Practical Advice Finding your Authentic Self

[absured angel]

People always say we need to get in touch with our authentic and true self. Could anyone please explain what that means and how one would go about doing such a thing?
I know myself I have lived my life to make other people happy and often at the expense of my own happiness. When confronted with this saying of be your authentic self, i pretty much feel like a deer in headlights.

 

[1964dodge]

welcome to SF I hope you explore other threads we are a community of people that care but don't judge. i'm not sure but I think it means be true to yourself, don't change yourself for other people. if you help people do it from your heart. it's ok and noble to help other people but not at your expense. set limits and do your best in those limits.

 

[Lara_C]

Here's a blog post by a clinical psychologist which might help : http://brainblogger.com/2018/02/23/is-your-own-mind-trapping-you/

 

[Human Ex Machinae]

There's a lot of verbal gobbly-gook out there associated with those terms. To me, most of it is just noise and buzzword soup. What it means to me is that one's true authentic self is what's behind the public, false facade that all people create and use to interact with others. That public face we show the world which protects our vulnerable true selves. It's a perfectly natural thing and there's nothing wrong with it. Problems arise though when people confuse that facade, or role that they play in public, with who and what they really are. Sometimes they've put so much effort into erecting and shoring up that facade that they never bothered to really get to know who they are, and develop and grow that person, and it's like there's no one back there. The elaborate fortifications they constructed seem to be protecting nothing, an empty space.

 

[Lara_C]

It's a good question. I think what we take to be our self is really just a product of conditioning which affects the way we think feel and behave and frames our subsequent experiences in life. I don't think we're limited to or defined by the ingrained habits programmed into us - the real self is more a potentiality than a clearly defined personality.

 

[DrownedFishOnFire]

@absured angel

Relax. Thats the first advice I have given for myself. Just be at ease.

 

[WolfGoddess]

People always say we need to get in touch with our authentic and true self. Could anyone please explain what that means and how one would go about doing such a thing?
I know myself I have lived my life to make other people happy and often at the expense of my own happiness. When confronted with this saying of be your authentic self, i pretty much feel like a deer in headlights.

I don't know if this will help, I spent years trying to live in a way that I thought I should, based on other people's expectations, or what I thought their expectations were. I now feel authentic because I'm more aware of what I want, what gives me a sense of purpose and meaning. To me that's what being authentic is.

 

[absured angel]

Thank you, i very much appreciate all the responses and insight

 

[lil_panic]

Authentic. From Greek - authentikos - original, genuine, principal.
One acting on one's own authority.
I think, it means that you have to be yourself and not let others bad opinions or beliefs to control your life. Others = society, media, family.