One of the most important aspects of developing our Intuitive Intelligence is the activating and refining our POWER OF DISCERNMENT.
A partial definition of discernment is:
‘to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well. Discernment is considered a virtue and is a reflection of and a tool of wisdom.
As it applies to our Intuition, discernment is the ability to recognize the difference between the Truth of our Highest level of mind and consciousness and the Falseness or distortion of our emotions, historical limitations and past conditioning.
The POWER OF DISCERNMENT can make or break our ability to accurately and successfully recognize and use our Intuition when we most need it.
It is important at this point to remind you of a very important yet common mis-perception about how our Intuition communicates with us … this understanding will make your ability to Discern Intuitive Truth from False distortion much easier.
Many people make the error of believing that Intuition is an emotional impulse or that it stems from our emotions. This is why Intuition gets such a bad rap, because most human beings rarely have a solid grip on their emotions. Because of this misconception, many people then stipulate that Intuition cannot be trusted and that it is unreliable.
The truth of the matter is; Intuition is NOT based in emotion. It is NEUTRAL. Because when we are using our Intuition properly, it is sourced from levels of Higher Consciousness, it is not connected to the ideas of good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative and as such has no connection to emotion. Authentic Intuition guides us to personal truth … and truth just IS. There is no emotional charge.
Truth. Neutral. Solid. Grounded. Is-ness. Where we get confused is when we have an emotional response to the intuitive guidance – because we immediately perceive that guidance and where it might lead as good or bad, positive or negative. The emotional charge comes from our response to the intuitive information, not from the information itself.
Getting to the Truth
If you do not have a consistent track record yet of being able to recall moments when you have recognized and used genuine Intuitive guidance, I suggest this simple exercise to get the feeling of Truth and learn to intimately identify it.
- Speak several statements out loud that are based in Truth for you. These statements may be simple or profound, like ‘My name is (state your name) or’ ‘I live in (state your town) or’ ‘I love animals,’ Or ‘I love classical music,’ if that is true for you.
- Come up with as many TRUE statements as you can think of and say them out loud to yourself and observe how you FEEL when you say them. How does your body respond to these truths? What do you notice? Could you use a color or sound to describe this feeling? Is there a sensation anywhere in your head or anywhere else? Describe this TRUTH thing as specifically and precisely as possible. Writing down your observations and sensations will help you ingrain the recognition more powerfully. You should notice a commonality in the feelings, regardless of what is being said, the Truth will be the truth and will feel similar from statement to statement.
- Truth has a recognizable energetic fingerprint – your Intuitive success will rise or fall on your ability to recognize that fingerprint. Once you have gotten really clear about it, at least for now, you can identify this FEELING as your recognition of TRUTH.
Identifying the ‘Riff-Raff’
Now it is time to swing to the opposite side of the spectrum to begin to learn to identify the opposite of truth – which in the world of Intuition we call ‘distortion.’
- Recall the times in the past when you have felt negative emotions like fear, worry, anxiety, guilt or shame. How do these emotions FEEL to you? If you are human, they will feel like crap. But your job in this discernment game is to get really specific about how that crap takes shape in your body. Does your belly hurt? Does your chest tighten? Do you feel hot? Do you want to shout or scream or flee? Do you get tongue-tied or feel like you have to distract yourself to make the feeling go away?
- It is helpful here as well to take a minute or two to write down each of these negative emotional states and write down all of their identifying markers.
- Get very, very specific about how these negative states feel to you – understanding how distortion takes shape within your body when there is no pressure to be right will allow you the freedom and ease to gain clarity, so that when there is a need to be right, you will have done all of your homework and practice ahead of time.
Compare, Contrast and Choose
Once you have gotten super clear about how truth feels to you and how distortion feels to you and can precisely identify the difference – your ability to use discernment in real time and in real life situations will be greatly enhanced. With enough practice, you will be able to tell in a split second if the information someone else is giving you, the situation you are presented with, or the impressions you are noticing within your own awareness are the truth or if they are something else.
From that state of calm certainty, instead of making a ‘knee jerk’ decision that is based in fear and past conditioning that keeps you stuck in the loop of repetition and bad habits, you will be able to make decisions that are based in the wisdom of your highest good and take actions that will move you forward and upward.
DEEPEN YOUR INTUITION EVEN FURTHER
I have TWO LIVE Intuition Workshops coming up very soon.
Check out my Intuition & Alchemy Online Workshop HERE (starts August 24)
and my LIVE Intuition & Alchemy Workshop in Salt Lake City Here (October 22/23)