I was keeping my truth quiet, and now it’s out.
I recently attended a webinar in which a semi-well-known meditation teacher (and sort of spiritual leader) was talking about how to teach others to meditate. I asked a question in the Q&A, and part of me wanted to delete the question as soon as I wrote it. “No, you need to hear this answer,” my intuition told me. Little did I know, it would be an impactful and transformational experience to hear the painful answer that was coming. it led me to totally re-think how I was approaching everything in my life.
Before I tell you the question I asked and the answer that I got, let me explain something. There’s a strange balance I’ve been trying to strike between being a student and being a teacher. Between taking advice and listening to my inner truth. Between faith in others and faith in myself. Have you been having these doubts, too?
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Another struggle I’ve experienced is in comparing myself to others. I know a lot of cool people and many of them are meditation teachers or coaches. I paid other people to teach me a specific kind of meditation that might not have ever really resonated with me. I assumed that they’ve been doing this a long time and they know what people want. I altered my approach to fit into their mold because I want to please people, too.
I layered a veil over my truth to try to please others.
But I learned a big lesson. I don’t have to be like anyone else and I can carve out my own path. Seems obvious, right?
My Question and the Answer I Got
I went into this webinar asking about an experience I had during meditation. “What do you think it means when I am meditating and getting very deep, and I see people and places I’ve never experienced in this lifetime?” I just wanted to see what their take was on it. I already knew what I thought it was: past lives.
Instead of explaining that it could be past lives, I got a very unexpected answer. If this school and this teacher wanted to take a safe approach and just tell me that it was unexplained phenomena of the brain, or my subconscious detoxing with memories surfacing, I would have accepted that. I personally never like the safe approach, but I get it. Most of the other students in this class probably didn’t know much about past life experiences.
But, no — this wasn’t the answer that this teacher gave. Instead, the answer was ridiculous.
He said: “Whatever you saw, it’s not important. Just ignore it and keep meditating.”
I was shocked. How could someone who is teaching something as deep as meditation try to tell me that intuitive knowledge of any kind is insignificant?
Enter the Awakening
I realized painfully that I am not like everyone else, and I’d even been teaching meditation to try to please someone who wasn’t even there to witness it. I wasn’t being my authentic self. By betraying myself, I betray my students.
Students of any age or setting just want a teacher who is authentic.
I realized that the struggles I was having internally all related to this. I was desperately trying to create classes and experiences for people that would fit in with these classes I was taking. The methodology seemed well-accepted, so I went with it. I was trying to follow a script that wasn’t really me.
I believe in following your intuition and taking any visions you have very, very seriously. I believe in developing this in other people. I believe in teaching meditation for deep dives into the soul and for all the amazing and wild experiences we can have in meditation. I realized very quickly that I am a transformational meditation teacher who gets people to make huge realizations about their lives in a very non-subtle way, and the goal is to have weird visions in meditation. If someone tells me they had a vision of a past life, I’d drop everything and make them tell me all about it.
I will never speak to a student this way; dismissing their experiences. No way! Suddenly, I figured out who I am.
I immediately re-branded.
All thanks to this inappropriate answer to my question.
Being Yourself is Key to Success — in Business or ANYTHING
I have certainly found that on Medium, from the beginning, people like it when I am me. I don’t write to please or to keep from offending people, nor do I try to copy what other writers are doing. I write from my authentic heart. I try to shock people into thinking about life completely differently. I should have been taking this approach to everything all along. Oops.
The principle of authenticity should apply to anything you do in life. If you want to start a business and promote it on social media, you should be yourself. People like vulnerability and your specific flare. We all have unique gifts. Identify yours and then use them.
You’ll see success flourish when you follow your gut feelings. Maybe you’re scared that people won’t like your product because it isn’t like other products out there. Maybe you’re worried that there’s nothing like you out there (and you’d be right) therefore no one will actually be attracted to your message. My advice is to just stop right there and embrace your inner truth today.
Re-brand yourself if you discover you haven’t been authentic. It’s urgent.
I learned that being yourself is easier, more effective, and more enjoyable than trying to use some kind of mind trick or hack to get what you want. And it gets you into a flow state where you just start attracting abundance and good things into your life.
Takeaways
You are a unique and special flower. You have skills and services to offer others that you may not have embraced yet. Maybe that’s due to fear or a limiting belief. However, people will love what you do when you become authentic. Your energy and productivity will also just flow. Never keep your truth covered up. Go with your intuition, always.
Sometimes it’s not that easy and we need a rude awakening such as a teacher making an unexpected or inappropriate comment. It jolts us to where we need to be.
