Final Individual Reflection Paper

Discernment is a decision-making process that honors the place of God's will in

our lives. It is an inner journey that seeks to align our own will with the will of God in
order to discover what God is calling us to. Every decision we make, no matter how
small, provides an opportunity to align ourselves with God's will.

My experience in doing discernment has helped me nurture and nourish my

relationship with God through prayer. Discernment made me contemplate further on my
life decisions be it big or small. As a graduating senior high school student, I had no
idea what I wanted to do professionally or what college I wanted to attend. Should I
pursue a career as a doctor? What about majoring in business administration? How do I
know if I am following God’s plan? These were all questions I asked myself when trying
to determine my career of choice. Oftentimes, as I look back on those moments, I now
realize I lacked clarity and the proper decision-making skills. More importantly, I lacked
the spiritual guidance I needed from God to help direct my path. Now that I've grown in
Christ, his understanding has enabled me to recognize that we're all here for a reason.
This semester, I’ve learned that discernment is an important part of our spiritual lives,
and should be practiced in my everyday life to be better able to think about what’s going
on “inside of me”. Ultimately, practicing this can help me make better decisions in
everyday life. I learned that one of the main questions of discernment is, “what is
leading me to a good life, and what is not?” The answer to this question involves
utilizing both the heart and brain.

As a future Ignatian leader, my discernment question at this point of my life is,

“What is God asking me to do to lead a good life not just for myself, but others and for
God?” and “Will this choice better lead me to God’s deepening life in me and for
others?” because I believe that all our choices, big and small, should be a way to
deepen our relationship with God and all of our decisions is simply to be a follower of
Christ. My discernment questions pave the way to recognizing my deepest desires in
my life -- being one with God. And this is where I learned how to discern between selfish
wants and holy desires.

Ignatian discernment helped me recognize my potential to lead others through

acknowledging that I can lead because I know how to discern which is an important
aspect of leadership because to be a leader comes the complexities of decision making.
And as an Atenean, is it an advantage because we were taught about discernment --
prayerfully choosing between two goods not just for ourselves, but for others and for
God and syncing ourselves with the mind and heart of God, in matters both big and
small.
 Through Retreat in Daily Life, I’ve learned that it is important to have space and
time to pause and reflect. It also taught me the importance of discernment because
every day of our lives we face decision-making be it big or small. It made me realize that
in discerning we must seek to do God’s will in our lives. This course guided me through
making important decisions in my life. It caused me to think thousands of times before
committing to a choice. And I can see myself practicing discernment in my life because
it helps us get in touch with the true, good, and beautiful desires God has placed deep
within us. Listening to your heart, evaluating with your mind, and bringing God into the
conversation through prayer clarifies our motivations and desires, gives us confidence
in the decisions we make, and teaches us to be our authentic best selves.