The Art of Self-Scrutiny
The act of self-reflection is a ‘spiritual act’ by taking time out to connect the inner-self with the outer world. A view, Olsen suggests, that parallels Florence Nightingale’s thoughts that providing nursing care to others can be a spiritual act. More importantly, he highlights how reflection is essential to avoid burnout by helping nurses to stay connected with their passion for their profession. Yet, the reality for many nurses and midwives is that their working day is full of emotional extremes coupled with physical exhaustion. As Knight (2015) points out, working in highly pressurised clinical environments isn’t naturally conducive to the idea of pausing, engaging with feelings or staying with uncertainty.
Without some structured support, the focus on self-reflection can be viewed with suspicion and cynicism.
Reflection-on-Action v Reflection-in-Action
Reflection-on-action is the most common form of reflection. It involves mentally re-viewing events that have occurred in the past. The aim is to value your strengths and to develop different, more effective ways of acting in the future.
Reflection-in-action, on the other hand, requires a higher level of self-awareness and the ability to reflect on your actions or those of others, in the moment, as the activity is actually taking place.
If recalling incidents with strong emotional content blocks you from consciously reflecting on your day, try viewing it from a detached, dissociated point of view. For example, seeing the incident play out in your mind’s eye as if on a movie screen.
At the end of a stressful day, this can be a good way to consider what you would like to change about the situation. This form of reflection can also be a useful stress management tool, as feelings that might otherwise have been suppressed can be reflected on consciously, deliberately and openly.
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Objective Thinking
Objective Thinking is a crucial aspect of Reflective Practice.
The nature of thought is obviously personal, being the product of our own brain, so our own thinking tends to be subjective to some degree. Where our thinking is very subjective, for example when we feel very emotional about something, this subjectivity can become unhelpful, especially if we are stressed or angry which can substantially distort interpretations. If reflective thinking is to be useful for our learning and development, and for improving our actions and decisions, then this reflective thinking must include some objectivity. If decisions are based on wrong data, then outcomes tend to be unhelpful, or worse.
We need to be more subtle in understanding what objectivity and subjectivity mean in relation to Reflective Practice. We can increase our objectivity by increasing our awareness of our assumptions and expectations. Or put another way, we will reliably increase our objectivity in Reflective Practice by recognising our assumptions and expectations, and being able to differentiate this data from objective facts and evidence. Each of us has a different individual outlook on the world. This develops from the circumstances and influences that shape us into adulthood. Our reflections are filtered through these beliefs, values and attitudes, so that our interpretations are likely to be biased. Our thinking is instinctively ‘value-driven’.