Authenticity
I’m sure you’ve heard the word authenticity, but have you really thought about what it means? What does it mean to be authentic or to live your life authentically?
In today’s musings I explore this topic and how to embrace this in your life to help you live a more aligned experience day to day.
Audio Transcription:
Hello, and welcome to my musings.
Today I want to talk about authenticity. What does that mean to you?
To me, to be authentic means to be true to myself. To stay true to what is important to me. To speak my truth. To tune in to what I really feel in each moment and if action is warranted, to take it from that place of connection.
As children we are authentic beings. If we’re hungry we let our people know. If we’re tired or have a wet diaper, we don’t hold back and gauge whether it’s a good time to let our parents know that we need attention. If we have a need, we express it, authentically, and without hesitation or second guessing.
As we grow, we quite often learn to suppress our authenticity. We learn that when we express ourselves authentically, it can have negative consequences. We can disappoint our people. We can be ignored, scolded, punished or the like.
This can lead to us dampening ourselves, to censoring what and how we say things or express our needs.
We learn to compare ourselves to others and potentially base our self-worth on how we measure up.
In other words, we learn to unlearn how to be our true, authentic selves.
So, with this in mind, what does being authentic look like in adulthood?
I raise this issue as an opportunity to really reflect on our lives. To look at our interactions with our people. To check in with ourselves.
Are you showing up as your true authentic self? Are you in some circumstances, but not others? This certainly may be the case. You may feel totally safe in your relationship with your partner and show up as the real you at home, but at work it may be a different story.
There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but rather a thought to ponder. I invite you to really look at your life and how you show up.
This is an invitation to check in with yourself. Perhaps take some time to get in touch with what is important to you. How do you want to show up in the world? What are your beliefs? What do you stand for?
And then, let’s take this a bit further and extend the invitation to check in with yourself in as many of your interactions as you can remember to do so.
When you’re at home or at work or with your children or friends. During a conversation, check in with yourself and if you feel called to share, do it from your heart, staying true to yourself.
When we come from a place of authenticity, from alignment, we are coming from a place of flow. When we keep our true self buried and share from a place of wanting to be accepted, we create resistance which can lead to suffering.
What do you think about this? Are you leading your life authentically? Some of the time? Most of the time? None of the time? I think we all fall somewhere on the spectrum, but this is an invitation to become aware and then act from that place.
Try it out. Play with it in whatever way feels good and safe to you and then expand upon that.
I’d really love to hear about your experiences with this. Please feel free to let me know! I think the world will be a better place, or at least we’ll be feeling better, when we show up as our true, authentic selves.
Thanks so much for joining me today and remember that true peace is always just one breath away.
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