Are you focusing on authenticity or appearances?

Hello darlin!

Quick question for you… 

When you were growing up, were your parents more concerned with how things looked or how you felt? 

I’m asking if you were raised in an environment where appearances or authenticity mattered more.

I know. 

Starting the year off with the big questions.

The reason why I’m asking is because one of the pillars of my business is teaching you to trust yourself through your intuition.

Your intuition is deeply linked to what is authentic for you.

If you were raised in a household (or a church or on a sports team or in an extended family) where appearances were seen as more important than feelings, then your intuition may feel harder to trust.

I want to be clear that I’m not blaming your parents. 

Or, if you’re a parent, I’m not blaming you if your household is set up like this right now.

I want to shine some light on this tendency because so many of us were reared in this way and - *whispering* - it doesn’t actually work for anyone. 

What do I mean by focusing on appearances? 

I mean caring more about what others think than you do about how you feel. 

I have to admit that I spent most of my life living this way. 

It’s only been recently that I’ve started to feel brave enough to be fully who I am regardless of what I feared others might think or say or do.

And you know what?

The more I’ve deeply accepted who I am and how I move through the world, the more I’ve connected with people who deeply accept me too.

The Universe will mirror your feelings back to you every time. 

If you accept yourself, you will receive that treatment from others. If you judge and shame yourself, you will receive that treatment from others as well. 

It’s wild. 

I can hear some of you saying, “Yeah, but if my kid was authentically following what they wanted to do, they would sleep in every day, be on their phone all night and never go to school.”

I don’t actually think that’s true.

Kids are still learning who they are and how they move through the world. 

Think about how long it took for you to know yourself.

I’m still learning and I’m in my forties!

What you can do to help them learn to know themself and trust their own inner guidance system is to sit with them when they have feelings.

If they can start to identify what those feelings mean then they can get some information on what feels true for them.

If they know what feels true for them, they can start to trust their intuition.

With intuition comes creative insight and often brilliant creative solutions for their own problems.

Solutions that are AUTHENTIC for them. 

The same thing goes for you.

I don’t believe you want to binge Netflix every day. 

In fact, you may be watching Netflix because you don’t know what’s authentic for you.

Or because what would everyone think if you stopped watching TV? 

(See how this all fits together?)

When you can start to ask yourself (and your partner and your kids and your friends and your siblings)... what would be the most authentic for you in this situation?

And then listen to that wisdom and do your best to accept it, life gets so much more fluid, so much more easeful, and so much more loving.

What about you? Were you raised based on appearances or authenticity?

Reply and let me know. 

I read every email.

Rebecca*

PS: We’ll be talking about how to lean into authenticity instead of appearances in the Spiritual Playground Facebook group this Wednesday. You can join here and get some free coaching on the topic.