Want to know how to live an authentic life and truly connect with yourself? Follow these 10 steps to be the person you were meant to be.
1. Sit in silence with yourself every day.
Living an authentic life means taking action from the inner confidence of intuition. Most people have no idea what their intuition feels like because they are so busy. Our culture values productivity over peace. Cultivate your voice of intuition: it will always lead you in the right direction. You need to be able to actually hear it, so practice silence every day -- even if it's only for 10 minutes at a time.
2. Nurture your playful side.
I noticed a kid in the mall freaking out with excitement over a strobe light dancing on the ceiling. How is it that we lose this playful, excitable side of ourselves once we grow up? It's almost as if we step into predefined roles of serious, mature and adult behavior. Connect with your playful side. If that means playing with a dog, your kids, playing a trick on someone, or whatever, connect with that little kid inside you and allow the wonder and magic of life to embrace you. This requires courage to stop trying to control everything. Remember you are an actor in a movie, not the director.
3. Reconnect: Get out and enjoy nature.
If there's only one thing you do to connect with your authenticity, let it be this one. Nature always brings you back no matter how far you stray off your path. Nature is the ultimate teacher.I learned to connect with the essential facets in nature, the vibrations of air, water and light. My daily bird watching is magical and I receive information, insights and feelings. From nature one learns how to receive.
4. Do some yoga
Do anything to open yourself up and connect with yourself. Yoga literally means "union" of the body, mind and spirit. It is not a practice of personal development; although the practice of it will leave you feeling more tapped in to the flow of life. Yoga is a practice of self acceptance. Living authentically requires self-acceptance and self awareness of where you are now. This is what you develop with any kind of regular practice. I recommend Yoga because it combines the breath -- your life force, your mind -- thoughts, and the body closely linked with emotions. This practice will bring you back in union with your authentic self.
5. Be vulnerable. That's where your real power lies.
We want to live an authentic life, be more real, feel more alive, empowered, and fulfilled, on target and living with purpose. The problem is we numb all of our painful emotions. Being vulnerable is facing these emotions of shame, fear, guilt, frustration, and grief. It's only when we connect with our pain and move through it that we connect with the emotions of love, joy and happiness on the other side.
Have the courage to be still and feel what you feel; don't run from it. Being vulnerable is real strength. It's the ability to honor your boundaries. It means having the confidence to be the real you even if it's not pleasant. Being vulnerable is the path to authenticity.
6. Go after your dreams, starting with your first "next step."
Even if it feels like reaching your dream is far away, start! The worst thing you can do is watch time go by and extinguish your fire for life. That's when you get a rude awakening (like a head on crash). There are many people living with depression and I believe it's because they have given up living their dreams and settled for a "comfortable" life -- a life that is not too exciting and not too scary, not too enjoyable, just safe. Make a list of your dreams and pick one that you get the biggest emotional charge about, and start there. Write out the steps you will need to take in order to live that dream and take your first "next step." It won't feel overwhelming if you focus on one step at a time
7. Cultivate Presence & Self Awareness
Try this the next time you are frantically stressing out. Just slow down. Presence is where the power is. Stop everything and breathe. Count to 5, take 5 big deep breaths and then run through your mind and locate the thought that has you stressed. You can question your thoughts to bring you back to presence. When you are present you have access to your authentic creative expression. That is what attracts you to your desires. When you are present you open yourself to the Universe. If you are in business, make no mistake this is what your clients are buying from you. Presence: try it, it speaks volumes about your confidence.
8. Laugh out loud, everyday!
"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." ~ Victor Borge
"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." ~ Yiddish Proverb
"A hearty laugh gives one a dry cleaning, while a good cry is a wet wash." ~ Puzant Kevork Thomajan
9. Follow your intuition.
We live in a society that tells us to numb everything. We often disregard our feelings and don't talk about feelings of weakness, vulnerability or anxiety. By society's rules, feelings are dangerous. What happens is that you also drown out your intuition, the guiding voice of reason that leads you on the path of authentic living. A counselor once told me that we should treat our emotions like a wave in the ocean.
If we tense up and hold tight when a wave hits, it knocks us over and ravages us, slamming our bodies into the sand and we get hurt. If we let the wave take us, give into the emotion and let it wash over us, it soon leaves and we find ourselves on the shore, intact with no limbs missing, except maybe a few pounds lighter. It's hard to follow intuition when you're told to follow your head, plan, organize and be sensible. Intuition is about connection to self, and there is nothing linear about it.
10. Share a part of yourself with others
Contributing is transcendence so share your story. Being authentic means embracing all parts of ourselves, especially the stories that shape us into who we are. You really connect with others when you share the stories that shaped your journey. The natural evolution of being present, vulnerable and courageous is that your authentic creative expression starts coming through loud and clear. You suddenly realize you can make lemonade out of the lemons life has dealt you. There is a divine plan to all of this chaos if you just sit still long enough to let it all unfold.
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