Friday, November 15, 2013

On Discerning Judgment

Discernment
1. an act of perceiving or discerning something
2. the ability to judge well.

--------------

Allow me to start by saying that I judge.

Yes…I do.

And I would even go so far as to say that I do this all day long because I’m constantly making judgments.

However, judgment gets a bad rap because we’re told that to judge is wrong.

Yet, I think there is a difference between condemning judgment and discerning judgment.

And I do believe that discernment is a form of judgment because it’s our ability to perceive something based on a feeling.

I think we often have a tendency to ignore our initial feelings because we’re taught that first impressions are not always the correct ones.

True, they’re not always the correct ones. But I will say that the greater percentage of my initial feelings I have about people or certain situations are usually spot on. And I bet you could say the same thing about yourself. Your initial feelings are usually spot on.

Have you ever walked down a particular street and got a feeling that it wasn't safe because you saw someone standing there who seemed shifty, so you turned around and walked down another street?

Well, that feeling is judgment.

Have you ever met someone and had strong reservations about them, but then went ahead and became friends with them, only to discover that your reservations were correct?

Well, those reservations are judgments.

Have you ever accepted a new job, sensing that you shouldn’t have, and then found out that your sense was correct?

Well, that sense is judgment.

So you see, we continually receive messages of discerning judgment, yet will often quickly dismiss them because we either second-guess them, or we believe that we always need to give people the benefit of the doubt and not judge.

As I shared, I think there is a difference between condemning judgment and discerning judgment.

But it’s still judgment.

Because we can receive a feeling about a person or an experience, without condemning them.

And choose not to allow ourselves to get involved.

And I think that’s wise judgment.

Have a FABULOUS weekend everyone!

X