Self Reflection
These tools can be especially helpful in grounding individuals who lead, host, participate in, and/or pursue systems change efforts. Whatever your role may be as an individual, these reflection tools focus on cultivating self-awareness and nurturing support for sustaining your long-term efforts.
| Tools for Self Reflection | Examples of when to use this tool |
Head, Heart, Hands(Also practiced as head, heart and feet) Frameworks and worksheets in this folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18jj98v6oBWHcWURSXwEYubGN9y3RdJNu?usp=sharing Resources for using this framework:Source 1: Head Hand Hearts Model gives credit to indigenous practices Source 2: Design Thinking Model Curious about academic references on this work look here: Source 3: John Dewey His work is referenced in this article around head, heart, hands. Source 4: academic reference | Can be used as a closing evaluation with groups. A way to capture what are you carrying with you. Can be used when there is a lot of momentum for getting things done, but there isn’t a lot of consensus. Helps to lift up what people are caring with them to reveal how we could move forward together. Can be used with any sized group. |
| Reflection Coloring Sheet What’s my goal? What’s my role? What can I do without losing my soul? Goal, Role, Soul.jpg Source:Team DynamicsArtwork by Kay Moua | Good for reflection when taking on a new role. Can be used by staff at all levels – front line, team leads, directors etc. Can be helpful when you’re in need of centering yourself before proposing a change initiative. Can be helpful when considering: “What are the brave things we are called to do?” |
| Reflection Coloring Sheet What is my identity? What values are important to me? What is non negotiable? Identity, Values, NonNegotiable.jpg Artwork by Kay Moua | Can be a good reflection when working with a diverse group. Can be a good reflection for getting grounded in your self awareness. Helps you gain clarity about what you bring to the table and what’s most important to you. |
| Reflection Coloring Sheet How do I perceive my power? What power do I actually have to draw on? (can personal, ancestral, institutional etc.) What do I need – what makes a situation good for me? What can make it life-giving, enjoyable, supportive of my growth etc.? How can I negotiate to make this situation work for me? Power.jpg Artwork by Kay Moua | Can help you get grounded in the reality of your power. Can help disrupt limiting beliefs of powerlessness and activate your agency. Can help ground you before making big decisions. Can help ground you before advocating for yourself. After filling out the worksheet, you can also use it to process/reflect with someone else to help you disrupt limiting beliefs and/or identify other options or perspectives you didn’t think of. |
| Reflection Coloring Sheet How am I showing up? What can I contribute? What is holding me back?What is holding me up? What can help me contribute as my most powerful self? ShowingUp.jpg | Can be helpful when you need to get grounded to show up as your most self-aware and powerful self in a collaboration. |
| Identity/Community Mapping Nexus Community Engagement Institute (NCEI) Facilitation guide. Inspired by the Movement River activity co-created by Trina Olson, Co-Founder of Team Dynamics, & Evangeline Weiss, President of Beyond Conflict) | This can be used for both individual AND group reflection. Can help you explore how your history impacts your work in community engagement. Can help a group understand the potential of community engagement to help communities heal from historical oppression. Can help reflect on some of the harms that have historically been done locally in order to move toward healing collectively. Who are my roots? To whom do I belong/who are my people? What are two moments from my people’s past that I carry with me? What am I carrying with me into the future? |
| Grounding Through Envisioning Exercises My Gradmother’s Hands (Settling, P. 30) – a series of movements on a chair, guided meditation.https://onbeing.org/blog/race-and-healing-body-practice/ Tadasana – Tree Pose, Palm tree -stand like a tree, (stand up straight, chest out, hips parallel to arms stretched down, head upright looking ahead, breathe. Earthing: When our feet touch the Earth, our physiology changes: an immediate normalization begins. Biophysicist James Oschman explainsUsing energy to heal. | Centering exercise when you need to get grounded, centered inside yourself. Use it to transition from outside activities into the room for a new meeting/conversation. Can be helpful after a long hard day. When you feel heavy. When you need to leave the day’s activities behind, or transition a group to a new activity. Can be used as a way to wake up and pay attention to our bodies. |
| Grounding Exercises with Body movement Social Justice Stretch Social-Justice-Stretch.pdf Lion’s BreathWhen hot, helps to cool downBreath in with hands pulling back, breath out push hands and tongue out and stretch mouth wide with audible exhale noise/sound BumblebeeClose eyes and ears with you hands and hum softly Box BreathingBreath in counting to 4Breath out counting to 4Video: Box Breathing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9I | Can be helpful when you feel triggered or overwhelmed. Can be helpful when you need to get back to reality in order to think more clearly. Return to yourself, notice your body and self-regulate. Breathing helps your brain release certain chemicals to help you feel clarity and peace. |
| Reflection Indicators List of good times to reflect.Signals/indicators for reflection. ReflectionIndicators.jpg Artwork by Kay Moua | Can be helpful when trying to discern if it’s a good time to reflect individually or collectively. |
| Braiding Sweetgrass Activity Based on A Mother’s Work, in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmererhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ATJFOP8erTW54vwvuDNZ71s9HKLkgjVg Read the chapter, placing yourself in the author’s shoes. How does this story invite you to reflect on your own work/efforts in community driven systems change? Reflection Worksheets(4 worksheets):https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bjsos4wV8Qp8BPAhMjHs5xm5PBLoI_Wj?usp=share_link Visuals by Kay Moua | When moving quickly it’s always helpful to pause, reflect, and take stock of what’s present. This can be helpful when wanting to reflect on your role in a systems change efforts – wrestling with your goals/aspirations and unintended consequences of your complex work. |