Craving Authenticity

AUTHENTICITY….It’s a basic principle, but in a photoshopped, filtered world where the flaws are taken out and unrealistic images are created, everyone is craving authenticity.

What is authenticity?  It’s being true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character – being sincere, with no pretensions or imitation. Being true to yourself.

When you are authentic, people see the real you.  They either like or dislike YOU, the authentic YOU.  Whether they like you is NOT the most important thing though.

The most important thing is that you like yourself.  You have to live with yourself. You can’t run away from yourself. You can’t hide from yourself. So it is best if you like being you.

You are unique.. no one else can be you better than you.  No one else has your special skills, talents, personality, and purpose.

If you try to imitate someone else, you limit yourself to being a poor version of someone else. 

If you try to be the person someone else thinks you should be, you limit yourself to being a poor version of someone else’s idea.

Why not be the best version of yourself?

BE YOUR BEST AUTHENTIC SELF

Being authentic doesn’t mean you must always stay the person you are now…..never changing…. quite the contrary…  

As spiritual beings living in earthly bodies, we all have a purpose to discover and fulfill.

Maybe you love who you are … but you want to be more, do more. You want to discover that elusive purpose and fulfill your dreams.

You can “be all that you can be…”  (and you don’t have to join the Army to do it!)

You are in your current situation because of the choices you have made in the past. Yes…Who you are and what you do has consequences.

You may have had some bad moments,  those times you did things you aren’t proud of and may regret. Yes… it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Chalk those up to  “learning opportunities.”

As you learned from your experiences, you built on the consequences of every action you chose.   

If you aren’t happy with the consequences of your past actions, you can change your future by making different choices.

You can create more of your best moments…. when you are in your zone… presenting your best self to the world…. fulfilling your purpose at the highest level….  creating intentional happiness.

In the process, you will create more satisfaction with yourself and come closer to fulfilling your purpose and passions.  You will become your best Authentic Self.

No matter what you do,  where you go, where you live…..  Your Authentic Self goes with you.

So, why not be your best Authentic Self?

• What is your WHY…. your purpose… your dream?  When you know your WHY, you can figure out the HOW.
• What is your passion?  Whether You want to be an expert at something,  or a jack of all trades, choose the right answer for you. 
• What are your strong points? …build on them.
• What are your skills and talents? ….. practice them.
• What consequences are you experiencing that you would like to overcome? Make new, good  choices.
• What bad habits can you replace with good habits?  Pick one good habit every month to start practicing until it becomes instilled in your everyday routine.

Ignore that small voice inside of you telling you you can’t, you aren’t good enough, smart enough,  you won’t stick with it…  you know.. those lingering doubts and implanted in your psyche since birth… attacking your self-esteem.

It’s similar to building a skill. You get better with practice.  Practice being you, your best Authentic Self..  Then…. 

SHOUT YOURSELF OUT LOUD!….

Now for the rest of the story…. ALWAYS…

ALLOW OTHERS TO BE AUTHENTIC

In today’s world, it seems that everyone is offended by something, to the point of trying to silence others from speaking their true feelings in a manner that comes naturally to them.

Wouldn’t you rather know their true feelings? Even if you feel offended, or hurt.  Wouldn’t you rather have honesty than deceit?  Think about it. 

When you allow someone else to speak freely and be their authentic self… only then…  do you learn who they really are, and what you see is what you get.