Discernment and Our Health

Today's post centers on an age-old spiritual discipline, that of discernment. Discernment, at its essence, is listening to what God has to say about God's plan for each person. In our overly busy and noisy world, it is difficult (sometimes nearly impossible) to still our inner and outer selves to actually listen. Listening is important to understanding what our bodies are trying to tell us.

Health is not just an absence of definable disease or illness. Health comes from a balance between inner and outer selves - a working relationship, if you will, between who we are meant to be and who we are. Much of our dis-ease therefore, comes from a lack of coordination between the inner life and the outer life. Discernment, listening to the inner or "true" self, allows us to begin to heal those areas which have become broken by our tendancy to live for the world - to be actors playing a role. The Bible in the New Testament talks often about "hypocrites" the Greek word for actor. In order to become whole (less broken) we need to identify when we are acting, and when we are being true to ourselves.

Americans neglect the inner self. Partially because it is not spoken of in a way that the average person can grasp. My own upbringing in the Protestant tradition totally neglected any training in prayer. In fact, prayer was taught corporately and consisted of the Lord's Prayer and petitionary prayer (bringing to God a list of things that we'd like accomplished). None of this penetrated my inner self (soul). It wasn't until just a few years ago that I dsicovered the mystical writings and contemplative prayer (living in the present in the presence of God). This ability to open into unconditional and unfailing love has allowed me to go to the places that needed light and air and deal with them.

Prayerful discernment is healing, but it can be difficult to do alone. I found a program on Spiritual Deepening through the Shalem Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. This program allowed me to experience both group spiritual direction and individual direction. That has made all the difference! Having a spiritual guide to listen and to aid in discernment has been invaluable. Her love and non-judgemental acceptance of me has allowed for tremendous growth over the last 3+ years. Just think if this type of program was applied in large measure to all persons - it would be heaven on earth!

I encourage you to explore discernment as a mechanism to improve your health, wellness and wholeness, as well as your personal interactions. Spiritual Directors International (www.sdiworld.org) has a listing of spiritual directors in your area. Many of these relationships are free or at a low cost. Find one that feels right and try it out. If your relationship is like mine, the improvement in your health, wellness and wholeness will be remarkable.

Until next time, peace and grace!
Dan