I want to be authentic & live my authentic self.
Often when people want to be authentic, an outward expression of this, they find themselves judging themselves and others for being inauthentic. This conundrum suggests that they need to understand what being authentic is. Their personal work is to live that. If you are tired of efforting, this might be you.
What does it mean to be authentic or live an authentic life?
In our Naturistic Shamanic Tradition, sometimes, we explore a person’s totem as the starting point for knowing the authentic self. It’s always a fascinating journey. Efforting soon changes to self-knowledge and acceptance. In this context, you gently discover that some aspects of your nature will cause problems for you and those around you. Conceptualising the nature of your totem, and thus your unique personal nature, understanding how that nature interacts with its environment, is truly a study of your authentic self. Learning to manage it in your world and minimising issues is also the beginning of you taking charge of your humanity over your nature at a profound level.
How many people do what they do and seemingly are unaware of it? For many, this is people living their nature. They are blind to it because it’s all they have ever known. We witness it with more clarity because we experience the difference from what we know.
Knowing the many aspects of your nature means you can manage yourself better through life, where you and others can enjoy the fullness of who you are. The problem-causing elements will still be there, but knowing and managing them allows you to put them to positive employment in your daily life because you know their nature, your nature.
What is your nature?
People who want to be authentic may wish to speak their minds or be able to act in a particular way, but they need to know what that is. Not knowing who they really are, their unique needs, and WHY, they get themselves tied up in knots. They can’t speak or act on their truth or their authenticity. This creates a vicious downward cycle.
So, what is their authenticity? It is ‘the good and the bad’, and knowing that, owning that, is the nature of living authentically. Each person’s authenticity is different. You cannot judge others for their lack of authenticity because theirs differs from yours.
A person may not be able to speak or tell the truth as you see it, but that is a part of their authentic self because that is where they are. Suppose they decide to work on their authentic self or develop it so they can live another way. In that case, they’ll end up going into the layers that inform their current authentic self and its response/behaviour/way and come to this knowledge of the nature of their inability to speak, act or tell the truth. But right now, that is their authentic self. So it should not be judged… if you can help.
That’s the nature of authenticity.
Warm regards,
Brad & Caroline Dunn
