Critical Reflection Growth

 Why would we choose to critically reflect on our actions if doing so may challenge the vary beliefs that help us feel confident and competent?

Growth rarely begins with certainty. It begins with a pause.

In a world that rewards speed, confidence, and decisive action, critical reflection can feel counterintuitive. Why slow down to question what already works? Why examine beliefs, habits, or decisions that have carried us this far?

Because progress without reflection is often repetitive, not growth.

Critical reflection asks us to look beneath outcomes and examine the assumptions that produced them. It invites us to move beyond what happened and into why it happened, how we contributed, and what it reveals about our values, blind spots, and patterns. This process can feel unsettling because it disrupts the stories we tell ourselves about competence, intention, and success.

And yet, that disruption is precisely the point.

When individuals avoid critical reflection, learning remains shallow. We may gain skills, but we don't gain insight. We adjust behaviours without questioning the beliefs that drive them. Over time, this limits development because the same underlying assumptions continue to shape our choices, even when circumstances change.

Critical reflection requires courage. It asks us to sit with ambiguity, acknowledge discomfort, and admit that our understanding may be incomplete. It challenges the instinct to defend our actions and instead encourages curiosity about the impact. The shift from justification to inquiry is where real learning begins.

Importantly, critical reflection is not self-criticism. It is not about assigning blame or diminishing confidence. Rather, it is a disciplined practice of sense-making. It allows individuals to integrate experience, theory, and emotion in ways that deepen understanding and inform future action.

Engaging in critical reflection will deepen your self-awareness, adaptability and clarity. You will become more responsive rather than reactive. More intentional rather than habitual. Over time, reflection transforms experience into wisdom.

For leaders, educators, and professionals alike, critical reflection is a responsibility. It shapes how we show up for others. It influences the environments we create and the decisions we normalize. Without reflection, we risk reinforcing systems and behavious simply because they are familiar, not because they are effective or just.

The Year I Chose Prosper

 

I started 2025 with a word in mind, not a goal. Just one word to carry with me, to anchor me when life felt busy or overwhelming. My word was Prosper.

For me, Prosper wasn’t just about money or success. It was about choosing to focus on all good things. It was a reminder that I will rise, and I will Prosper; in my career, in my relationships, in my health, and in the small moments that often go unnoticed.

Keeping this word at the center of my year shaped the way I saw the world. Almost every lunch hour on my walk, I would find a nickel or a dime on the ground. To some, those coins might not seem like much, but to me they became a symbol. A quiet reminder that Prosper was showing up in my life in small, consistent ways. It was as though the world was nudging me to keep my focus on growth and possibility.

The openness to accept shifts in my life led me to take part in the leadership development program with Laurie and the leadership team.

The opportunity was more than just professional development it was Prosper in action. It allowed me to expand my skills, stretch my thinking, and step into new leadership challenges that will continue to shape me for years to come.

Looking back, Prosper didn’t mean every day was easy or that success fell into my lap. It meant that when challenges came, I looked for the lesson, the growth, and the way forward. Prosper kept me grounded in gratitude and possibility. It reminded me that abundance is as much a mindset as it is an outcome.

And now, as I step into 2026, I can see how one word had the power to shift not only how I worked, but how I lived. Prosper became the compass.

What single word, if you held it close, would shift the way you live and lead this year?

A word is like a compass keeping you oriented no matter which turns life throws at you.

Too often we think of the annual new years goal as a checklist: loose the weight, hit the number, save the money. But what if goals aren’t the list at all? What if they are the compasses? Compasses don’t give you every detail, they simply point you in the right direction, keeping you aligned no matter the twists and detours.

This January, I challenge you to pick a word instead of a goal. One word to guide your choices, remind you of your values, and keep you oriented when life gets busy.

Maybe your word is courage. Courage to step outside your comfort zone. Maybe it’s Balance. Lean in to balance your work-life structure a little more strategically. Maybe it’s Growth. Choosing to look for opportunities to grow. Whatever it is, let it be your compass for 2026.

Resolutions are often born from pressure, the need to fix, to hit, to achieve. But words are different. Words invite you to grow, to notice, to rise into opportunities as they come. Challenges will appear, as they always do, but your word becomes your steady compass you hold onto.

Resolutions fade. Words endure. What word will carry you through this year? 

Life as a board game: The game of Life

 

Life as a board game : The game of life

Adolescence is like a board game, more specifically the game of life. Each path is a decision one must make to the ultimate arrangement of life, and each move is shaped by chance to where you will end up, leaving you with choices to consider at each turn in the road. Continuously these decisions, big or small are the unfolding of events that contribute to our journey through living. 

Along the journey of the game of life you will encounter different symbols that signify many aspects and stages of adolescence. The board itself represents the world you must navigate full of routes that split or intersect, allowing you to decide which path is best suited for your travels ahead. The car marks your social world and the people who ride with you influence where you go. The peg inside the car represents identity as it’s constantly developing through each stage of the game. In adolescence, relationships evolve, some passengers might stay for longer and others only join for a short stretch, but each person who steps into your car will influence the way you navigate the road ahead. 

Life, much like any board game, is shaped by rules which you are expected to adhere to. Although life does not come with specific written instructions one must navigate the hidden expectations that are expected of us at such a young age. The rules of adolescence come from conditions set upon us of loved ones, school pressures, and social norms. They influence your behavior and choices, and the outcomes can be represented as a ‘good move’ or a ‘bad move’. These rules are set in place to help guide you or provide you with a sense of direction on your journey. 

When encountering action cards in the game, they symbolize unexpected moments of adolescence, such as opportunities, challenges, and surprises. The cards might seem like a setback, but they teach valuable lessons about patience and growth while they contribute to shaping your steps. Unexpected challenges are part of life and how you navigate them will be watched upon by the viewers of your life. Each navigation encounter will serve as a steppingstone to building your resilience, perseverance, and determination to complete the task presented to you. Often you will seek guidance from close friends, loved ones or onlookers in your car, but in the end, you are the only one who can make the decision and learn from the outcome.

One of the first major choices in the game of life is much like the real-life decision in late adolescence of deciding whether to pursue education or jump straight into a career. This fork in the road connects to pressures placed on adolescence to choose a direction before fully understanding the commitment and demand it requires. Careful consideration of your choice is advised, but with lack of experience in the real game of life sometimes we can choose the bumpy path that was not suited for us. It just so happens in both the game and real life that on the journey we will encounter a crossroad and can make a new choice to the path of fulfillment. New opportunities are always on the horizon if we choose to look for them.

In the game, the wheel decides how far you move. In adolescence time is what moves you whether you're ready or not. Both happen to be uncontrollable aspects of life. You can control what you do with your time, and you can control how hard you spin the wheel but you cannot control what number your spin lands on, nor can you control how fast or slow the seconds in your life move. What you can control is how you respond to both. The wheel stops based purely on luck. And the feeling of time stops in reference to profound experiences or moments of intense focus. In the game of Life, unpredictability is around every move, with new routes to be explored as you advance on the board. Some bring rewards and others bring challenges. From these detours one can blossom and acquire new perspectives or skills from being deeply immersed in the experience or step through the moment unrealizing what they just went through. 

As the game unfolds, it’s impossible not to notice where the other players are on the board, comparison is a constant in adolescence that feels unavoidable. From how many friends they have on the journey with them to their influences of loved ones or the privilege they come from. You may catch yourself questioning why someone else is ahead of you or how they make it look so easy and effortless. Curiosity is always at the heart of what is happening to and for others around you. The game is a reminder that every piece moves differently and not one single route is to determine success or failure. Success or failure is at the mercy of the individual determining what success or failure may look like to them.

Reaching the end of the board game isn't determined by how much money, property, or chance cards a player accumulates, it depends on what one values and how they define their own success. Celebration and comparison happen at the end where one can ultimately decide what their level of happiness with the avenues they took to get there and what lessons they learned along the way. Perhaps the goal was never to win at all, but to live fully within each turn, to laugh when chance surprised us, to preserve when challenges appeared, and to cherish the company of those on the board beside us. In life, as in the game, what truly matters is not where we end, but on how we moved through it.

~Jenika Harrison