The Power of Authenticity

People talk a lot about finding an authentic voice or being an authentic person, employee, parent etc.. it’s very in vogue to be authentic, but much like the word ‘nice’ it’s becoming a bit anodyne, meaningless. In an world without universal obedience to law, language, state, or religion, a world that has become unstable, many of the norms of the last five hundred years have dissolved, disintegrated and been lost in the malaise and frontier territory that is the digital and resulting social revolution. Finding something stable, a position that is authentic has become the purvey of self-help books and gurus, but now more than ever the responsibility of the individual. Without external guidance, we must look within to find our most authentic self. What does that mean? What do we mean by authenticity? The meaning in the Collins Dictionary is:

the quality or state of being authentic; reliable, genuine, accurate

This state of being is closer to the heart of the matter, being genuine, real, is a state, you either are or are not authentic. and no amount of coaching or group therapy will make you any less or more authentic than the day you were born. You can’t learn it, you can practice it but only if you have it within you - it’s a state, I would say, a state of grace. To be able to be authentic, to speak freely and with conviction and to really mean what you say to people and deliver on your promises is really at the coal face of authenticity. In selling for example, people can tell a genuine pitch, even if they know they aren’t about to buy. They will remember the conversation or meeting and the authentic quality it carried for quite a long time after, regardless of their need for your product or service.

When you meet a person you can tell if they have that realness, that spark, that likability, charisma, charm, it’s all about authenticity and actually being there for the other person, in the present, your full and undivided self with them to say thank you for the coffee they served you or good bye at a train station.

There is courage needed here, for to be authentic you must be true to yourself, obey that sometimes unconventional voice within that says,  ‘go on, be honest’. So look within and commit to having conviction and speaking your truth, singing your song. In our current post Orwellian dystopia, our post truth age, step away from the MEME of conformity, step into a larger, more frightening, more enlivening world that is your birth right.

Think about the last time you had a day fully engaged with the world around you. The head vice that has become the digital age, the ball and chain that is your pc, your mobile and the age of me is constricting our ability to be genuine.

Unplug, mentally unsubscribe from the media-glut. Be genuine! Be free!