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Blueprinting is about specifying and individualizing the general idea of how to live well by acquiring a deep understanding about our own moral identity and by making the appropriate decisions for this end (Kristjánsson et al. 2021). Thus, this function of practical wisdom allows learners to reflect on their own lives, to know what is important for themself. In other words, it can be understood as a pursuit of a “unify and integrated life” (Sanderse 2012, p. 147), a quest for living a virtuous life that is coherent and meaningful with the inner self, which would allow progress in the journey toward moral excellence or eudaimonia. In the end, realizing this component would mean “taking the formation of one's character into one's own hands” (Sanderse 2012, p. 140), which constitutes a central message for Aristotle. In this regard, phronesis makes it possible to reflect on how to be in the world, in the sense of knowing oneself well to act virtuously (see Ames and Serafim 2019).

In blueprinting, the cultivation of virtuous thinking and virtuous motivation stands out. Thus, it would be pertinent to use pedagogical methods that help to identify and reflect on learners' moral judgment and commitment, attitudes, values, capabilities, aspirations, and behavior. We should emphasize here that learners' moral identity is always political, since becoming virtuous can only be understood in relation to others, to the community in a broad sense of the term (human and non‐human world). This means that each one builds their moral identity not from solitude or in a vacuum, but from the moral dilemmas that arise from our relations with other beings: “We depend on others for our well‐being” (Sanderse 2012, p. 142).

This remark is very important because the pedagogies chosen that aimed to strengthen and nurture those patterns of thoughts and motivation should reinforce this idea of interconnection with other entities by bringing up not only the self of the learner but also the moral identities of those other beings. That said, pedagogies focused on training the ability to discover oneself in the relationships with others, can find inspiration in contemplative practices, such as meditation. Let us illustrate.

Meditation has been gaining attention in the educational and academic realm in the last two decades (La Forge 2004; Boellinghaus et al. 2013; Hattam and Baker 2015; Upton 2017). There are many modalities of meditations, such as discursive and non‐discursive meditation, mindfulness meditation, transcendental meditation, and mindfulness‐based stress reduction (La Forge 2004; Black et al. 2009). Nevertheless, Upton (2017) highlights three features as central to any meditation: (i) employs self‐focus skill (e.g. through the use of a mantra, item, process, or object); (ii) involves “logic relaxation,” in which the practitioner tries to avoid evaluating or analyzing his/her thoughts and the actual experience; and (iii) brings “mental silence,” together with a state of physical relaxation. Sometimes, meditation also involves a self‐induced state, in which the participants are involved in “altered state/mode of consciousness, mystic experience, enlightenment, or suspension of logical thought processes” (Bond et al. 2009, p. 132).

In what follows, we propose a loving‐kindness and compassion meditation (LKM hereafter) to show how this practice can be brought into the classroom to develop the current moral self and to imagine the self yet to be. LKM meditation is of Buddhist origin and aims to experience wisdom (defined as understanding the true nature of oneself and others) by incorporating cognitive and emotional aspects related to friendship, empathy, generosity, and respect (Salzberg 1995, 2005). LKM is based on a “nonjudging, nongrasping, nonrejecting orientation toward the present moment, an orientation that invites and makes room for calmness, clarity of mind and heart, and understanding” (Salzberg 1995, p. x).

A LKM meditation session lasts approximately 15–20 minutes and is normally divided into four main stages. The practice begins with awareness of the body and the mind, with the aim of turning their attention inward (e.g. body position, external factors, and state of mind). The next phase focuses on directing love and compassion toward themself by bringing to their mind the people who have loved them and wished them well. In the third phase, students will be asked to send love and compassion to people and other beings they know (e.g. friends, acquaintances, living or deceased relatives, non‐human animals with which they live). Lastly, learners will send the same positive wishes of love and fulfillment to other people they do not know as well as to all living beings. After the meditation, the professor may encourage students to reflect or even write in a personal diary about their experience (e.g. what thoughts and emotions have arisen during the practice, if they have noticed changes compared to other times, how they feel afterwards).

This habit of writing about themselves leads us to another interesting pedagogy for nurturing blueprinting, that of using narratives for moral development. By narratives we mean any account or story involving real or fictional characters who face situations or have to make decisions that affect themself or others. The use of stories in class can be a fruitful way to encounter learners' thoughts and attitudes about the moral (or immoral) elements expressed in the texts under analysis (Sanderse 2012). Narratives can offer useful insights into the internal struggles, unsettlingly, doubts, conflicts, ambivalences that need to be confronted in order to become virtuous (Carr 2005, 2006a, b; Treanor 2014). Those stories can be based entirely on fiction, created by the professor or by the students (individually or in groups), or based on reality. In the latter case, stories can be narrated or inspired about situations in which the professor had to deal with moral dilemmas; or, even better, the professor has the student write about their moral experience. This last option is particularly interesting, if we take into account the relevant role that one's own experiences have in the development of virtues and the cultivation of phronesis.

In relation to sustainability, consumer diaries can be a good example of how to use story‐writing in the classroom. The professor, at the beginning of the semester, will instruct students to choose a format (e.g. a notebook or folder) in which to document their experience of dialoguing with themselves regarding their consumption habits. The main objective of this exercise is to take an honest and critical look at their thoughts, motivations, emotions, and intentions that underlie their daily decisions. Little by little, as they observe and talk with themselves, students become aware of parts of themselves that they do not regularly pay attention to, such as what is important to them, what makes them excited, whether they think they consume excessively or not, what they consume for, what needs they try to respond to with consumption, and with whom they share these experiences. As a result of answering these questions, it is normal that they also start projecting themselves into the future, setting challenges for themselves, and reflecting their well‐being and that of others. In sum, through these diaries, the students “understand and construct themselves through a process of imagining and telling stories about their lives” (Sanderse 2012, p. 148).