Strategies and Challenges: Critical Thinking, Self-Reflection, and Self-Awareness

Critical thinking, self-reflection, and self-awareness are all aspects of self that can be tapped into. You may want to think of them as a seed; we are all born with these capacities, yet due to our upbringing, family structure, and influences in childhood, these seeds may be underdeveloped. With knowledge, guidance, support, practice, and consistency, these skills can be developed throughout one’s lifetime. As Joseph Campbell famously said, “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are” (n.d.).

As one embarks on this journey of developing their critical thinking, reflection, and self-awareness abilities, various challenges may occur. First, we often hold inner resistance to any type of change. Learning to challenge your thoughts to think critically, reflecting on your actions, and looking within at your behaviours can cause the mind to resist. Some indicators of this resistance may be negative thinking, becoming defensive, being passive aggressive, and not following through on goals and commitments. This is normal; rather than becoming discouraged and engaging in self-judgment, just observe and reflect on the inner resistance you hold. A useful strategy to counter this is mindfulness and self-compassion.

Kristen Neff, a leading expert on self-compassion, researched three components of self-compassion, listing them as follows: Self-kindness vs. self-judgment, common humanity vs. isolation, and mindfulness vs. overidentification (n.d.). The first component encourages us to be kind to ourselves when we make a mistake or have a negative interaction with someone, rather than judging ourselves. Responding with self-care creates a safe place for the brain to learn and grow from the experience. When we engage in self-criticism and judgment, we are often operating from a place of fear, and this keeps the brain in a reactionary or survival-orientated state of thinking. The second component encourages us to see that everyone makes mistakes, no human is perfect, and we all share a common humanity, rather than falling into victim mentality and feeling that oneself is the only person who has ever felt this way. The third component encourages a practice of mindfulness, stepping back and observing the situation and our reaction, rather than overidentifying with our negative thoughts.

Mindfulness is defined as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us” (Mindful Staff, 2020). Mindfulness is about being in the present moment, detaching with love, observing from a non-reactive mindset, and becoming more aware of our sensory abilities. This reduces stress and improves well-being. The American Psychological Association (n.d.) stated “Mindfulness is awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings. Mindfulness can help people avoid destructive or automatic habits and responses by learning to observe their thoughts, emotions, and other present-moment experiences without judging or reacting to them” (para. 1).

Many strategies may be engaged to develop reflection and self-awareness, and each person will find the approach that works best for them. Some examples are journalling, mindful walking, being in nature, meditating, yoga, intentional self-talk, and reframing our thoughts. Mindfulness from the traditional Indigenous perspective finds expression through “sweats, smudging, pow wows, drumming, gathering Indian medicine, ceremonial dances (e.g., Sundance), and contact with Elders” (Beshai et al., 2023, p. 545). Every culture will have its own unique practices that embody mindfulness as a tool of well-being. In today’s world of increased access to information, critical thinking, self-awareness, and reflection are of utmost importance to mindfully and critically process information.

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Mindfulness. https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness

Beshai, S., Desjarlais, S. M., & Green, B. (2023). Perspectives of Indigenous university students in Canada on mindfulness‑based interventions and their adaptation to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms. Mindfulness, 14(3), 538–553. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-023-02087-7

Campbell, J. (n.d.). Quote. BrainyQuote. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/joseph_campbell_378372

Mindful Staff. (2020, July 8). What is mindfulness? Mindful. https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/

Neff, K. (n.d.). What is self-compassion? https://self-compassion.org/what-is-self-compassion/#what-is-self-compassion