12 keys to living more authentically

Many people are seeking authenticity and wonder why obstacles arise in this Path.  Watch what happens as it dawns that every apparent obstacle is actually a stepping stone to experiencing life from a point of wholeness.  Everything we do is like taking another step or leap into the loving arms of authentic being. Reflect on these 12 keys to living more authentically:

1. Tune into your internal messaging system

2. Sit with emotions (and hear their messages)

3. Take ownership for your feelings, thoughts and behaviours (rather than blaming others)

4. Keep your promises (live in integrity)

5. Do contemplative work (shadow work & inner child work)

6. Explore mindfulness techniques (i.e.varied approaches to meditation)

7. Explore dream symbols & images

8. Uncover interplay among identities

9. Know self is the only person you can help

(we can change our beliefs and behaviours, how we are perceiving, discover how authenticity feels and live from this vibrational point. We cannot force another person to do any of this.)

10. Develop wisdom (the result of life experience, intuition, discernment & deep inner listening)

11. Be open to forgive (allow yourself to experience the grief process: includes difficult feelings of anger, sorrow, anguish and dissapointment)

12. Know experiencing all emotions fully without judgement opens the heart to self-love  

Notice what is always happening

Many people are conditioned to strive for things they think will satisfy or fulfill them.  They seek the fastest, most economical way to the goal or the best way to appease family, friends, or least painful way to conform to society. It is common to think you can control things and to discover you do not.  Sound familliar?

What is truly fulfilling cannot be learned or taught.  It is always accessible and seems to come from nowhere when you are ready to recognize it.  You do not have to know from where or how it happens. Something remains in the hands of existence or beyond ego mind's control.  There is another way of seeing. 

Notice what is always happening.  Something is taking care of itself.  No need for cause or motivation. Belief in anything is a barrier to seeing.  Any search is mind-oriented.  Taste what is present all around you. It is not a means to an end.  It is grace.  The heartfelt path of true nature guides moment-to moment.

Be aware of what is calling you

It is common to ask, "what should I do?" and "What do I want?" The desire may be a job, transition, opportunity, relationship or something else.  Be aware you do not perceive your own best interests.  A deeper look reveals goals on many levels conflict.

Notice underneath all appearances, all voices in the head are the ego.  The judge who makes the rules is the superego.  The ego either follows the imagined rules and knows rage, or breaks rules and lives in fear. Most people live according to belief in their own rules and make all decisions based on them.

Something deeper is calling you.  It is not a voice in your head.  Its unrelated to what you absorb through the physical senses.  It is the call of your heart.  You cannot know where this silent guide is leading you or what the outcome is to be.  The whole experience requires surrender and complete trust of the unknown.  This unfolding is beyond choice.  It is the divine flow.

Listen closely to the call that is deeper than the mind, the emotions, deeper than anything anyone can explain.  As you act out of motivation deeper than personal, egoic gain, you are orienting to what is natural, and what simply feels right.  All tests of the ego invite you to be true to selfishness (egoically based on fear and desire) or to be true to selflessness (based on nature and pure love that is true being). Live without resistance.

Let your heart be your pilot

From this moment, allow things to unfold as they do and let your heart be your pilot.  Come to recognize feeling awareness is the infallible guide and teacher.  Pay closer attention here.  It may initially seem unnatural to go on intuition alone, to make choices based on feelings alone.  Yet, you are simply letting go of the unnatural habits.  Recall what it is to listen to true nature.  You have no-body to answer to.  No-body is always watching.

Step back for a new view

Whatever the situation unfolding in your midst, as you step back, you see things from new vantage points.  You can appreciate them from a non-emotional angle.  Recognize that you are conditioned to overlook the deeper message, to misconstrue messages you convey to yourself.  The ego mind sees through its filters and the heart feels its way to the silent truth.  Its all here.  Notice taking a breath is like creating distance between you and situations initially obscured.  Creating physical space between yourself and a situation is another alternative. Immersing in nature brings you face to face with what you already know and feel in the heart.  Do what works.