When we think about our lives, it is clear that we do the same things every day. We get ready in the morning. We eat a meal. Perhaps we go shopping. With such repetition, it’s no time at all before everything about our lives becomes routine.

Where’s the renewal in any repeated action performed unconsciously? Where’s the fun in just eating again? Sure, it may be pleasurable, but with self-study we can do something more than just trying to please ourselves over and over again in the same old way. We can set an aim to watch ourselves during every seemingly familiar act, and see what delightful new adventures our watchfulness brings us to.

Self-study adds a whole new dimension to our daily experience. Remembering to observe ourselves as often as we can, we are then open to discovering one new world after another — both within ourselves and in the world going on around us.