You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew. — Albert Einstein

With each passing day, the risings of the sun and the grand display of the moon remain unchanged. In that magnificent scheme, Nature is ever constant. But, it is not so with our grind through life. The consequences of our individual experiences change daily, however slightly. We must therefore make conscious efforts to apply definitive new models… as in the fine-tuning of past incidents that come roaring back to avoid keeping us unchanging.

REFLECTIONS are usually surreal outposts for the mind. Find yourself in this multi-layered highway, and you would have found bountiful ways to gift yourself. Truth is always revealed here. And, so are the vestiges of untruthfulness floating about in the realm. Not to worry, it is an expansive thoroughfare, and the floaters are habitually benign… totally harmless, unless you let them violate your space.

Reflections are your everyday pocket-size indulgences. At the end of each deep cascading thought, one’s mind should have clarity, cleansed to the point of being almost pristine. And if by chance you are honest with yourself, your mind will grow exponentially with whatever desires or hopes that you were after in the first place.

To reflect is like looking at a series of images borne from the past… in your mind, you know, in wafting Technicolor. These timeless images (experiences: good and/or bad) will grant you pathways to reflect, ponder… well, appropriately, into arenas only you could see through your mind’s eye. In the process, you could be smiling, crying, on the verge of anger, or even being hopeful that things would change.

Reflection is that moment in time and space for you to think about the past, the present, and what the future could bring. It propagates daily growth.

However, the questions remain: When you reflect, that is, staring into Nature’s mirror, what do you see? Who do you see? How big are the changes you want to make? Tough-as-nails decision? Would any sudden, drastic changes affect that person everyone knows you to be? And, could you live with that? The persona you have crafted so well and have worn like a piece of clothing from which everyone had bought into, suddenly disappears, leaving you naked as a Jaybird, isn’t by any measure, ordinary. It could have as much impact on those onlookers as it has on you. The landscape of your behavior going forward could be as barren as a land scorched by thermonuclear explosion. You could be lost as you seek newer contours to navigate. Idiosyncrasies are rewritten; the quotients of them are even harder to appease you. Constant battle! If you are the weak type, you buy into delusions of either grandeur or of total failure.

Me-Time allows you to get to know you all over again, or maybe, meet the real you for the first time.

Your strengths and weaknesses are then revealed to you in this your journey of behavior building, self-retooling for sure. Humility and your openness to embrace any kind of change before you will allow you acknowledge the real you. Learning about your strengths and weaknesses is a win-win. But, this is the one stop most people would choose to lie to themselves: Overcome this pitfall and the relationship you have with other people sees a significant change, including that inestimable relationship you have with yourself.

You must remember that you do not need the end or the beginning of each year to reflect on your life.

How about you taking daily stock of where you are and where you hopefully want to be?

You do not need something drastic to happen in other to reflect. The time to reflect is now and always.

There’s always time for everything: Time is a Hold-all Bag. In it is laughter. You will also find pouches where crying garlands are stuffed, venting schemes afloat, and those good, hearty life-sustaining breaths in abundance. You will find niches too, where speaking is allowed in timely gifts. And right next to it are towering tabernacles of silence placed to rein in loquacious banter.

In this potpourri of Nature’s wonders are times to live and die… in very close proximity, as a way of reminding you that the ALMIGHTY TIME and SPACE are both precious, and well, very short, even as they remain vast and incomprehensible. The implication is that you are in a race to self-discovery.

AFTER YOU HAVE REFLECTED, YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND BE-YOU-TILL-YOU-ARE-FULL OF SELF-LOVE, AND THE MOST PRICELESS OF ALL: LOVE FOR THY NEIGHBOR!

Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create. — Oprah Winfrey