Discernment of Spirits
This isn’t a post on all the elements that make up the discernment of spirits. However, I have spent time doing this from learning during Opus Dei retreats and with a spiritual director who started me on the Ignatian Spiritually. And now, my wife, Cindy and I are meeting regularly with a local priest who is helping us even further to learn and practice more. We started with the discernment of spirits and the differences between non-spiritual consolation and desolation and those things that are spiritual. It has taken a while to learn and spend time every day to look at our life and then just listen to God.
There is a lot to learn as we want to go as close to God as we can.
There are a lot of references if you are interesting and here are a couple:
The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living
The Jesuits website page: The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola