Lesson 4 – To Be authentic we must betray!!
Oh, here is a toughie! If we are going to be this authentic and live true to our best self – I call it our Born and Unique Genius, we need to betray!! What does that mean?
Imagine you decided that a friend of 20 years (you never felt they valued you, but in the past you didn’t value you either) was no longer someone you were going to spend time or energy on. You no longer call them or arrange to catch up (that was always your job in the “friendship”). You tell them you no longer choose to be that person who does all the contacting. How do you think they will receive this? Most likely they will feel betrayed. Yet, all you are doing is being authentic.
Are you willing to do this to be authentic?
Or, you have been in an intimate love relationship (marriage, de facto, gay, straight – yours is yours) for a number of years and you choose to leave (or consider leaving) the relationship (the reasons are not relevant, as long as the choice to leave comes from alignment with your authenticity). Do you think your partner will feel betrayed? Are you willing to be authentic or do you choose to betray? Who is being betrayed if you stay – YOU!!
Or, you are in business with someone and you no longer feel the “partnership” will work.
Are you willing to be authentic and bring a close to this energy or..?
Or, you have been in a job, a sporting team, a church, a club, anywhere where you know you no longer would choose to be if …..
And this is the big “if”……. If you did not feel like you were going to betray someone. We all know the feeling of betrayal, and it is very painful. Can we really create the possibility we would do this to someone else. How will they feel? How will they respond? How will I feel about how they will respond?
Most people are so fearful of being betrayed, that they will not betray, even if it means being inauthentic, lying, harboring resentment, anger and suffering in silence.
And the biggest betrayal of all is to you – by you!
What I mean is, in doing nothing and “suffering in the silence of inauthenticity”, we are betraying our own deep souls truth. Yes, I hear you say, “but I have obligations”, “I have invested so much in this relationship, career, friendship”, “What else would I do”. The list is inexhaustible as to how you may justify and respond.
Just ask yourself this question “If I am not authentic to my deeper truth, will I be truly happy with my life, when I take my last breath”?
To be authentic, we must betray. Be frustrated with this concept, as frustration desires one thing – change.
Live true until next time.
Pete
