"Fearless Moral Inventories"

I read a book recently that described the process of evaluating where you're at, where you've been, and where you have yet to grow as this, and after a day long retreat of exactly this I think I completely agree with the term.

The best analogy I can think of is weeding. You see something on the surface that doesn't look quite right--a habit, a relationship, an emotion--and so you begin digging all around it--going through every emotion, every past experience without trying to isolate only what's "relevant" (you can't dig out a weed by digging from only one side if it's of any significant size). Finally, finally after a lot of digging, you come to the point where you can fully unearth it, hold it in your hands, look at it from all sides. You begin to even see the places where the roots touch those of other weeds nearby. It's time-consuming, draining, but immensely satisfying...and absolutely necessary for the real plants to grow.