How to Choose/Create Items

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Bloom's database of suggested items

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Various approaches to choosing or creating
items

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Saving items for future use

A Bloom spiritual exercise program consists of one or more practice items you do regularly, as often each day and each week as you decide. You can select practice items from a list of nearly 200 suggested items which LLF resident members have used in their spiritual exercise programs. You can also use the "Create item" link to create your own custom item(s) for your program.

Bloom's database of suggested items

Even if you later decide to build your program entirely of custom items, briefly browsing the database of suggested items is a good way to get started. Reading over a few suggested items will give you an overview of the kind of practice items that have benefited other people. It may also stimulate your imagination, helping you think of custom items that are personally meaningful to you. In addition, all the suggested items include instructions, which you might find inspiring to read.

You can browse the database of suggested items category by category, or using a search term you type in. When you browse by search term, Bloom will show you all items that contain the word(s) you enter in the item title and/or item description.

Various approaches to choosing or creating items

There are many approaches to choosing or creating practice items for your spiritual exercise program. Here are a few suggestions:

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You might choose "do" items that will allow you to reinforce a desirable orientation, or exercise a desirable quality.

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You might choose "do" items that will boost confidence and provide "wins," because they utilize some of your known strengths.

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You might choose "do" items that will expand your capacities or add balance to your life because they exercise qualities that are underdeveloped in your personality.

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You might choose "don't" items that support you in disciplining a negative tendency or quality.

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You might choose an item primarily for the discipline of doing a regular practice (rather than for the specific attributes of the action itself).

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You might choose several items that all focus on one area of life, such as work, or relationship.

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You might intentionally choose only one item in each of several areas, to help you achieve a well-balanced approach to spiritual life.

The content of your program is entirely up to you. The nice thing about Bloom is, you can change your program as often as you like. However, we recommend in general that you keep an item for at least two weeks. People usually find that their experience of any practice deepens over time, revealing more potential than they expected! So don't be too quick to judge the merits of your items. Give them a little time to unfold.

Saving items for future use

Feel free to create or choose all items that interest you, even if you choose too many to include in your current program. In the step in which you schedule your items, you can choose which ones to activate, and keep the others in a "waiting for activation" status. Only the ones you activate will become part of your current program. Later, if you wish to revise your program, you can de-activate or delete current items and activate ones you had saved for future use.