#reflective practice

[sayariastrology]

'PICK-A-CARD' STYLE READING | FIRST QUARTER MOON

Take a deep breath, tune in to this moment, and use your intuition to choose an image. If you're drawn to more than one, that's okay too. Take what you need, leave the rest.

You may be faced with a critical decision that will have long-term implications, but you don't feel like you have enough information to make the 'right' choice. You can choose whether to postpone further and risk missing the opportunity, or you can push through your impostor syndrome and fake it 'til you make it. Something you are holding onto from your past leaves you reluctant to take a risk. For example, if someone has lied to you or played games in the past and now shows up asking for a commitment, you may not know whether to trust them or cut your losses. You may not trust your own capacity to remain faithful. You could also be doubting your skills, keeping your talents hidden, and leaving a potential career path unpursued. Spirit wants you to know that you have everything it takes and more to make this happen. Get clear on your vision and write out a plan so it feels less intimidating. Save money. Seek out mentorship or resources; you don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. Deepen your trust and commitment to a spiritual purpose and let that be your compass. If this is about entering a union with someone, it is a wise decision, especially for your financial future.

You are under the influence of someone or something that is causing you to make decisions that go against your nature. You're becoming aware of how much of your power you've given away, even unknowingly. Your throat chakra feels blocked, like you aren't free to express yourself. You've lost some of your voice and autonomy. Stress from being in this position could be causing you to escape into substances. Whatever choice you face now or soon holds real potential for a turning point in this situation. There is a new situation that allows you to become a collaborator in your lived experience, ridding you of the obligation to restrict your authentic thoughts, feelings, ideas, and desires. You can tune out the opinions of others and trust your intuition. There is a strong cloak of protection covering you. You are not alone as you move forward. There is supportive energy, both seen and unseen, in this next chapter. Whatever it is that you need, just say it. Spirit is listening.

You're holding onto something that wants to be released. Under the next full moon, write down what it is you've been carrying that pains you, in vivid detail, and [safely] burn it. Give it up to the Universe. Another way to release this is to speak about it. If you're grieving, it could really help you to talk with others who have been/are going through a similar experience or to write it in a journal or on a blog (if you feel comfortable). You just have to let it out in a safe, sacred space. Your pride may be causing you to keep things buried inside, but that is disrupting your future plans because you do not have the energy you need to pursue your goals. Your energy is too tied up in what you refuse to move on from. Lingering in the past, focusing on what you don't have, and self-isolating are blocking your path to success. Once you speak about what you're going through, you can receive the help you need. A supportive community is waiting for you to find it.

If you're interested in a personal reading, you can book with me here: https://sayarimoon.gumroad.com/l/one-question-tarot

or contact me at [email protected]

Download my 2026 Lunar Reflection Guide for support during your new and full moon rituals of the year.

[armaankhaliq-fmpa]

THIS IS MY SECOND FINAL OUTCOME WHICH IS THE AUDIOBOOK. AS YOU CAN SEE THE TWO IMAGES ARE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PHONE AND TABLETS. THIS WAS TO GIVE YOU GUYS A SHOW OF HOW THE AUDIOBOOK LOOKS FROM THE SPOTIFY PAGE. DOWN BELOW IS A LINK TO THE RELATIVE AUDIOBOOK SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CLICK IT AND LISTEN TO EACH CHAPTER. WHEN YOU CLICK IT THEIR WILL BE 7 CHAPTERS HOWEVER WHEN YOU READ THE BOOK THEIR WILL ONLY BE 6 CHAPTERS AND THIS IS BECAUSE CHAPTER 7 WAS MENT TO BE SCRAPT FOR BEING TO LONG. I THEN DECIDED THE STORY WAS GOOD SO LETS KEEP THE AUDIO BUT NOT ADD IT TO THE BOOK. I FEEL LIKE THE AUDIENCE WOULD BE HAPPY WITH THE 7TH CHAPTER AND THINK IT NEEDS TO BE IN THE AUDIOBOOK. I WAS GLAD THAT THIS OUTCOME CAME TOGETHER AND WORKED WELL. IN THE FUTURE I WANT TO MAKE THIS STREAMING ON SOUND CLOUD, APPLE PODCAST, GOOGLE MUSIC AND ETC.

https://open.spotify.com/show/7ivukIzrzeeJHvXYje4SgO

[mbti-notes]

You said you showed "[students] how philosophical training could enrich their lives and help them solve problems". How did you do that, can you elaborate on how can people apply philosophical and psychological knowledge to their lives? Also, is this related to reflective practice (an expression I learned from a book you recommended, "People Skills")?

Your question potentially encompasses a lot of ideas, which I don’t feel I can do justice to in a short blog post. For the sake of brevity, we can divide philosophers into two categories: those who focus on “knowledge” and those who focus on “wisdom”. Knowledge philosophers are important because they do a lot of dirty work in ironing out details and concepts as well as exposing the strengths and limitations of the human mind. Wisdom philosophers are important because they distill philosophical knowledge for real-world application; they have done the learning and thinking that allows them to be a good guide for those of us who are not naturally philosophically inclined.

A person’s life is “enriched” when they learn something that adds a sense of value or greater purpose to their existence. 

We can learn from knowledge philosophers about how to: find gaps in knowledge and where to expand it; how to collect and categorize information; how to parse and analyze language; how to define and assess problems; how to dismantle cognitive biases; how to expose erroneous beliefs; how wrongly framed perception produces flawed judgment. In short, how to improve intellectual skills.

We can learn from wisdom philosophers about: how to live life well; how to interpret the meaning of events; what makes a person good or bad; how to make ethical decisions; what makes human experience meaningful; what to strive for in life and what to avoid; how to think about the future. In short, how to live to our full potential.

One of the main advantages of philosophical training that I’ve observed in my students is that it encourages them to be less egocentric. Being able to think from a more objective vantage point is particularly valuable when you feel stuck in life or when you encounter disappointments. Philosophical training gives students the knowledge and wisdom to make well-informed decisions, or at least points them in the right direction when they feel lost.

In terms of problem solving, some say that the main tool of philosophers is critical reasoning ability. And I believe that “doing” philosophy well means that you should exercise critical reasoning whenever possible. However, not many people have a good understanding of what “critical thinking” actually involves, and some even call it an empty buzzword that boring teachers are fond of repeating. I used to be a debate instructor and the first thing I would do is put students through a rigorous critical thinking crash course to weed out the ones who didn’t have the right mindset for winning debates. 

Critical reasoning ability can be broken up into smaller skills that you address individually, such as being able to: 

express exactly what you mean

understand the intended meaning of what you read/hear

know the difference between facts and values

know the difference between statements and claims

extract the structure of an argument

disentangle complexities

handle nuance

search for complications

draw clarifying distinctions

construct logical arguments

find/use appropriate evidence to support an argument

identify logical fallacies

expose underlying/problematic assumptions

evaluate the strength of an argument

give fair consideration to every side of an argument

The main idea is that when you have good mental tools to break down a problem and analyze it objectively, you have more opportunity to discover the right/best solution.

You mention “reflective practice” and it is something I personally practice and encourage others to practice, as I believe it is necessary for being an effective independent learner. (I use reflective practice in the way that I edit the blog’s reading materials and clarify concepts as I encounter people of each type and get feedback about spots of confusion.) For those unfamiliar, reflective practice is the bridge between theory and application. Ideas are “pure” in the sense that they are abstract and imaginary, however, real life is “messy” in that there are many complexities and complications that make it difficult to apply ideas in their purest form. 

For example, “democracy” is the idea that every person has one vote and, together, citizens end up voting for the candidates who will best preserve the health of the nation and lead everyone into future prosperity. However, in practical application, democracy is nothing like the “pure” abstract idea. E.g.: there is voter apathy, there are people who are woefully uninformed and vote against the best interests of the nation, there are people who only care about their own narrow interests and nothing else, there are people who are easily manipulated into changing their vote, there are larger forces that can undermine the will of the people, etc. How do you reconcile the gap between theory and application?

What reflective practice aims to do is produce a virtuous cycle of continuous learning. You don’t just have an idea and get stuck there, and you don’t just wing it and hope for the best, because theory and application are both equally important. You take a good idea from a sound and well-reasoned theory (e.g. a philosophical concept, a logical procedure, advice from an expert), apply it the best way you know how, reflect on the results, change your idea or strategy accordingly, and apply the idea better and better each time as your understanding of the theory deepens. 

The relationship between theory and application is interactive: theory should be tweaked as new facts and evidence arise; application should be fine-tuned as one’s understanding of the theory deepens. Reflective practice means that you start with a sound idea BUT with the understanding that how you implement it needs constant work because each situation you apply to is contextually different, so you work at it and make improvement gradually as you accumulate experience.

As a teacher trying to teach a skill, I don’t expect students to be an expert as soon as I finish explaining the concepts to them. I would model for them how to do it several times, then ask them to do it themselves. Then I would critique their performance and give detailed guidance about how to do it better. Then I teach them deeper knowledge when they are ready for a bigger challenge. 

However, the student can only respond well to this style of teaching if they are capable of reflective practice and understand the value of incremental learning. Some students are too ambitious and give up when they can’t do it perfectly the first time. Some students are afraid of making mistakes and give up out of anxiety. Some students can’t follow instructions well and give up out of frustration. Some students don’t bother with “rules”, so all I can do is watch them make mistake after mistake because they’re too stubborn to read the book. If a student hasn’t really “learned how to learn” before, I usually have to teach them the principle of reflective practice. As soon as they get it, their learning moves at a greater pace. It works.

[designcreativetechnologies]

I’m fully aware that this type of diagrams can feel weird and artificial, but so does everything when you start. Just look at the ABC tracing sheets, they aren’t “natural” in the sense of how people actually write once they master it. But they are “crutches” that help scaffold the process. 

Also, although I know that some people think that they need to see some “examples” to figure out what is required, I invite those people to think about it in these terms: if you were looking at good ways of choosing a life partner... how helpful would it be for you to get to know the partners of other people? Not much, because you are you, and you need to figure our how to do it as you do it. Makes sense? Or, how useful is it to see someone skiing or cartwheeling for you to learn? Again, not much. Just do it!

[oupacademic]

Reflective practice has the capability to facilitate deeper experiential understanding to enhance performance in the art of dance. Reflective practice employs action research and a reflective mind/body strategy referred to as the 4Rs: recognize, release, recruit, restore.

Image: Silje in arabesque pose by Frode Inge Helland. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

[teacherscorner]

Do you ever do reflections on your lesson and it's like "why did your students make the mistakes they made?" And you're just like "your guess is as good as mine buckaroo I have no idea what they were doing here"

[failwise]

18 months. 12,000 questions. A whole lot of anxiety. What I learned from reading students’ ChatGPT logs [The Guardian]

18 months. 12,000 questions. A whole lot of anxiety. What I learned from reading students’ ChatGPT logs

Students increasingly use AI chatbots for anything from academic queries to emotional quandaries. But are they missing out on the chance to

There is a lot to like about this article. A good, relatable storyline, characters and scripting with (I suspect) robust research foundations.

I would use this for teaching; why writing together and coming together for writing supports our lone writing.

[failwise]

Inside the writing process

Jemisin rocks!

It’s been a while since I regularly used this blog! Not planning to resume, too busy, but because WordPress has implemented some new feature