To be authentic, you need to be able to stand up for yourself, for your life, for your relationships,
and for your future. If you are not for yourself, then you are against yourself.
If you want to be yourself, your real self, then practice the following strategies every day.
Always tell yourself the truth. In his book Authentic: How to be Yourself And Why it Matters,
Stephen Joseph writes, 'To be authentic, we need to be able to face up to the truth
about ourselves, no matter how unpleasant we might find it.'' If you respect yourself, others will
respect you. If you are not true to yourself, if you are not being honest with yourself,
you are not deceiving other people; you are deceiving yourself. And it is not good for your
growth and development. Because you can't help yourself. So if you want to move forward
in your life, be an authentic person, no matter what.
Always take responsibility for your life. It is your life. You can do whatever you want with it.
That includes taking responsibility for your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions. When it comes to you,
you are responsible for everything in your life. In the words of Stephen Joseph, 'Authentic people
take resposibility for for their choices in life.'' If you want to be successful, you must be the boss
of your life. If not, you will find it difficult to express your real self.
Do not follow the crowd. If you want to be different, you must do things differently. If you want
a different result, you must think differently. To do that, you must be able to stand on your own.
You must be able to live with yourself. Do not try to fit in. Instead of trying to fit in, why not try to fit out?
To quote Stephen, 'Authenticity requires you to be able to overcome our desires to fit in and be
part of the crowd.'' If you want to grow, don't work to be like other people, work to be like yourself.
Because you can never be like another person. So trying to do it is a total waste of your time.
Always pay attention to how you feel about yourself. In her book Now Go Out There and get curious, Mary Karr writes, 'Don't make the mistake of comparing your twisted-up insides to people's blow-dried outsides.'' That is what you should always do. Do not worry about what others are posting on
their social media accounts. Focus on your own life. Focus on how you want to achieve your dreams.
That is more important than comparing yourself to other people. Accodring to Stephen, 'Authenticity
requires that we are aware of what's going on in our bodies; that we are not only attentive to our
feelings and mindful of our thinking but to all that is happening within us.'' Do not ignore your internal self,
no matter what.
Yes, you can change your life. It is your life.
You can do whatever you want with it.
But to live it well, to live your life the way
you want it, you start with the right questions.
You have got to change the questions
you ask. You have got to change how you see yourself.
And you must believe that you can change your life.
Marilee Adams writes, 'Change your questions,
change your thinking. If you can change your thinking,
you can change almost anything else.''
That is the way it goes. If you want to get something
different, a different result, a different life,
a new friend, a new path, it starts with your thoughts.
If you can change your thoughts, you can change your life.
If you can change your thoughts, you can create a new future
for yourself.
It starts with a great question. If you have the courage to ask
yourself the right questions, you will get the right answers.
Why is that? Because you can't help yourself if your questions
are wrong. As one of my mentors said, 'You can't help yourself
If you are not being true to yourself.''
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