you and your gathered experiences, which makes you confident and courageous.
3- You focus on your growth
We are constantly developing, continuously learning to grow, and growing in our experiences. We are often not even aware of that.
The development happens in small steps and feels inconspicuous and natural. At the end of the process, there is a completely new behavior or a new attitude. But we slowly approached that it often doesn’t seem so new and different.
Reflection helps: by consciously looking back on your experiences (and also in the context of these experiences), you will realize how much you have developed. Things that you sometimes learn completely unconsciously, and with whom you have grown suddenly become visible. So reflecting on you is not only today but always makes sense.
4- You fully out of your potential
Again and again, I encounter people who cannot use their potential properly because they have the wrong picture of themselves. In the course of their lives, ideas, and attributions have solidified and stuck in their head like chewing gum. These can be things like:
- “I’m not competent in my new job.”
- “I’m unsure when I meet new people.”
- “I can’t deal well with conflicts.”
However, these ideas are often out of date. For example, a person who has the first thought of learning a lot of new things in their new job and acquiring additional skills in their new job. Unfortunately, these learning successes quickly go under everyday work stress. Your old idea and uncertainty remain, even though she now has the necessary knowledge and all skills in order to be able to work competently and confidently.
The half-year review offers an excellent setting to look at changes and progress with the help of the four reflection methods.
- What has happened in the course of the year?
- At what points did you learn?
- What old doubts or problems have you cleared out of the way?
5- You are strengthened over the past few months
In this article, you will get to know 4 reflection methods to positively decide on your experiences of the first half of the year.
Regardless of whether it was a slight or difficult time for you. By keeping all the beautiful moments in mind and remembering your successes, you collect courage and confidence.
Find the method that appeals to you the most or try them all – it is particularly important that you take a moment for yourself and your experiences for a moment.
Read Also: Effective Tactics To Feel Happier Instantly
4 creative reflection methods for your positive half-year review
A little extra in advance: 4 tips that make reflecting easier
Souvenir
Six months are long and nobody has in mind for the last 182 days. Therefore, you can use a few aids for your reflection. A diary or journal would of course be optimal, but entries in the schedule can also help your memories. Or search the photo gallery of your cell phone for special moments that you have recorded.
Fast and crunchy
Just write short key points and exactly what shoots through your head first. You don’t have to remember all the suitable situations. Just choose those that you are present with. And: small things are enough. Do not put yourself under pressure and try not to think too critically.
Courage to the gap
Is it a problem if fields remain free? Absolutely not! Maybe you will find a suitable answer tomorrow, but maybe not at all. This is completely okay because we all develop differently and in very different areas.
See yourself through other eyes
Thinking about yourself and your own development is not that easy. Sometimes it can be helpful to change perspective. What would a good friend say about you? Try to see yourself from the eyes of this person. If that is also difficult for you, i.e. with friends: inside, family members or yours: your partner: in about the questions. Maybe this also creates a great conversation about common moments of happiness.
Reflection method #1: Tree of development
This method helps you to start the second half of the year with strength and confidence. You connect with your values and things for which you are grateful.
The last few months (and years) have shown us what really matters in life. All the crises and challenges have led to a lot of noticeable.
Use this opportunity to think about what is really important and valuable to you. You will notice how these thoughts make your heart easier.
In order to emerge strengthened from the past few months, you can look at the goals you have achieved. Even the hurdles that you have overcome – sometimes more, sometimes less light-footed. You could only go your way because you used your strengths. Perhaps you were not aware of it, but incredibly strong skills are slumbering. By thinking back, you can lead them more clearly, use them more consciously, and further develop them more specifically.
If we concentrate on our strengths, we become more confident and courageous. This ensures an optimistic look into the future.
How are you?
1. Draw a tree that is rooted deep into the earth. Many small branches escaped from the strong tribe into the sky. Draw the tree as simple or detailed as you want.
2. Enter key points along the roots of the following questions:
- Which values have been particularly important to you in the past six months, and have given you support and security?
- What things were an important basis for you?
- What did you take for granted beforehand without realizing how valuable it is for you?
3. Write situations in the branches that you perceived and mastered as a challenge. Also, note which strengths you use for it and what knowledge you gained. Did you notice a new strength of you? Or could you expand your strengths and use them more specifically?
4. Look at your tree and consider the area in which you still want to develop in the second half of the year.
- Are you already firmly rooted and have a safe basis of values and other things you are grateful for? Or do you want to further consolidate this foundation?
- Is the crown of your tree already full and lush? Or do you want to work on your strengths to deal with challenges even better?
Reflection method #2: Review with small helpers from nature
Nature is a valuable retreat for us. There we can gain distance from stressful everyday life, let our thoughts go, and finally switch off. Since we are confronted with fewer stimuli, our brain gets a well-deserved break.
In order to bring fresh wind into cloudy thoughts, sometimes an easy walk is enough in the countryside. The fresh air blows worries and problems out of the head and creates space for clarity and new ideas. You can also practice mindfulness by paying attention to your surroundings. If you deliberately look around, you will also discover new details that have been hidden from you by acquaintances.
This method begins with a careful trip to nature. Then you can use your treasures collected on the go for your half-year reflection.
How are you?
1. Take a walk and observe what surrounds you. This little excursion is already preparing for the exercise.
2. Look at your surroundings and search for certain objects along your way. One should be hard and soft, one heavy and one light, one smooth and rough, one beautiful and one exceptional.
3. After your excursion, you spread out the objects in front of you and look at them one after the other. Take it in hand and feel the surface. How do you represent the past half of the year? Ask yourself the following questions:
- Hard: What situation was I particularly persistent in and in the end I achieved my goal?
- Soft: at what moment could I be sensitive and understanding?
- Difficult: When did my strengths particularly significantly like?
- Light: at what moments did I feel a great light?
- Smooth: what went exceptionally smooth?
- Rau: What brought me to rest in rough, stormy times?
- Nice: When did I feel really nice?
- Exceptional: what has made my year unique so far?
4. Hold your thoughts and like to answer on a piece of paper or small cards.
5. Have you already noticed when answering the questions which topic is particularly busy? Order the objects based on their priority. Exactly what the end result looks like, you decide.
6. Perhaps you will then find a heading for your picture, with which your first half of the year can also be described.
Reflection method #3: Dazing half-year review
We often look at what didn’t work. So also when looking at the past months. Of course, it is important to perceive and recognize the negative sides of life. But with this method, the focus should be on things that were great. Things that went well gave you a joyful tingling sensation in your stomach and to whom you like to remain. Moments when you have fueled energy and situations in which you have grown beyond yourself.
In order to also consolidate this focus visually, we use a dragonfly as a metaphor for you and you’re half-year experience.
- The dragonfly embodies grace and ease.
- She is dazzling, colorful, and unique.
- The fine veiling of your wings is not only beautiful to look at but also serves to stabilize.
- Each type of dragonfly is characterized by its very own, distinctive wing line.
- Your flight technique is also unique in the animal world because it can move your two pairs of wings independently. As a result, the dragonfly can change direction very quickly in flight and thus symbolizes the constant possibility of changing.
Although the colorfully dazzling insect can reach high speeds at up to 50km/h, it moves its wings comparatively slowly. So every little wing strike has an immense force. You can take this property as an example. Attempts to achieve a great effect with small actions.
How are you?
1. Draw a dragonfly in the middle on a large leaf. Like to orient yourself to my template. You decide what your dragonfly looks like, how many details you insert, and how colorful your end result becomes.
2. Write the following sentences on the sheet around the dragonfly and leave enough space for your answers. If you come up with suitable symbols for the sentences, then paint them and design the page according to your taste.
- I blossomed:
- My uniqueness was visible at:
- I give myself a compliment for:
- I have brought about this positive change:
- That touched me:
- A particularly dazzling moment of the previous year:
- This change has brought light and happiness into my life:
- I have achieved this goal:
3. Remember the past six months and think about every point that you write about your dragonfly. Keep this little treasure that you created yourself. He can help you maintain your positive focus even in difficult times.
Reflection method #4: “Yes” to the year
Deciding on the first half of the year can also mean drawing a line under certain things. Accept, accept, complete – because we cannot change everything.
Instead of being hard and frustrated, you can let the difficult aspects of your life be as they are and learn to live with them. In addition to all the beautiful things of the past six months, there were certainly some sad, difficult, and painful moments. These can also be there and take up space. This is the only way to find your peace with them.
In the following exercise, you have the opportunity to say yes.
- To what this first half of 2022 was and is. You can accept that the negative experiences were there and wave them to say goodbye.
- At the same time, you can say to yourself. To what you were and are. Also, see and learn about your weaknesses and problems, maybe even welcome you.
How are you?
1. Take a sheet of paper and share it in 6 fields. Write one of the following questions in each field:
- What compliments do I finally want to say yes?
- Which moments proud do I want to say?
- What difficult experiences do I want to say?
- What changes do I want to say?
- What weaknesses do I want to say?
- What deeply slumbering do I want to say?
2. Think about the questions in peace and note the questions. Always think of the past six months. Glad to take your time. You can also put the sheet aside with the questions and add a few points later.
3. On a second sheet, you write a big “yes” in the middle. Tobble creatively paints it thick and big and colorful. It should really shine. A pinch of glitter cannot hurt either!
4. Collect all the things you have made up around the “yes”. You can write them down again, but also draw them or stick them on.
