Discernment—one of my favorite themes.

There is always a relevant psychological story attached to our deficits.

I see the ability to discern as a current collective deficit.

What do we need?

What matters?

What do I care about?

What do I want?

What is the difference between a need and a want?

Does this feel good or bad?

Does this nourish or appease me?

Is doing what others want me to important?

What is important?

Who is important?

Daily practices are widely sold as tools for becoming enlightened—and while this is a pretty cool end goal, along the way, daily practices serve in sharpening our ability to discern. So when we are sitting in meditation, not staying focused on our breath, or not thinking nothing…we are actually learning a lot…and building our tools of discernment.

Most of the time our minds are running wild, thinking whatever unruly thoughts that rise and we are overriding, or not, the worst of them to go about our lives…the being with the crazies, noisy-es, etc. creates an awareness of our inner world, of the actual discomfort of this endless stream of background noise. WOW, then we begin to want to quiet ourselves down. First we have to realize there’s a lot of noise, but then we usually suffer as few of us can find our way to silence quickly or easily…