On this week’s podcast show, Jennifer and Leah discuss the concept of being your true authentic self. They ask the question: Who is showing up? You or Your Representative?

Basically what this question is really asking is, who are you when you are around other people? Are you being your true authentic self or are you *wearing a mask* and being someone who you really aren’t? Are you sending your representative or your true self?

All of us have an inate desire for people to like us and to be accepted by others. However, what lengths do you go to in order to insure this result when you are with other people?

For example, when we are in the early stages of dating, we often are on our best behavior, and are very much in the *pleaser* stage. We seem to go along with whatever it is that the other person wants to do. We act happy and joyful and REALLY want that other person to like us. Often times we cover up those things that we consider to be *flaws* in ourselves. In a sense we are putting on an act in order for this other person to like us! We are sending in our representative! However, any one who has been married for a while knows that thie *representative* can’t stay in the marriage forever! Sooner or later you have to let your guard down and be who you were born to be!

The same can be true when we meet people for the first time. We agree with their ideas, their concepts, their politics, and sometimes even their religion all because we want them to accept us. But is that really fair to our authentic self? Isn’t it a shame to not let YOUR voice be heard?

Or, how about when we go on job interviews! In this case, we are truly sending our best representative out there to land the job for us! It is certainly appropriate to put our best foot forward when we are on an interview, but we also need to be ourselves as well.

When we continually send our *representatives* out into the world for us, at the end of the day we come home exhausted!  So, why do we wear these *masks* or *send our representatives* instead of our true self? Well, several reasons! One of the main reasons is fear. We fear that if we don’t conform to what others expect us to be that they won’t like us, we won’t get the job, the boyfriend, the promotion, etc.  Another reason is that we want to impress people, and we feel as though if we act a certain way or say a certain something, people will like us and be impressed!

This week, we challenge you to leave the representative at home and go out and be your true, authentic, wonderful self! You are unique and this is your gift to share with others! Let your self shine!

“Well, we all have a face that we hide away forever and we take it out and show ourselves when everyone has gone. Some are satin, some are steel, some are silk and some are leather..there the faces of the stranger and we love to try them on.” – Billy Joel, The Stranger

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It’s almost spring time! And spring represents a time of re-birth, a new beginning, and a chance to get organized and focused. In some ways, it is an opportunity to start anew!

For those of you who live up north, you know that spring time also means the weather finally gets warmer and you just naturally feel better when you can get outside and enjoy! Flowers are blooming, the grass is getting green again, and the days last a little longer…it is enough to get ANYONE feeling better!

It is also a tradition for many people that when spring time rolls around it’s time to do a little ‘Spring Cleaning’ in the house. This is when people go through their homes, room by room, dusting, vacuuming, cleaning and examining their items to determine what stays and what gets tossed. This is one of the primary reasons you see so many folks holding garage sales this time of year.

On this week’s podcast, Jen and Leah discuss how to incorporate the annual spring cleaning ritual into our *internal* home as well as our external home.

Spring is not only an excellent time to clean your *external* house, but it’s also a good time to clean your “internal* house as well! Basically, we all have two houses, our external house – which is the physical structure in which we live; and our internal house – which is our mind, body and soul. There is a direct correlation between these two houses! If our external houses feel cluttered and disorganized, then our internal house is probably feeling a little discombobulated as well!

In order to have focus, motivation and joy in your life, you must take the action steps required to create a balance between your two houses! Have you noticed that when your external house is cluttered and disorganized that you tend to feel anxious and overwhelmed?
So, why not use this time to take a good look at yourself and examine all areas of your life. Go through each *room* of your life and determine what is working – what isn’t, what things you want to keep and what things you want to toss. An easy way to get started with this task is to refer back to the Five key Areas of your life (your life palette).
Those five areas include:
Health/Emotion
Physical Environment
Financial
Relationships
Spirituality

So, let’s take charge of our lives and do some ‘spring cleaning’ for both our houses!

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