Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Age of Authenticity

Authenticity: (Noun) The quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine


While New Years Resolutions are a good guide or map as to the direction in which you want to travel in the following year, they are often so discrete that they don't give much room to move. You're either 'doing it' or you're 'not doing it' ... in which case often before the end of January the gym membership is already gathering cobwebs in your wallet/purse, the fridge is full of chocolate again, or in a weak moment you've had a cigarette/fought with your sibling ... you get the gist.


I've always liked to set resolutions that could be built on over time, some that were achieveable in the immediate term, some in the short term, others in the long term. After all - you dont just build a house ... foundations need to be laid, a structure erected so and so forth. Small victories lead in to larger ones further down the track.


This year rather than scribe a massive list of things that I want to do, achieve, give up etc ... I've picked a theme - authenticity. It's a term that seems to be appearing more and more often in my thoughts and my personal writing. I want to be authentic to myself this year - to my character, to my family, to my idiosyncracies, to my ethics and morals, to my dreams and ambitions, to my mind and body, to my feelings and emotions ... and more importantly to my soul.


To begin walking a path of authenticity, I've realised that there is much that I need to shed from the past few years. This wont be a process that will be totally complete by Chinese New Year (7th February) but while the moon is waning* its time for me to consider what needs to be let go of ... and not just in terms of responsiblities, work committments, but in terms of ego ... what I need to relinquish or at least identify within me that no longer works.


Anger keeps bubbling up ... which reminds me that part of being authentic is acknowledging and working with my shadow self. This is a challenge as its socially sanctioned to keep these negative sides of ourselves underwraps. But I think that I am ready and willing to rise to this challenge.


If you could bless your coming year with a one word theme, what would it be?


*the waning moon phase is a time of decay, and a returning to the earth. It's a good time to dispose, shed or bid farewell to anything that is not currently working in your life. It's what helps to lay fertile ground (think of a compost!) for the coming month. It's also a great time to weed your garden, give your pets a flea treatment, etc.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm subscribing to a more day by day forward momentum strategy at the moment...I had a couple of years where I felt like I was moving through molasses, so I'm very thankful for an increase of forward fluidity.

I also find that my goals tend to reveal themselves on a need to know basis not usually neatly before New Years. I like your idea of picking a theme Jodi...it's probably truer to my mindset.

The word that resonates for me is integrity...operating with integrity is a pretty guiding belief for me.

While I think the most common definition that would come to mind for most people would be the morality and incorruptibility aspects of integrity....another aspect is the state of being complete and undivided.That's another layer of integrity I would like to work on.

My intention for this year is to not just think it, or self discover some aspect of myself for why I am, well me and then over navel gaze... to not be pulled in so many different directions but to follow through with some action that continues that forward fluidity with excitement, a smidgen or two of joy and to live each moment with integrity...

Maybe integrity can be the hot decisive knife to the buttery slab of procrastination I often wallow in..hmm

Unknown said...

My answer is here. Though I like yours and Catherine's.Thank you both for sharing.