Episode 101: Being Your True Authentic Self

Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's episode. I am so excited you are here. Let's talk about being your true authentic self. So often, we will hear this concept of the true self, but what does that actually mean? For me, it means being unapologetically you, allowing your playful self to come out when you want to play, allowing your sad self to come out when you are truly sad, giving yourself permission to fully express yourself in the most authentic way, meaning treasuring and savoring every moment as if it's the last time you're going to experience it.

And I know we're talking about the authentic self, and we're also talking about savoring the present moment, and that can be a little confusing. But let's back up a second. When you're not being your true self, you are anticipating what everyone around you wants. And this can be a very unconscious behavior. It can be a very unconscious pattern. When you're your true self, you're going to show up in that present moment authentically you.

Does that mean you'll be disrespectful? Absolutely not. But someone may have their feelings hurt if you're not being what they want you to be, and I'm putting that in quotations. We're constantly fighting the societal norm, what it looks like to be "normal," again in quotations. There is no such thing as normal. What is normal is your childlike self that wants to express its wonder through all of its experiences.

If you look at a toddler, if you look at a baby, they're naturally curious. They're so curious. They're curious about the crunchy leaf on the ground or the weird random object on the window sill, or when they're walking past a really pretty flower, they stop, and they look at it, and they giggle with excitement. We are constantly being told how to act and how to behave. And yes, there are some societal norms that are nice to have so that we know how to behave in a particular way that doesn't affect maybe an event.

And yes, there are times that we want to behave appropriately per occasion, but it doesn't mean that you don't get to be your authentic self. You're still kind and courteous to other human beings having a soul experience. But what's not okay is when you're not expressing your wonder, your excitement, in fear that you may be rejected, or in fear that you may be judged, or because you've pushed down that authenticity in fear of, or you've pushed down that authenticity because that's what you were taught, or you assumed that that's how you had to be in order to fit in. This is not necessary anymore.

We live in a time where we can talk about things that are very taboo. Look at what we're talking right here. We're having a conversation about spirituality. Back in the day, you would have been persecuted for even thinking about having conversations like this. Or I would have been persecuted for being a witch of some sort because I'm into different energies and plant medicines. And that was frowned upon because the societal norm at that particular time was to prosecute. And yes, there is persecution in our timeline at this moment in time.

And it's done through trolling. It's done through trolling on the internet, where people make comments or family members or friends that are in fear of something different that goes against the norm that they don't understand. They will make judgments. And unfortunately, this is going to happen. What has to happen, though, is you have to be willing to be okay with other people's uncomfortableness. You have to be willing to get uncomfortable to be yourself and show up as your authentic self.

I remember being at a retreat once, and at the retreat this retreat, I could fully feel myself being a fun, playful teenager again. I could feel my teenager that was so depressed and so taught not to be loud or boisterous or playful because it might make people uncomfortable or it wasn't allowed in that particular form or at that particular time. When I went to this retreat, I told myself that I was just going to be me. It was so liberating because I had so much fun.

I got an opportunity to make some really great friends at this particular retreat, and I could feel my bubbliness, my innocence, my wounded teenager starting to break free from the societal norms that had shackled her into a character that she was not. Relationships can shackle you into a character that you are not. The character that you play in this lifetime will change based on relationships and societal norms.

But what's most important is the relationship with yourself. If you can create such an authentic relationship with yourself, you'll unshackle yourself from the societal norms and the relationships that are keeping you in a particular vibration. And that particular vibration shows you up. And that particular vibration has you showing up as a character that goes against your authentic self.

You can think about it like a mask. You're wearing a mask, and you might change that mask out depending on the people that you're with, the relationship you're in, and what experience that you are in at that particular moment in time. And it can change throughout the day, or it can change from chapters in your life. The key is to start unraveling these characters. And as you unravel these characters, you'll get to experience glimpses and moments of where the authentic self starts to be born again. And the illusion of self starts to be cleared.

How freeing would it be to just be you? It can feel a little scary, right? Just think about that. If I just showed up and I didn't participate in all of the dumb things that we are told that we're supposed to be doing, or we have come up in our mind, in our heart based on conditioning, what if you let go of your conditioning? What if you freed yourself from those places and times and brought yourself into this moment in this time where you got to express yourself fully? How would that feel?

And please note that fear and excitement can have a similar feeling. So there might be a little bit of fear underneath that excitement, or there might be a whole lot of fear, but that's okay. There's a saying that I like to say, fear versus faith takes the same amount of energy. It really does. So do you have faith in yourself to be you? Can you have faith in yourself to be you? What would it take for you to start expressing yourself in your most authentic way? What would it be like to live your life in your authentic expression, knowing that it serves your highest good?

It allows you to shine your light. It allows you to assist others in shining their light as well. I have a toddler, and my toddler is going through big emotions right now. And those big emotions are big. They are hard. It's such a beautiful thing that she can express that she's upset at that moment in time and not worry about if it's going to hurt my feelings. Because guess what? It does hurt my feelings sometimes, but I get to choose how I react to her big emotions. I get to choose how to process it all as well. Because guess what? We're having a human experience.

But what's so beautiful and innocent about the toddler's expression of emotions is they just do it. They just do it. Am I saying go and have a temper tantrum on the floor at work? Absolutely not. That is not what I'm saying. I'm saying that there's a healthy way to express your emotions and be your authentic self. And the more that you actually be your authentic self, the easier it is for you to process emotions. Also, it's easier to react in different ways because you are being yourself. And again, it's being yourself with kindness, compassion, love, and empathy.

That does not mean it's going to be always roses, that it's going to be all love and light at all the time, because it's not. We are meant to experience many different things, and when we choose to experience them in our authentic way, it's such a beautiful, freeing experience. In the northern hemisphere, we are entering into Spring. We are in Spring now, and it's an awesome time to spring clean, to let out the junk. Letting out the junk, you don't have to wait for spring or season change to happen. It's time to let out the junk. It's time to free yourself from these conditionings. Are you willing to do it?

Breathe that in for a moment. Take a nice deep breath in, exhale out. You got nothing to lose. And yes, you might hurt someone because then they have to look at their authentic expression. You might lose some relationships because they were never really in alignment. Or they're not willing to allow you to be you, even though you're letting them be them. All throughout life, we're going to learn boundaries. We're going to learn about letting go. We're going to learn about true surrender, true empathy, true grace, true love.

Can you truly learn who you are and express yourself in the way that you know, on a cellular level, on a soul level, that you're meant to be. That's completely up to you. Don't let anybody else tell you differently. You are in charge of your life. You are in charge of your reactions. You are in charge of what you get to experience while you're experiencing your humanness. There are things that are going to happen that are outside of your control. You still get to choose those reactions within those experiences. Receive a breath. You are a beautiful soul having a human experience.

How enriched do you want that experience? Sit with that. Be your authentic self, my friend. All right, my dear, I hope you enjoy today's episode. A lot of food for thought. I look forward to seeing you in the next one. Please make sure you like and subscribe, and I can't wait to see you soon. Bye, my friend.