Until your dreams and decisions come from a bone-deep connection with your truest motives and desires, it’s all too easy to let the stress of daily life lead you far away from the person you were born to be. But living life from the core of your authentic self is the only way to be truly happy.
Today we know that our authentic selves are often buried under years of family, social, and cultural conditioning, peer pressure and trauma. People in our lives, often with the best of intentions, can reject our impulses toward death-defying adventure, or quiet introspection, or childish honesty, and because we trust them, we surrender important parts of ourselves to their judgment. Or we give away pieces of ourselves to gain safety or acceptance.
How can you recover those missing pieces?
Astrology and Numerology
Astrology can not only reveal how your Soul chose to express itself and experience the world (Sun and Moon) in this lifetime, it can show you the specific challenges and gifts your Soul elected to take on, all important aspects of your authentic self or core identity.
The numerology of your birth date shows your authentic self’s path to fullest expression. And your birth-name numerology will tell you volumes about the foundation which your family chose for you, some of which might make it easy for your authentic self to be expressed, and some of which might have blocked its development.
Psychology
One of the most useful and accessible psychological tests for discovering your authentic self is the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (or MBTI). It is literally the most widely employed psychological indicator in the world, probably because it’s so simple and easy to use. There are many popular and professional works about it, but you can’t beat the original, Please Understand Me, Character & Temperament Types by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates.
The book’s quick test will give you a four-letter abbreviation indicating your temperament. The sixteen different abbreviations (such as INFJ or ESTP) are used for anything from business team-building to party introductions. But most important, the book’s in-depth descriptions of your type will provide you with priceless insights into your authentic self, insights which will help you relax into who you truly are.
Digging Deeper
Once you’re armed with the information from MBTI, astrology and numerology, it’s time to look at the repeating patterns in your life that lead to drama and difficulty. That’s where pieces of your authentic self are missing.
Use the insights about your own temperament to dig as deeply as you can into the relentless ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts,’ which dominate your life — like you ‘should’ make more money, or ‘need to’ be part of a couple, or ‘shouldn’t’ spend so much time alone.
If your authentic self is the driving force, you usually reach a place of unexplainable conviction fairly quickly. You can’t manufacture reasons — you just know that what you’re doing is right and necessary.
However, if you dig deeply and discover an answer like ‘I can hear my parents (or siblings, relatives, or friends) saying this to me long ago,’ you’ll know you’ve dug up some early programming that has kept parts of your authentic self buried and inaccessible for years.
Mental Space or Silence
If you want to hear the voice of your authentic self, you need to develop a way to regularly turn down the volume of — or completely turn off — the ongoing internal chatter and external noise, which operate constantly in and around us.
Meditation is usually the first technique which comes to mind — yoga or Tai Chi. work, too. And there are some people who can create that inner silence by doing housework, going on early morning walks, running, or lying in the sun. Part of living from your authentic self is clearing the space for it to be heard.
Recognition
Ultimately, there’s only one way to absolutely know when your authentic self is in charge: you feel like you’ve come home. You feel relief. You feel like a puzzle piece that has finally found its slot. You feel ‘right,’ relaxed, confident, open, and peaceful … and your life begins to unfold with an ease and grace that is pure magic.
