Review rarely—if ever—seems the most pressing thing to do: Taking a step back to reflect on our direction and to review our aims.
We almost always have something clamouring for our attention right now: Something that needs to be done, if not straightaway, then pretty soon. If you’re like me, you’ve got a near-endless list of these actions—probably many months’ worth of to-do list.
And it’s comfortable working on all that. It might be demanding and stressful and hard-work but we know where we stand. We can do it unconsciously, on automatic pilot, as the elephant follows the path.
Whereas…
Reflecting on our direction is uncomfortable and confusing and unclear, at least at first.
However, as it says in the Tao Te Ching, “Mystery is the doorway to understanding.”
Putting ourselves through the confusion will lead to a new clarity, and in that clarity we may find that some of those actions we were ploughing through weren’t the right actions. They weren’t taking us in the right direction.
The elephant needed to switch to a different path. And it must have been important to do a review because something has changed.
Two practical things help…
Writing in a journal about what we’ve done and how we feel about it: It is strange how new ideas come that way. (Actually it’s because we’re making the unconscious conscious.)
And…
Reviewing our aims once a month, probably at the weekend to get the necessary peace and quiet—like it’s New Year every month; thinking afresh about our situation and how we may best build on it.
I find those two things help me see the path it’s now right to take.
How about you?