Discernment is defined as the ability to judge well. I had an insight about this during a coaching conversation recently. You see, all day every day, we are in the process of discerning; working out the quality of what passes through our heads and sussing out which thoughts to follow and which to ignore. But there is often something in the way and that is the meaning we give our feelings. If we think that our feelings are telling us about the outside world then it looks like the thoughts that we need to change the outside world are true. If we think our feelings are telling us about something which is wrong with us, it looks like we have to engage in tools and techniques to fix ourselves. But when we realise that feelings are only ever telling us about the quality of our thoughts in the moment, we can use that information to discern better.

Off feeling = off thinking. Quieter mind, better feeling = better thinking. I know you have seen this because you have not sent that angry text or left that cross email in drafts until you were in a better feeling (i.e. better thinking).  It's because there has always been a part of you which understands how the system works. And the more deeply we understand that system, the more discerning we can become.

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