Living Authentically . . . What does that mean?

Yes, I enjoy my writing/blogging life; no, I don’t always enjoy how I arrive at the lessons and inspirations I share. In laymen’s terms, the teacher has to go through first before he or she can give the lesson to the student. But I digress . . .

Whether on my radio show platform, motivational speaking endeavors, workshops or author & celebrity interviews, one theme reoccurs: authenticity. At times it is glaring, other times it is subtle and appears in the most unusual ways. Nevertheless, authenticity is as complex as most men say women are. [For my male readers, I think of you from time to time so that one is just for you.]

Living Authentically–we see it in hash tags, article taglines and talk show topics but what does it really mean? Even more intriguing, what does authenticity look like and how is it applied? Let’s take a brief walk to the dictionary:

Synonyms for the word authentic are genuine, real, veritable and 
share the sense of actuality and lack of falsehood or misrepresentation. Authentic carries a connotation of authoritative certification that an object is what it claimed to be:

See the problem? . . . authoritative certification . . . Who have you given the authority in your life to certify an object’s authenticity? In other words, what measurement tool(s) are you using? For some of us, we use our gut instinct: if I feel you’re trustworthy then you are. That might not always be the best indicator especially at times when we are too close to the subject or scarred by our past to make the proper assessment.

Many Christians would say they use God’s word as a frame of reference. Although I strongly encourage that, our interpretation or understanding of certain biblical precepts can also be flawed. Misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the Bible is problematic because too often we readily accept what is taught versus studying the word for ourselves as we are instructed to. 


The synonym veritable also captured my attention and is where I believe a lot of us get stuck on the authenticity chain. Veritable is often used as an intensifier or metaphor; so itmay be true, resemble truth, is close to truth or only true as a statement or tale. If you examine certain areas of your life, this is probably one of your biggest problems.

I could expound upon this from various angles and perspectives but I think you get the gist. So many events in the world today and in our personal lives cause us to regularly question if anything is real anymore. We are often forced to question others’ intentions, truths and meaning in our lives. I am not suggesting you abandon this process but I am suggesting that you minimize your frustrations/confusions by searching within first.

I am not going to attempt to address how much you should share about your personal business in order to be authentic. That would require an entire book series and perhaps not yield any solution. Now do you understand why I used the rubix cube picture for this discussion?

–Alesha Brown, The Joy Guru
Empowerment Coach, Motivational Speaker and Best Selling Author
CEO, Alesha Brown LLC

Alesha Brown, The Joy Guru

Alesha Brown, The Joy Guru, is the CEO of Fruition Publishing Concierge Services, where she offers author consultation, writing coaching and publishing services to help people share their story with the masses. As a childhood abuse survivor, she is on a mission to reverse the damage of abuse by encouraging survivors to write and publish their stories in order to pay it forward and create a circle of healing. Alesha is an Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Authors Consultant, and Transformational Speaker who encourages audiences by igniting the fire within and helping them take center stage. With comprehensive, simple techniques and words of inspiration, Alesha helps the old and young alike, grab ahold of their dreams while identifying the roots of their unhappiness and those things that hold them back. A humorist and gifted speaker, Alesha Brown delivers entertaining, engaging presentations with thought-provoking exercises and vivid illustrations to connect with an audience.

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