GLI: Daily Reflective Practice (part 2)
Last week, I introduced ‘GLI,’ an important part of my morning routine:
Gratitude
Learning
Intent
In part 1, I introduced the practice overall and we took a look at the Gratitude part of the practice. If you missed that, you can check it out here first.
Today, I’m going to share about the Learning portion of the practice, it’s role in the middle of the sequence, and how it’s become an important part of my life.
More below!
Learning
The result here is simple, but within the GLI practice, this part usually takes the most concentrated thought. I write down a short learning, rarely more than one or two sentences, based on the events of the previous day.
Going through the Gratitude practice first sets up the process of reflection, so by the time I’m considering the learning I’ve already recalled some of the most outstanding moments.
With Learning, though, it’s a bit different. I’m still looking for a point to anchor to, but focused more on identifying some salient “teachable” moment for myself:
What invitation did life present to help me grow?
This could be just about anything, but for me the ones that stand out tend to fit into a few categories:
something that was particularly uncomfortable
a positive risk that turned out well
an opportunity that arose by following my intuition
a challenging interaction
a totally new experience or perspective
I believe there are countless opportunities like this, but tend to be able to reflect on one particular experience or part of the day that resonates. It’s not always something that went the way I would have wanted. Sometimes, it’s something that I learned from immediately but, more often than not, it’s exactly in this moment of reflection that I find the learning had been there waiting to be discovered.
It’s also helpful to keep a broad definition of learning. There’s no pressure to come up with something profound, or even something new. It could be the same learning from a week before, reinforced. Or a different angle or appreciation for something someone else shared years before. To clarify, though, the purpose for me in this is to cultivate ‘things that help me live a life of joy and purpose.’ Not so much a piece of information or skill. I’m also not applying any scientific rigor to seeking objective truths; it’s more trying to draw insights about my life and my truth from experience and real world observation.
In relation to the Intent part of the GLI practice, the learning from yesterday often (but not always) serves as a basis for how I want to show up in the world today. If yesterday presented a reminder that even a smile can make someone’s day, then maybe my intent for today would simply be that, “smile.” More on Intent coming in part 3 =).
I have come to rely on this practice as a reminder not only that we never lose the capacity to learn and re-learn, but also that learning is a conscious choice.
At this point, I have about year of learnings recorded in my journal, and I’m using that library to populate the learnings page on this site (and accordingly the header message on the home page). Plenty of examples for those interested!
