{"id":86256,"date":"2022-12-04T18:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T22:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=86256"},"modified":"2022-12-14T11:28:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:28:39","slug":"importance-of-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Reflection: Becoming a Stoic Day by Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is it important to spend time reflecting at the end of each day? How does it contribute to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-grow-as-a-person\/\">personal growth<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Philosophy professor William B. Irvine outlines six practices you can follow to become a practicing Stoic and build a good life of your own. The last practice is to track your daily progress by reflecting on your day each evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more to learn about the importance of reflection in the process of becoming a Stoic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Importance of Reflection in Becoming a Stoic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After Irvine outlines several Stoic practices you can gradually incorporate, he stresses the importance of reflection, as it&#8217;s the way to track your growth in becoming a Stoic. In fact, he makes this the sixth and final practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Irvine recommends that you keep track of your growth by analyzing your day-to-day progress and noting ongoing changes in your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/thoughts-feelings-and-behaviors\/\">emotions and behaviors<\/a>. To do so, Irvine recommends that you <strong>take time each night to reflect on the day\u2019s events and evaluate your responses to challenges you faced<\/strong>. Did you let other people upset you? Did you give in to a temptation? Did you successfully let go of your worry about something you couldn\u2019t control?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The answers to questions like these give you immediate feedback about what you\u2019re doing well and where you might improve your efforts. You can also use this reflection to check whether you\u2019re actually using the Stoic techniques you\u2019ve learned. Irvine explains that some techniques\u2014especially negative visualization\u2014are easy to forget about when life is going well, but your nightly reflection can remind you to apply them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Irvine describes this practice as a \u201cbedtime <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eckhart-tolle-meditation-mindfulness\/\">meditation<\/a>,\u201d but it bears little resemblance to the sort of meditation that involves <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/mindfulness-in-plain-english\/chapter-7\">stilling the mind and concentrating<\/a> on an object such as the breath, a mantra, or an image. What Irvine recommends is more of a focused analytical review of the day\u2019s events through the lens of Stoic principles, values, and practices. In this way, it\u2019s more akin to Buddhist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beingpeacefully.com\/dharma-blog\/qa-part-two-analytical-meditation-how-to-do-it-simply-explained\">analytical meditation<\/a> (which involves meditating on Buddhist teachings in order to uncover a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-understand-anything-deeply\/\">deeper understanding<\/a> of existence) or <a href=\"https:\/\/justdisciple.com\/how-to-meditation\/\">Christian meditation<\/a> (which involves contemplating points of scripture in order to develop a deeper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-relationship-with-god\/\">relationship with God<\/a>).)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-progress-looks-like\">What Progress Looks Like<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In your nightly reflections\u2014and throughout your life\u2014Irvine says that you can evaluate your Stoic progress by looking for certain trends in your emotions and actions. Specifically, Irvine says you\u2019ll experience the following as you strengthen your Stoic skills:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You\u2019ll feel fewer and less intense negative emotions and more joy<\/strong>. Emotions like anger and sadness won\u2019t disturb your calm as much as they used to, and you\u2019ll be less driven by temptation and desire. At the same time, you\u2019ll find yourself delighting in the way your life already is and in the things you already have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You\u2019ll be less perturbed by others<\/strong>. It\u2019ll be easier to brush off insults, be patient, and avoid frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You\u2019ll take more responsibility for your behavior<\/strong> instead of blaming other people, circumstances, or luck when things go wrong for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Additional Signs of Stoic Progress<\/strong><br><br>Fellow Stoicism popularizer Ryan Holiday describes <a href=\"https:\/\/dailystoic.com\/benefits-stoicism\/\">a few other benefits<\/a> you may notice as you develop your Stoic practice:<br><br>\u2022 <strong>You\u2019ll be less distracted and more focused<\/strong>. Because you understand what really matters in life\u2014and that life is temporary\u2014you\u2019ll waste less time on things that only provide momentary enjoyment.<br><br>\u2022 <strong>You\u2019ll worry less<\/strong>. Because you focus only on what you control and willingly practice dealing with difficult situations, you\u2019ll have less cause to be anxious about potential problems.<br><br>\u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-daily-stoic#managing-our-lives-with-em-wisdom-em\"><strong>You\u2019ll be kinder and humbler<\/strong><\/a>. Because you\u2019re calmer, happier, and less concerned with advancing your own interests, you\u2019ll be more aware of your duty to others and you\u2019ll help them when you can.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is it important to spend time reflecting at the end of each day? How does it contribute to personal growth? Philosophy professor William B. Irvine outlines six practices you can follow to become a practicing Stoic and build a good life of your own. The last practice is to track your daily progress by reflecting on your day each evening. Read more to learn about the importance of reflection in the process of becoming a Stoic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":86261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,21,43],"tags":[827],"class_list":["post-86256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-philosophy","category-self-improvement","tag-a-guide-to-the-good-life","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Importance of Reflection: Becoming a Stoic Day by Day - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Guide to the Good Life stresses the importance of reflection, as it&#039;s the way to track your growth in becoming a Stoic. 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