Sentence Completions Facilitate the Art of Living Consciously

I have enjoyed Tal Ben-Shahar's book, Happier. One of the tips that I have found most valuable is Dr. Ben-Shahar's suggestion to use sentence completion drills as a means to raise one's self-awareness. He cites Nathaniel Branden's work in this area, turning readers to Dr. Branden's website, The Esteemed Self. Here is Dr Branden's description of this exercise:

"Sentence-completion work is a deceptively simple yet uniquely powerful tool for raising self-understanding, self-esteem and personal effectiveness. It rests on the premise that all of us have more knowledge than we normally are aware of – more wisdom than we use, more potential than typically shows up in our behavior. Sentence completion is a tool for accessing and activating these dormant or “hidden” resources.

 "Sentence completion can be used in many ways. Here I will describe a way I find particularly effective. The essence of this procedure is to write an incomplete sentence (or sentence stem) and then write a number of different endings, with the sole requirement that each ending is a grammatical completion of the sentence. Aim for a minimum of six endings.

 "To truly benefit from the exercises, you should work as rapidly as possible. Don’t pause to “think”, invent responses if you get stuck and don’t worry if any particular ending is true, reasonable or significant. The object is simply to let your thoughts flow forward without impediment.

 "When doing sentence completion exercises, it is best to work with a journal or computer. That way, past entries can easily be accessed for reflection."

I have chosen to operationalize Dr. Branden's suggestion with a few minor modifications. I offer this summary of modifications for your consideration.

In your gratitude journal, write out at least 5 replies for each stem. Work quickly, without over-thinking. Spend no more than 5 minutes before breakfast (B), no more than 5 minutes before Dinner (D), and no more than 5 minutes before bed at night (N). In addition, spend no more than 5 minutes  Sunday (S) to review and assimilate the past week’s entries.



B1. Living consciously to me means –

B2. If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my activities today –

B3. If I pay more attention to how I deal with people today –

B4. If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my most important relationships –

B5. If I bring 5 percent more awareness to (fill in a particular problem you are concerned about— for example, your relationship with someone, or a barrier you've hit at work, or your feelings of anxiety or depression) –


D1. When I reflect on how I would feel if I lived more consciously –

D2. When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to my activities –

D3. When I reflect on what happens when I pay more attention to how I deal with people –

D4. When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to my most important relationships –

D5. When I reflect on what happens when I bring 5 percent more awareness to (whatever you've filled in) –


N1-5. Today I am grateful for --


S1-5. If any of what I wrote this week is true, it would be helpful if I –


As I said I made a few changes from the original.

• For one, I like to do this exercise daily, rather than Monday through Friday. 
• I cut back to 5 completions from 6, because it's a bit faster and because the resultin sum of all sentences is a nice round number B (5 * 5) + D (5 * 5) + N (5 * 5) + S (5* 5) = 100. 
• I used to write out the stems as well as the completions, but that took too much time. Now I have a printout of the above stems in my journal. 
• What I call D3 above is something I added to the mix. In Dr Branden's list, there are only 4 stems for the evening. However, I prefer a "call and response" between morning and evening so I added D3 for symmetry. 
• I tried writing out the stems and leaving blanks to be filled in later, rather like a template. But this did not work for me. If I did not complete the work on a given day, I wasted a bunch of space in my journal plus the time writing the framework out. Now I just do what I can, when I can, and if I miss a session I just move on. 
• I use the abbreviations B, D, N, and S and the sequence numbers to cross-reference the stems and that keeps me straight and seems to be the fastest and most efficient process. The awareness and behavior changes that occur are more important than what the writing looks like on paper.
• I prefer the journal rather than the computer foe many reasons. I spend too much time at the keyboard as it is. Moreover, I believe there is something special, personal. and intimate  about the mind-body connection of transmitting a thought through a pen to a piece of paper.

Try this at home! I recommend it. After you have performed this exercise for several weeks, visit Dr Branden's site. Look for more stems. There are currently two additional 30-week programs published. As of this writing, I am still learning from this first level.

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

Recently, I have posted about Nathaniel Branden in relation to Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and also about the 6 pillars of character according to the folks at Character Counts. This post is an interesting combination of the two previous posts. Nathaniel Branden is a leading psychologist in the field of self-esteem, and his seminal work is called, coincidentally, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem.

I think of my architecture professors every time I see a temple icon with an odd number of columns. The Romans and Greeks would have never built a temple with an odd number of columns! The central axis must be open and unobstructed, and that requires an even number of columns. Of course, there is a huge difference between a free-standing column and a wall that is reinforced by a pillar, but that is probably semantic.


The 6 pillars are:

1. Live Consciously

This requires us to be fully in the present moment. And for most, this takes a bit of practice, because many of us are conditioned to disown the here and now, to survive what we have thought that we cannot handle.


2. Accept Yourself

Yes. You have flaws and attributes. You also have the opportunity to enhance who you are, by accepting everything about yourself. In fact, the only way to enhance who you are is to accept yourself.


3. Take Responsibility for Your Experiences

Through my journey, I have learned to be in conversations where I say to myself, "It comes down to 'this is where you end, and I begin,'" Saying such an affirmation has helped me to congruently say what I will and will not experience. And this is quite liberating not only to myself, but also to my interlocutor (most of the time).


4. Assert Who You Are

Honor what you think, feel, believe, need, and want. Yes, for many readers this may be a challenge. But the results of accepting this challenge are wonderfully fulfilling.


5. Live Purposefully

Make an agreement with yourself to reach your highest potential, while you maintain balance in your life.


6. Maintain Your Integrity

Know exactly what your principles are. And stick to them, no matter what others think or do.

For more information, see The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by the Leading Pioneer in the Field, by Nathaniel Branden. ISBN: 9780553374391.

Ayn Rand's Objectivism Explained by Her Student, Colleague, Lover, and Self-Esteem Guru

Have you read Atlas Shrugged? Do you know the answer to the question, "Who is John Galt?" Did you ever wonder about the connection between Alan Greenspan, the Wall Street Journal, and Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism? Are you suspicious of Big Government? Assuming you aspire to become the best possible version of yourself, do you know how to tell whether you are on the right path? Are you willing and able to help or correct someone who has fallen off their path?

If the answer to any of the above questions is "Yes," you're in luck: today's post is for you. Below are excerpts from the May, 2011 Daily Bell interview * with Nathaniel Branden, a pioneer in the psychology of self-esteem and one of Ayn Rand's primary proponents.

In the excerpt below, I added the emphasis to build discussion points. As you read the excerpt, please prepare to engage in the two discussion questions at the end. 

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Daily Bell: Do you feel Atlas Shrugged is Rand's greatest work?

Nathaniel Branden: Of course I do. I think it's the work of a genius on a very high level. It is an international best seller and is the most global treatment of her philosophy, which tells the story of what happens to the world when the people of ability go on strike against a sort of statist-collectivist world.

[Note: Atlas Shrugged was Rand's fourth book, final fictional novel, and most famous treatise As a young architecture student, I preferred The Fountainhead. However, I read Atlas Shrugged as an adult philosophy student and found it much more compelling.]  

This portrait of Rand was used in a US Postage Stamp

Daily Bell: Can you sum up [Ayn Rand's] philosophy and its antecedents?

Nathaniel Branden: Reason is the highest possible value, given the condition of all truth. Reason is our only means of acquiring knowledge. Reason is the foundation of ethics knowing that individuals require a code of ethics. Individuals have a right to exist and they have a right to protect values, to protect equal liberty. Her philosophy is more complex than we can discuss right now, but I would have to say she was first a champion for the supremacy of reason, then for the argument of code of ethics, on human nature which would respect the human's right to belong to him or her own self. Her thoughts were you must own your own life, and to respect your own needs, and not to see the self as a servant of society or the state or the globe or planet.

Portrait of Branden

Daily Bell: What is the most important of [Ayn Rand's] ideas in your opinion?

Nathaniel Brandon: That human beings have a right to exist. They have a right to freedom. [People] do not belong to the government. These are all very liberating statements and that is the main message from her work. She also raises very important questions that are foundational. She asks, Why do we need ethics?? That is key because you have to come to that conclusion for yourself. Life on all levels is full of challenges, and you are not born with the knowledge of what is best. You need to look at principals and how they relate to all parts of your life because without it you are susceptible to people with very vicious ideas.

[Note: what is the relationship between values, morals, beliefs, laws, ethics, and behavior?]

Daily Bell: Explain why rational self-interest vs altruism is so important.

Nathaniel Branden: You have to understand what altruism is and needs. The term was coined in the 19th century by Auguste Comte, and it means "others above self." Altruism is to sacrifice and means insubordination of the individuals for the group, it meant it was morality superior in virtue of the fact that their primary goal was to service the state or the monarchy or the union or god knows what.

You will find it with Stalin, you will find it in any number of dictators and if you want power over people, it's a very useful concept to have. A lot of intellectuals who live in the world are surprisingly on the side of the "others" in this negative sense. I think they had this sneaking idea that it would work because they would be on the side of the good guys. It's the opposite of egoism.

You feel a moral obligation to live for the sake of others. Rational self-interest holds reason, purpose and self-esteem as supreme. You have a responsibility to yourself first to survive. To remain alive you must act and before you can act you must know the nature, and purpose of your actions. If you are living for others and not putting yourself first, that is altruism. Ayn did not use negative connotations, which are usually used for selfishness or self-interest.

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And now, for those of you so inclined, the discussion: Branden tells us Rand valued rational-self interest as a guiding principle for a secular ethical code. She points out that there are people in the world with vicious ideas, and therefore one must examine the nature and purpose of one's own actions as well as those of other people, in order to survive and thrive. 

Question 1. The art of constructive criticism is nearly a lost art. People no longer offer or accept constructive criticism. We feel it is not our place or our right to critique others, and we are easily offended when someone else tries to critique us. Describe the future of a society in which everything is acceptable and nothing is incorrect or forbidden. 

Question 2. How can anyone (take Paul Ryan, for a famous example) claim to be both a Christian and an Objectivist? Are not the principles of love for others and love for self in direct opposition? To what degree are Christianity and Objectivism aligned? Or are they in fact mutually exclusive? Suppose a person living in community recognizes a Creator. It's rational for the Creator to appear on the top of any hierarchy. But who comes next, the individual, or the other people? 

Thank you for reading and thinking. If you care to engage, please use the comments section or email me to share your answers.


* The Daily Bell is a leading free-market publication and thought leader documenting the rapidly changing political and economic landscape during what they call the Internet Reformation. They regularly scrutinize dominant social themes – fear-based memes purveyed by the power elite intended to frighten people into giving up power and wealth to globalist facilities. More: http://www.thedailybell.com/