Welcome to this Premium Meditation and Contemplative Talk
Today, we will deepen our practice by exploring a Stoic Daily Mindful Review. This practice helps us integrate Stoic principles into our daily lives, improving our character and reducing psychological distress. By increasing our mindfulness, we can naturally change our behavior and speech, reducing our emotional dependence on externals and focusing on what we can control.
Introduction to the Daily Mindful Review
As you progress with Stoicism, your character will naturally improve in the flow of daily life. However, you may have noticed that Stoicism sometimes fails you when you need it most. You may do your Stoic morning meditation only to realize that in the evening, you have not acted like a Stoic for most of the day. So, what do we do? How can we fix this?
The best practice for integrating Stoicism into our lives is a daily mindful review of our thoughts, emotions, speech, and actions. This practice increases our mindfulness and helps us act with wisdom and rational judgment throughout the day.
Step 1: Opening Awareness
Let's begin by sitting comfortably. Take a moment to let everything in with eyes open. Allow and receive the sensations, the sensory data that comes to you. Drop back and just allow an expansive open awareness of sounds, light, shadow, movement, sensations, and thoughts.
Epictetus reminds us, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." Embrace this openness as we begin our review.
Step 2: Grounding and Choosing an Event
Now, close your eyes and ground yourself where you're sitting. Feel the contact of your body with the chair or floor. Take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment, and exhale slowly. The first part of the daily Stoic mindful review requires us to choose an event where we acted unwisely. This event could involve being controlled by desire or aversion, allowing anger to sweep us away, or refusing to use rational judgment. Use your intuition to choose an event linked to turmoil or agitation.
If you struggle to think of an event, imagine your life over the last day or week and ask yourself, "If I were a wise Stoic sage, what would I have done differently?" If you still struggle, choose events from much longer ago.
Step 3: Evoking Details
Now that you have this event in mind, evoke all the details—broad and fine, random and significant. Where were you? What were you doing? What were you wearing? How was your mood? Who were you with? What were you planning to do next? What were you doing before? What things were important to you at the time?
Marcus Aurelius wrote, "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." Bring these thoughts and details into focus.
Step 4: Assessing Self-Awareness
Ask yourself how self-aware you were during this event. Was Stoicism in your mind? Were you attempting to act with wisdom and rational judgment? Were you viewing the situation from above? Did you pause and pay attention? What was your overall level of awareness?
Seneca said, "Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power." Reflect on your self-awareness and how it influenced your actions.
Step 5: Analyzing Consequences
Consider the cause and effect of the situation. What were the consequences of your behavior or thoughts, both immediately and over time? How did it impact you and the people involved? How might it have affected people not directly present?
Epictetus reminds us, "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them." Reflect on the broader impact of your actions and thoughts.
Step 6: Identifying Motivations
What was the satisfaction you gained from acting in this unwise way? Identify any underlying motivations or desires. Were you driven by selfish desire or irrational thinking? What were the subtle intentions behind your actions and thoughts?
Marcus Aurelius wrote, "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts." Examine the motivations that influenced your behavior.
Step 7: Regret and Resolution
If you regret any of your speech or actions, consider how greater awareness could have improved the outcome. It's okay to feel regret during this exercise—use it to help you make better decisions in the future. If you identify ways you could have acted differently, make a strong commitment to be more mindful in similar situations.
Seneca said, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Use this reflection as a new beginning to act with greater wisdom.
Step 8: Taking Immediate Action
Are there any immediate steps you can take to make amends or improve the situation? Is there a message you can send or an action you can take to negate some of the harm caused by your lack of wisdom? Remember, this is not about blaming yourself or feeling guilt. It’s about using wise regret to acknowledge what you could have done differently and how you would like to act in the future.
Epictetus reminds us, "First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." Take actionable steps to improve your relationships and behavior.
Step 9: Reenacting with Virtue
Reenact the situation in your mind, but this time act with wisdom and virtue. Imagine handling the situation in a way that makes you proud, acting in a way that aligns with Stoic principles. Run the event through in your mind and this time act in a way that you are pleased about.
Marcus Aurelius wrote, "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." Visualize yourself acting with excellence of character.
Conclusion
We have just completed a session of the Daily Stoic Mindful Review. By practicing these steps regularly, you will dramatically increase the wisdom you bring to your daily life. Situations that stir up strong emotions will become stoic alarms, activating your Stoic training.
Seneca said, "As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters." The very act of doing this Stoic mindful review is virtuous. Thank you for taking the time today to develop your character in this way.
I encourage you to do this session regularly and take the lessons you’ve learned here into your daily life. By doing so, you will cultivate a life of wisdom and virtue.
This is the end of the meditation. Have a serene and thoughtful day.