How To Trust Yourself And Build An Authentic Life

To me, an authentic life is a life that is true to your own beliefs, goals, and desires. In order to live an authentic life, you have to learn to trust yourself so that you can uncover those beliefs, goals and desires. Only then can you start to plan your life in a way that is congruent with yourself. The two go hand in hand together.

As I’ve worked through my own past trauma, I’ve slowly aligned myself more and more with a more authentic life. It’s been a beautiful process that continues to evolve over time. It can only happen as I learn to trust myself more and more.

My insight leads to a more authentic life.

I’m a planner. I want to know my schedule and what is happening in the days ahead.  The problem is that when I do this, I don’t allow space for the unexpected to happen and sometimes it’s the unexpected things that are the most beautiful in my life. So, when I plan everything out, I get in the way of the most beautiful things happening.

This came into my awareness this week during one of my meditations. You see, I’ve been challenged to ask myself the following question during my meditation each day.

“How am I getting in my own way?”

I’ve been asking myself this question for about 2 weeks now. The responses that I’ve gotten have been very interesting. I’m finding that this practice is helping to point out some patterns that aren’t really helping me & some patterns that are honestly just really bad for me.

Another example of what has come up for me, is that I need more sleep in my life. I get in my own way by staying up late at night. This leads me to not getting enough sleep each night and feeling less than 100% the next day.

I’ve been getting all kinds of gems just by asking myself this simple question.

I find that my inner wisdom is happy to answer when I ask it how I’m getting in my own way. It’s usually fully aware of these patterns that aren’t really helping me. I just have to be open to listening to this wisdom.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing the last 2 weeks. I’ve been more open to listening and it’s actually been very helpful. I can see little tweaks that I can make that will make big differences and lead to a more authentic life.  I may not have made all of these tweaks yet, but just by being aware of these patterns, I’m taking steps in the right direction.

If you’ve experienced trauma, how do you trust yourself again?

Trusting yourself isn’t always easy. Especially if people in your past haven’t encouraged it. In fact, they might have actively discouraged you from listening to your own judgement and ideas. This can lead to a pattern of actively not trusting yourself.

Many of my clients with past trauma have worked to change this pattern. I’ll be honest and say that it’s not always easy.

If a pattern is really ingrained in you, than it can be hard to shift that pattern. Even though it’s not always easy, my clients find it very worthwhile to start the process and trust themselves again.

So, here is where to start…

Step 1 – Notice your body

The first step is to start the process of noticing your body again. Trauma tends to take you out of your body and into your mind. This is a coping mechanism that worked for awhile, but if you want to resolve your past trauma, then you will have to start to notice your body once again.

Practice awareness of those aches and pains. Start to notice when something doesn’t feel right. Pay attention to your body’s wants and needs.

If you’ve actively ignored what’s happening in your body for a long time, reversing it might take awhile. You can start small though. It’s like a muscle that gets stronger with use. You can develop this skill over time.

Step 2 – Listen Deeply

After you start to pay attention to your body, then start to listen more deeply. The messages that you get will come from your own inner wisdom. It’s wise and attuned to you and your needs. You can trust that your inner wisdom has your best interests at heart.

So, how do you listen more deeply?

One easy way to do this is to actively move your body for 5-10 minutes, then pause and simply listen. What’s showing up for you? What messages are trying to get through?

This is what I was doing in my meditation when I asked myself “How am I getting in my own way?” I would do this after my own yoga practice. I moved my body and then took time to simply listen inward.

The insight that I’ve gotten has been extremely helpful in helping me to adjust my life so that it’s more authentic.

You can do this too!

Take those little messages that your inner wisdom is sending to you and start to tweak your daily life. With each change that you make, you’ll start to live more authentically and true to yourself.

It’s a process that takes time…

Learning to trust myself has taken a long time. Until a few years ago, I didn’t really believe my own inner wisdom knew what it was talking about.  However the more that I’ve begun to listen to my inner wisdom, the more that I’ve grown to trust it.  It’s actually pretty smart and tells me what I need to hear when I need to hear it.

I’ve done things that I didn’t expect simply because my body spoke up and said this is what I need. The more I’ve listened, the better I’ve gotten at it. I’m slowing shifting to live more authentically and I’m happier for it.

Are you ready to start to trust yourself more and make small changes that will lead to a more authentic life?

Start by simply noticing your body today. If this sounds hard to do or you just have no idea how to do this, then set up a free chat with me. Yoga Therapy can help you begin this process so that you can live more authentically too.

And remember, it’s never too late to live happier and healthier!

Becky is a Yoga Therapist & has been teaching yoga since 2006. She loves to match people with a yoga practice that helps them to feel better every day & believes that there is a yoga practice for everyone. Click here to sign up for her mailing list & get all of the important news & tips first!