I agree - reflection and self-understanding is essential, and its a practice. I'm just not personally used to it as I have tended to bottle up my issues, and I'm just not used to prodding around inside. Wearing a smile is so much easier. That's partly the reason why I chose to start meditating; to learn more about myself. The other was that I've heard anecdotal reports from others that it helped to improve fluency by way of reducing anxiety, and come across studies such as the following: http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pms.1974.39.1.294 To start meditating, I just read a lot. r/meditation has a lot of very valuable material. Don't make it too complex; schedule 20 minutes for yourself, get a pillow and sit still. How you focus is up to you; some observe their breath, others repeat a mantra. I tend to just focus on my breathe. It's been a very gradual process, but it is helping me to become more aware of my thinking patterns, and in doing so, gives me the mental space to disengage with them. This isn't a willful act, it's sort of unconscious. As you meditate, you catch yourself thinking, and release yourself from that thought once you refocus your attention on something else. In the same way, I catch myself having doubts or stressing over a disfluent moment at work, and that moment of recognitions blows it away. It's still very early days for me, but I'm enjoying it. Would love to hear how you get on.