By Terri Cole on March 6, 2012

Live Your Truth, Love Your Life

In my 15 years as a therapist in NYC and LA, the inability to communicate authentically and truthfully was one of the most common issues for clients. This leads to living “in-authentically” with low satisfaction and high frustration levels. More importantly, it is impossible to fulfill your dharma (life’s purpose) if you cannot access your authentic self.

I have partnered with Ashley Turner, a rock star yoga psychologist and instructor in LA, who has also been a clinician for many years. We were drawn together by our mutual passion for empowering clients to live authentically. Below, in a nutshell, are our 6 keys to living your truth and loving your life.

Key 1: Know Your Truth

This requires unlearning all of the ways you have been taught to deny personal truth. Many of you were taught that speaking your truth was rude if it in some way offended another person, thus you developed the Disease to Please. To get back to your truth, you need to tap into your body’s wisdom. In order to hear what your body (intuition) is saying, you must become still and silent for a dedicated period of time on a daily basis. So, start meditating and journaling about how your truth was received as a child to connect the dots forward to issues you may have today with speaking your truth.

Key 2: Speak Your Truth

Once you have systems in place to help you recognize your truth, the next step is to be able to effectively honor and communicate it. This includes learning to say “NO” and to clearly ask for what you need (“Nonviolent Communication” by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D., is an excellent book on how to communicate effectively in business and personal relationships). In addition to verbal expression, expressing your authentic self through clothing, decorating your personal space and creating something from nothing (art, writing, etc.) are all fun and liberating ways to mirror your authenticity back to you.

Key 3: F*CK Your Mafia (FEAR) Mind

If your fear mind is running your life’s show, it is also extorting the joy from it. Learning that most fear is just a feeling, not a fact, frees you to change your response. This requires present moment awareness to stop the fearful thought from becoming reality. Fear is part of the human condition and informative, but you do have control over how much it controls you. To be authentic, you must be willing to stretch out of your comfort zone. Have faith that you will survive, thrive and learn what it is you are meant to know when you do what you are called to do. Fear can be your biggest teacher or the roadblock to where you want to go. You decide.

Key 4: You = The Only One

“Comparison is the thief of joy” -Dwight Edwards

Since you are the only you now and evermore, trying to live another’s life is simply impossible. Focus on the qualities that set you apart, honor your integrity in all you do and accept your shadow self with kindness. No one else has your unique gifts and talents.

Key 5: Downloaded Blueprints

Any area of your life that is not working is most likely built on a faulty blueprint designed by others. Revealing your limiting, inherited beliefs is the beginning of re-drawing your blueprint to actually fit what you want to create. This requires reflection and a willingness to do the work to change your mind about what you were taught about “the way it is.”

Key 6: Revealing & Building Core Self with Balance

The foundation for authentic living is having balance in all areas. This includes health, relationships, career, spirituality and finances. As you identify where you are out of balance, you can start to make concrete changes to come back to center. Small changes will add up to big shifts, so ditch the “all or nothing” mentality and start today!

Although this is the abbreviated version of our six keys, I hope it has provoked thought. Not all of the keys will apply to you, so take what resonates and leave the rest. Every one of the keys to  living your truth and loving your life requires some daily stillness and silence coupled with mindful awareness.

Here’s to living your truth and loving your beautiful amazing one-of-a-kind life!

For more by this author, visit: terricole.com. Also, you can check out the full course, “Live Your Truth & Love Your Life,” with Terri and Ashley on En*theos. There’s still time to join!

 

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