I was involved in a minor road accident recently.  It was a multi-car accident. Unfortunately my car suffered the most damage receiving impacts from the front and rear. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was going to the barbers to get my hair cut when the car ahead of me stopped suddenly in the middle of a roundabout. In my estimation, the driver of the offending car must have changed her mind about crossing to the right side of the road when she heard the blaring horn of another vehicle. Well… That was my view. As usual of Lagos motor accidents, I stepped down from my car to inspect the damage. I noticed that the driver of the offending car simply pinned down her door lock making no attempt to disembark. I was left with no other choice but to approach her and request that she come down to inspect the damage she’d done to my precious motor vehicle. She rolled down her window and looked at me…’If only you were not speeding’ she said. Then she stepped on the car accelerator and drove off. At that moment all my twenty something years of being a ‘G man’ came rolling in, so I jumped into my partially damaged SUV and gave chase. It was a short chase. After all it is Lagos. I didn’t need any driving experience to force her off the road and get her to stop.

As I approached her this time, she stepped out from her car with teary eyes. What followed from her was… how could you do this to a woman? Don’t you have a wife at home? Wow!!  What has a wife got to do with a motor accident? Fantastic strategy I thought to myself. This would have worked at the roundabout, but not after she made me adorn my James Bond gear. Plus… She no even fine sef. Well… (Hmmm!). That was until passers by were attracted to the scene. ‘Pity her now, she is a woman’, they pleaded. ‘Madam no cry, na only wicked man go look woman wey dey cry like this no forgive, after all na only one headlamp break’, another quipped. Swarmed by all these people I had no choice but to accept an apology from the now remorseful woman.

As I drove off from the scene, I looked through my rearview mirror at the shaken woman that I left behind. In my subconscious I played back the tape of the events that just occurred. What just happened? Was it avoidable? Could I have embarked on a different course of action after the accident? What if in the process of chasing after her she’d veered into a more fatal accident? What if another vehicle ran me over as I stepped out of my car to inspect the damage done to it? What if the woman had screamed that I was trying to rob her? As I reflected on my choices and actions I vowed never to let adrenalin take control of me in future. I took mental note of the choices I made and learnt some life lessons that I hope would guide me in future.

Life is like driving. As you make progress you are expected to use the rearview mirror from time to time. To look back to see if you took the right route, to look out for other vehicles that could be giving chase or trying to overtake you or to look at how much distance you have covered. Albeit, you only take a fleeting look at the rear view mirror, you do not dwell too much on it lest you run into a ditch.

So what is reflection?

Reflection as used in this paper is the action of giving serious thought, contemplating, considering or musing over an activity. It is the engagement in a deliberate mental process of thinking about, or contemplating, things that have happened. It is also a process of exploring what was experienced and learned from our own and from others points of view. Reflection is how we think and feel about the choices we made, actions we took and situations we faced in the past. Reflection gives closure, insights and learning from our past and is used to assess where we are now and to improve our future. Sadly, the image in the past may not be accurate. Yes! It may not be real.  Like they say in driving, ‘objects in the mirror may be closer than they seem’.

As humans we tend to have very valid excuses for our current state, or why past events happened the way they did.  We often hear people say “Oh! I would be rich if I went to university; or I would have been in business if I was given the opportunity, or my business would have been successful if there wasn’t a downturn in the economy”. It goes on and on.  We all play the blame game. We blame the current state of our economy on the previous governments; we blame the state of the polity on “god-fatherism”, we even blame ‘Tomato Ebola’ and the recent price of tomatoes on Fulani herdsmen. It may sound funny but it is true. We blame everyone but ourselves. We refuse to take responsibility for the actions or inactions that lead to the unpleasant state we find ourselves.

Sadly most reflective exercises end up tainted with bias. We see a past event as having been predictable, despite their having been little or no objective basis for predicting it. This is where we say – I knew it would happen like this! Really?  You knew you would have a negative outcome and still ventured? You must be kidding. This is what academics call hindsight bias. It is distinct from the Confirmation bias which is a disposition to interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms a pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities. Like saying Arsenal FC failed to sign Lionel Messi because Arsene Wenger does not like to spend money. Did we ask if Messi is being offered for sale?  In extreme situations we resort to Confabulation bias when we recollect things or events that never happened. This is where we lie to ourselves and make up scenarios to indulge our self-pity.  The problem with lying to oneself is that after a while we start to think it is true.

In place of the biases and self-justification that is characteristic of Reflection, we might be able to achieve a better outcome if we handle our Reflective exercises in a different way.  Rather than reflection being a review of past event, we can make it part of an ongoing activity. Perhaps we can adopt a questioning stance to solving problems, challenging the ‘status quo’ and examining our own assumptions. This is Critical Reflection or Reflecting in Action (what bosses call thinking on your feet). With Critical Reflection we can reflect on the PRESENT and evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, our opportunities and threats to enable us make informed decisions NOW.  This would eliminate the need to get bogged down in self-justification, self-indulgence or pity parties!

How do we engage in Critical Reflection?

As we grapple with everyday challenges we could embark on Critical Reflection in the course of our thoughts, conversations and action. We can start by borrowing from the doctrine of the Rotary club, examining the things we think, say or do against the Four Way Test

1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it Fair to all concerned?
3. Will it bring goodwill and better Friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned

We must put an end to the siege mentally that often dog our thinking. Rather than dwelling so much on the mistakes of the past we should reflect with finding solution to problems being our objective. In the same vein we should challenge presuppositions and make sure that ends are achieved in line with the values and norms of the context. We should ask questions with a view to finding answers. Like how have we really been doing things? How have others done it?  Look for what works and what does not?  ‘Let go’ of all previous knowledge, challenge ALL assumptions and look at opportunities by seeking what we can gain/learn/get/know from the events around us.

Looking back at the accident scene I described above, did I make the right choices? Perhaps I may have taken a different set of actions if I had adopted a critical reflection mode as the events occurred. Perhaps I could have avoided the collision. What was the point going after a lone woman James Bond style? It was an activity that could only fetch a negative outcome. Perhaps with Critical Reflection I would have realized that the other party was shaken and was not in the right frame of mind for my ego trip. And was I exactly without blame in the traffic accident?

Unlike the zero sum game that was played out in the accident story, the reaction of most Nigerians to the scarcity of tomatoes is different. In some parts of Nigeria, the scarcity is incubating new business ideas and bringing out the gardening skills in a lot of people. The early movers have started enjoying the tomato fruits of their gardening labor rather than waiting for a magical end to the tomato Ebola. That is taking action! Critical reflection follows a pattern. You reflect, process and gain illumination. Then action! You take an action because you want to determine an outcome rather than waiting for the outcome to be determined by nature. It is neither a sign of intellectual superiority nor an act for idle minds. Critical reflection is for the wise and noble.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” –Confucius

Let us therefore learn the noble way before we end up learning the bitter way.