Authenticity… What?? How?? Why??

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about authenticity lately.  The subject keeps coming up in the media, in conversation, in what I’m reading.   But it isn’t new.  People have wrestled with authenticity for centuries. Wikipedia defines authenticity as “the degree to which one is true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character, despite the pressures of the material world “.  Some think of Socrates as one of the earliest proponents of authenticity when he warned us that the “unexamined” life is not worth living.  Walter Kaufman spent his life examining his beliefs, challenging cultural and religious norms.  While I don’t agree with all his conclusions, the quote below resonates with me:      “Let people who do not know what to do with themselves in this life, but fritter away their time reading magazines and watching television, hope for eternal life.. The life I want is a life I could not endure in eternity. It is a life of love and intensity, suffering and creation, that makes life worth while and death welcome. ~ W. Kaufmann, The Faith of a Heretic.

A life worth while.  That’s it.  That’s what I’m looking for.  I could spend eons contemplating my navel, and the only result would be a cleaner lint-less belly button!  (There is actually a Guinness-record holding guy who collects his navel fluff…  but I digress…)  Instead, wInstead when my gaze goes upward and I consider the Designer as well as design, I am changed.  I am humbled.  I am motivated to be and do all that I can.  

The authentic life I am seeking is one in which I am all God designed me to be, and that I am using those gifts and talents to do something that matters.

     In my work… that means coaching clients to find and fulfill their life purpose, giving them tools to be and do all they were designed for and holding them accountable to achieve their goals.  
     In my worship… that means contemplating the Holy Other, and measuring my life against His yardstick.  
     In my relationships… it means happily, enthusiastically, unapologetically being me.  It means operating from my strengths, it means sharing my gifts, it means accepting my weaknesses and acknowledging my limitations.  

    ”Human beings who do not want to belong to the mass need only to stop, and not be comfortable; follow their conscience, which cries out: “Be yourself!”   ~Nietzsche

I am currently working on material for a workshop series I’m calling Integrity Selling.  It is aimed at my coaching clients who sell time, products or services but struggle with making sales.  That discomfort usually comes from self-consciousness.  You’re afraid of saying the wrong thing.  You don’t want to be pushy.  You gag at the thought of hawking something someone doesn’t need or want.  But what if you were to shift the focus to the client’s needs,
values, and goals — you might have something to say, something to give. You would be operating from authenticity and integrity.  You would not be pushing something over on someone, but adding value to their life.  

Interested in hearing more??   Give me a call at 319-551-1414 or shoot an e-mail to lisa@vanallencoaching.com  Tell me how you are finding and fulfilling your purpose – with authenticity.

Tags: authenticity, Christian, Coaching, existentialism, integrity, Leadership, life coaching, Purpose, value