The Authentic You

How's it going?

Is your life working out to be all that you had hoped it would be?

Are you filled with happiness?

Are you experiencing more joy?

Are you getting what you need?

[If you have answered `great', `yes', `yes', `yes' and `most certainly' then I'm jolly delighted that you dropped in, but this particular article is not for you ..

Hi if you're still with me I've not lost the plot...indeed it just may be that I have my finger on something that needs asking. How are you doing with those questions? Or are you already thinking of moving on to something more your scene. You see that is just the point. I am on your side...I am really. I want the very very best for you.

I invite you to think just how authentic your life really is. What do I mean? Well I mean how often does the `real you' feature in your life? Is it a daily occurrence, a moment by moment decision....or is someone else pulling your strings?

Perhaps there is more than `one' of you. There is the `you' who performs at the daily grind or your place of work. The person who carries out the company policy day in and day out. Then there's the you that your friends know and maybe your family. Let me ask you something. Does this `you' line up with your true values? How many of `you' are there?

Thinking time is allowed...

Maybe it's not so much what you do at work but what you say or think.

`Oh yes Mrs Sloan-Bigsby [if that's your name it is nothing personal] - I think your garden's looking wonderful'...whilst secretly thinking no such thing. To join in the tittle tattle so prevalent in to-days society of speaking much and saying `nothing any different from anyone else.'

Then again it could just be that you dress in accordance with what the job or what you perceive society demands...and are secretly wishing you were wearing something else, or indeed behaving in a different way - but you carry on. Why? Well invariably there are good and sound reasons. Such as `Well it's my job and it's the way you're supposed to dress and/or behave'. Now this is fine if it transpires that this is who you truly are.

I recall once having a job in the Civil Service. I spoke to the customers on the telephone....but I did it `my way'. I managed to get through the number of calls per hour that were required...so nothing was said. It was muttered about; but, you understand, nothing was `said'. However, when it came to putting a tick in the top right hand corner ....well `everything' was said. It was either the wrong coloured pen or I had ticked it when it shouldn't have been ticked. Occasionally the wondrous form was filed in the wrong tray...These `things' that I did wrong....were against the `norms'.

It took some time for me to realise that no matter how hard I tried...the `norms' of the Civil Service and the things which were important to me were never going to come anywhere near a compromise. I took a Career-break never to return.

Our doctor's surgeries have a high percentage of people waiting for the doctor to provide a cure..when the real cure is to do what `agrees' with who you are. If we were ever to consider being a peg - squares ones in square holes comes to mind. [Have you ever thought how to make a square hole.] Alas I digress....

We see much of the social self at work in todays society. Now the social self is that part of you which has learned to conform, to be accepted, to fit in, to get by. Call it what you will but it certainly isn't the real `You'.

Does any of this resonate? If so, just where does it stop?

You see I believe there is the Authentic You.. who is essentially the real you; the uncontaminated by the world you. That part will always take you towards the very best. It is like a magnet drawing you. The Authentic You ...it is the spiritual dimension of your life...that just knows and will guide you to that which is your true essence, your true nature. Perhaps most importantly this is where you will achieve most in your life. Yet so often we try to ignore it, to find ourselves thinking `this isn't the `done' thing'. Perhaps we won't go into that. But do you know what I mean? We in modern society can so easily find ourselves tied into what we perceive `convention' or what `society' really wants of us - and worse still find ourselves conforming to those perceived `norms'.

I can assure you from years of experience that following society's `norms' or established conventional behaviour is not the way to realising your dreams or achieving happiness. Nor, ironically, will society thank you for your conformity.

Your Authentic Self, on the other hand, will always line up with your true values, the things which are important to you and no-one else. So follow that intuition that you have been given. Be all that you need to be to be truly YOU.

This article is really about helping you to move more towards the `real you', the `authentic' you. If you have a dream then follow it, just as you would set your course by a compass. Sure there will be folk who come along and tell you that you're daft, unrealistic or `no-one in our family has ever done that' ! [with such a look of utter horror or bewilderment on their face]. You see family and friends who say these things don't mean they think you're daft...or what you have in mind is just `way out there' or `don't you know how to behave'. All these comments that come from well-meaning family and friends are really about the fact that when you behave in a different way than society's norms `they' feel uneasy. `They' are used to being programmed by societal demands. In a sense if you rock the boat it is `they' who are uncomfortable because `it' is different.

When I read the newspaper or watch the news on the television there is one crime that never seems to get reported. It is, in my view, the worst crime that you can ever commit [tongue in cheek]. The crime? To live a boring life. After all if we live the same way as our parents following their norms and ways of doing things and they, for their part, had followed the ways that their parents had lived....nothing would ever change.

So here are a few thoughts for you to cogitate

• You are totally and utterly unique.
• No-one else thinks like you - and never will - that is part of your uniqueness.
• No-one else can do what you can do in quite the way that you can do it. So will you do it?
• You are only here, in this life, a certain number of years - there are things that you are here to do.

What would happen if you missed the opportunity to fully Live life to the full?

Don't be afraid. Your true authentic self is not afraid. That part of you will take you to your goal, your destiny. It may be that at this time you are not aware of any particular goal. That's fine... Goals or your life purpose will revealed...when you give the real you, the authentic you free reign.

We are not many years into a brand new century, the third millennium. How would our world be if as individuals we promised ourselves never to short-change who we really are. To live up to our highest values and ideals. When we experience or witness lazy mindedness that says `well that's the way it's always been done' to stand tall and speak out. To challenge injustice and to know deep in our being who we are as an individual and what we stand for. Dear reader - in times past there have been people who have crossed my path who have declared that I am MAD. At the time I was naïve enough to allow such comments to disturb me...No so nowadays.

To-day I know I am MAD...I ....Make a Difference. May I encourage you to join me and to Make a Difference by living up the highest calling of being that which no-one else can truly be, namely, YOURSELF!