Tag Archives: authentic self

Gratitude is the Language of the Authentic Self

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One of the first things we are asked to do in any personal growth or New Thought teaching is to take our minds off autopilot and start paying attention to the thoughts that run through our minds all day…what we are saying about ourselves, about others, and about the world.   And when we do this…if we’re honest about it…we are often shocked at how much of the time is consumed by egoic thinking, critical, judgmental, fearful, negative thinking.   And how little time we spend actually thinking from our heart.

That egoic, critical fearful voice is the voice of, what I like to call the the false self, or the shadow self. This is the self that feels separate…separate from Source and separate from each other.  It’s the self that sometimes causes us to feel we are a victim, and other times tries to control others and manipulate situations.  It judges others and our self…harshly. And it often sabotages our well-intentioned efforts.

This self is unfortunately the one most people are familiar with because this is the world in which we were raised. We’re raised with the predominate belief in separation…that we’re separate from God, separate from each other and separate from our good.  Our world tells us that our good is outside of us, and we must struggle and compete to get ahead and there’s not enough to go around.  It also tell us that we’re not good enough…unless we buy whatever product they’re selling.  It’s how the world is set up.

There is another self – our Higher Self, or our Authentic Self that speaks a whole different language.  This is our true self and it’s always with us, but its voice has been drowned out for so long it’s not easy to hear it anymore.  but this is the self we start to get familiar with as we step onto a spiritual path…any spiritual path really.  Most religious paths…particularly the more mystical aspect of them…have, as an overall goal, the awakening to our higher self.  Everyone calls it something different, but it’s more of less the same thing.  Whether it’s called our soul, or our compassionate nature, or the spirit within, or the Christ within, the Oversoul, our God-self, or our angelic nature…the point is to call upon it, to connect with it!

The first step in the process of connecting with it is to become very aware of when we’re not.  We want to become really conscious of what voice we’re allowing to “run our program” because most the time it’s unconscious. And if we allow the voice of the false self to run our program for too long it will cause a whole host of problems.  It can rob us of our health and wellbeing, ruin friendships, undermine our self-worth and sabotage the fulfillment of our vision.  In short, causing us a great amount of unhappiness.

So it would behoove us to catch the false self as soon as possible and stop it in its tracks.   And the best way to do that is to become aware…not just your thoughts, but also begin to notice how you feel…and how you behave…when you are “under the influence of your false self.”

So if you notice you are feeling confused, or you are worrying a lot, or are feeling anxious, that might be a clue the false self is running your program.  If you notice you are judging yourself harshly or you are comparing yourself to others or maybe even questioning your own worth, you can be certain your false self is in charge. And if the vision that came from your heart which you were in the process of joyously bringing forth is suddenly brought into question…if you get easily side-tracked, or you hear yourself saying, “What was I thinking, I can’t do that?” you might be under the influence of the false self.

So the more familiar you are with your thoughts, feelings and behaviors when you are being influenced by the false self, the easier it will be to shift your energy and bring yourself back into alignment with your true Authentic Self.

And one of the best ways I know to make this shift into the Authentic Self is to focus on something…anything…for which you are grateful.  Bring to your mind something in your life you consider a blessing. Generate some enthusiasm and excitement for that particular thing or experience and let to vibrate within your being.

Or, perhaps you could focus on the beauty of nature and let the gratitude for that amazing expression of the Divine to sink deep into your heart.

Either way there is no quicker way to completely shift your thinking, your energy and your level of happiness than to implement the proven technique of gratitude.

Our higher Authentic Self is the place of real power within us.  It knows how to bring forth our vision easily and harmoniously.  It is in alignment with the flow of Divine Life Energy.  It is where we are connected with Divine wisdom and guidance and it can guide us in moving us forward on purpose and in the direction of our dreams…where synchronous events are commonplace.   This is the place where we realize we are blessed and we see everyone else the same way.  It is powerfully loving, confident, creative, inspired and inspiring.

The more we consciously align ourselves with this Higher Self the more we live, “with the license of a higher order of beings” as Thoreau wrote about.

For more tips on how to shift into the living from the awareness of our Authentic Self download my complete transformational program, Conscious Co-Creating. Click here to learn more about that. 

 

Reclaiming Your Authentic Self, Part 1

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Has this ever happened to you?

You set a goal to achieve something worthwhile, or you make a commitment to your spiritual practice, or to express your highest potential in some wonderful way, and then…

Suddenly, or incrementally, you notice you’re losing momentum. You begin to get distracted, other life demands get in the way. Or, an obstacle comes into your path that appears insurmountable. Or, fear creeps up and you begin to doubt yourself and your ability (“What was I thinking?”)

It’s a common experience. What is actually happening is that the “shadow self” has slipped into your consciousness and begins to work hard to sabotage your success.

What is the shadow self and how can we be free of its influence in our lives?
The answer is…by reclaiming our Authentic Self. In this post, I will be explaining what the shadow self is and how it works. Then, over the course of the next few days, I will reveal, step-by-step how to reclaim your Authentic self so that you may more easily achieve your goals and ultimately express your highest potential.

As expressions of the Infinite, it is natural for us to be loving, joyous, happy, fulfilled, peaceful, successful, abundant and perfect. So why doesn’t that seem to be our everyday experience? Two passages from the Bible may give us a clue.

“And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
—Genesis 1:26
“God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.” —Eccl. 7:29

Though stated in Biblical terms, the first statement is scientifically accurate. If there is one Universal Intelligence from which all creation originates, then we cannot possibly be created as anything other than in Its “image and likeness.” And if the qualities of this Universal Intelligence are love, joy, peace, harmony, abundance and perfection, then we must be also.

Therefore, in truth, we are all individualized expressions of pure love, pure joy, complete happiness, limitless peace, harmony, exquisite beauty, magnificence, absolute perfection and unbounded prosperity. This is how we were created and what we are in Truth. Let’s call this our “authentic self.”

Now, here’s the variable: we are given an important gift at inception, and that is freedom of choice. We have the choice to agree with the inherent truth of our being and live our lives from that awareness, or we have the choice to disregard it, ignore it, and push it away. Emerson stated: “…we but half express ourselves and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents.”

Mostly, though, it’s not such a conscious choice. Since most of us are born into families that have forgotten they are the self-expression of the Infinite, they unknowingly pass this misinformation on to us when we are children. We grow up believing that we are separate from our Source, separate from the Love-Intelligence which created us, and inherently inadequate. When we disregard the truth that we are beings created “in the image and likeness” we, by default, “re-create” or “re-invent” ourselves in another image…a distorted image.

We are, in essence, asleep to our inherent magnificence and have “invented” a counterfeit self to replace our authentic self. I call this counterfeit self the “shadow self.” Some refer to it as the ego, the egoic mind, the false self, or the fearful self. It’s all the same thing.

The shadow self was born from a belief that we are separate from our Source, separate from our good and separate from each other. The shadow self incorporates a belief structure which includes the assumption that we are mostly powerless, subject to the winds of fate, a victim of circumstance, alone, afraid and in need of something or someone to make us feel better.

Generation after generation has erroneously assumed that this false self is true human nature. We tend to accept, without question, that the shadow self is who we are for two reasons: a) it is what we were taught from the moment we were born, and b) society constantly reinforces this assumption. This is not the Truth of us, but we believe it is (and therefore, it will be our experience) because until we discover otherwise, it’s all we know.

For most of us, this “shadow self” has become our dominant self today, and our authentic self is only hinted at from time to time. We may catch a glimpse of it when we fall in love with someone, when we witness pure beauty in nature, when we’re in meditation, when we are in selfless service, or during moment of peak experience in work or play.

It can be said that the shadow self has served humankind by allowing us to safely maneuver our way through the confused world which we’ve invented. But the price of “keeping us safe” is that we stay small and never risk expressing our highest potential.

It is time to break free and spread our wings! It is time to awaken from the spell of the shadow self which is killing our dreams and keeping of small.

One thing is for sure…the potential to express our authentic self remains within us at every moment and each of us enters this incarnation with the longing to wake from the ego dream and once again live in the full awareness of our True self.

In the next several days, I will be continuing this discussion of the shadow self and authentic self and post step-by-step processes for reclaiming our authentic self, thereby expressing our highest potential.