The Examen

The Examen is a daily review practice developed by Ignatius of Loyola in the sixteenth century. In its original form it was mandatory for Jesuit priests — the one practice, above all others in Ignatian spirituality, that was never to be skipped regardless of circumstance. Ignatius considered it the foundation of all discernment. Where the rest of spiritual practice might flex with the demands of the day, the Examen held.

That priority is worth understanding. The Examen is not a highlights reel of your spiritual life. It is an honest daily reading — a practice of looking back through the day not to evaluate your performance but to see where something was alive and where something was not, and to bring both honestly into conversation with God.

The Five Movements

The Examen is typically practiced at the end of the day, though it can be done at midday or at any natural transition point. It takes fifteen to twenty minutes. The five movements are not a checklist — they are a way of moving through the day's material with attentive honesty.

• ·Give thanks. Begin not with review but with gratitude — specifically, for the gift of the day itself. Not a general expression of thankfulness but a concrete recognition of something that was good or true or beautiful in the day just passed.
• ·Ask for clarity. Before you review the day, ask for the grace to see it accurately. The request for clarity is a request for eyes other than your own as you look back.
• ·Review the day. Move through the day from beginning to now, slowly enough to actually see it. The Ignatian tradition specifically asks two questions: *Where did you feel most alive, most yourself, most in alignment with what you are made for?* And, *Where did you feel the opposite — contracted, depleted, out of step?* In Ignatian language, these are called consolation and desolation.
• ·Respond honestly. From the review, allow a response to form. This might be repentance — the recognition of a moment where you were not who you want to be, offered not in self-condemnation but in honest acknowledgment. It might be simple gratitude for a moment of consolation.
• ·Look toward tomorrow. Close by briefly orienting toward the day ahead. This is not planning. It is the practice of carrying into tomorrow whatever tonight's review has made clear — an intention, a renewed commitment, a recognition of where you will need support.

What the Examen Is Not

The Examen is commonly confused with self-criticism. People who are already hard on themselves sometimes approach it as an opportunity to formally catalog their failures. That is a misuse of the practice.

The Examen is a contemplative review, not a performance review. The difference matters. A performance review measures you against a standard and renders a verdict. A contemplative review notices what was alive and what was not, asks what that information means, and remains in honest conversation with the God who holds both the consolations and the desolations without condemnation.

Ignatius built the Examen around consolation first — the places of aliveness, alignment, rightness — because he understood that the human tendency, especially in serious people with high standards, is to go directly to the failures. Beginning with consolation is not avoidance. It is accurate accounting: the goodness was real too, and seeing it clearly is as important as seeing the rest.

Beginning the Practice

The simplest version for beginning: sit quietly for fifteen minutes at the end of your day. Work through the five movements in order. Write, if that helps you see clearly. Speak aloud, if that makes the response more honest. Remain silent, if the silence has something in it.

The practice will feel unfamiliar at first — most daily review feels unfamiliar until the rhythm develops. Within two to three weeks of consistent practice, most people begin to notice something: they are seeing the day with more clarity while it is still happening. The Examen, practiced regularly, begins to train a quality of ongoing interior attention that eventually does not need to wait until evening to be active.

That is what Ignatius intended. The Examen is the formal practice. The ongoing interior attentiveness is the life it is training you toward.