"Part of the beauty of living is that we get to change our minds, update our beliefs. We challenge ourselves, confront ourselves, and that brings a further understanding of who we are" (Akanbi, 2020). When I began this course, I considered myself to be a self-aware and self-reflective individual. When I look at Tasha Eurich's (2018) four Self-Awareness Archetypes, I identify as someone who is introspective. However, with this Critical Reflection course, I have come to believe there is so much to learn about reflective practices, and Critical Reflection is more than just Reflection; it's also about taking action.

 

In my first Mind Map, I focused on the concepts of identity, building self-awareness, multiple perspectives, respect and compassion, and education. I came to focus on these concepts after experiencing a metamorphosis before starting my final semester. I found myself feeling frustrated at how conversations around politics, society, culture, and education were unfolding, and I wanted to see if others felt the same way. This, in turn, led me to discover thinkers like John McWhorter, Glenn Loury, Brittany Talisa King and others of the Heterodox Academy. While I'm grateful to have found these thinkers, I'm also thankful to have my perceptions about Critical Reflection expanded as we have continued in this class.

 

The additional sections to my second Mind Map include critical companionship, awareness, Schlamb's landmarks, reflection, mortality, acceptance, and power. At this moment, the concepts that have impacted me the most are death and mortality. On June 19th, a family of three was tragically killed in an accident in Milton. That family is known to me, and Pradeepa, the daughter of the couple who died, went to university with me. The last time I interacted with Pradeepa was when she wished my dad for his birthday two days before her death.

 

The death of Pradeepa and her parents left me devastated. I'm someone who thinks about their mortality often, but I've never thought about death in a relevant way to my professional practice. Thinking about death, I researched a little bit into death and reflection. I came across the concepts of "Death Awareness" and "Death Reflection." Death Awareness refers to "the recognition and our realizations that our lives will one day end" (Chaplin, John, & Goldberg, 1988; Stein & Cropanzano, 2011, as cited in Yuan et al., 2018). Paying close attention to Death Awareness in organizations can also impact employees' well-being (Yuan et al., 2018). Death Reflection is defined as "an individual's deliberate cognitive processing of mortality that focuses on the positive aspects of death, which encompasses concrete behavioural intentions" (Yuan et al., 2018). Taking this definition of Death Reflection, I feel it can also relate to Schlamb's (2016) landmarks. To me, all the landmarks intersect in the meaning-making of our lives. In the context of Pradeepa and her family's death and its effect on me, I feel the collective and human landmarks apply because she left a mark on my life, and we were part of a larger friendship circle. This focus on Death Awareness and Death Reflection leads me to question how we discuss death in the workplace. If Death Awareness impacts the well-being of employees, how do we talk about death with our colleagues and students? Do we talk about death? Is it our place to talk about death with our students? If not, can we encourage or help students think about what a meaningful life would look like for them?

 

Titchen's (2007) concept of the critical companion resonated with me because I had never thought of such a relationship. I am also impressed with the breadth and depth it could add to one's professional practice. It is a relationship that allows one to have space to think, question, and challenge one's knowledge and perhaps beliefs. According to Middleton (2017), the development of such a relationship could take years. However, I developed a critical companion relationship with my former TA Supervisor, which I found beneficial and enriching. Given the current status of precarious employment in some professional sectors, is such a relationship always possible? And does it always take years to develop, or would it vary from profession to profession? I am curious to find out.

 

Ayishat Akanbi's (2020) words, "If you're honest with yourself, you can't be good for everyone. Awareness is how much you don't know, maybe that's the first sign of knowing anything is knowing you know nothing at all" resonated with me. To me, such awareness has a relationship to Duenkel et al. 's (2014) ideas to wholeheartedness and wholeness. For me, awareness and wholeheartedness relate to each other because they both require you to be equally present emotionally and intellectually. Both also require vulnerability to release your previous perceptions. I do not think it is an easy process, but it could be rewarding if we strive for balance.

 

"To see with eyes unclouded by hate" is one of the most profound lines from the movie "Princess Mononoke" (Miyazaki, 1997). It is also one of my favourite lines because I feel like it relates to power, to both concepts of "power to" and power over" (Kahne, 2010, as cited in Duenkel et al., 2014). When we think about power, there is always a negative connotation attached to it; however, power can also mean our agency in our lives—embracing the power we have can also be an act of empowerment. When practicing critical reflection, I think we mustn't use it as a self-flagellation tool for our shortcomings or imperfections in our personal and professional lives. Instead, it should be conducted in a manner and space that honours the complexity of our humanity. Living and learning (in any context) is a journey filled with obstacles, triumphs and moments of contemplation. Austrian Psychologist Victor Frankl is credited for this quote "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom," and I think Critical Reflection can be that space where we gain freedom and growth.

 

References

Akanbi, A. [Double Down News]. (2020, January 21). The Problem with Cancel

Culture|Ayishat Akanbi [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZjTg1OpIE&t=187s

 

Chaplin, W. F., John, O. P., & Goldberg, L. R. (1988). Conceptions of states and traits: Dimensional attributes with ideals as prototypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 541–557.

 

Duenkel, N., Pratt, J., & Sullivan, J. (2014). Seeking wholeheartedness in education: Power, hegemony, and transformation. Journal of Transformative Education, 12(3), 266–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344614543192

 

Eurich, T. (2018, January 4). What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it

 

Kahane, A. (2010). Power and love: A theory and practice of social change. San Francisco,

CA: Berrett-Koehler.

 

Middleton, R. (2017). Critical reflection: the struggle of a practice developer. International Practice Development Journal, 7(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.71.004

 

Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1997). Princess Mononoke [Film]. Studio Ghibli.

 

Schlamb C. (2017) On the Practice of Narrative Landmarking. In: Lyle E. (eds) At the Intersection of Selves and Subject. Bold Visions in Educational Research. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6351-113-1_5

 

Stein, J. H., & Cropanzano, R. (2011). Death awareness and organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 1189–1193.

 

Titchen, A. (2007). Critical companionship: facilitating learning from experience. Royal College of Nursing Workplace Resources for Practice Development, 8-30.

 

Yuan, Z., Baranik, L. E., Sinclair, R. R., Sliter, M. T., Rand, K. L., & Salyers, M. P. (2019). Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(4), 417–433. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2339