It’s so radical to be authentic these days that it has an enigma all of it’s own.

It’s very powerful to be visible with your vulnerabilities, it shakes people up in the places where they are too scared to be so visible. Listen to their judgements. They give you the map of exactly where those folks are stuck. Feel your reactions in your body, it’s the map of where you believe them.

It’s powerful and disruptive to be generous and to not run your life and business with the usual scarcity-addicted model, but to be inclusive and open handed, that takes courage, cultivates trust and is progressive.

Notice how hard some find it to receive your generosity, how uncomfortable receiving can be for them even when the gift is freely given. Notice who warns you to be less giving.

It is powerful to show your neediness some days, to show your unreasonable anger, your inappropriateness—it takes courage to be so visible and risk the approval vanishing. It is revolutionary to wear no masks, no hats and be the same “you” in business as at home.

Why do we exhaust ourselves wearing masks for people who need us to be other than our real selves?

I recommend removing the masks and seeing who stays. The ones that do really get you and are the ones you want to hang out with and work with.

Authentic people are enigmatic because most people are so comfortable in their hiding, conforming, disempowered state that someone brave enough to be simply real is fascinating.

Where have you been hiding? What mask is it time to take off?

Love elephant and want to go steady?

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Apprentice Editor: Holly Horne/Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Bhumika.B, Flickr