Be Soulful
Just like 80-plus % of Earth's population, I also faced my share of hardships. Despite my best efforts, nothing I did was ever enough. Throughout my whole life, I was told that I wasn't a good enough daughter, student, wife, parent, or intelligent enough to do certain jobs... and I believed that. As an example of what I should be, my parents provided examples of how other kids behaved. The fact that those kids had supportive parents were totally left out, but that's beside the point.
The point is, I always thought I was stupid and that belief led me to discover a different type of intelligence that allowed me to survive my failures and disappointments in the eyes of others. I have learned how to access my intuition, in order to gain greater depths of information and make better life's decisions.
The experience enabled me to realize that one of the biggest challenges humanity faces is dealing with our own mindset. Our lives revolve around maintaining the right mindset for achieving the right goals. But, what does that mean? In other words, if you set a goal for your life based on something you think about rather than something you intuitively feel, you are living a lie and your life isn't authentic. I've lived like that for ages.
My preferred form of communication is writing. Why? Because I am a bit nervous when talking to people. It terrified me that I would make a mistake, or that I would say something other than what was expected of me. I could never talk on stage because in the face of so many people, I would probably puke my guts out before I gave that speech, even though I would have so much to say.
It took me some time to figure out why I was so nervous in the first place. Basically, I was nervous about the judgment. It is likely, I would not have been liked, or more would have been expected from me, and I would have had to fake it to meet these standards. For me, being fake is very hard, and it comes with a price... I cannot sleep at night, which negatively impacts my beauty, youth, and digestion. Having said that, I know we sometimes need to be fake in order to win someone's approval or love. Fundamentally, I believe that our greatest fear is not to be loved, but we never say that because this part of our psyche is not allowed for public consumption. This runs so deep within us that it is only known to a small number of people. Fear and love are two of the strongest emotions we have, and both can drive us to do just about anything. If we care about someone deeply we would move mountains just to hear the words "I love you" or "I am proud of you..." When it comes to being authentic, the bottom line for most of us is that we're scared. We don't want to deal with what we imagine to be the consequences of authenticity - people's judgments or reactions, our own fears and doubts, possible failure or rejection, and more - so we just shut up and try to fit in.
But let me tell you, it's cool to be authentic, and it's almost seductive. Everyone is talking about authenticity these days. However, most have no idea what it means. This is because we have no idea who we really are. When we're five, we're in the playground, looking for our place. We put on a little mask and, hey, it's so cool, we fit in. We then attend high school and college, and then we pick up another mask. Then we go to work for a big corporation, and we put on yet another mask. During the day, we sometimes switch masks and remove them and replace them as circumstances require. Then, some of us, the fortunate ones, wake up. When you reach the age of 20, 30, 40, 50, or whatever age you choose, and you decide to be authentic... Wouldn't that be awesome? The only problem is, we forgot to take off the mask because we didn't even realize it was there in the first place.
Do yourself a favor and ask yourself who are you in fact seeking approval from today. Some of you might need to think about it a bit longer, and some of you may know it right away, but we're all trying to get approval from some source. That's because we'd rather be loved than love what we do. For someone to love us, we do so many things, some of which we actually dislike. There are times when we seek approval from those who are long deceased. How is that for a twist? We want to prove something to a father or other family member who left this world without loving us in the way we desired.
Then ask yourself another question - do you trust yourself? The majority of you will say yes. That most likely is the right answer, because who else should you trust but yourself first? Without trust in yourself, it's difficult to trust others. People like to believe in things they have never seen, touched, or spoken with... Religion, for example, has been popular for more than 40000 years, and that's great. But if someone is in their 20s, 30s, 40s, or 50s and doesn't believe in themselves, but believes in an imaginary friend - then that's wrong... don't be that person. You might not be who you want to be right now, but guess what? We're needed right now.
Honestly, my own trust in myself is low. Particularly in my brain. Many, many years ago, I trusted it, but now I don't, because it isn't my truth. There is a lot of information that other people put into my brain: media, news, politicians, and other people who tell me what to do, or how much money I need to save or spend.
In the words of Albert Einstein. " The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. " Everything Albert has ever said sounds pretty smart and sexy, but I disagree with it. There is no such thing as an intuitive mind. Intuition comes from within, not from the mind. Mind is nothing but a filter, and it is important to clean it from time to time and be aware of what information should be absorbed and which should be rejected. And yet, we tend to live in our heads and use the rest of our bodies as a dumpster bag or a tool to transport our heads from point A to point B. Our remarkable ability to analyze everything leaves us unaware of WHAT we're missing.
Being authentic and living intuitively takes courage. Courage comes from a French word le coeur - meaning heart. Having courage means letting go of our intellectual fight with ourselves and accepting who we are. Feeling from the heart is authentic, pure, and undefended. The modern world demands that we live a life that relies on internal knowledge. It is through intuition that we can connect with each other and no longer be isolated.
#authenticity #masks #notgoodenough
