Here we are, at the last foundation in the Life Purpose Conceptual Model (if this is news to you, please read previous posts)! Assuming, once again, that you are free and responsible, empathetic towards others and yourself, and you are open (as described in the post on openness) you are now moving towards living authentically. This post is short, but it may be most transformative. In this post I ask you to be real with yourself. Honestly self-reflect. Don't run away from discomfort. Don't allow fears, shame, guilt, or perfectionism hold you back. Embrace discomfort, fears, and all emotions. They aren't good or bad. They simply are messages into your inner experience. Listen to all messages/reactions as you contemplate what it means, for you, to be authentic. To embrace the whole you, is to be authentic.
Authenticity means that you know your inner experience and you are able to translate it to your outer lived experience. It means that you do not live with a façade. You are real. Your inner experience is congruent with your outer experience. It means that you can honestly say, I am who I say, think, and feel I am. Authenticity is a prerequisite to true purpose in life. In other words, you have to be at an authentic place if you are to live purposefully.
It might be terrifying to live authentically. Some may not like it. You may not like it for a period of time. Remember how I asked you to be honest with yourself earlier, here is the part where that becomes really important. Read and ask yourself the following questions:
You may burn some bridges in the process of being authentic, but are those bridges worth it?
Are you at peace with who you are regardless of who you are with? Why or why not?
Are you comfortable in your own skin?
Do you like yourself? Why or why not?
Are you more concerned with what others think than what you think?
Are there parts of your life that you hide from others? If so, why do you hide? How would life be better if you allowed yourself to be more fully seen by others and yourself?
How would your life be different if you were more real with others?
How would life be more challenging/better if you were real more regularly?
What activities in life would you do more or less of if you were authentic?
How would your career alter if you were authentic at work?
What would you say or not say if you were authentic in your relationships?
Do you trust that people around you will accept your true self?
What holds you back from being real in your life?
What cultural traditions, norms, or pressures lead you to conform instead of live authentically?
Who do you truly want to be in your life?
Hopefully these questions spark important reflection inside of you. Hopefully they lead you to grapple with your responsibility to own your authenticity. Hopefully some of them lead you to feel uncomfortable. Hopefully they give you a possible way forward if you are dissatisfied with an element (or elements) of your current life. Wrestling with these questions is not a quick process. In many ways, humans struggle with these questions throughout their lifespan. Authenticity is more a process of growing closer and closer to the real you throughout time. The real you may also change with time and that is okay and normal. Overall, the transformation of living authentically is a continual process.
Now I wish to bridge this post to the next set of posts on the themes of purpose. The foundations of freedom and responsibility, empathy, openness, and authenticity are the core elements that make finding and living one's life purpose possible. Truly embodying these foundations opens you up to greater meaning. In the next posts, I explore the existential themes of life purpose. They are values, energy, beginnings and endings, suffering, inheritance, and holism. They are incredibly important, but it is essential to continually consider and experience the foundations of purpose described here. Now, on to the themes of life purpose!
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