Pit stop

  1. Am I optimistic in my struggle for manliness? Am I convinced that by using the means available to me – even in these lockdown days – I can make concrete progress on my path to greater manliness?
  2. What really are the means available to me? Is it this Guide?  A podcast/YouTube channel/Twitter/IG page I follow? My mentor (however else I refer to him: life coach/spiritual director/big bro)? Is it a series of talks or circles or meditations I'm following online? Is it some norms (practices of piety) I do frequently and regularly?  (It would be advisable to literally write/note down – perhaps in a new note on your phone – your response to this particular question.)
  3. Am I actually making maximum use of these means available to me? Could it be, perhaps, that even these means have become for me a source of entertainment (and are treated as such)?  Am I regular and consistent in reading/listening or attending these means?
  4. Am I sincerely trying to put into practice the indications, pointers and advice I get through these means? Do I make an effort to note down – even if it is on my phone or in my diary - specific ideas or resolutions that occur to me?
  5. Do I go through those same ideas and resolutions in my own quiet time (prayer time) slowly and with attention?  Do I return to them from time to time (to evaluate my progress)?  (This is why writing things down is a good idea: you can return to them even a month later [like in your monthly recollection] or a year later [like in your annual retreat] to evaluate whether you’re sill on track.)
  6. Are there flaws or weaknesses in me (body, mind or soul) that I blame others for?  Could it be, for example, that I excuse my lack of punctuality because it “runs in the family”?  Or that I don’t work to keep my body fit and healthy because in my secondary school we didn’t have sports?  Or I don’t know how to do mental prayer because in my church “us guys just do praise and worship”?  Or that I don’t struggle against fornication because my girlfriend wants it?
  7. Do I have some bad habits that I ignore because they are “little”, “inconsequential”, “private”?

300420