If you want to see authenticity in its purest from, look at little kids before they go to school. It’s so easy to see. We also see it in businesses, singers, restaurants, etc., all around us.
Why are we so drawn to it?
Because it touches something within us that’s able to connect with that authenticity. Somewhere, deep inside of us, is a desire to express our own authenticity and when we see others express their own authenticity, we feel like we have permission to do so ourselves and we wonder what life would be like if we actually did.
But going back to kids, when they start going to school, authenticity takes a backseat to conformity. To be different is to become a target and it’s unfortunate that so many of our young ones are having their authenticity literally being bullied out of them. When kids get out of the system, most stick to conforming for the rest of their lives out of the fear of the pain they associate with expressing themselves and never look back, but that’s a big mistake, especially in today’s world where authenticity is your very best asset.
To be authentic is to honor who you are at your very core so you can give your very best to others.
The opposite is conforming and that’s basically copying and if you do that, at the VERY BEST, you’ll always be second.
Now most people don’t even give their very best, so they’re pretty far down when you look at it.
For those who conform and copy, you’ll always have that nagging feeling in the back of your mind and always feel like you’re not doing the right thing.
Who are you? What do you stand for? Why do you do the things you like to do?
Take some time to really think about the answers to these questions.
Have these qualities act as a “filter” for life.
See what you can create from these qualities of authenticity and share it with the world.
It doesn’t have to be your main profession. If it is, great. If not, if you have to do it part time, that’s OK too so long as you’re doing it in some shape or form.
Now the obvious trouble with copying is that you’re just like everyone else and won’t measure up to the original, which was based on authenticity in the first place, so there’s nothing left to distinguish you from the masses of other copycats.
In a day and age where people, skills, services are being commoditized, authenticity is the one thing that CANNOT become a commodity.
Each of our authentic selves is something that will NEVER again be replicated in human history.
The very thing that people suppress is the very thing that will set them free.
In N Out.
Why do so many people love it? Why is there always a line? We sense their authenticity. Their burgers are fresh, made to order, they have a simple menu that never changes, they treat their workers right, pay them well, it’s clean place to eat, great prices, etc. We know what they stand for and they follow through.
Now some may say – why don’t they expand their menu to chicken, fish, salads, etc., to increase revenue, but then they lose their authenticity.
Look at singers.
You can always tell who is just a puppet of the corporate marketing machine, who have their songs and lyrics written for them to sing, but you can always tell who wrote their songs from their heart, from their authentic selves.
We know it when we hear it.
The fear that permeates authenticity is the fear of not being liked. It was instilled when we were kids. Being different meant being a target. Not only that, in adulthood, you have a similar tangent of fear of rejection. What if nobody genuinely likes your authenticity?
Well, there may be some people who won’t jive with it and that’s OK, but there’s always going to be some people who are drawn to your authentic self because your authenticity dips into part of the human consciousness we all share and when you express yours, on a platform of writing, speaking, painting, singing, lecturing, creating, etc., it’s like sending up a flare that other people will see and will flock to find you – because they see in you what they see and sense in themselves.
Your authenticity can make its mark on not just your creations, but in EVERYTHING you do. It can touch every aspect of your life from your social life to your environment, to even the smallest tasks you undertake.
When that happens, life just feels “right”.
Like this is what you’re supposed to be doing and how it’s supposed to go.
And you truly don’t care about “success” in the worldly sense.
If your authenticity manages to get you a lot of money, great.
If not, that’s OK too.
No biggie.
You still do it anyway because it feels good and you do your best to deliver your true self to others, and sleep well at night, knowing that you’re honoring the only you that will ever exist in the universe and not wasting that precious chance to let that light shine as it’s supposed to.
