4 October 2013 2 Comments

LGS #90, Developing Discernment and Guidance Skills, Part 4: What Is Mine and What Is Not?, Part 1: The BEST Answer

How can I identify what is mine from what is not?

Attaining accurate discernment is the most important and challenging task in the realm of guidance.

Learning what belongs with us and what does not is essential discernment. Living with this question over time greatly enhances personal clarity.

In the manner of wisdom, the simple answer to the question of what belongs with us has immense value–although it is not very satisfying in the moment: You identify what is yours from not-yours by knowing exactly who you are.

Being able to tell energy or emotion that originates with ourselves from energy originating from external sources is a gradually-attained skill. Beginning is relatively easy. We establish the intention, begin paying attention, and notice what we are ready to notice. By keeping to the task and continuing to learn, our awareness begins to encompass a vast range of subtle realities.

Discernment gives intuition value. Intuition without discernment is confusing at best. Without discernment we can get tangled up in other people, take or give direction based on misinformation, release our personal volition to sources of will that are not kind, or think we are on one path when we are on another.

Energy-awareness can lead into frightening misperception if we think that other people are causing things for which we ourselves are responsible. Self-development is arrested when we see our issues in others without owning them ourselves. (“Projection” is the psychological term for this.)

Increased discernment is one of the primary reasons I spend so much time addressing emotional clarity and self-recognition.

DSC_1093Self/not-self discernment is greatly facilitated by being able to sense what we feel–in our bodies, emotionally, and in our energy systems. Being aware of and familiar with our own energy signature is an important aspect of knowing ourselves. This sense allows us to quickly identify energy that is not OF us.

Clarity about self/not-self, in the body, is an immune system function. It is interesting to note that immune system issues often arise when we are struggling with boundaries and discernment. I have observed this extensively in clinical practice.

A clear baseline knowledge of Self is essential. If you have a clean, well-ordered room, you are likely to notice if somebody leaves something in it. If someone leaves something that is not yours in a chaotic room, chock full of things to which you pay little attention, you are less likely to notice.

When we do not know who we are we project energy, images, emotions, and states of being onto others, seeing our inner contents in the other people. We are also open to receiving the projections of others. This confusion begins with resistance to seeing parts of ourselves.

I have been working actively on developing energy discernment for more than twenty years. Picking up external energy and trying to get it back out used to be an almost constant problem. Now I can almost always stay clear of energy interference.

Practical ways of learning to recognize what is ours and what is not vary widely. Our specific intuitive gifts and our degree of self-development determine whether or not we are ready for any particular technique. One-size-fits-all approaches lead to misconceptions, imagination, defensive attitudes, or limiting beliefs.

Like a healthy intestine, which lets in food and passes out waste, we gradually become able to ‘set’ our energetic fields to repel unhealthy influences and receive those that support us. Since our fields express the sum total of our internal state, full-person development and Inner Work bring this about. (See Inner Work Series under the Self-Development tab above.)

My ebook, “What Healers Won’t Tell You,” goes into more detail about how and why we pick up energy. I also speak to some of the sources of incoming negative energy, what it feels like, and how to address it.

How do YOU tell your “stuff” from an intimate friend or partner’s “stuff” when you are in conflict?

Carefully contemplating and answering this question to your best ability is quite likely to bring up your problem areas with energy discernment in general. Can you describe why this is so?

2 Responses to “LGS #90, Developing Discernment and Guidance Skills, Part 4: What Is Mine and What Is Not?, Part 1: The BEST Answer”

  1. How can I identify what is mine from what is not? ~ Discernment – Positive Energy Guide

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