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Thanks for the comments everyone.  Believe me, I calculated very carefully prior to trimming.  I never like removing any hard-earned growth.  But it is much more manageable and in 2 to 3 months will be back even bigger and stronger with better shape.  I neglected to mention that I had never really achieved the shape I wanted after growing it out from last July's circle beard.  It's different than growing from a clean-shaven state.  I actually evened it up some more today.  Everything removed was fringy old growth and straggly ends.  Although it sacrifices a little length, I really do think that doing this every 6 to 8 months with big beards improves the beard.  Just my personal experience.  Now I have everything in synch and on track and will grow on from here:

Thanks NC. Glad to hear someone else with a big beard does it. In my opinion, the thing to remember is that whenever you trim, you're removing the thin older ends and replacing them with thick, blunt ends. It totally eliminates the tapered, thinning aspect and damage of long term growth. Of course this would not be an option for someone on a total length quest, and I understand that. Plus, I haven't had hair in my mouth once today...lol!

Thank you once again for all of the compliments! Fresnorich, I'm not sure if I can accurately describe my technique, if it can be called that. I use full-size Wahl electric clippers with no length guide attached, just the bare blades. I hold them with both hands, upside (edge) down almost perpendicular to the face of my beard. Then I just trim it in a uniform rounded shape, eliminating all the stragglers, flyers, wild hairs....whatever you want to call them, and whatever length I want to remove. I just skim the surface to make everything even.   There really is no grain to go with as I am trimming the surface, nothing near the skin.  It takes practice, a very steady hand and two mirrors like I have in my bathrooms (wall and medicine cabinet).   I remove very little each time I trim.  Sometimes I will stop, wait a day to reassess and then even it up some more, as I did in this case.  It really is very similar to pruning a shrub with electric pruning shears.

I do this after I have washed or at least dampened my beard, let it dry naturally and lightly brush it into shape. By doing this it ensures that I am trimming it when it is not artificially straight or brushed into an unnatural form. Then every time I wash it, it should return to the shape I trimmed it to. This is especially important with curly or wavy beards like mine that change shape as they dry. Never trim your beard when it is wet! When it dries it will shorten up and it's easy to over trim. Hope this explains it.