Reflect

My one-word offering this week is the word Reflect.

I’m writing this on a bright false spring morning; it feels like a nice shiny word to contemplate for a few minutes. There’s a freshness on days like these that gives me the urge to clean, tidy, organise and prepare. It makes me want to slide the patio doors open to their fullest, even if it’s still a bit cold, especially if it’s still a bit cold, and feel the air shift in the house. I’m not sure what that’s got to do with the word Reflect, other than I suppose it’s as good a time as any to reflect. Perhaps that’s part of it – the tidying – deciding what’s still useful. Let’s see what shows up.

Reflect
Contemplating carefully, retrospectively, objectively.
Images on shiny surfaces.
The bouncing back of sound, light or heat.
Demonstrate.

What comes to mind?

Mirrors. The still surface of a pond. That doesn’t reflect well on you.

The doors are open. I can hear the faint sound of bird song in the background. The lampshade on my desk catches the light. If I look closely, in this sliver of light there’s a distorted reflection of the window. Not just light, an image of three rectangular panes. I hadn’t noticed this before. Further down the desk, a second screen. Its shiny black surface has become a mirror. In it, an alternative muted version of the room: the wall, a lower corner of a picture frame, a roll of tape on the desk. Little windows offering different perspectives. The more I look, the more I see. In the second lamp, I find myself. Unrecognisable. Just a moving grey smudge in a bright sliver of light from the window reflecting on the shiny surface of the lampshade. There I am.

Where might this week’s word take you?

Looking back at my list of rough definitions above, reflection can fall into categories about what we think, what we see and what’s shown.

Look for evidence of reflection. It could be a window, a mirror, or the way light catches on any surface. What do you really see? What does it show you? And what do you think about it?

Featured image via Unsplash