Authentic means to be real. The more authentic you are with yourself, the more fulfillment you feel in life. Not being true to yourself or others keeps you at a consistent imbalance. Living a lie takes energy, time and emotion. In the case where you are not being authentic to yourself, you may find that you are taking on too many life roles and acting like you can manage them. You may be pushing down pain but fronting a smile every day. You may engage in activities that you don’t like in order to gain acceptance or likability. You may be hiding issues regarding hurt, money

or love with a partner. Living untruthfully to your values or beliefs systems will put the mind and body out of balance. The mind knows what is right, but the body is not acting accordingly.
In the healing and balancing process, authenticity is most important. To gain more self-awareness, you have to know the real you. You have to be open to identifying your faults and what you want to improve on. You have to identify your biases, your grudges and weak spots. The more you are in tune with your core values and imperfections, the more you can identify what is off and how you can get back into balance.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you identify values and note imbalances. Be sure to be authentic as you answer the following:

1. What are my top 5 core values?
2. What am I doing in life that I am not happy with? Why?
3. How do the activities that I am doing in life that I am not happy with out of line with my core values?
4. How can I stop engaging in these activities or how can I make them in line with my values?
5. What areas of my life am I living most authentically?
6. Do I hold grudges?
7. Can I be vengeful?
8. To whom can I give more support to?
9. When do I tend to give up my control?
10. What do I try to control that I can’t? How/When can I stop?

This week’s challenge is to answer the above questions. Be authentic and real about your responses so you can see exactly where you are not in line with your core values. As you identify your deficits note the direction you want to start moving in. Then, begin creating a plan to get back in line with your values.

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