Stage One: Allow time for reflection everyday. o 20 minutes per day deepens the thought process. A daily discipline will strengthen your cognitive abilities and enhance your feeling nature. A result of such practice is flexibility in applying your inner resources more readily to any chosen task or situation. o Choose a quiet, private place to reflect. It is best to reflect at about the same time everyday. o Take an inventory of your state of being. Note any issues that need to be dealt with, and decide when you will do so, if not now. o Begin with a seed idea of relevance to you. Or begin by considering a topic for an assignment. o At the end of the day, try the Pythagorean Review. Review your actions throughout the day. Ask yourself questions such as, "What have I learned from my experiences? What duty did I leave undone? What should I plan on doing?"    Left: "Contemplation", by Yolanda Chasteen, Fall 2002

Stage Two: Develop different types of thought.

o Fluency of thought is the ability to generate a large quantity of ideas. Options:

Springboarding is freewriting about an idea and adding to it to create a flow. Write "and" after each thought to keep going. Or use a tape recorder to generate ideas. Cluster or list ideas. Ask yourself questions and record your answers. Try not to judge ideas at the brainstorming stage; sifting uses a different part of the brain and should follow.

o Concentration is the ability to focus on an idea and sustain attention on the subject for an extended period of time. Choose a particular idea, issue, problem or theme, and keep your mind on that subject. When it strays, bring it back to that topic, like a horse tethered to a post. As your concentration improves, your understanding will deepen.

o Fluidity of thought is the ability to move easily between ideas, and to see connections. As you reflect on ideas, take notice of relationships between concepts. What ideas are the most fundamental, and seem worthy of elaboration? Record relationships between concepts on a diagram. These may form the basis of an argument, theme or presentation.

o Options for reflection include but are not limited to the following: engaging in an inner dialogue, taking alternative points of view, tracing cause-effect relationships, drawing out implications of possible decisions, imagining various scenarios, considering how one will use these ideas, pursuing the essential core idea underlying information gathered or related cases, visualizing a symbol representing main concepts, etc.

Stage Three: Be ready to add to your important ideas at any time.

o Carry around some means of recording ideas as they come to you throughout the day.

o Examples include keeping a pad and pen, a compact tape recorder, or electronic device in your backpack, purse, pocket or car.

Please e-mail questions regarding reflection and its relationship to developing cognitive abilities and enhancing well-being to Gerry Lewin.