Coaching practices for Virtue Ethics After a Loss

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Virtue Ethics After a Loss, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I keep trying to fix one trait
• I want to become a better person but "be better" is too vague to act on
• There’s one moral failing of mine
• I keep waiting until I feel brave or patient or generous before I act that way, and the feeling never reliably shows up
• I treat each choice as its own isolated thing

Practices that may help

1. Practice virtues as interconnected, not separate
   When a virtue feels absent, look for which related virtue is also being neglected.
   Virtue Ethics, Made Practical
2. Identify the virtues you most need to cultivate
   Name the three character traits whose absence most limits you — those are your practice targets.
   Virtue Ethics, Made Practical
3. Name and wrestle with your besetting weakness
   Identify the one recurring moral failure and choose a practice that confronts it daily.
   The Eulogy Virtues: Building a Life of Character
4. Cultivate virtue through deliberate habituation
   Do the virtuous action — even imperfectly, even without the feeling — until the disposition follows.
   Virtue Ethics, Made Practical
5. View your life as a narrative, not a sequence of choices
   Ask: what story am I living, and does it reflect the character I am trying to build?
   Virtue Ethics, Made Practical
6. Carry forward the person’s legacy in your own life
   Identify values, projects, or commitments the person cared about and carry them forward yourself.
   Continuing Bonds in Grief, Made Practical
7. Express specific gratitude for acts of moral virtue you witness
   Name and thank the specific virtuous acts of people around you — not just their kindness toward you.
   Elevation: The Emotion That Lifts You
8. The Eulogy Virtues: Building a Life of Character
   David Brooks distinguishes two sets of virtues: résumé virtues — the skills and achievements that get you hired — and eulogy virtues — the moral qualities like courage, honesty, and loyalty that people mention when you die. His argument is that modern culture relentlessly develops the first set while neglecting the second, and that deliberately cultivating character requires different work: self-examination, wrestling with weakness, and submission to commitments beyond self-interest.
9. Use self-respect as the outcome measure — not just whether you got what you wanted
   After any difficult interaction, ask: "Do I respect myself for how I showed up?" — not just "did I win?"
   FAST: DBT’s Skill for Maintaining Self-Respect in Relationships
10. Learn from suffering rather than managing it away
    Let a period of difficulty become a curriculum — ask what it is teaching you about yourself.
    The Eulogy Virtues: Building a Life of Character

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.