How to Live Authentically

There is a lot of talk about "authenticity" in healing communities.

But what does it really mean to "live authentically?"

The answer is simple: Living authentically means showing the world who you really are.

But this can be difficult for those of us who are healing from childhood trauma. We may have been forced into roles to meet our parents' emotional needs (such as hero, or scapegoat). We may have hidden ourselves, or become chameleons--reading the room and changing into whatever we thought others wanted us to be to keep ourselves safe. Or worked hard to please the people around us, ignoring what we needed.

In order to live authentically, we have to dig beneath the surface of all that conditioning.

We finally get to ask: What do I like? What do I want?

In searching for these answers, we begin to find our voice and discover who we truly are.

The next step on this path toward freedom is sharing who we truly are with the world. (For more on this topic, see the August 26, 2023 episode of our podcast.)