When are you most authentically you?

When are you most authentically you? Let me know in the google survey form below!

This is my third post on authenticity. The True Challenge of Authenticity set the premise for this one… it’s all very well to try to act authentically, or according to the true self, but how do we determine who this true self is? It might help to ask ourselves when we feel most authentic. In other words, when do we feel that our actions are completely in line with our innermost drives and desires?

Please take a moment to think about it. Is it when you are alone, or with other people? If you are more authentically you when in the company of others, who are the most important others? Friends? Family? Colleagues?

Are you most authentic when working? (Do you love your work? See my post on Authenticity in Academia) Or is it when you are hanging out with friends? Or doing your favorite hobby? I’d love it if you could complete the form below. Please let me know in the final question if you don’t want me to reference your answers in future blogs!

How can you know when you are most authentically you?

For me, it’s when I am focused entirely on the present. I’d say it’s when I am happy, but that present-focus tends to be outside of happiness-sadness. It’s just now. The thing is, this can happen in a variety of situations. Some may be more or less representative of the “authentic” Jessica. I can say, though, that I am most frequently entirely authentically me when either riding horses or writing. Any kind of writing.

Is it flow?

Flow refers to that totally-present-focus/lack-of-intentional-focus that occurs when you are doing something you love and the difficulty of the challenge is perfectly balanced with your ability to perform it. (Csikszentmihalyi on how to achieve flow. His original book is Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.) I first experienced it while riding horses when I was a teenager. It also happens when I am writing (especially fiction). I cannot help but think that being in flow state is necessarily related to authenticity. Thoughts?