As the examen has passed from one generation to…

As the examen has passed from one generation to the next and made its way around the world, its particulars (mostly, the order of the parts) have changed a bit. But the five fundamental parts remain the same. The outline is largely as follows: 1. Gratitude: Think through your day and give thanks for what you are grateful for. 2. Review: Remember each hour of the day, noticing where you felt God's presence and where you either entered into or turned away from God's activity in your midst. 3. Sorrow: Recall actions for which you are sorry. 4. Forgiveness: Ask for God's forgiveness. Make plans to reconcile with anyone you have hurt and to forgive and reconcile with those who have hurt you. 5. Grace: Ask for God's grace for the coming day and an increased ability to recognize God's presence.

— from The Air Traffic Controller (God)

In the book

Keep a daily accounting. Take a few honest minutes — two to five at first, more as you grow — to reflect deeply on how you flew and to renew your awareness of the One who saw it all anyway. This is the ancient practice of the examen, the short nightly review that cultivates a steady, living awareness of God's presence, and it has been handed down, generation to generation, around the world for exactly that purpose. Do not despair at what the accounting turns up, because repentance was built into the world before anything else — God conceived of teshuvah, of return, at the very beginning, so that a flawed creation could stand at all. — The Air Traffic Controller (God)

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