Are You Living Your Authentic Life?

There is a life that exists right beside the life I am living.  It is the life that feels possible. Authentic to who I am.  It includes more rest, quiet, and reflection. It holds more song, dance, and Love.  It envisions me deeply engaged with my creativity, my work, my family.  It is the life that feels like mine.  

And, at times, it is a life that feels out of reach… because there is another life being lived.  

The life that is being lived is full of deadlines and carpool.  It includes orthodontists, occupational therapists, and limitations on screen time.  It asks me to be in two places at once.  It sees me zoning out in social media or lost in mental drama. It is a life that often runs me ragged or has me sleepwalking through days.

The first life feels so vibrant, rooted, and real.  It feels true.  The second feels hollow.  But familiar.

UNCONSCIOUSNESS

For years I’ve done the things that need to get done so that the second life, the hollow existence, can continue.  I’ve perpetuated the cycles of achievement, running around, and spinning out.  I’ve done it in a kind of dream-state, an unconsciousness that left me exhausted.  Running on old patterns and habits rather than on deeper desires and intentional choices.

The unconsciousness pushes the possible life further away.

Recently, I’ve started to wake up, to look around.  More recently I’ve noticed that that possible life is closer than I first believed it to be.  And even more recently I’ve started to draw it into existence.

TURNING TOWARDS AN AUTHENTIC LIFE

It occurs to me that our authentic life is waiting for us to turn and notice.  Once we become conscious enough, we can choose to embody it.  Intentionally, day after day, we can move more and more into the life that feels most authentic to the deep essence of who we are.  It takes intention.  It takes consciousness. It takes Embodiment.

Embodiment is a buzz word right now. I’m seeing it everywhere: “Embodied this” “embodied that”.  But what, does Embodiment even mean?  To me, it means moving from formlessness into form.  Giving shape to what once was shapeless.  Creating edges and boundaries to what before had none.  I do not think this is limited to physicality.  Embodiment happens in thought too.  A thought that never existed then takes form. Now it has a body of its own for however long it exists.  

In this way, embodiment is an act of creation.  It is nothingness becoming somethingness.  

Drawing the authentic life into existence is a practice of embodiment. One where you embody the elements of the authentic life day after day.  The authentic life asks you to embody who you are - and so you do. You give form to that idea of yourself.  If an authentic life is one that feels rooted, you intentionally choose to do those things that root you.  If your authentic life feels adventurous, you get off the couch and seek an adventure.  If your authentic life asks for deep engagement, you step away from social media long enough to make true connections with what is before you.  

ARTFUL EMBODIMENT

Embodying your authentic life is an art.  Like any art, it requires some skill.  Skill builds with practice.  So, you practice being authentically yourself by doing those things that your authentic self desires. 

But art also includes an element of mystery.  So you open and let mystery guide you out of your mind, into your essence.  

Living into your authentic life is a practice I’ve been calling Artful Embodiment.  It’s creative.  It’s playful. It’s opening.  It’s physical.  It is vitally ALIVE.  And deeper still, it is anchored in the Heart.  Your artful expression finds its deepest inspiration and expression when sourced in the wellspring of Love that is found in your Heart.  

So, no matter where you are in your process of living an Artful Embodiment, turn towards your Heart.  For in your heart, you’ll meet the authentic life that is running alongside your own.  Like a blessing, in your heart you’ll also find the nourishment and inspiration to move towards it.  

Listen.  Turn towards.  And practice giving form to those deep whispers.  

Become Artfully Embodied.