It may seem odd to talk about an exercise you do at the end of your day at the beginning, but bear with me.

One of my job perks is that many cool books land on my desk, the latest being Matrix Meditations by Victor Daniels and Kooch N. Daniels. It’s full of wonderfully varied, simple ways to develop “the heart-mind connection,” including one called Replaying Your Day.

An excerpt (as described by a G.I. Gurdjieff student, A.R. Orage):

“Sit for a few minutes, close your eyes, and pretend that you are viewing a movie of the day’s activities from start to finish… Watch your day unfold, just as if you were living it again (I see myself getting out of bed, walking into the bathroom, picking up my toothbrush...) You can use your mental fast-forward whenever you wish. Notice where you have a clear memory of what you did, saw, and heard, and where there are blank spots–periods where you don’t remember anything until a few minutes later. Finally, notice any emotional reactions…”

He goes on to say that the first time he did it, he noticed big gaps of time were blank, that he couldn’t remember at all. A tip-off that during those moments he wasn’t paying very much attention because “I had been lost in my mind”–and therefore likely not laying down any deep memory grooves.

That exercise is part of a chapter on integrity and noticing when you’re not in it. But I think this is just a plain cool thing to do for all sorts of reasons. It can help us integrate and digest our day, help us notice (and not judge) those non-present “blanks,” and tune into moments of discomfort that may have caused us to blank out and feeling them to completion.

Having read this last night, I noticed myself thinking about it during the day–“Oh, this will be part of my replay tonight.” And it was helpful in bringing me back to the moment. So you could try that tonight, and prep by paying better attention today.

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