Give Yourself Permission to be Your Best Authentic Self
By: Michael Mints
Tags: Authenticity, Joy, Happiness, Success, Motivation

Give Yourself Permission to be Your Best Authentic Self

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

We All Want to Live an Authentic Life

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Sooner or later, there’s going to be a question that shows up in your mind that you can’t answer. You’ll dismiss it many times, but it will keep coming back. It will be like a rock in your shoe or a thorn in your side.

At first, it’s just a bit of an irritation but left undealt with; it becomes a blister that becomes a sore that develops into a serious infection.

The question that we all face at some point in our life is this: Is this what life is all about for me? Surely there’s more to life than this! Where have I gone wrong? What can I do, what can I change? I don’t want my life to continue like this.

We’ve all experienced it. The frustration, anxiety, lack of fulfillment, doubt, and indecision with this line of thinking. They all seem to show up with monotonous regularity, haunting our thinking, creating doubt and despair. And they continue to show up until you CHANGE something.

Living Authentically

We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity. — Barbara de Angelis

When you get right down to it, most people just want to live a peaceful, happy, and successful life. You just want to make more money than you’re spending each month. That’s all. You want to spend more time with the people you care about and do the things that make your heart sing.

In other words, you want to live a Happy, Authentic Life. To quote Gandhi, Authenticity is the inevitable outcome of what you think, what you say, and what you Do is in harmony. In fact, it’s the only possible outcome.

How different would it be if you woke up each morning with a smile on your face, jumped out of bed, and couldn’t wait to get at it? Like you did when you were a kid, and the fair was in town, remember?

Living life like this is possible, but it starts with removing the things in your life that are no longer serving you.

Here are some of the things:

● Some of the people that you’ve known for a long time

● Places you visit frequently.

● Activities you may have been involved in for years.

● Old habits, thoughts, and expectations

The beauty of this for you will begin when you start to see evidence of life coming to your rescue. You will start to develop your belief muscle, and in no time, you will be making bigger and better choices, wiser decisions that will be in harmony with your deepest desires.

You’ll start making decisions that are within your comfort zone at first and then watch the process start to unfold.

What Do You Need to Let Go?

“Until you let go of all the toxic things and people in your life, you will never be able to grow into your fullest potential. Let them go so you can grow.” — DLQ

Obviously, the words in this quote are easier said than done. You become so attached to things, people, and dangerous feelings that your life becomes consumed and bogged down.

You become handicapped to the point of paralyzation with things and people that are no longer useful or needed in your life.

The pain and trauma that exists in your lives is there because you’re holding onto things that are hurting you — in a strange way, you find it comforting to hold on to the things and people you know even though they're hurting you, rather than risk letting them go.

Consider these thoughts:

People. If there are people in your life that are no longer making you happy, it’s time to let them go. What if they are friends? What if they are family?

If you really want to live a happy, authentic life, it will be important for you to face the reality of where and who your unhappiness is coming from.

Places. What about the places you visit or frequent? Are there places you go for entertainment, education, social recreation, or employment that you don’t really enjoy? If you’re not happy when you walk in and you’re not happy when you come out, stop going there!

Thoughts. What do you spend your time thinking about? Is your mind permeated with doom and gloom? Do your thoughts create anxiety, fear, disappointment, or even anger? Why dwell on any of that? How can that possibly be serving you?

All the people, places, and experiences that you allow to continue indefinitely are weighing you down. No amount of success, drive, or positive thinking will change anything for you until you face the real problem.

Every person, place, or activity that isn’t making you happy is like stones you put in your backpack when you go on a hiking trip. You’re not going to go far before the additional weight begins to drag you down.

Life then becomes extremely heavy. Every day becomes a painful chore, and the backpack of life eventually becomes too heavy to lift. Everything becomes a hassle, a struggle. And you wonder why life is tough?

So, What Happens When You Start Living Authentically?

“Be your authentic self. Your authentic self is who you are when you have no fear of judgment or before the world starts pushing you around and telling you who you’re supposed to be. Your fictional self is who you are when you have a social mask on to please everyone else. Give yourself permission to be your authentic self.” — Dr. Phil

Here’s what happens when you do:

You start thinking of people, places, and things that make you happy.

You begin to make choices to visit places and people that maybe you haven’t seen for a while, people that make you feel good. You start to re-engage with them, and in the activities you enjoy.

You find yourself smiling during the day for no reason at all. Life suddenly feels lighter. You feel totally capable of letting go of thoughts you neither want nor need. And replace them with powerful positive thoughts about yourself and your future.

For the first time in a long time, you begin to experience JOY just through your thoughts and feelings. You notice that, without any conscious effort on your part, you have no attachment to the people, places, or things that no longer serve you. Letting them go becomes effortless.

Living authentically becomes easy. As your awareness for all things authentic within you becomes more apparent, your ability to reject things that are not in alignment with who you are and your authentic self increases exponentially.

You start making new friends. New people start to come into your life who align with your new fresh way of thinking. People who see you for the amazing person you really are.

You begin seeking new adventures. Opportunities to experience new activities that you have never previously thought you would or could do, and know you find yourself excited about trying them.

You learn and discover. Your interest in learning new things awakens, and you become fascinated by the idea of learning new skills.

The people you meet while learning these new skills will resonate directly with your heart and you will feel at home.

Once you start living authentically, your frustration, anxiety, fear, and doubt are replaced with optimism, enthusiasm, positivity, and fulfillment in all that you’re doing.

Life starts to seem simpler. The sun seems to shine bigger and brighter, and more often. People start to say you look and sound different.

Slowly over time, you find yourself in a better, happier, more authentic place. You start attracting people to you that you wish to spend time with.

At the same time, you are beginning the process of becoming someone you would want to have in your life. You begin to become the person that personifies the qualities you most desire in people you want around you.

You begin to exhibit in your daily life the qualities and values that you most admire.

This all begins when you decide that you're worth it. That you deserve to be this happy. Let go of everyone and everything that no longer serves you.

The changes can be dramatic. Try it; do it for yourself.

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