Coaching practices for Examen Consolation Desolation
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Examen Consolation Desolation, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- When I face where I fell short today I either wave it away as no big deal or I tip straight into hating myself over it
- Now that the warm feelings have drained out of my practice, I’m forced to see how much I was in it for that glow
- The good things in my life have gone flat on me
- When I look back on my day it’s just a checklist of what I did, and it tells me nothing
- Some parts of my day leave me feeling alive and like myself and others leave me weirdly drained and small, and I usually just push past both
Practices that may help
- The Daily Examen: Reviewing the Day
The Examen is a short, structured evening review from the Ignatian tradition: you replay the day with gratitude and honest attention to where you felt drawn toward or away from your values, then carry one resolve into tomorrow. It is a centuries-old contemplative practice; its benefits are best described as mechanistically plausible and widely reported rather than established by controlled trials. - Face shortfalls with honest sorrow, not shame
Name where you fell short today without either minimizing it or spiraling into self-punishment.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Working with attachments in the night of the senses
Use the night of the senses to examine what you have been clinging to for identity and security.
The Dark Night of the Soul: John of the Cross - Occasionally count burdens to sharpen contrast
Once a month, briefly list your burdens — then return to your blessings and notice the contrast.
Counting Blessings: The Psychology of Grateful Reflection - Review the day following your feelings
Walk back through the day in sequence, tracking the emotional quality of each moment.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Notice the feelings (consolation and desolation)
Pay attention to where you felt energized and connected versus drained and pulled away.
The Daily Examen: Reviewing the Day - Common humanity: remember you are not alone
Say to yourself: "Suffering is a part of life — I am not alone in this."
The Self-Compassion Break - Accepting passive purification: not trying to fix it
The essential move of the dark night is to stop trying to force a return to consolation.
The Dark Night of the Soul: John of the Cross - Practice poverty (Seneca’s original exercise)
Spend a few days living simply — plain food, minimal comforts — to prove you can bear it.
Voluntary Discomfort: The Stoic Practice of Chosen Hardship - Practice voluntary discomfort to weaken the power of desire
Periodically choose a minor discomfort (cold, hunger, inconvenience) to confirm that you can tolerate more than you fear.
The Stoic Discipline of Desire
Related concerns
- Ignatian Feelings Review
Walk back through the day in sequence, tracking the emotional quality of each moment.
Review the day following your feelings
- Consolation And Desolation
The essential move of the dark night is to stop trying to force a return to consolation.
Accepting passive purification: not trying to fix it
- Ignatian Discernment
The Ignatian Examen is a five-step daily prayer and reflection practice developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola: give thanks, ask for clarity, review the day, face what fell short, and resolve what comes next. As a structured reflection method it is centuries-old and widely practiced; its benefits are supported by the broader research on gratitude, emotional review, and implementation intentions, not by trials of the Examen itself.
- Spiritual Attachments Examination
Use the night of the senses to examine what you have been clinging to for identity and security.
Working with attachments in the night of the senses
- The Ignatian Examen Five Movements Of Daily Review After A Loss
The Ignatian Examen is a five-step daily prayer and reflection practice developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola: give thanks, ask for clarity, review the day, face what fell short, and resolve what comes next. As a structured reflection method it is centuries-old and widely practiced; its benefits are supported by the broader research on gratitude, emotional review, and implementation intentions, not by trials of the Examen itself.
- Dark Night Of The Soul Meaning
The "dark night of the soul" is a phrase from the 16th-century Spanish mystic John of the Cross, describing a stage of the spiritual journey in which ordinary supports — felt consolation, clarity, and spiritual experience — are withdrawn, leaving the person in an apparent void that John saw as purifying rather than destructive. The phrase has entered popular culture to describe any profound crisis of meaning, faith, or identity. John’s framework is theological; its phenomenological descriptions overlap with studied experiences of meaning-making, post-traumatic growth, and psychological transformation.
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