Hello, and welcome to the edition of Creating Connection where we talk about how wonderful women can start to embrace their inner wisdom.

First, wisdom isn't a construct with one definition and one theory. In the world of psychological investigation we're still exploring, we're still researching, debating, and discussing what is Wisdom.

I'm giving you my take on four key aspects of wisdom: experience, reflection, compassion and action.

1.     Experience. That does not mean age. Research shows that your wisdom increases to around your mid-20s. And then it plateaus. And when you're much older, it may decrease.
2.     Reflection, compassion and action. It's not just sitting here pontificating, it's making things happen. It's living it, sharing it, acting upon it, connecting with others, making change, and it's compassionate.
You can have all the experience and all the knowledge. But if you're an empty vessel, if you're agitating for the sake of it, if your aim behind sharing your knowledge is, just to make money or just progress and growth for the sake of it, you're missing the point.
The point is to take compassionate action. It's caring, it's connection. And Reflection is the processing of your experiences so that you can take compassionate action.

Today, in particular, I want to take you through reflection, and three things to take into account with reflection.

Three aspects of reflection.: space, time, and direction.

Let's start with Space. And I'm talking about where you find the mental and physical space for reflection.

We all lead parallel lives: a physical life and a digital life. Your physical life includes - raising children, managing the household, building careers. And then you have this other life, which runs along in the background, which is your digital world. And it never switches off.  So, you're not just managing this world, you're also managing your relationship with this world. Not a lot of space inhere for reflection is there.

And depending on your life stage, you'll also have additional challenges. If your children are young, that space to think for yourself can seem like non-existent because children are young, they want to be with you all the time. They want to be with you when you shower or go to the toilet or sleep. And some children don't, I am generalising. But when you're a parent, and you're in that stage, it can feel quite claustrophobic. No matter how much you love your kids. Where is that space for you? How do you carve that out?

Time. Not having enough time is one of the biggest reasons that people give for not engaging in self-care. We lead these lives, trying to balance these two lives parallel.

However, there are three main different ways you can factor in time for reflection.

1.     You can take a retreat. Whether it’s half a day, full day, weekend or longer. There is something truly magical about taking that space and time for yourself. However, it's not always practical, it's not always affordable. Luckily, there are two other main ways that you can do this.

2.     You can set aside a regular, time of the day or week where you can reflect.

3.      You can integrate it into day-to-day practices.

A reminder this podcast is for general information and advice only. It is not designed to replace therapy in any way. If you are experiencing any mental health concerns please see your GP, or your mental health therapist.

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