Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

How do you practice discernment?

Someone's like, well, okay, so you're saying I have 5 million thoughts a day, all of which are mine, most of which are not relevant.

How do you begin to practice telling what is helpful and what is not?

One way that you can practice discernment, the obvious, is meditation.

I have a meditation from my dear sister, Lena Brower, and you can actually listen to that online.

It's amazing.

She has a beautiful voice.

It allows you to steady your mind and slow down so that you can hear.

But for my cognitive champions, and for those of you who don't like to meditate and to slow down, just speaking from a friend, of course, we have the three A's of mental strength.

awareness, assessment, and activation.

Your three tools or strategies to become more discerning, to be able to focus on what really matters.

Number one, awareness.

Catch the thought, name the trigger, become an observer, not a reactor.

This is your first rep in mental discernment, the entry point for mental mastery.

The first rep is witnessing an unhealthy or unimportant thought that is pulling you off target.

You've probably had a few of those while you've been listening to this.

Assessment.

The second tool in becoming more discerning is understanding that not all thoughts are worthy of your attention, nor do they tell the truth.

we often do not challenge our own way of thinking.

You know, I have two little kids and I see my son, my son who's four, he, by his own attributes, he's very resilient and very gritty.