Living a life of authentic expression takes courage.
Can you…
- walk away from something you’ve invested heavily in when it isn’t right anymore?
- stand up to nonsense about “flip-flopping” when you discover your old truth has been swallowed by a newer, truer, bigger one?
- not water your expression down to the least objectionable thing so everyone can handle it?
- abandon the temptation to measure your life in dollars, hours, number of books read, places visited?
- ignore the people who, for some unknown reason, seem to think that they know what you need better than you do, and that you owe them an explanation that makes sense to them whenever you decide to veer from that course?
- stop waiting for permission, or for others to understand the course you’re charting before you can set off?
- quit being your own worst critic?
- cease worrying what your friends or family will think, and rest in the knowledge that if they really love you, it won’t matter?
- tolerate the freefall, as long as it might last, as you take the first step into the unknown?
- imagine how good it will feel, succeed or fail, to be the explorer and discoverer of your own uncharted territory?
Mind|Body|Spirit Academy 
Wow!! Tough questions to answer honestly … but what a great way to gauge one’s own authenticity. Thank you for this.
I just took in a meditation of yours which references the challenge of accepting, even, feelings which are POSITIVE!! You indicate that even feelings of happinness are difficult to surrender to and experience fully. Well, I have some big political differences with the guy, but, once again, the thinking and writinng of the psychologist Nathaniel Branden finds a parallel in your emphases: He writes, (particularly in reference to people who actually ARE in love, but find it hard to accept their own joy), “For some people, accepting feelings of happinness is nearly impossible, and sometimes, even, nearly unbearable.”