I’m currently writing a book that is all about how to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself, and it’s also the subject of today’s podcast episode. This is an important topic for me because it’s something I’ve struggled with for much of my life. And I’m not alone. Being authentic is something many people struggle with because of old limiting beliefs about how we “should” behave. We wind up wearing masks (and I don’t mean literal masks to counteract Covid-19!), that wind up keeping friends, family, and clients at a psychological distance from us.
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Today on the Live. Love. Engage. Podcast:
- Why being yourself can be risky, even though it’s important.
- What “A Course in Miracles” has to say about releasing the past.
- How your beliefs affect your present circumstances.
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TRANSCRIPT
Gloria: Namaste and welcome to Live. Love. Engage. I am Gloria Grace Rand, the Insightful Copywriter and your host. And today I want to talk with you about a couple of things: releasing the past and also about authenticity. And being our authentic selves and why that sometimes is a struggle. I’m going to actually scooch over a little bit here. Sorry. For those of you listening. I was sitting in, I’m sitting in my office and I was watching the video and realized that my head was blocking a picture of a lovely beach scene on my wall. But all you saw with this little corner of the frame sticking out of my head and I decided I didn’t like that.
So, yeah, I wanted to talk about authenticity and. And also how sometimes the past can prevent us from really stepping in and living into who we truly are at our core, which I believe is we are actually a spiritual being. We are part of God at our core. And, but a lot of times we are hiding that, we are hiding behind a mask.
And I was, earlier today I got to do an interview with a man. Oh. And now I’m forgetting his last name, but it’s coming up in a few weeks. It was awesome. He is part of a, an investment group actually that is investing in startup companies that have a mission to help raise the consciousness of our planet.
And they’ve, they’ve invested in it. And also companies like insight timer, which I use. It’s an app on my phone that I use every morning, to do my, to time my meditation. And they also offer, I think, other like free meditations on there. But anyway, he, he is a remarkable man and I only am remembering his first name at the moment.
I don’t want to even say it because I’ll mess it up. But he actually has talked about authenticity and also some of the pushback that he got, because here is, he’s a Harvard graduate, I believe. And, you know, been involved in business for a long time, but also a few years back, he got involved in sort of exploring his spiritual side and even started recording songs on YouTube, recorded a couple albums.
He still has a third one in the works. So there’s kind of has it on the back burner at the moment, but. You’ll hear more about that during the interview, I realized I’m giving it all away. But anyway, the point was is that he had some pushback from his family, from some of his friends, because they were on, they weren’t used to seeing this different side of him, which was actually a happier side of him.
But also what, where am I going with this? Well, it’s, this is also something that I’ve been dealing with really. And it’s something that I’ve been dealing with and frankly, my whole life in a way, because, there have been times where I’m out there and I really projecting and I’m, I’m being me at least. I believe I’m being me, but there’s other times when I am hiding and part of it has to do with how I grew up and, you know, a stressful household and things like that.
But I am like 57 years old now and I should be able to just, you know, deal with it. Right? Well, yes and no. And that’s why I’ve still see coaches. And I still go through programs because. I have made a lot of progress or that over the years, and there’s still more to do. And that’s actually a lesson for all of us is that we are always have something more to do.
We’re never quite finished. I’m really, really only finished when this body ceases to exist. And then our spirit goes off wherever it goes off to. And that’s a whole ‘nother discussion for another episode, letting go of the past. So the past can be an issue with, with keeping us sometimes from really being our authentic self, is really showing up as who we truly are.
And I wanted to share with you, a quote, from I’ve been studying A Course in Miracles for quite a while now and earlier this week, I actually created a, an image that I posted on Facebook with this, because I thought it was just so powerful. The message. I want to share it with you. It says, “The only value that the past can hold is that you learn, it gave you no rewards that you would want to keep. For only thus, will you be willing to relinquish it and have it gone forever.” Now you might be thinking really? That the… you learn that the past gave us no rewards that we would want to keep? Well, I suppose there probably are some rewards that you might have learned in the past, but in this instance, they really talking about more of the sort of negative things that are showing up in our lives.
That coming from the past, that really the only value they do have is to show you what you want to keep them what you want to release, what you want to let go of. There are a lot of things that I have been working on in my life to let go of the, you know, some of those feelings that probably many of you might have of the feelings of “I’m not enough” and “I’m not worthy,” stuff that is BS, frankly.
And it’s just, it’s an… Faulty belief system is what it is. It’s a faulty belief system because I am worthy. I am enough. In fact, I’m more than enough because I am immortal. I am, my spirit is immortal. This body. This body will, will cease to exist at one point, because we have not reached the point where our bodies continue for thousands of years.
The average lifespan is still, I don’t know, maybe 78 in the United States or something. I’m not sure where it is wherever you’re listening to, if you’re listening for another foreign country, but it’s still maybe, you know, 60 seventies, eighties tops, but our spirit. We are not our body. This body is just a shell of who we are.
You have emotions and thoughts, and that is a part of you that goes on that, that lives on at least that’s my belief. Anyway. So I’ve been working on being able to retrain my brain. And there’s lots of different ways that people can teach you to do that. One way is that I do is through affirmations. I’m not only writing affirmations.
I also have them recorded on my phone and I’ve listened to them. So it’s my voice. I hear in my ear and, and I tell myself things like, I am love. I am joy. I am health. I am wealth. I am enough. In fact, I am worthy. I am valuable. And you can say those things too, because they apply to you too. No matter where you are in your journey, in this life’s journey on planet earth, you are whole, you are one with everyone.
I also believe is that we are all connected. We are all one. And. It just takes a conscious effort to take a look and, you know, they say your, the results you’re having right now are based on the thoughts that you thought in the past. So if where you are right now, isn’t serving you. If you’re not as happy as you’d like to be, you’re not as prosperous as you’d like to be. If you don’t have as many friends or family or, abundance of, of. You know, even money in the bank or whatever it is, if you don’t have “enough” and I’m using air quotes right now, you don’t have enough. It’s because of the thoughts you’ve thought in the past. And that’s why then in this course of miracles reading actually does make sense then because it’s, that’s how you’ve got to be able to relinquish those thoughts now and start choosing different thoughts, start choosing them. And, and you can do this. It has been scientifically proven that you can retrain your brain. Your brain does get hard wired for different thoughts, and that’s actually scientific proof as well.
And you can rewire it. You can. Because again, it’s repetition, it’s starting to consciously say new beliefs and, and the key, what I’ve also learned is it’s not just wrote, you know, you know, like when you were a kid, maybe you had to write 500 times. I will not write on the board or I will not, you know, throw spit balls or whatever it is.
But it’s really, it also has to be backed with emotion. You’ve got to really feel it down deep in your soul. And here’s an example. I have a morning practice, right now where I am spending time actually writing down affirmations and I’m journaling about, the life that I’m creating. It’s not quite here yet, but it is coming in the future.
But this morning, as I was starting to write the affirmations, I realized that I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t in a high vibration as Abraham Hicks talks about. I wasn’t happy really. I was just sort of going through the motions. So I decided that I’m not going to do it right now. And I actually didn’t. I went onto YouTube on my phone and I pulled up an Abraham Hicks because I love listening to those types of videos and that helped.
And then I went out for a walk, got some fresh air, also listened to another inspirational video. And by the time I got home, I felt so much better. And I’m like, okay, now I can write my affirmation, which is I accept myself as I am a powerful creator.
And I forget the rest of it at the moment. My mind just went back, but that’s the most important part of it. I accept myself. I accept myself as I am: a powerful creator and whatever you say after I am is absolutely powerful. It really, you, you own that because I am is, is, is the word of God. I mean, in the Christian Bible, you know, God spoke to Moses and said, I am that I am.
So when you claim, I am powerful or I am worthy. I am valuable. I am whole, I am love, I am joy. I am peace. You are tapping into that God’s source inside and you can really, really own that. And that’s why it’s important to watch our words too, because sometimes, you know, we’ll say, Oh, you know, I’m sad or I don’t, Oh, I’m not good enough or whatever, but the brain, well, the brain also doesn’t hear the negative.
So you also have to be careful about that, but it will just take those words on. So think, choose your words, choose your thoughts carefully. Let go of the past. And own the fact that you are valuable, unique person that was created in God’s image. You are part of God, you are God. And. When you own that, then it also becomes that much easier to be able to speak and to share with the world who you are and what you like and what you believe and what you don’t like you, and as well, because it’s important too, to let people know sometimes that, you know, I don’t like the way you’re treating me. It doesn’t make me feel good or I would prefer you to do XYZ or, or. Mostly, I need to pay attention to me and how I’m showing up. I hope that makes sense. Hopefully that makes sense to you today.
And, I appreciate you listening. And if you have any questions or comments, please visit my website, Gloriarand.com. And you can comment on the podcast episode there, or, or leave a comment on iTunes or wherever you’re listening to this, or even on YouTube where I post the video. And if you would like to chat also, And schedule an appointment to talk with me. You can also do that. If you go to engagewithgloria.com and you can set up an appointment to chat with me as well. And I guess that’s probably going to do it for me for today. So thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. And until next time as always, I encourage you to go out there and live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically.
