How Can Acrostic Poems Help You Self-Reflect?
Let me think about it.
In simple terms, reflections are thoughts or ideas about a topic or subject. I am not talking about passing thoughts. I mean being deliberate and purposeful about considering areas of our lives like our habits and behaviours.
Another definition for reflections is ‘turning back’. This one isn't really for self-reflecting. It's more for reflecting mirror images but I love it anyway.
In order for us to know the way forward we must be able to 'turn back', look at what we have done and determine if we should do it again, do it differently or not at all.
If you’re not sure about how to begin putting your thoughts together, I recommend doing acrostic poems.
These are poems where the first letter of each line spells out a word vertically.
Don’t worry. You’ll see some examples further down this post.
But first we need to establish why reflections are important and how these acrostic poems can be great ways to practise reflecting.
Why are Reflections Important?
You may come across people who seem to just bulldoze through life without thinking about their actions. And it shows, doesn't it?
But here are 3 reasons why reflections are important and should be part of our routine.
Self-Reflections help us to learn and grow.
Educational psychologists like John Dewey believed that was true for children. He was referring to how kids learn. That they need to think about their experiences in order to learn from them.
But it works for adults too.
The problem is that we insist on kids doing it. We tell them things like…Sit in the corner and think about what you did.
But when we become adults do we sit in a corner (if naughty) or a café (if nice), and think about what we have done?
Too often we stop doing things that seem like ‘kiddie stuff’ but then find we have gone so far away from joy that we don’t even know what it looks or feels like anymore.
2. Self-Reflections help us to be better prepared for things we can control.
I remember as a teacher I often had to complete reflections on various things like:
My philosophy on teaching.
My teaching strategies and how effective they were.
What I needed to implement more of and what I needed to change.
I thought reflections were unnecessary at the start of my career. More paperwork for me to drown in.
But then I realised that reflections set the tone for the next week, month, term and year.
And that made what was coming so much easier. Because I was prepared.
Sometimes we spend so much time worrying about things that we can't control, meanwhile we don’t reflect on and control the things that we can.
3. Self-Reflections build self-confidence.
When we self-reflect we can think about things we learned or abilities that we improved on.
Maybe you learned how to play an instrument. Or how to start a kitchen garden.
Perhaps you took a painting class and improved your skills.
If you get the chance to use those skills you don’t have to be afraid of not knowing what to do. You don’t need to worry about if you’re up for the job.
You know you have the skill set. This can build your self-esteem and help you achieve your goals or stretch yourself a little in growing that skill even more.
So now that we know why self-reflecting is important let’s see how they work in acrostic poems.
How Reflections Work With Acrostic Poems
So far, we've stayed pretty theoretical while looking at reflections. If you're still unsure, keep reading.
Here’s the best way to use acrostic poems in your own self-reflecting:
Jot down a positive word or goal you want to have or achieve at this point in your life. Write the letters coming down the page, one under the other. For example:
L
O
V
E
Think of positive actions that begin with each letter. Use Google or a thesaurus. That’s what I did. So for ‘L’ I may choose Listen. That’s a positive action.
Based on your word, think about how you can do more of it. This is how you self-reflect. Who should you listen to more? Listen to your spouse, listen to the voice of God?
Write down the sentence beginning with your special word e.g. - Listen more closely to the voice of God.
Repeat those steps with each letter. And don’t worry about rhyming. Just get your thoughts on the page.
Make your acrostic pretty so that you will want to 'turn back' to it time and again.
Review your poem and think about how much progress you have made with those observations and goals you set in each line. What areas do you need to work on more?
And that's it.
I've put together 4 examples of how you can use reflections in acrostic poems below to help you better understand them and use them as one way to help you self-reflect.
I was in a period of my life when I was focused more on health and so I created these poems around words that reminded me of health:
Energy
Health
Fitness
Strength
Example 1: Energy Acrostic Poem
Acrostic poems can help you build self-confidence as you acquire more or better skills.
Energy was written at a time when I needed to be confident in my ability to take care of myself both mentally and spiritually.
I realised that I couldn't give the best of me until I took care of all of me.
We spend so much time taking care of our bodies that we forget we are made up of 3 parts: spirit, soul and body.
There's an assurance and confidence in knowing that you can really take care of yourself beyond paying bills, buying clothes and enhancing the physical.
This poem helped me to reflect on that.
Example 2: Health Acrostic Poem
Health Acrostic Poem
An acrostic poem can remind you about important things in your life.
For this poem I was reflecting on what Health means to me. I wanted it to be quick and short, something to:
Pick me up if I am down.
Give quick reminders about maintaining good health.
I go back to this poem and ask myself if I am doing the things in the poem.
And if not, I reflect on what I could do to change at least one of them at that very moment.
Example 3: Fitness Acrostic Poem
Fitness Acrostic Poem
Acrostic poems can help you prepare for big dreams or goals.
For this poem I was reflecting on things that I needed to set my mind towards.
I was terrified about starting a new business and wondered if I really had what it takes; had something of value to offer my Thrivers.
I had to be prepared for the path I wanted to take.
Maybe you have a dream and need to set big goals to help you achieve it.
As you self-reflect on your goals try jotting down ways you need to be prepared in an acrostic poem.
Example #4: Strength Acrostic Poem
Strength Acrostic Poem
Acrostic poems can reveal things about you or a situation that you never considered before.
As I reflected on the word ‘strength’ I realised that it wasn’t always bold, loud and daring.
But strength could be gentle or restful, but no less powerful.
At the time I was going through a difficult situation that was totally out of my control.
I couldn’t use brute strength or power to fix it. No one could.
I had to learn to rest more in God and accept that there’s also a quiet strength in ‘letting go and letting God’.
I hope the relationship between self-reflecting and acrostic poems is crystal clear to you now.
Self-reflections should be done regularly. But you don’t need to despair if you don’t know how to begin.
Why don’t you give an acrostic poem a try?
Follow the process and examples I shared with you. Be true to yourself and your emotions.
That will give you great insight on what you need to do in order to succeed and live a more productive life.
In the Comments section below type a positive word that you want to reflect on as you write your own acrostic poem.
Happy self-reflecting!