Reflection Cards
interaction with another person or community that has changed you.
How and why was this connection meaningful?
moment that you experienced recently? How did this experience shape you, your beliefs, and your future actions?
Who is one of your (s)heroes or role models? Why is this person important, and how have they impacted your life, beliefs, or mission?
If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be and why?
something you’ve done that you’re really proud of, and why?
Describe a time in which you changed your mind. What did you believe, and what do you believe now?
What was the catalyst for this change?
Who do you see as a part of your beloved communities or chosen families?
your current roles—whether your career, education, service, personal—and describe your role without using the title.
What is at the heart of this role?
Take note of how you’re feeling right now. What emotions do you feel and what experiences gave rise to those feelings?
What is one word or phrase you would use to describe your day? Why did you choose this word or phrase?
What is a text or a piece of art that transformed you in some way?
If you had to choose some piece of culture to represent your home country to an alien from outer space, what would it be and why?
Give someone from your group a genuine compliment or affirmation. What do you admire about this person?
Recount a memory–old or recent–that makes you laugh or smile.
Tell the story of your name, whether your given first name or surname, a name in another language, a nickname, a chosen name, etc.
Where or what do you consider “home”?
How has your “home” shifted or deepened over time?
What value do you place on school or education? What do you think is the relationship between education and social justice?
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope… [which] build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression”
- Robert F. Kennedy
Name a ripple that gives you hope for a better future.
“There is no such thing as single issue struggle, because none of us live single issue lives.”
- Audre Lorde
What is an issue that you stand for, and how might it cut across multiple axes of difference?
“If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
-Aboriginal activists group, Queensland 1970s
Reflect on the difference between “helping” and “collective liberation.”
“Until we are all free, none of us are free. ”
- Emma Lazarus
Reflect upon a moment in which your happiness & wellbeing was tied to another person or community. What helped to forge that bond?
“Revolutions are made out of love for people and for place. [Jimmy Boggs] often talked about loving America enough to change it.”
- Grace Lee Boggs
Describe a place that you are invested in. How did that love develop? How do you practice or show that love?
“I Have a Dream” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
What are your dreams for a more just and loving future?
Describe some of your hopes and desires for the next 50 years.
May I Not Judge My Brother or Sister Until I Have Walked a Mile in Their Moccasins.
Reflect on an encounter with someone different than you. What did you learn about them and how did that compare to your own assumptions?
“Justice
is what love looks like in public, just like tenderness is what love feels like in private.”
- Dr. Cornel West Name an occasion when you witnessed or enacted some act of justice.
What was the relationship between justice and love in this scenario?
I am because you are.
Share one time you experienced this sense of shared humanity.
Ubuntu
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
- Mahatma Ghandi
What is one way you try and embody that change?
What is one way that society could better see and recognize all of its people as worthy of dignity?
Sawubona I see you
Share a time in which you “got out of your comfort zone” or encountered a challenge recently.
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way… I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But… my long walk is not ended.”
- Nelson Mandela
What ‘missteps’ have you encountered on your road, and how have they shaped your leadership style and resilience?
What is one thing you are trying to let go?
Describe an object of significance to you. Show it if you have it. What is its meaning to you?
Who did you miss today, and why?
Describe your favorite meal and what made it so special. What is your relationship to food?
Describe a time in which you gave another person a name. What did that given name represent? How did you come up with that name?
What is one way you practice self-care when you are feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or not yourself?
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
- Nelson Mandela
Think about a goal or project that initially seemed impossible to achieve.
How did you overcome doubt and resistance to ultimately accomplish it?
What is something that surprised you today?
If you had to make a soundtrack of your life, what is a song that might be on that playlist and why?
Draft your own reflection question: