It is for me. It’s been an underlying aspect of my studies in self-awareness and consciousness for decades. LOL, it may also explain why I was so drawn to the professional side of social media way back in 2004. A key “feature” of social media was to break free from the phony baloney, hyper-massaged PR messaging. It offered the chance to start communicating with an authentic purpose and practice.
Of course, the idea of authenticity is a tired one that, in my opinion, is talked about too much and not practiced enough. We may have grown bored with the word, but the energy of Being an Authentic Human remains relevant. Still, it’s incredibly hard for most of us. At least it has been for me.
Today in my morning reading and writing, I pulled The Moon (XVIII) card. I want to share the notes from The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien:
The Moon is the universal principle of choice-making and authenticity. […] The ultimate work to be done each day is to choose whether we will support our authentic self or support our false persona or dutiful self. Every day we are at the gates making choices about leaving old known worlds or going through the gates to explore new worlds. […] Choice has three functions. It is through choice that we can 1) create new realities, 2) sustain and maintain current realities, or 3) release and let go of realities that no longer serve us.
Social media has made this “You Be You” challenge harder in some ways. People now have so many polished (bordering on fake) posts for our monkey minds to compare us to. We have the pressure to get clicks. In this so-called attention economy, being seen is considered a survival skill. Whenever we are dealing with those safety, survival, and security issues, the urge to show up as some imagined version of who we should be is STRONG.
Heaven help you if you were raised to hide who you are to please parents and other authority figures — as I was. Perhaps you selected a mate by presenting (or picking) a persona, not the real deal. (Yep, done that too.) It gets complicated rather quickly! It is indeed easier (meaning, the path of less resistance) to choose to walk through the gates of the old known worlds. It’s easier to continue being the dutiful self. Until it isn’t. In time, suppressing those soul desires that refuse to stop whispering in our ears, is tiring.
Finding one’s true and authentic self is more doable in the presence of silence. It’s one of the goals of the Silent Retreat I’m offering in September. As part of the signup process, I’ll be creating a profile for you based on your date of birth. I use the archetypal wisdom from Arrien’s book that I mentioned above. This tool is not predictive; I do find it illuminating. It helps shine a light on possible aspects of personality that may be under-appreciated or wholly undiscovered.
I find this tension between being my true self and abiding by other’s expectations to be one of the juiciest parts of my consciousness journey. I love sharing my process and supporting others in becoming more grounded in who they are.
If this is something you’ve been pondering for yourself, I hope you’ll look into the Silent Retreat. I think of it as a gift to one’s authentic self — a time for self-reflection and joyful discovery. I’ve chosen the gates to the unknown world, trusting that the happiness and self-acceptance I want is in that direction. So far, it’s working beyond my expectations. I’d love to have some more playmates who are open to exploring the unknown worlds together.
I’ve scheduled the retreat to be on the weekend of the new moon in September, a time for new beginnings.
Thank you for being You.
Photo by Jeffrey Eisen on Unsplash
