Welcome to the Stoic Daily Mindful Review.
This practice helps us integrate stoic principles into our daily lives,
Improving our character,
Reducing psychological stress,
And growing in practical wisdom.
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.
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 the most.
You may do your stoic morning meditation only to realize that in the evening,
You have not acted like a stoic,
You have not acted wisely for most of the day.
So what do we do?
How can we fix this?
Well,
The best practice for integrating stoicism into our daily lives is a 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.
I recommend you do this every day,
Or as often as is needed,
So that you can extract the most lessons from your day.
So let's begin by opening our awareness.
Sit comfortably and take a moment to let everything in with eyes open.
Allow and receive sensations and all the sensory data that comes to you.
Drop back and just allow an expansive open awareness of sounds,
Light,
Shadow,
Movement,
Sensations,
And thoughts.
Now close your eyes and ground yourself where you're sitting.
Feel the contact of your body with a chair or floor.
Take a deep breath in,
Hold it for a moment,
And exhale slowly.
The first step 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 struggle,
Choose events from much longer ago.
When you have this event in mind,
Bring all the details out,
The broad and the fine,
The 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?
And ask yourself,
How self-aware were you 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?
Now let's analyze the 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?
And what about your 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 rational thinking?
What were the subtle intentions behind your actions and thoughts?
If you regret any of your speech or actions,
Consider how greater awareness could have improved the outcome.
It's actually fine to feel regret during this exercise.
You can 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 future situations.
But also,
Let's not postpone everything.
Are there any immediate action 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.
Now the final step is that we get to,
In our mind at least,
Reenact the situation.
But this time we can do so with wisdom and virtue.
So imagine handling the situation again in a way that makes you feel proud.
Acting in a way that aligns with Stoic principles.
With universal good virtues like courage,
Justice,
Discipline and wisdom.
And run the event through in your mind and this time act in a way that you are pleased about.
In a way that you would like to act if the same thing were to happen again in a week or so.
Now that concludes a session of the Daily Stoic Mindful Review.
By practicing these steps regularly,
You can dramatically increase the wisdom you bring to your daily life.
Situations that stir up strong emotions will become Stoic alarms,
Activating your training.
The very act of doing this Stoic Mindful Review is virtuous in and of itself.
So thank you for taking the time today to develop your character in this way.
And 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.
I hope to see you back again here soon.
Farewell.
