3 Levels of Reflections

August is my breather.

August is my personal time.

August is my personal space.

August is my brave new world.

I hide my insecurities in August.

I prune most connections in August.

I make most friends in August.

I left my past in August.

In August, in spectacular ways, I realise my weaknesses.

In August, somehow, someway, I come back stronger.

In August, I redo, reshape, reclaim my narratives

from year to year.

In the past, August was when I embodied my most organized, focused, high-achieving self. I set ambitious goals and pursued them with (relatively) relentless discipline. Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with that part of me.

In my Islamic faith, the concept of tajdid, or renewal, is deeply cherished. Just as scholars have sought to revitalize the ummah’s understanding and practice of Islam, I too must continually renew my commitment to personal growth and ethical living.

Where to start? Reflecting.

Now’s August. The rest of 2024 is going to be fabulous.

This year, I’m feeling called to double down on the reflection practices that have become such a vital part of my personal growth journey. Now’s is a good time.

At the heart of my reflective process are three levels of evaluation that I engage in regularly: action, intention, and strategy. By digging into each of these layers with sincerity and courage, I hope when we can uncover new insights about ourselves and refining our path forward.

August 2020. Languid morning at the front porch of my childhood house, pondering about what it means for something to embodies a culture of ‘ilm (knowledge).

Action Evaluation: Observing My Patterns

The foundation of this reflection practice is action evaluation — the daily and weekly habit of observing my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with curiosity and honesty. I’ve found that the Islamic rhythm of pausing for prayer five times a day is a perfect built-in reminder to check in with myself. People with different faith and culture might resort to silent moment of short but regular meditations.

In those brief moments of stillness, I ask myself:

What actions have I taken since my last prayer?

What impact did those actions have on myself and others?

What patterns or lessons are emerging?

On weekends (or any convenient long breaks), I carve out longer stretches to review my journal entries, calendar, and commitments from the past week. I look for trends in my energy levels, mood, and productivity in different contexts. I reflect on the key interactions and decisions I made, and the values and beliefs they reflect.

Over time, this granular self-observation is painting a vivid picture of my default patterns — both the ones that serve me and the ones that don’t. With this awareness, I can more consciously choose which patterns to reinforce and which to reroute.

Intention Evaluation: Examining My ‘Why’

As valuable as it is to examine my actions, I’ve found it’s even more transformative to investigate the intentions behind them. That’s where intention evaluation comes in — the practice of honestly interrogating the ‘why’ behind what I do.

In moments of decision or conflict, I pause to ask myself:

What’s really motivating me here?

Am I acting from a place of ego or virtue, fear or faith, scarcity or abundance?

Am I staying true to my deepest values, or am I being pulled by external expectations and validation?

By shining a light on my underlying intentions, I’ve caught myself acting on some pretty sneaky self-deceptions. I’ve noticed how my people-pleasing tendencies can disguise themselves as ‘kindness,’ how my imposter syndrome can masquerade as ‘humility,’ how my perfectionism can hide behind a mask of ‘excellence.’

Uprooting these false intentions is uncomfortable work, but it’s so worth it. When I realign my intentions with my authentic values and highest self, a deep rightness clicks into place. I feel clearer, braver, more grounded in my choices — even and especially the hard ones.

Strategy Evaluation: Recalibrating My Game Plan

The final and most zoomed-out level of reflection I practice is strategy evaluation — the quarterly and annual exercise of pressure-testing my overall game plan and course-correcting as needed. With the help of mentors and trusted allies, I carve out solo retreats to contemplate the big questions:

Am I dedicating my time and energy to the experiences and endeavors that matter most?

Where am I out of integrity with my core values and beliefs?

What strengths and growth areas did this year reveal?

Do the nitty gritty details of my goals and plans still fit the person I’ve grown into?

This strategic bird’s-eye view is where I recalibrate my compass, refresh my resilience, and widen my horizons of possibility. By reflecting deeply on how all the pieces of my life fit together — my faith, my relationships, my work, my learning, my service — I can spot both the gaps and the unexpected synergies. I can zoom in on what to prune and what to fertilize. I can catch myself clinging to old scripts and outdated metrics of success, and invite in a bigger vision of a life well-lived.

Towards Virtue and Excellence

As I reflect on the insights gleaned from this year’s evaluations, I’m struck by the power of this practice to illuminate not just the path ahead, but the very nature of my being. In the Islamic worldview, we are each created with a double nature: the basyar, or physical dimension, and the insān or rūḥ, the spiritual dimension.

The diagram is inspired from *page 14 of On Justice and the Nature of Man*, written by Syed Muhammad Naquib al Attas.

When I observe my patterns, investigate my intentions, and pressure-test my plans, I’m essentially navigating the interplay between these two aspects of my self. I’m learning to discern the difference between the pulls of my lower nafs and the guidance of my higher rūḥ. I’m striving to align my daily actions, underlying motivations, and overarching aspirations with the Adab of Insan Kamil, the perfected human model.

Viewed through this lens, my reflective practice becomes a sacred means of ta’dīb, of disciplining and purifying my whole being — body, mind, and soul. It’s a way of attuning to my fitrah, my innate disposition towards goodness, beauty, and truth. By regularly calibrating my life against these deepest truths, I’m gradually actualizing the full potential of my insān, my God-given capacity for virtue and excellence.

This is the deeper significance of my August rituals — not just to achieve worldly goals, but to come closer to embodying the noble character of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. To become a clearer mirror for the Divine light.

I know the path ahead won’t be easy. Growth is rarely a straight line; there will be setbacks and moments of doubt. But I also know that within me lies the resilience to keep moving forward, to keep returning to my core purpose. With each August (and many other moments), I have the chance to begin again, to recalibrate my direction, to come back stronger.

Yes, to be exact, every breath taken is the actual chance to begin again. This month is only my personal way, in my most natural cycle, to draw a big line on the annual scale.

What about yours?