When was the last time you truly believed you were loved? (Weekly Reflection Questions)

It was about 15 months ago that I began taking time on a Sunday to ask myself questions to reflect on the week gone by.

I was deeply challenged by the words of philosopher John Dewey —

'We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experience.'

How many times have I ended up in the same scenarios, whether painful or joy inducing?

And, the most confronting question I found, which caused me to finally face myself: what is the common denominator in all of my problems? Yep, you guessed it. ME ;)

Over the past year I've changed the questions up monthly, and come up with many of my own, tailored to my personality and way of thinking.

However, the other day when I was writing out my reflections, I realised how self-loathing some of the sentences were sounding. I had to stop writing then and there, and ask myself:

When was the last time I truly believed I was loved?

I know that I am loved eternally by my Creator. But does that really matter if I don't give that same love to myself?

The golden rule states 'love your neighbour as you love yourself.

And truly, we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you (Rupi Kaur). We set the tone for how we will interact with others and vice versa, by what we first believe about ourselves.

This realisation can either be scary, or empowering. It means that if I have created such painful situations for myself and others, I have the same power to create beautiful, life-giving experiences for everyone around me.

I've written some of my favourite weekly reflection questions below.

I'd love to hear if you have a go, or created your own questions in the comments below!

Weekly Reflection Questions

1. What made you come alive?

2. Is there anything you're holding onto that's weighing you down?

3. Who loved you this week? Thank them

4. How did you love those around you?

5. What challenged you?

6. Did you stay focused on weekly goals?

7. What distractions need to be addressed?

8. What are you grateful for?

Bonus: Weekly Goals 1. Work (pick 5 measurable goals, one for each day)

2. Physically (e.g. work outs)

3. Mental/Personal growth (e.g. read 1 chapter of a book)

4. Creative (e.g. write/sketch for 5 min a day)

4. Spiritually (e.g. pray with a friend)