Discernment, Part II

Last post I rambled at length about the importance of Discernment in the Law of Attraction in particular and in life in general. It is a wonderfully, easy way to live your life once you are accustomed to living this way, but getting there can be a trick.

Discernment is listening to your gut and making decisions from there and not from your mind. The last post goes into why you want to do this. So how to begin... You must quiet your mind and have it be your servant and not your master. Really. You MUST quiet your mind. The only successful way I know is to practice. Slowly in baby steps and not beating yourself up for the constant failures you certainly will encounter.

The very first thing I would do is to shut off the radio in the car. Force yourself to have quiet time. When you do this, the mind will really take over, so it is an opportunity to watch yourself and see what it is that you really think about. Usually that is unhappiness about the past or worrying about the future. You know both are wrong, don't you? I'll go into why if anyone asks. But whether it is past or future, good or bad, the mind is in control, making so much noise you can't hear anything else. That is the point of discernment, though: getting silent so you can hear the prompting, suggestions, evaluation from your soul/angels/guides/God.

See where your mind goes and make the decision to stop it. That will last for maybe 2 seconds, then make the decision, again, to stop it. This will last for 3 seconds, then 4, then 6, then10... What else are you doing while you are driving anyway? In fact, a good practice is to actively concentrate on your driving. Yes, you are using your mind, but you are using it as it should be used - as a servant for what YOU want. At these times, you are in the present. You are actively in the NOW. It doesn't matter what it is you are doing, but your are actively in the moment.

It helps if you can stop and meditate sometime, doing effectively the same thing. Many experts say consciously to watch your breathing during meditation. I agree. It does help to quiet the mind, which is the first purpose of meditating anyway. You can't listen if you can't shut up. Now, it can take a long time to get very good at this, but with steady work, you can get better and better, and, believe me, your life will improve dramatically as well - because your mind will not be putting out all that negative energy that attracts other negative energy that ultimately pops the proverbial zit in your experience. I'm sure there are other wonderful ways to build your discernment, but this is the methold I have used for the past 5 years or so. At this point, I would guess that I am in the moment about 60% of my time and feel pretty good about that. Sometimes, I will intentionally think about the future to aid in some active creation of Law of Attraction, but I try the very best to stay out of the past, whether good or bad. Once I catch myself thinking about the past, my intention is to actively go into the present and I am getting better and better at recognizing this and doing it.

This discussion is a bit Pollyannaish, because I do not address very difficult issues such as a constant physical pain, or relationship turmoil that can be very, very in the moment. Those are much harder to deal with. My advice here is to very quickly pick up a copy of "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. His current book, "A New Earth", is a big Oprah study right now, but go to "Power of Now" first. I don't give this recommendation in passing. This is a big deal. This is a big, important book!!! It has singlehandedly changed more lives of people I personally know than any other book. We all talk about moving books that we have read and loved, but this one is the "Bach" of the bunch. Not an easy read, but nothing better. Speaking of nothing better.... There is nothing better than you! You are so amazingly powerful, creative, and resourceful. You truly are the envy of the Universe. Millions would trade you for your life just exactly as you are right now. You are magnificent!! and I love you!

The Old Monk