I am sometimes asked, how do I know I am becoming a better person; are there some measurements I can use, the quick answer is yes. Trying to become a better person is not so much different from trying to be better at some sport. First you learn the philosophy of the sport, what the basic actions are and incrementally repeat the actions to improve. In doing so you unlock other possibilities that you had not first conceived, today some people would call that leveling up. You start to build a muscle memory for your actions. Becoming very dedicated to the sport things seem to flow for you, not needing to think about all of the actions to complete a given task. Incremental change is sometimes hard to see in ourselves, that is why journaling is so important. When done at the days end we can reflect on the days events and see how we measured up to the situations we were faced with. Being able to reflect gives us the space to evaluate our behavior and reactions from a distance. This distance enables us to see through the fog of rationalization and delusions we sometimes use to justify our behavior. When we consistently journal we are able to identify situations in our lives as they unfold more slowly, allowing us to reflect on what is the best equitable more forward. In doing so we start to create an echo chamber to draw from creating an improvement loop that is visible to us just like in sport. When we are able to create that extra time between our identification of situations and selection of equitable responses we create that muscle memory that is needed to cement positive change that we can recognize.