I wrote previously about what living from your truth is not. Here’s what it looks like to embrace your authentic self:

Appreciating your unique gifts, original medicine, native genius.

Feeling your feelings and emotions but not always acting on them.

Listening to the message of fear without letting it hold you back.

Dialoguing with your inner critic without believing it.

Dancing with your shadow, those disowned or buried parts of yourself, to become whole.

Seeing and acknowledging your innate worthiness, essential goodness and best intentions.

Feeding your senses. (You are worthy of dark chocolate, soaks in the tub, scented candles, a beautiful journal, vacation in Mexico…).

Mindfulness. Being here now, whether sitting on a cushion, walking or chopping vegetables..

Self-care practices.

Inhabiting your body, regardless of shape, size, color or abilities. It is your vehicle for experiencing the world.

Honoring natural cycles – feminine cycles, life cycles, seasons and sleep cycles. We are ever changing, like the moon.

Finding enoughness.

Developing and listening to intuition, your inner guide or wise woman.

Taking risks, falling down, getting up, letting the net catch you.

Being human.

Nurturing creativity and forms of self-expression.

Showing up. (Because you belong here, sister!)

Vulnerability.

Being with the unknown and releasing the illusion of safety, especially from conforming to other’s desires and expectations.

Making conscious choices.

Having boundaries. Changing them as needed.

Owning your experience. Letting go of blame.

Forgiveness of yourself and others.

Sacred audacity. Freeing your inner wild woman.

Seeing the higher truth (even when others are blind to it).

Sealing power leaks. Not giving your power away when it depletes you. That can never be sustainable.

Standing in your own power and beauty. Contrary to what we may have been conditioned to believe, this will never diminish the power and beauty of others.

Ready to embrace your authentic self? It’s easier than you think. You don’t even have to dye your hair pink, quit your job, start a blog, go to painting classes, sing on stage, join the peace corps, learn french, break up with your significant other, wear short shorts, give up wine, wake up an hour earlier to meditate, get or remove a tattoo, buy only organic-local-fairtrade, donate to PETA, make a pilgrimage to Tibet (or Jerusalem or Mecca), get another degree, do 108 sun salutations, learn to snowboard, read Dostoyevsky cover to cover, go to massage school, use accounting software, join a walk-a-thon for breast cancer, break out those 70’s platforms, plant a biodynamic medicinal garden, tutor under-served teens, sell your car & bike to work.