A good friend recently invited me to a seminar about Finding Your Authentic Self.  I had no idea exactly what I was getting into, but I didn’t have other plans that evening, so I went.  The speaker was Stephanie Jaeger, who survived a horrific childhood and has managed to grow and thrive beyond her abuse.  She is now a life coach, hypnotist, and minister who runs a non-profit organization in New Mexico called The Sheltered Heart Foundation, Inc. Her session was about how to separate the truth from the lies in our subconscious. Her premise is that things that happen in childhood, both good and bad, have a profound affect on the adult we become.  We cannot achieve true success in life until we overcome our past.

One of the activities we did stunned me.  We were asked to picture our ideal life.  I struggled to come up with a clear picture.  I know I want to generate online income, and I have set many goals, but actually visualizing it all coming together was very hard for me.

The next activity was so simple, yet it became profound. We paired off.  We were instructed to think back to our childhood and come up with an accomplishment, a time when we were proud of ourselves.  We then stood up and told our partner about that accomplishment, with as much enthusiasm as we could muster.  Oddly, I had a hard time coming up with something to say.  I have never considered my childhood to be bad, I certainly wasn’t abused or anything, but I do not have tons and tons of shining moments, either.   Then, we were asked to come up with a time that we failed or someone hurt us.   Wow! the memories just flooded back.  Slights from “friends” I hadn’t thought about in years, comparisons to other kids, injustices I have apparently been holding onto for years.  I couldn’t pick just one failure, I had a slew of them.  She asked us to stand up and tell our partner about a failure with the same enthusiasm as we talked about our success.

It’s hard to do.

Even harder was the next part.  She wanted us to take ownership and acknowledge the failures, recognize them as in the past, and let them go, never to be brought up again.  Yeah, right.

But for the successes, we need to identify them and embrace them and relive the emotions of them over and over.  Her point was that our true, authentic self lives in the shiny moments.  We need to be able to tap into that enthusiasm no matter what life throws our way.  It was one of the great motivation tips she shared throughout the evening.

I’ve been trying to get in touch with my authentic self ever since.  I know I want to work for myself and generate online income.

I found a book on the subject,Getting Real: Ten Truth Skills You Need to Live an Authentic Life, by Susan Campbell, Ph.D.  It’s good and reinforcing what I need to do to live an authentic life.

If you feel you are not reaching your full potential, that your past is holding you back, consider getting in touch with your authentic self.  Your ideal life awaits.

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