How to Live an Authentic Life

Are you living an authentic life? How would you know where to find the answer to this question?

Frank Joseph said “Following a vocation, that inner call, is not self-indulgence or an excuse for laziness. Doing what one really wants to do is hard work, but it is self-fulfilling as nothing else can be. It is the ultimate key to personal happiness in the physical world.”

These words have given me much comfort at a time when my career and life have fused in a direction which I least anticipated. I am now following my inner call and it has taken me to a place which is mind-blowing. How big this change is, will soon be known to the world.

This has not come without sacrifice.

I have left dear friends behind – but I have the comfort of knowing that I am following my destiny and that my friends will catch up with me.

I have had to redefine relationships with relatives, some with ease, others with heart-breaking bravery. I asked myself many times whether following my heart should cause me heartache, but looking back, the heartache was necessary to make my heart grow stronger and to give me a greater capacity for Love.

I have had to face a number of issues related to abundance, but the funny thing is that I have not lost anything – in fact, I have gained immeasurable abundance and wealth on many levels. And I have had to learn to thank my teachers and accept the abundance that I am receiving every day.

I have had to literally shake off an old skin and grow a new skin, which was symbolized by a sudden and severe skin condition which cleared up just as suddenly.

And of course following your heart does not mean bumming around and watching day-time TV. It means harder work than ever before, but working with a passion and a purpose that is difficult to put into words.

Does becoming authentic and following your inner call mean “leaving the world behind”? Yes and no. As long as I have a pulse, I will not “leave the world behind” but rather make a contribution to the world. On the other hand, following my inner call has resulted in me leaving behind a restrictive reality and building a new reality. I chose to no longer follow the herd, but to rather lead the herd in a different direction.

Living your passion does not mean going hungry or being frustrated. It means being energized and having so much more to share with the world, because you work from an energy base that you can only access when you have no more guilt or fear.

Living your passion also does not necessarily mean changing jobs. Richard Branson lives his passion for creation every day and it has brought him great abundance.

Following your inner call also does not necessarily mean doing things on the scale that Richard Branson feels comfortable with. You can be a nurse or a child minder or a dress designer or a domestic engineer and get great joy from doing what you do.

The secret is to stop giving energy to something that is not your passion, if that is what you are doing right now. Rather give half of what you have to something that makes your heart sing, than to give everything to something that makes your heart sink.

Are you living to meet the expectations of other people? If you are, how often do you fail? Meeting other people’s expectations requires a lot of energy and it is stressful. Meeting the call of your heart requires the same amount of energy, and it is a joy.

What prevents people from following the call of their hearts?

There are ultimately only two things, namely guilt over the past and fear of the future.

Guilt is a one-sided perception. For some reason our brains are wired to see either the positive or the negative side of an experience, but not both. This means anything you remember has a hidden side that you choose not to remember.

Fear is a one-sided perception. You choose to only expect the worst from tomorrow, and you often do not even realise that you can also choose to expect only the best.

Following the call of your heart has only one basis, and that is Love – the Love that you can feel in this moment, right now. There is no guilt in this moment. There is no fear in this moment.

When you live an authentic life, you will still have challenges, but you will accept them with joy and comfort and curiosity, and you will learn so much quicker from them.