Authenticity has been on a long, tough road in pursuit of its place in the world. It began as impulses within raw, wild beasts. It wandered through forests and wilderness for many millennia. After merging with consciousness and connecting with the intentions of all living beings in all the realms, authenticity became bold and brazen.
For some, authenticity has involved secret knowledge and clandestine pursuits. For others, it has been used as a tool to manifest power and control. Over time, authenticity matured, nurtured itself, and found its most enduring and profound calling as the homing-beacon for people who have lost their way.
“Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.”
— Eckhart Tolle
What Is Authenticity?
Authenticity is a pure encounter with our core selves. It occurs in the present moment, without pretense. Its purpose is to serve our expressiveness and self-awareness. It does this by initiating experiences and absorbing the related energetic fascia. While it is continually evolving, our authentic nature is always available to us.
When we are not conscious of the ramifications of our temporary selves, we might deny ourselves authenticity and the complete experience of our natures. While social norms tend to oppress us, we always have the option to commit to returning to authenticity.
During this new era of social over-responsibility and political confusion, authenticity has found itself in a quandary. While its pure expression might confuse, offend, or harm others, it remains a living force that requires continual exploration and pronouncement.
To fulfill its purpose, authenticity must experience itself in some form without oppression. It must be permitted to know itself and give rise to its impulses, without judgment. While not all authentic selves are peaceful or benign, they must be allowed to live.
Authenticity is not only a strategic path toward self-awareness and personal evolution; it’s the key to living a full life. As life gives birth to itself without judgment, so must we.
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
The Pathway To Authenticity
Some of us are living powerfully authentic lives. We live from and through the electricity that pours through us. We remain connected to our core nature in all activities and relationships. Those who have lost touch with themselves might only need to be reminded that they are inauthentic. Others might require a process to walk them back home. While no path is perfect or precise enough to meet every mindset and need, here is a step-by-step list of how you might achieve greater authenticity in your life.
Honesty
While it’s become socially acceptable to deny ourselves realistic public identities, there is nothing more important than being honest, especially when in dialogue with our inner spirits. When we experience genuine acknowledgments of our natures, at least within our thoughts, intentions, and prayers, we open doorways to healing, accountability, clarity, and transformation. Honesty also saves us energy and gives us the most stable foundation for enduring success and happiness.
Self-Worth and Self-Approval
We are not all great Mahatmas, but this does not preclude us from beckoning the eternal light and bathing in it. And while we might be able to request a miracle and immediately experience it, we must begin by accepting that we are worthy. In pursuit of our evolution, we do not need to approve of our transgressions. They are in the past and the past is a canceled check. It does not exist. We do not require approval or forgiveness from others. We focus on ourselves and on our desires to become new and drenched in the light of the universe.
Self-Evaluation
Under the umbrella of an approved self, we can joyfully venture into self-evaluation. If we engage humility and other nurturing attitudes, we can source the areas of our personhood that are most in need of change. By acknowledging our shortcomings, we can choose to improve them.
Self-Confrontation
After objectively evaluating ourselves, the next step is to speak clearly within ourselves about each aspect. With a focused, inner dialogue, we can reduce our stubbornness, dissolve some of our more indelible self-identities, and venture toward transformation.
Make Adjustments
While intentions are mighty little angels, without action, they are merely hopes. Making personal adjustments to our thoughts, ideologies, behaviors, commitments, loyalties, and relationships can take some time. It might be helpful to make gradual adjustments so that all of your most endearing aspects can remain in-step with your revised life-trajectory.
Create A Unique Living-Process
Once you’ve established your challenges and potential changes, it’s vital to adjust your operational plans. The processes and procedures you’ll want to change might involve habits, environments, hobbies, jobs, careers, relationships, and schedules. With a clear and executable plan, we can achieve almost anything.
Commit To Yourself
The most difficult thing for most of us is making a commitment to regularly uplift and honor ourselves. It’s not always easy. To ensure that we stay on our path, we might adhere to a strict schedule of self-validating practices like meditation or journal writing. We might also hire a coach, therapist, or engage a few friends in a homespun support group.
Encourage And Celebrate Yourself
We are all creatures of habit. When we make even the smallest adjustments, it’s crucial that we validate ourselves. While we should refrain from self-worship, each of us is unique and in need of specific forms of encouragement. Explore the styles of encouragement and celebration that feel most nurturing to you. Add these modalities to your daily routine and social schedule. It’s in this way that we engage the universe to support our new paths and achievements.
“As I began to love myself. I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living my own truth. Today I know this is authenticity.” — Charlie Chaplin
Achieving Happiness
While happiness might be overrated and contentment preferable, we always have a choice to pursue a desired emotion. In this pursuit, everything changes. When we’re intentional about our emotional states, we increase our chances of improving our vibrations.
Being authentic with ourselves invites forces and Beings from every realm to come to our aid. Our authenticity is the most magnetic part of us. By relinquishing temporary and outdated self-identities, and by focusing on the reality of who we are, we give birth to nuances that can protect our pathways to achieve the life-states that we desire most.
To begin, tend toward selfishness and give yourself all the room you need to nurture, awaken, and experience your authentic self. Peek into the nooks and crannies of your desires and personas. Ask for guidance to fully know yourself when you need it. After learning more about who you are and nurturing yourself for a while, the chances are good that you’ll tend toward wanting to help others. It’s through measured and focused selfishness that we can achieve fertile and stable selflessness.
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
— E.E. Cummings
Always be yourself. Whether you feel a well of sadness in a grocery store or a burst of joy in a park, find safe and healthy ways to let it all out. If expressing your emerging emotions is dangerous to others, find ways to transmute the toxic aspects within your being so that you can move toward being self-expressed. It might be that meditation can assist you in becoming fully present. It might also be that meditation is your crutch.
To become authentic and whole, you can choose to embody a combination of gentility and ruthlessness. You might be hiding from your biggest disappointments or most enraging life events. You might be using them to create victim-minded or lower-chakra personality traits, thereby reducing your vibration to sub-par frequencies. You might be missing out on 90% of who you are.
Step boldly into the wilderness that resides within you. Consider performing sacred ceremonies and rituals to assist you in your rebirth. Remain hopeful and prayerful. In all things, continually embrace your divinity and all the beautiful aspects inherent in your birthright.
