Discernment

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning. And welcome back to Gentle Hours. This is your safe space to arrive slowly, to ease into yourself before the world begins asking things of you and to give your mind and your body a moment to meet each other without pressure, without any kind of urgency, just presence, my baby. Before we move forward, I want you to get settled wherever you are and however you're feeling. Take a deep breath in and let it fall out of you gently. Again, breathing freely and exhale without forcing it. In one more time to inhale and then release. Now today's word is discernment. And I want to approach this word very, very gently because discernment is not performative. It's not something that you prove to people, and it's not something that needs validation from the outside. Because if we must be honest, discernment is very quiet. It is that internal knowing that doesn't always come with a full explanation, but it does. Settling your spirit in a way that feels very steady. Even when everything around you feels very uncertain. See, a lot of us, a lot of us were taught to second guess ourselves, to override what we feel, to give people, you know, the benefit of the doubt, even when our intuition was trying to get our attention. We stayed longer than we needed to, to explain things we didn't have to explain, to keep extending ourselves, even when something inside of us felt very odd. And over time, that creates a disconnect. Because now you're no longer responding to what you feel, you're responding to what you've been conditioned to tolerate. Discernment begins when you start to listen. Not listening to the noise around you, not to everyone else's opinions, not to what something looks like on the surface, but to what it actually feels like within you. And this does not require reacting out of emotion. It's a deeper sense of knowing that it doesn't rush you, it doesn't pressure you, it doesn't confuse you. Even when that situation is unclear, discernment carries a certain calm with it. And there have been moments in your life where something didn't sit right with you and you couldn't fully explain why. Perhaps you told yourself that you are overthinking. You told yourself to give it more time. You told yourself maybe you're being too sensitive and maybe sometimes it feels easier because listening to your discernment often requires you to make decisions that are very, very uncomfortable. Discernment will ask you to see things as they are, not as you hope them to be. Or accept that it isn't working in the way that you needed it to. And this and discernment is not you being cold. It's not you shutting down or you assuming the worst or walking around with your guard up against everything and everyone. It's about being honest. It's about you being honest about how you feel and being very real about what you see and honest about what you are willing and no longer willing to accept. And baby, when you begin to move with discernment, something and your life shifts. You stop needing constant reassurance. You don't explain yourself. You stop ignoring what's right in front of you just to hold on to what you wish it could be. And instead you start responding to reality with clarity. Where in your life have you been overriding your discernment? I don't want you to judge yourself for it. I don't want you to try to fix it. I just want you to notice it. Where have you felt something but chose to ignore it? Where have you seen patterns but kept focusing on potential? Where have you needed clarity but settled for confusion? Because confusion, my baby, is often a sign. Not always that something is wrong, but that something needs to be looked at more honestly in discernment. Discernment doesn't thrive in denial, it really strengths in truth. And as we know, truth does not come at once. Sometimes it comes in those very small moments, a conversation that leaves you feeling drained instead of feeling fulfilled. A pattern that keeps repeating no matter how much you try to approach you differently, a feeling that lingers even after you've tried to dismiss it. And maybe that's where discernment is. So today, I don't want you to overthink any of this. I don't want you to start analyzing everything or questioning every interaction. I just want you to simply pay attention. I want you to move through your day with awareness. Notice what feels steady and what feels off. Notice where you feel at ease and where you feel like you have to convince yourself to stay comfortable. Notice where your energy expands, my baby, and where it contracts. And as you notice, don't rush to respond. Discernment doesn't require urgency, my baby. It requires presence. It requires you to sit with what you're feeling long enough to understand it instead of reacting to it immediately. Now let's take a deep breath together. Inhale deeply and exhale slowly. As you breathe out, I want you to imagine yourself coming back into your own awareness. Not pulled in different directions, not influenced by everything around you, just grounded in what you know to be true for you. Maybe you're allowed to feel.