OK Wonderful Ones! Today's lesson is full of good stuff! It is our goal to be our authentic selves! We all want the simplicity of just being our selves, not having to fake it, mask it, or deny it! Yet I bet it is safe to say that most of us are fearful of letting people see all of who we are or what we are feeling at any given time.
You might want to journal the author's questions to see what you can uncover about yourself. In the meantime, the blog questions for today are:
. What is the single biggest attitudinal change you would like to make when you are with other people?
. Who am I when no one else is around?
. How can you be more suthentically yourself? And what is the biggest risk or fear you have of being totally yourself ?
Remember, God loves you!
Rev. Sylvia
This was a real stare you in the eyes come to Jesus Truth time Question 1 I have to stop taking things personally and ask myself am I willing to see this situation another way 2 Who am I when no one else is around I am better with this but I am still afraid that I am just not good enough. 3 How can I be more authentic? PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE;-)
ReplyDeleteI was least authentic in my childhood and teen years, but when I look back I realize that just a small part of that was wanting to fit in. It was more out of compassion for my friends - who didn't achieve as easily and didn't have as much. I was most concerned about their discomfort. However, I vividly remember choosing to take the easier route of being ME.
ReplyDeleteNow I need to be careful of the effect of being so real, so much of the time. Being true to me does not give me the right to totally ignore the affect on the "outside." Mastering Life ain't that easy ;-)
So far, I am really enjoying the flow of this book. The previous sections focused on examining,discovering, and acknowledging our sense of who we are. This current section now allows us and challenges us to acknowledge and implement changes. Kind of a reconsiliation.
ReplyDeleteThe one greatest attitudinal change I would like to make when around other people is to be more accepting and less judgmental. When no one else is around, I am almost releived that I no longer have to perform; all eyes are not on me; and I enjoy the comfort of being with me. To be more authentic, I need to carry and hold the same feeling of ease when around others. I am not really sure why I don't do this anyway. It must just be life long conditioning. However, the older I get, I find I am caring and fearing less about others judgement of me.
One of the wonderful things about being in my sixties is I have given myself permission to be more authentic with others. Although I have toned down and soften my presentation of self, who I am is pretty much what you get. When no one is around, I frequently question if I am doing something right. Yes, a perfectionist at heart. I always want to be the best at whatever I do. I need to please myself more than others. I'm still a work in progress. My biggest fear is that I won't be good enough in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am alone with myself, I am free happy and spaced out into other realms of reality. I love being with myself because it allows me to return to a safe place, that I used as a child, to escape the harsh reality of the outside world. In this space I don't have worries of others judging me and inflicting emotional or verbal pain upon me. I am the only one that can judge or hurt me. The key is to strive to always be conscious of this most profound truth.
ReplyDeleteI can be more of my true self by surrounding myself with like spiritual minds. I must remove the fear from my thought body that others who do not understand me, will judge and hurt my sensitive nature ,as was done in my childhood. I must and will open the flood gates of my heart to allow the rush of love and compassion to flow from me to all creation; without fear that the purity of this love and compassion I have hidden under a bush, for so many years, will be trample upon by an unkind world lacking the understanding of me. A world that probably views me as a strange bird. In honesty to you and myself, I think I am a little strange or eccentric. (Please laugh!)
Fisher
The most single biggest attitudinal change I would like to make when I am around others is my facial expressions. I don’t have a poker face. When I am alone I am myself. As one blogger stated that when she was younger she tried to fit in so that stopped her from being her true self, I can related to her when I was younger in early teens I also did the fit in thing not being true to who I was. But now I am real as real can get. There is not risk or fear I have from being my totally self.
ReplyDeleteI have found this to be very true in my life: when we are "ourselves" we give others permission to be "themselves." Letting go of ego or fear and revealing ourselves as we are lets the other person do the same. It's a big relief when everything is out in the open and on the table!
ReplyDeleteThe part about your own life experience being the greatest teacher seems counter to what was taught in the Course in Miracles, i.e., the need to let go of our past experiences and see each situation fresh. Not sure how to reconcile the two lines of thought.
When I am around others, I would like to feel more at ease within myself. I am an introvert by nature. I can easily be by myself. However, if I am honest with myself, I would have to admit that I hide behind that label. There are times when I do want to connect but am afraid to because of my fear of rejection or just feeling that I just will sound silly. This is left over stuff from my childhood, but luckily, at Unity,
ReplyDeleteI am surrounded by people of like mind that make it so much easier for me to work on it. I have been taking small baby steps. :)
Tonights class was off the hook. I gain so much insight about myself. Our small group discussions were very open and warm and I found that I wasn't the only one going through life's challenges. I got great ideas on how to handle it by listening to other sharings their stories. When one young man got up and said how Rev. Silvia help him with quieting the chatter that goes on in his head, I thought I am having that same problem. I can handle the journing and reading but the commitment to meditate or listen to God is a challenge to me. Until he said Rev Silvia said he was still carrying around a lot of guile at the time and how he could overcome this. I said WOW to myself and decided to commit myself to meditating everyday. I'm not always sure what lesson we will be talking about on our Wednesday session, so I am glad I am keeping up with my journaling and bogging and sharing with my Truth-in- life partner.
ReplyDeleteThe single biggest attitudinal change is to develop and maintain a level of confidence in every situation which allows my gentle, sensitive and engaging personality to emerge. Sometimes I have a conversation with myself about the conversations I want to have with others. I analyze my word selection, eye contact and verb ticks to the point I feel aloof and awkward which I am neither. I can be more authentically myself by 1) knowing and trusting that God loves me and I cannot be separated from that love; 2) I cannot please others, so forget that; 3) all things/situations can be healed so whenever I make missteps- they are not fatal and 4) live by design and not by default.
ReplyDelete