Authenticity is necessary for healing humanity Imagine a dynamic planet where we operate as one and are all part of the essential fabric of existence, the collective creative consciousness. We are not separate selves that must worry incessantly and spend our time being right, looking good or being in control. We are integral to the whole and we are also unique beings. The expression of our gifts is important, beautiful and indispensable. Waking up to our unique gifts is no small task. We look in the mirror and we see a distorted image, like looking in a funhouse mirror and thinking it is accurate. We then enroll people around us in this conspiracy and they relate to our funhouse mirror as if it is the truth.

What does it mean to be your authentic self?

• Being true to your Self, despite a world and external pressures attempting to have you be something else. Your Self is not a fixed entity given to you at birth. It is not your small EGO self separate from humanity.
• Being and acting in alignment with who you hold yourself to be and the commitments that come out of your mouth. This is distinct from “how you feel in the moment,” “what you think in the moment,” or “what others want or think.”
• Consider that who you hold yourself to be is the Unique You that was put on this planet for something beautiful, essential and woven into the fabric of humanity. It is like a sacred contract you make with your Self on who you get to be in the world.

Authenticity requires courage and discipline

• It takes courage to be and act aligned with your declaration of who you are.
• It takes courage, can be uncomfortable, unfamiliar because you are operating without much evidence or agreement or guarantees.
• It takes courage to be transparent and tell the truth about your inauthenticity, mistakes, and masks.
• It takes courage to confront yourself to discover where you are inauthentic: to actually shine a light on your blind spots and examine your inconsistent actions and ways of being.
• It takes courage to tell the truth and feel like you are going to fail or die.
• It takes courage to break the cycle of your addiction to “looking good, being right, and being in control, or your past.”

Children delight in discovery, uncertainty and pure possibility until we teach them that knowing and certainty gets them more approval points. So we grow up and become attached to certainty. The idea of revealing, “what we don’t know that we don’t know,” becomes a threat and another opportunity to be wrong and fail. It is difficult to experience true joy, power and freedom when we live within a context of “something is wrong” and “uncertainty is scary.” It is impossible to reveal our unique gifts and be connected to each other when we are cloaked in our inauthentic armor.

Stepping into Authentic Leadership: Part I
– Play a game bigger than survival of your Ego.
– Choose to make the success of humanity your delightful responsibility.
– Stop pretending you are separate from all the other beings.
– Wake up to your unique gifts and live as if they are profoundly needed.
– Have the courage to confront your Ego and inauthenticity.
– Be and act aligned with who you declare yourself to be.
– Urgently stand for others to discover their exceptional uniqueness.