Field notes
The Mirror Field blog
Essays on reflective journaling, structured self-inquiry, and the symbolic systems behind the practice.
- 4 min read
The shape of a good session
What a reliable journaling session actually looks like from start to finish — the moves that produce something, the moves that fill time, and how to tell the difference.
- 4 min read
The body in self-reflection
Why the body's signals belong in reflective practice, what interoception research has shown, and a working pattern for noticing somatic information without forcing it.
- 4 min read
Structured prompts vs. free writing
When a single specific question outperforms an open page, when free writing is the right tool, and a quick test for which one your situation calls for.
- 4 min read
Sleeping on it: what the research actually says
The popular advice to sleep on a hard decision rests on a research claim that has not aged well. What's actually known, what was overstated, and when the practice still helps.
- 7 min read
The difference between self-reflection and rumination
What separates reflection from rumination, why two people thinking about the same thing land in different places, and a test for which one you're doing.
- 4 min read
Self-reflection at 3am: what late thoughts actually are
Why thoughts at 3am feel different than they will in the morning, what the research says about sleep and emotional cognition, and how to relate to them without acting on them.
- 10 min read
Self-journaling, end to end
What self-journaling is for, what the research has actually shown, the shape of a useful session, and how to tell when the practice has stopped working.
- 7 min read
Reflective decisions vs. reactive decisions
When the pause helps and when it hurts: how reflective and reactive decisions differ, what the research says, and a working test for which mode fits the moment.
- 4 min read
Reflection across cultures: Stoicism, Zen, Hermetic
Three classical reflective traditions that arrived at similar practices from different starting points, and what their convergence and divergence shows about how to look at oneself well.
- 7 min read
Pennebaker's expressive writing research, summarized honestly
What the Pennebaker expressive writing protocol actually is, what the meta-analyses have found, the unsettled mechanism debate, and where the limits of the effect lie.