My Premium Obsidian Template Series: The Advantages of an Obsidian Daily Stoic Reflection Journal Template
Almost a decade ago, I discovered Stoicism. Through therapy, I learned about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Stoicism and CBT require work. I created a daily stoic reflection Obsidian template to help me achieve my stoic goals
Almost a decade ago, I discovered Stoicism. I read Ryan Holiday's Ego is the Enemy, followed by Obstacle is the Way. Holiday's books were a gateway drug for me to read Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca, Massimo Pigliucci, and many others.
I was already aware of Stoicism through a college Intro to Philosophy course. Still, the teachings and practice of Stoicism didn't stand out to me at the time.
Through Stoicism, I discovered their valuable lessons regarding being present, letting go of expectations, and assuming the worst. Assuming the worse scenario sometimes prepares me for anything good or bad.
I began seeing a therapist several years ago. Through therapy, I learned about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CPT found inspiration from Stoicism and was proven effective after numerous clinical trials with depression and anxiety.
Stoicism and CBT require work. They offer no immediate antidote to depression or anxiety. Instead, they provide tools and pathways that help us relearn how we approach life and our experiences. It can take months or years of practice, but in the end, you will be better able to handle almost whatever life throws your Way.
From the above, there is value in committing oneself to daily reflection.
As stated in previous articles, I decided at the end of 2022 to make Obsidian my daily driver for note-taking. Through Obsidian's powerful plugins, I created a Daily Stoic Reflection template.
In this article, I will walk through my process.
Obsidian Basics & Plugins
Before going forward, I assume you are already aware of the basics of Obsidian. If not, here are a few articles to help get you started:
Getting Started with Obsidian: How to Use This Powerful Note-Taking App
My Updated Obsidian Workflow: How I Stay Organized and Get Things Done
These are the Essential Obsidian Community Plugins: The Best of the Best
Here are some helpful Obsidian starter blog posts from others in the Obsidian community:
You will need the following Obsidian Community Plugins to use my template:
Templater
QuickAdd
Periodic Notes
Dataview
Obsidian Columns
How I Approach Templates
My thought process when I build templates is to best future-proof in anticipation of where I might go at some point in my workflow. I treat productivity as something constantly evolving and growing. After all, I started my digital note-taking journey with Evernote, jumped into Apple Notes, graduated to Bear Notes, and detoured with Craft.do until I finally settled on Obsidian.
Since I use Dataview and Templater, I value starting every template with metadata. Dataview and Templater provide an excellent combination to track your notes for future tables or analyses you might be interested in doing down the road.
How the Template Works
After creating the template, I used the above plugins to automate my process.
Using QuickAdd & The Command Palette
With QuickAdd, I can create a shortcut that I can access via Obsidian's Command Palette. Command Palette is similar to MacOS's Spotlight but built only for Obsidian and your vault's notes.
First, I create a shortcut using QuickAdd.
After creating the shortcut, I use the command palette to find my shortcut and create a new Daily Stoic Reflection journal entry.
This method allows me to automate this process and store the note new note where I want it to go.
Breaking Down my Template
Date Created & Date Modified
My go-to metadata for every note is "date created" and "modification date." Even though I'm technically tracking this elsewhere, I like having that data captured. This metadata is helpful because, as mentioned in my Daily Note Template article, I have two tables that track every note I've created that day and every note I've modified that day.
Tags
When using Bear Notes, tags were my favorite Way of organizing my notes. I still use tags in Obsidian, though less than before. I look at tags as a backup to my Obsidian vault's indexing features. Tags can also be helpful when I want to look at Obsidian's graph view of my notes.
Alias
With Dataview, one can create an alias for their notes. An alias further helps Dataview identify different categories of notes. For example, I use the "daily" alias for my daily notes. I use the "journal" template for my Stoic Reflections and Journal templates. I am still looking for a reason to use this feature related to my need to future-proof my notes.
Daily Note Connection
The first part of my template borrows some code I already have in my daily note. This helps me better connect to my daily note when needed.
The Methods
I have divided each section of my template into different sections based on the other approaches the stoic philosophers presented.
Marcus Aurelius Method
Epictetus Method
Gravestone Method
4 Virtues Method
Marcus Aurelius Method
The Marcus Aurelius Method is based on questions he asked himself in Meditations. There are questions to answer in the morning and the evening.
Epictetus Method
Epictetus valued evening reflections more than morning. Under his method, we ask ourselves what we did well and why? And what we did wrong and what we can learn from those mistakes.
Gravestone Method
The gravestone method reminds us that we are part of a whole universe that is seemingly infinite. The purpose is to take a step outside the present and consider how our actions might be judged post-mortem.
4 Virtues Method
Epictetus Discourse argues that a good life requires adopting the following four virtues:
Courage
Justice
Temperance
Wisdom
With each, we ask ourselves how we either demonstrated or failed to demonstrate it.
Every Day
Do I fill this out completed every day? I would be lying if I claimed I did. I like having options. Sometimes I fill out the Marcus Aurelius section, and sometimes I find myself in the 4 Virtues. Other times the Gravestone method is preferable.
Conclusion
Reflecting like a Stoic daily can be a powerful tool for promoting personal growth, improving well-being, and becoming more resilient and wise. Whether you set aside a few minutes each day for reflection or make it a more formal practice, the key is to make it a regular part of your routine and stay committed to the process.
Download a Copy of the Template
If you would like to download a copy of the Daily Stoic Reflection Entry template I have created for yourself, you can do so here:
TEMPLATE: My Premium Daily Stoic Reflection Obsidian Template
Please NOTE: The template is only available to paying members.