"We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one."

Ignatius makes strong emphasis on discernment. That we should make our decisions after setting our goals, a long period of reflection, gathering information, and, finally, going through with the decision. In this quote we see that in order to be happy, our decisions should not be based on health or sickness, wealth of poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short life, we should make our decisions based on our own happiness. That's where discernment comes in.

Ignatius describes discernment as the way of figuring out which direction God is leading you. Ignatius believed God had a strong influence in the decisions we make.

When making our decisions we should look at the gifts God has given us; gifts included in our DNA, culture, family and environment. It is based on these gifts that we can tell more or less where God wants us to go. Although some people might look at their gifts and go a way God doesn’t want them to, those people made their decisions to fit their superficial needs and wants. Life is a mystery, God won’t tell us exactly where he wants us, and this is why discernment is so important. Ignatius teaches us that when making the decisions, it should be head over heart, or the objective over the subjective. Decisions should never be made in the heat of the moment because this leads us to making poor decisions. Every decision should require time and the steps given by Ignatius when it comes to discernment.