St Ignatius wrote The Spiritual Exercises which have guided people for centuries. The Exercises include the examen. This is a powerful yet simple process which can change your life. Ignatius saw the examen as the cornerstone to spiritual life, to the extent that when the Jesuits at the Council of Trent asked if they could skip their prayer exercises because they had no time, Ignatius told them to skip anything but the examen. A variation the examen can be taught to people with depression, regardless of whether they are spiritual or not. When it is carried out regularly over a period of 7 days, it has been demonstrated to have a more powerful effect than medication. It is not a process reserved for the spiritual or the depressed, I can thoroughly recommend this to anyone as means of identifying more happiness and joy in your life that is often overlooked. This variation of the examen is called The Three Gifts and is as simple as this:
At the end of each day ask yourself what gifts you have had in the day, anything that brought you something – something someone said or did, something in nature that caught your attention, a learning, a moment of beauty, a smile…anything whether big or small. Identify three of them and write them down.
You may find this difficult at first but as the days pass you will be surprised how much easier it becomes to identify them to the extent that as you notice things during your day to identify them as a gift. Soon you become more on the lookout for the wonder and beauty in life we so often miss.
Enjoy your gifts.
