Here is my word for today February 4, 2020: DISCRIMINATE
The simple dictionary definition of this word is “to recognize a distinction; to differentiate”---that sounds innocent enough. But, the next phrase is “to make a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on the basis of the group, class, or category to which the person or thing belongs rather than according to actual merit”---this has a more potentially disquieting characterization.
So this causes me to have wildly random thoughts that I’m just going to riff on here: we all come to situations with our own perspectives and our worldview based on a compilation of our learned assumptions, our lived experiences, our natural tendencies, our past history, and many other things that just managed to seep into our conscious and unconscious mind. So, with all that baggage, how can we bring ‘new eyes’ and an open mind to situations, especially those that might be fraught with tension or angst for us? How can we even begin to understand where some of that tension and angst comes from if we’ve never actually learned to name our feelings, but rather to gloss over them with food or exercise or negative thoughts about ourselves or others?
Being able to discriminate between/among things, activities, thoughts that are good for you and those that aren’t useful is extremely beneficial—in fact, it can be life-enhancing:
Between people who add joy to your life and those who bring anger, unhappiness, frequent conflict;
Between work that you find fulfilling and satisfying rather than that which does not engage your positive energy;
Between thoughts that enhance your feelings of self-worth and positive growth and those that denigrate and bring you down;
Between activities that reinforce your learning, growth, and contribution and those that emphasize remaining stuck and mired in negative emotions.
It’s very important to be able to make decisions about whatever changes you’re thinking of based on real information that you can then actually evaluate---that is, discriminate---weigh carefully against other information, look at through various lenses, such as how it fits for multiple aspects of your life---personal, professional, relational, spiritual, educational, etc.
What are the categories in your life through which you can effectively discriminate your decisions?