What is Reflective Writing?
Reflective writing is a guided process for tapping into our inner wisdom and nonconscious thoughts and ideas using a range of short, productive writing techniques and strategies. When guided, this type of writing leads to specific outcomes and, often, measurable results.
How is reflective writing different from journaling?
- Journaling implies long-form, flow or stream-of consciousness writing. It can overwhelm those who are not naturally drawn to writing.
- Reflective writing techniques may be as short 3 minutes and are carefully designed to tap into and process subconscious or nonconscious levels of thinking.
- Every write is followed by a guided reflection step. This step is critical to processing, analyzing and synthesizing sometimes disparate thoughts into a coherent whole. This is where the true insights take shape.
“There is a place in you beyond thought that already knows—trust that. ”
– Ram Dass
Reflective Writing for Leadership Development
The model establishes a direct connection between reflective writing techniques and desired business outcomes. It represents a continuum of writing techniques that become less structured and more intuitive moving from left to right. A few techniques are identified as examples.
