Learning

Developing reflective skills to generate change

Francesca Peruzzi, psychologist · 9 February 2021 · 7 min read

Developing reflective skills to generate change

Reflection is essential to developing professional skills in every profession.

Experiential learning is defined as:
"the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience" (Kolb, 1984, p.94).

When learning in any field – and first and foremost in our own personal evolution – experience is not enough, because we need to learn to reflect on our experiences. To generate change, understood as a transformation of our perspectives of meaning, we can set in motion a process of awareness and conscientisation through reflection and the use of critical thinking.

According to some studies on learning in professional settings (“Vocations and Learning”, Springer), reflection on action (afterwards) and reflection in action (while carrying out the task) are equally important for improving the quality of performance.

Some scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of promoting reflection through metacognitive prompts that encourage people to reflect. Reflection is an essential trait of professionalism and competence.

"An important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it, it plays both a cognitive and a metacognitive role in learning" (Looi and Wu 2015).

Specific activities guide transformation through processes such as recapturing, describing, analysing, monitoring, debugging, evaluating and introspection. Research distinguishes between reflection on action and in action, showing that accustoming the mind to metacognitive prompts to reflect on action is a way of promoting reflection in action itself, and that reflection on action is a precursor to reflection in action (Hatton and Smith, 1995).

Reflective practice therefore increases executive mastery and the quality of performance; moreover, reflection-oriented activities over the long term appear to lead to the internalisation of this mental practice as a habit.
Metacognition (from the Greek-derived meta, above, and the Latin cognitio, knowing) is a theoretical construct from psychology and education that refers to reflection on how our minds work, the executive activities that regulate them, and our self-monitoring processes.

In simple terms, it means being able to look at how we think about things and reason, as if from above.
It is a form of thinking about thinking, and it has to do with awareness, decision-making and control; it underlies our choice of the ways we communicate and relate, which may be more or less suited to the context.

Given that metacognition is a fundamental aspect of how our psyche works, for a professional who thinks in terms of progress and continuous learning it is important to change their approach by adopting a generally metacognitive attitude.

Metacognition takes shape in many different ways and in operations that oversee how a task is carried out; it therefore plays an important role in strategic processes, and so in acting with mastery in one's own field of reality.
Improving awareness of, and the relationship between, theoretical and practical knowledge, declarative and procedural, generally offers new insights into the relationship between reflection on action and in action, and between reflection and practice. Building effective approaches in professional training has proved fundamental to acquiring knowledge and mastery of skills, and has opened up reflections on extending these methodologies to cross-cutting areas of application.

Conclusions

The limited time invested in reflecting on our mental habits and on our patterns of action and thought, at work and in our professional activities, leads me to reflect on the need to design effective training activities and learning spaces that can help people develop reflective skills.
Only by integrating interdisciplinary processes and tools can we face a world of work that is constantly evolving and currently in a phase of overwhelming transformation and liminality.
Developing reflective competence and

Thinking outside the box means starting from the assumption that the box is in your mind.

Francesca Peruzzi, psychologist

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And in the end you realise that life has always been with you, through small signs full of meaning that at first we cannot understand, and that accompany us in our inner transformation.

When you meet your path, you understand that your story was there, waiting for you; it has always been there in silence, like a wind around you – sometimes beside you, sometimes in front of you, sometimes behind.

Your story, the story of you, is the most important one you can build, tell and pass on.

Encuentra tu vía – find your way, meet your heart, because, as P. Coelho wrote, it knows all things.

My name is Francesca Peruzzi. I am a psychologist and a free traveller, and I have always had a passion for dance and creative movement. I accompany people in their personal growth, helping them make the most of the transformative potential of psychological knowledge, mind–body practices and expressive practices. Today I'd like to tell you about a special journey: my own. A life story woven from disappointments, acts of courage, huge changes, joys and suffering, all of which have contributed to my personal growth.

In short, I'd like to tell you a little about myself, and about how great inner and outer changes led me to deepen my knowledge and experience of transformative journeys, and to develop a strong empathy for those who, like me, are on a journey outside and inside themselves, exploring lands and paths different from the conventional ones.

Life sometimes leads us into blocks and dead ends shaped by our family history, by the accumulation of difficulties made heavier by the uncertainty of today's reality, and by systemic dynamics that leave us needing to start again, to be reborn in a new context.

When we search for our path far away – in travel, towards new destinations, chasing dreams and desires – we come to realise that the point of departure and arrival is nothing other than our inner home, our heart.

Psychology has taught me a great deal; in a way it saved me, and since I was lucky enough to encounter it in its many forms, I have never stopped.

I am navigating a long path of change and continuous growth. I actively seek it out, I'm never satisfied, and I want to develop knowledge and experience that allow me to share and to help people in my work as a psychologist.

Throughout my ongoing training I keep deepening my knowledge of health psychology, integrated care paradigms and therefore the complexity of the relationship between mind, body and spirit. I work on personal development across the life cycle, and I study the innovative fields of body psychotherapy and the frontiers of contemplative science.

I travel through the contributions of modern psychology, anthropological and psychoanalytic research, and I am fascinated by the ancient ancestral traditions that carry with them the wisdom of myths, rituals and dances, and the therapeutic power of nature.

The psyche, embodiment and movement are the foundations of my research and my work, together with connection to nature and creative processes. These fields now allow me to bring together my passions and my artistic soul.

I study, practise and explore awareness and self-awareness practices, which I consider genuine tools of personal transformation, essential for getting in touch with our inner world and recovering a state of wellbeing.

For this reason I integrate relaxation techniques, mindfulness and art therapy into my work.

I feel like a free nomad, and I chose to study a science of the soul in order to learn to make a journey of transformation without fear, and to accompany those who feel the need for it. I chose this path because it allows us to consciously explore and move through the infinite relationships and connections of human nature.

Because of various ups and downs I had to make a choice, and I decided to change place. My first stop is here, on the island of Fuerteventura: its wonders drew me in and welcomed me, making me feel ever more alive and connected with myself and the nature around me.

For me, the care of the soul is an art of transformation: it offers us the chance to bring awareness to our personal inner experience and to trust the inevitable processes of change we find ourselves going through.

It accompanies us in knowing and becoming conscious of our inner alchemy, and leads to a deep and lasting restructuring of our relationship with ourselves and with others.

Sometimes everything seems so far away, out of reach; and yet there is a symbolic language hidden in everything, where courage, trust and wisdom meet – a language that nature places before us every day.

A secret language we all know and can return to by looking at what is kept hidden or lost within us, at the bottom of the soul, submerged by fears and by personal and collective conditioning.

I created a podcast that offers ideas for moving through change and tools for improving wellbeing. The podcast is called "viaggi di crescita personale" (journeys of personal growth).

Thanks to technology, I continue to support people with online psychological consultations and personal growth programmes (Italians, expats, digital nomads) from all over the world, and to accompany anyone who wishes on their path of inner transformation and rebirth.

Click here to listen to my podcast!