Authenticity

Is authenticity a natural state? Or is authenticity achieved as a result of living a long life filled with many experiences that define who we are?

Do children grow out of being authentic or do adults cloak their authenticity to protect the sense of vulnerability that comes with the territory? Have we become a society with an attitude of “I don’t want to know who you are and I certainly don’t want you to know me?” Is it strange that when someone calls us authentic we take it as a compliment?

Regardless of which is true, it is evident that authenticity has a quality of the mysterious; some of us striving for it and others masking it at all costs.
But it is difficult to build a life of achievement and continual possibilities based upon a false self. No matter how grand our accomplishments, if we are not acting authentically, they become a house of cards ready to collapse at a moment’s notice.

A false self is a natural enemy and will eventually sabotage all you do and turn all achievements into failure.

From the Law of Achievement.

Comments

[Lance]

I sometimes feel un-authentic. And I think I do mask who I am sometimes. Why? I'm not sure. Am I afraid of what other people might think? Do I value the views of others over what I believe to be true in my heart? Sometimes, I think the answer is yes. And I'm not proud of that answer. I try to be authentic, but sometimes I really do think that I bury it. I will take this as my reminder to live my life as who I am.

[Kathleen Gage]

I believe that life is always offering us the opportunity to be our authentic self or not. It is in the choices we make we decide moment by moment.

Thank you for your thoughts Lance.

Kathleen Gage