The Power of Using Reflective Questions While Reading
A simple practice to get the most out of your books
Reflecting on our experiences (positive and negative) can lead to our growth and development within personal, professional, and spiritual realms. Although, there are several models to guide us for those purposes the significance of asking reflective questions while reading books will be the focus of this article.
Reflective questions, as the name suggests, includes aspects of our self, that forms a core component to formulate questions that can be personal. However, including elements such as ‘purpose’, ‘outcome’, ‘focus’, ‘method’, ‘theory’, ‘audience’ within our questions, can help us monitor and manage our progress and performance, within our desired areas of influence, while practicing reflection. In addition to these, I accommodate aspects such as stocks of my previous knowledge, culturual influences, personality, and inclinations.
Placing ourselves and thinking from within and outside the concepts can help us to broaden our perspectives. Given the current phase (the COVID-19 unfavorable effects globally) we are living, books are a source of solace and happiness to those minds who love to read. Engrafting this practice, especially while reading books, will encourage us to translate useful concepts to action in our day-to-day lives, remember what is important to us, enable us to discern between knowledge and wisdom, and utilize them to support and enrich our domains of influence appropriately.
For instance, these are some reflective questions I employ while I engage with a non-fiction material.
1) At what levels do I relate/ (feel) unrelated to the concepts outlined and why? (focus/theory/personality/cultural influences)
2) What do I already know of the concepts mentioned? (stocks of my previous knowledge)
3) Which are the aspects I have overlooked before and which are new ones? (stocks of my previous knowledge/inclinations/cultural influences)
4) Why do certain concepts stand out to me? (personality/inclinations/cultural influences)
5) How can I graft them to be effective within personal/ spiritual/ professional realms? (purpose/focus)
6) What is the relevance of the concepts to my current or future phases of life? (purpose/outcome)
7) Which are the spheres of my influence I can apply/share the concepts and when is the time? (outcome/audience)
Applying these questions and recording my responses while re-reading ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Victor E Frankl, at this period, has helped me to reframe the way I perceive certain aspects of life.
For instance, in the book, he mentions 3 different values to discover meaning in life.
They include:
1) Creative (doing)
2) Experiential (being)
3) Attitudinal (responding)
1) Creative (doing)
Although this component is self-explanatory, it is essential to be aware of how each of us defines this pursuit, considering different aspects that may enable or inhibit us to be creative. Abraham H Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a consoling source of reference, to not engage in self-condemnation, should different factors of life be unfavorable depending upon the season of life we are in.
For instance, I feel at home when I engage in the pursuits of creativity. Whether it be journaling or writing articles, I sense the upsurge of joy within me. Yet, there were times in life when I have felt guilty for not being able to create due to different factors that had affected my life. Although in retrospect, I would have been able to soften the blows of cognitively generated punches of guilt, if I had taken advantage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs to re-evaluate my situation.
2) Experiential (being)
This process involves finding meaning ‘by experiencing something or encountering someone’ according to the author. I am learning to embrace this as an addition to my values, at this season of my life. And as Oprah Winfrey said, ‘’Living in the moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift’’.
The other day, for instance, when it was raining, we grabbed our chairs and sat in our front porch, to enjoy the coolness it brought to earth while drinking kattanchaya (black tea). As the water droplets trickled through the leaves, to drench the dry soil after a long time, I enjoyed the aroma it produced. This led me to be receptive to a new definition of happiness. Further, it taught me to sense and value the state of happiness without the need for accomplishing something. By the end of that day, I was awed by its positive effect on my sense of well-being. Yet, had I been glued to the recurring thoughts of ‘what’s next’, while it was raining outside, I would have missed the beauty of the moment. It is teaching me to pay close attention to my present situation with a thankful heart.
3) Attitudinal (responding)
The author asserts that “when we are no longer able to change a situation- we are challenged to change ourselves’’.
This quote reminds me of the different choices we can adopt, while we respond to suffering. Yet, sometimes, I am frustrated and impatient in the face of uncertainty as most of us are. Learning to acknowledge such emotions, as I have realized, is the first step to be amenable towards becoming resilient.
While engaging with the practice, the nature of our reflective questions must include our uniqueness, motives, and purposes that can vary as per our needs. Hence, when we ask them guided by our curiosity and record our responses honestly, we will make the most out of our books, rather than merely consuming information.
