"Eighteenth Spiritual Instruction" by Swami Chidananda

Self-analysis

Think of the mistakes you have committed during the course of the day, just before retiring to bed (sell-analysis). Keep daily diary and self-correction register. Do not brood over past mistakes.

Think of the mistakes you have committed during the course of the day just before retiring to bed (self-analysis). Keep a daily spiritual diary and self-correction register. Do not brood over past mistakes. Once you correct yourself the necessity of brooding goes away.

In the evening, after having done the day’s work, sit for fifteen or twenty minutes and recollect what actions you had engaged in from morning till evening. Recollect what you did, how you did it, why you did it. Ask the question, “Why?” What was your ultimate object in performing every action? Was it only to help someone else? Was it only to fulfil your duties, to discharge your obligations, to obey orders, or was there something else also? What was your inner feeling when you engaged in each action? This kind of recollection and self-analysis is known as introspection. Daily introspection is very necessary for the spiritual seeker. For this purpose, set apart a certain time in the evening, sit and review the whole day’s activities and try to go into its inner contents.

[TWENTY IMPORTANT SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS, A Series of talks on Swami Sivananda's Twenty Important Spiritual Instructions.]