I am hearing this discussion more and more of late, this concept of being “authentic” and the act of “authenticity” but I feel that so many may be struggling still to grasp the concept. What does it mean to be authentic?
Authentic by definition means to be “of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine” which is interesting in itself as we have seen the rapid emergence of the self help and wellness industry which has a strong focus on this and claims to get down to the core of what it means to be you, to be authentic in your own skin.
But how do we actually do this? What exactly is that defining moment where we truly are being authentic, or have we been authentic all along but have all of a sudden started second guessing ourselves in our quest of finding ourselves. Life, we are told is a journey, a journey of self-discovery they say. We go along day by day on this path that leads us into various situations, relationships, jobs, parts of the world, but all the while we are only following one path from beginning to end, start to finish, despite our perceived and actual deviations from it. When we deviate from our path, we start to feel a little nervous, a little anxious and it seems some days as if even our voices and our thoughts start to change and perhaps even sound different. This is because they do.
If you think in terms of vibration, everything holds a vibration and everything holds a frequency. Think of a musical instrument when it is out of tune, it is singing a different note, which we know is not what it should be doing, and it does not sound quite right. Think of yourself as the most important musical instrument of all, really get to know what you feel and sound like when you are not in tune. To do this though we need to know how we feel and sound when we are completely in tune. The next step is to stop the thoughts in your mind telling you to do this that or the other and just go with what you are feeling.
This is your path calling you back toward where you should be and no amount of logical thinking will get you there, for this is your path and the journey of the soul. It may get you to what you think is the next right move, but as for feeling like it is, well, I am sure you could think of a time where you have thought you should do something or be somewhere and then upon arriving, have instantly felt strange. Your mind will tell you that perhaps you are sick, or that there is something wrong and that you need to seek help to get over your fear but I believe this not to be true, I believe this is our fine tuned instrument that we call our soul calling our physical self back to where we sing the best tune and truly shine.
This place right here is what we call authenticity. Only YOU sing the tune that you sing, no other does. Sure, you might be one of one hundred people walking into the same office building everyday, catching the same bus, going to the same place for lunch and doing very similar things, but no other is tuned to the same frequency or vibration that you are. When we are singing our chord of authenticity, we are unstoppable. We go into almost a trance like state of achievement and when our path calls for us to stop and take stock of where we are, we can sometimes not believe how far we have come and what we have achieved. It is during these moments where we must again, not let thought or our mind wander with how we got here or what the next task is, we must surrender to our feelings and let our soul do the rest.
It is at this moment that we have been truly authentic. If you stop for long enough, you may let a little thought creep in which will affirm just how easy it was and just how enriching the experience was also. This is how life truly is, life is not hard, life is not a challenge, but we so often let our minds wander of into challenging territory and then allow our to bodies follow and it is then when things feel as if they are getting tough. All the while if we had just let things just take their course and evolve, step by step, we would find we get even further than we could have ever imagined and with such incredible ease and grace.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”
Lao Tzu
Some of you will say that we need to have dreams and that we need to aspire to those dreams in order to feel fulfilled. I will say yes, I agree, but what I will also say is that I believe we have the order the wrong way around. Our paths are laid out for us long before we get here, we choose a path before we choose to incarnate into this being. So with that being said, it is not so much about aspiring to the dreams in our minds for a way forward, but about remembering the dreams of the past which influenced our choice to come here in the first place.
So how can we ensure that we are being authentic? Here are 7 ways to know that you are in tune.
- Learn what it means and how it feels for you to be centered and practice being here.
- Know what does and does not feel right within you.
- Learn to know your limits, recognize when you have gone too far and when to bring yourself back into balance.
- Listen to, and respect your feelings.
- Act on your feelings by making the next right move.
- Don’t forget to stop and take stock, but don’t sit here for to long and let your mind wander.
- Do appreciate how easy everything feels, really embrace how it feels.
If you go through the above list over and over and practice how it feels, then I believe you are on the path to mastering authenticity within yourself, the most important instrument you will play.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to speaking with you all next month.
Jamie.