MAP: Authenticity

Each time I sit down with this PLAY’ful Note on authenticity, Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff'' starts playing in my head. Knight literally pushes my self-judgment buttons when she sings, “Who do you think you are?”. 

What the heck?! What is up with this oldie but goodie looping in your head, Heidi?

Mr. Big Stuff

Who do you think you are

Mr. Big Stuff

You're never gonna get my love

This area on the MAP (movement, authenticity, presence) can be a bit bumpy. Authenticity, the questions of, “who am I really” and “how am I showing up” are layered and complicated. Knight’s song reminds me that different parts of me carry different perceptions of my story…and those parts don’t always align. 

Maybe you feel the rub too when someone suggests to passionately love the authentic you (PLAY). Or perhaps thoughts of “not sure that’s possible…or deserved!” creep in when you consider putting your full, authentic self out there to achieve what you really want.

Finding PLAY is hard to do if a self-judging, hands-on-hips part of you is looking with contempt at your Mr. Big Stuff ego. “You’re never gonna get my love.”

And this is where the work begins. 

Living from and in our authentic self starts with the parts of us that bristle at the very idea. These parts hold insightful wisdom, including beliefs and patterns of behaviors that were needed in the past, but may or may not serve us now. 

Perhaps our life choices were often fueled by “shoulds” and “have tos” or maybe sourced from the internal and external pressures of win/lose, success/failure. By exploring our “who,” we can find greater alignment between those choices and who we are because we will better understand the MAP we were using. 

This new self-discovery invites compassion and understanding for how we found our way.

Finding playful ways to generously acknowledge and learn from the past and present parts of who we really are leads to greater self-acceptance and self love. When all our parts align in this source of self-love and acceptance we grow in confidence and motivation to create the life we choose.

When sharing these thoughts yesterday with my coach, Yasue Honjoh, she then intuitively asked, “What will happen if we find out who we are?” 

An overwhelming sense of ease came over me, and I thought, “Everything.”

Cue, “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash.