The Power of Discernment

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has some advice to give or some wisdom to share. Opinions are all around us, especially in these familiar forms:

· 10 Reasons Why You Should Dump Your Mate

· 5 Signs That You’re Living Your Life to the Fullest

· Successful People Always do These 10 Things…

· What You Should Never Reveal to Your Co-Workers

· 37 Things You Should Stop Doing Right Now

· You Know You’re in Your 30s If…

And let’s not forget generalizing statements and words like:

· Always

· Never

· Everyone knows that…

· Everyone should…

· [insert race, religion, or sexual orientation here] people always…

· The best way to…

And the list goes on and on.

You can take these so-called “words of wisdom” at face value and follow them to the tee or you can use the parts that apply to you. Or you can just consider it all complete garbage.

There seems to be an exception to every rule and anomaly that coincide with every generalization. The key to deciphering if something is sound advice or action for your life, specifically— or not — completely relies on discernment.

Discernment: noun
1. the ability to judge well.

The ability to judge well can be thwarted by all kinds of influences. In today’s era of digital information, opinionated commentary, biased media, and social bandwagons are literally at our fingertips. Then there are the opinions of friends, family, co-workers, and other community members. Lastly, there are our own critical thoughts, self-doubts, or bouts of low esteem that can make good judgment difficult to come by.

Discernment — when used correctly — gives an individual the ability to critically examine the world around him or her and the stories that constantly permeate their eyes and thoughts. Discernment allows a person to decide how they will dissect the information being presented to them, how they will process it and how they will proceed from what they learned.

If you’re not careful, you’ll fall into the trap of thinking that every idea (or many ideas) applies to you, when in fact, they may not. If you’re not careful, you can fall into a rabbit hole of theories, opinions, doctrines, and generalized statements and become a victim of what everyone else thinks you should do.

So how does one practice discernment? How can it be applied correctly?

1. Know yourself

If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything…

When you stand in the truth of who you are — understanding your strengths and weaknesses, being confident in your own skin, owning your life journey, embracing your unique self — you create a foundation for discernment. When you know who are, you know what you need, what you desire, and what you don’t. Those principles are guiding forces in discerning what applies to you and what doesn’t.

None of us are perfect or void of mistakes and failures. However, knowing yourself leads to better decision-making for yourself and better judgment for deciphering what type of noise to allow into your life.

“God, help me see myself as clearly as I see others.”– Linda Spaine

2. Trust your instincts

Your “first mind”, your spirit, your gut feeling, your instinct — it’s whatever you call it. It’s easy to second guess yourself, but often your instincts will tell you a great deal about a person, a situation, or a set of information. The more you ignore your instinct, the harder is it to trust and know yourself (refer back to point number 1).

3. Seek understanding

Where facts are few, experts are many. –Donald R. Gannon

Sometimes you just need more information to make a sound judgment. Gaining an understanding helps you decipher what is what. Understanding can come through research, reading, observations, conversations, exploring multiple points of views and/or experiences that help illuminate the area you need discernment in.

When you don’t know, seek more information. Then make a better judgment.

4. Draw from your own experiences

Wisdom often comes from what you’ve learned from your own past experiences. Personal victories and failures are good lessons to help build upon when discerning what to do next. Your own experiences also put things into context and help you understand the majority rules and the exceptions, as both have probably been the case in your own life.

5. Let time reveal the truth

If you’re not sure what to do, believe or trust, — let time reveal the truth you are looking for. Sometimes the truth rears its head over time, whether that time is short or long. Listening and observing with the intent of understanding can help uncover truths that were once unknown.

Discernment is an innate wisdom, a muscle that we build through experience, instinct, and a continuous quest for understanding. Without it, we would look at everything with blind judgment or naive acceptance without taking into account context, understanding, and our own personal connection. If we can remember that life is a reflection of different viewpoints and experiences — we can truly use discernment to our advantage.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” –Proverbs 4:7