The author argues that if we are to foster life-giving and liberating moral reflection, we must first liberate moral reflection from distortions; specifically, from the distorting effects of moral insensitivity, destructive moral relativism, and confusions resulting from a failure to understand the dynamics of moral reflection. The author proposes that we should conceptualize moral reflection as an active process that involves the balancing of (1) efforts to step back from morally charged life situations to gain a critically reflective perspective, with (2) focused attention on such situations in order to understand how they shape the ongoing unfolding of our lives.