“This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow. As the night the day. Thou canst not then be falst to any man.”

William Shakespeare

Truth.

What is a fundamental, Universal Truth? A lot of answers can fill in that blank, but my answer: Your truth…My truth. 

I believe in the power of belief. I believe we sculpt our vision of this world and our reality through our beliefs, but the key is to dig down to find our raw truth burried beyond the masks and fears and noises. Getting real with our truths, but the thing is my truth may not be yours and vice versa. But does it make it less true? What is your truth? Dr. Joe Dispenza said one of the greatest realizations he’s had was that just because he has a thought doesn’t make it true. So, what is true and what is true for you?

That’s a doozy of a big question. So let’s break it down. 

For me, the first thing I found when putting on my digging cap to dive into my truth was intention…my WHY. The deeper I went with my why (by deep, I literally mean asking “why” then asking why that then why that and so on) the closer I got to the root of my truth. The sticky icky thing with this is that the truth might be, and most likely will be, a hard hit to the ego. It’ll bring up some unwanted emotions, and the only way this truly works is by being brutally honest with what comes up. 

For example, Why did I just tuck my necklace under my shirt? If I’m being honest, I’m afraid of what others might think. Why am I afraid of what others might think? I’ve seen people made fun of and have been laughed at in the past and that doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t that feel good? Because I want to be liked by others. Why do I want to be liked by others? Because I want to fit in. Why do I want to fit in? Because I want to feel like I belong. Why do I want to feel like I belong? Because I want to feel loved. Why do I want to feel loved? Because I didn’t feel the love from my parents. BOOM!

This isn’t my truth, but you get the jist of how this plays out when we dive deeper. You start off asking a simple, surface level “why”, and then you end up with the super deep rooted reason of not feeling loved by your parents. It’s heavy stuff. So, intention is major in this process. 

The second thing, which I learned intensively about in my emotional intelligence course (Something I absolutely think we all should do), is understanding my VALUES. 

Before diving deeply into values, I want to share a theory I have.

It started with reading Don Miguel Ruiz’s “The Four Agreements”. One of the agreements is “Don’t take things personally”. When going down this rabbit hole, I started to understand deeper as to why we not only shouldn’t take things personally, but why we actually do take things personally in the first place.

When one takes something personally, it usually manifests into becoming offended. When this happens we become disempowered and feel victimized. It’s no fun, we’ve all been there.

One of the ways one takes something personally and gets offended is if they AGREE with the information that is being presented. So, if someone makes fun of the shape of your nose today, you might agree because a young kid made a comment about your nose when you were 5 years old, leading you to believe there is something wrong with your nose. Well, then you’re going to get offended because deep down you think there is something WRONG with your nose. (*Reality check…your nose is badass just the way it is:)) And this goes for any body part or any belief or any habit. 

Okay, hypothetical situation, that same person who’s hollering about how wacky dacky your nose is, comes up to you and starts attacking you for having green hair (meanwhile, you’re actually a beautiful dirty blonde). This person brings the same energy as before and goes off for 5 minutes about how ugly and weird your green hair is, calling you an “Oompa Loompa”. The whole time, you’re thinking bro….I don’t have green hair. So, you’re not affected and you are not offended. You might genuinely just feel sorry for this homie putting so much energy in trying to put you down. 

This might be a silly comparison because they seem so different, but are they? Two situations with the same antagonist projecting the same energy, yet two different responses. The only difference between the two is that you agreed with the first one, and not with the second. 

So, what if you sat with presence and went through every part of your body and were able to love it? Truly love the imperfection (especially if it’s a body part you can’t change). Well, then if anyone says anything about it, you know you love it, so you no longer agree with their statement, and now understand that this person is projecting their (most likely) insecurities onto you. It has very little to do with you and 99% with the other. Now you can actually come from a state of love and seek to understand what makes them think that way instead of feeling belittled. The best way to defuse a bully is to call them out on their baloney because nobody in a happy, loving state of mind is going to put time and effort into putting someone else down. The late, great Paul Walker said it best, “No matter how cool you think you are, you’re not cool enough to put anyone down…ever”. So, send that person some love because they most definitely need it the most. 

Now, where does being true and in alignment come in here?

One of the other ways we get offended is if someone calls us out on our shit, right? If I’m texting and driving (knowing I shouldn’t be doing this) and then get called out for it, I feel like shit. If someone makes fun of me for being lazy, and I’m snoozing in every morning while watching TV during all of my freetime, well then I’ll feel like shit. If someone makes fun of my weight and I don’t exercise and eat fast food and processed foods, then I’ll feel like shit. If someone calls me out for being a dick, and I come off as rude and egotistical in most of my relationships, then I’d feel like shit. If someone calls me stupid, and I have a fixed mindset and don’t learn or grow or work on myself, then I’ll feel like shit. I’ll feel like shit…because I know it’s true. *Excuse my french*

Do you see where I’m getting at?

We feel like shit…because someone is calling us out on our bullshit. They are shining truth on things we do not want to admit. The truth is, we are not true with ourselves. We want to feel a certain way or be looked at in a certain way, yet our actions speak otherwise. (Again, this takes workkk because these bad habits have been accumulated over years and years, so in order to break that habit and start a new one….it takes work…but that’s another story).

When our state of being (how we ACT, THINK, and FEEL) is not in alignment, that is when the shame and guilt and self sabotage flow in. So, how do we get these on the same page?

I’m a fan of motivational talks. They get me psyched, but they don’t exactly provide me with the tools to consistently reach this peak state. You get stoked and then five minutes later it’s gone. So, I’m now a big fan of tangible steps to integrate and really get to where we want to go. 

First, we must identify our values. What do you value in this world? Here’s a brief list to get the brain going:

• Health
• Abundance
• Family
• Joy
• Compassion
• Service
• Presence
• Sustainability
• Gratitude
• Spirituality
• Work
• Organization
• Spontaneity
• Hard work
• Listening
• Balance

There are hundreds of different values (find a list on Google). then write down your top 25. After that, narrow it down into your top 6. Be aware out of the top values, which ones you already fully live by. Then choose ones that you desire and have space and want and need to work on. 

This was major for me because after reflection, I realized that I identified that Health was a major value of mine, yet, I was not doing the things I needed to do to optimize my health. My actions were not in alignment with my values. This is what happens when we are not fully conscious of the majority of our actions. Now, we are going to get super duper clear on everything about ourselves. 

Once you have those 6 values to focus on, then ask how you’re doing in these departments. After this, write down at least 3 specific action steps on how you can fully embody this value. If it is Health, then maybe it’s exercise 3-5x per week, drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day, set a sleep routine, 20 minutes in nature, eat one whole food plant based meal per day, etc. 

If the value is presence, then your action steps might look like a daily 20-minute meditation, having an hour with no phone, tasting and describing each bite of food, etc. 

Why is this important? The more I’ve started to practice being in alignment with my values, the more I’ve understood its power. This work circles its way all the way back to INTENTION. If I am truly intentional with every single thought and action and aware of each one of my values, and how I think is how I want to think, and my actions are all things that my higher self does, then…I believe we have this shield of protection over us.

Not only is this driven by incredible intrinsic validation, meaning it feels unreal to be the person you know you can be, but we also are protected from the projectors and naysayers because we know what we are doing is what we should be doing. The guilt and shame comes when we get called out on doing things we sorta kinda know we shouldn’t be doing, right? 

When we get clear on our highest version of ourselves, and those values we so dearly value, and the feelings that that person is feeling, we can then actually orchestrate this person. Kind of like creating that “Million dollar man”. We program a certain new set of values and habits and then beep bop boopity boop…they are created by rewiring our neurons and habits. We can actually do that when we get clear on our values and who we want to be, and fully embody that. I don’t know about y’all, but that’s a superpower. No one can say anything that can hurt us because we know what we do and say and why we say and do. 

Remember, this is an ongoing daily practice for the rest of our waking lives. We must make amends with our current conditions, habits, and programs, and do the conscious work to slowly shift into the superhuman of our higher selves. That means being that person you want to be in every waking hour of your life. Being congruent. It’s not enough to say you want to be this but only for a couple hours. No. This means being that person and those values when people are looking, but most importantly when not a soul is looking. It’s not easy by any stretch to get there and embody this every waking minute, but with practice you can get pretty darn close and I believe it can be achieved. 

When how we act, think, and feel are all in accordance with the person we want to become, aka. our higher self, that is when the magic flows through us. We are in this constant flow state. We are wizards casting spells with our words and actions. We are powerful manifestors. We are truly, undeniably authentic. We become realer than real and free from all that noise.

Imagine what that would feel like?

Burning all those masks and walking around as the true you every second of every day.

It might be hard to imagine what this person even looks like depending on where we are in our journey. This is where meditation and visualization are so incredible. We must feel into how that person walks and talks and acts and feels before we experience that in our current reality. Yeah, it’s not the easiest thing in the world, but man oh man it’s powerful. 

Firstly, do this for you. You deserve to walk around as the badass, unique, gifted individual that you are. But imagine the people you will inspire. It’s like walking around, sprinkling pixie dust on everyone who gets a glimpse of your energy. By being the truest version of yourself, you actually give others permission to do the same. And the crazy thing is that you don’t have to say a word. People can feel authenticity. They can feel your truth just as easily as they can feel your lies. 

Now, let’s talk about lying. The lies we tell to others, and the lies we tell ourselves. This is the rawest sign that we are not being our true selves. That we may feel like we are not enough. We sweep our true light under the carpet. The longer we sustain this lie the dustier those bunnies become. We may dissolve a moment of discomfort, but we multiply the inner turmoil in ourselves, and that is the heaviest weight to burden. 

Imagine a world of true transparency. A world with nothing to hide. A world where we don’t have to question whether an act was made out of the kindness of one’s heart. That would be pretty cool, huh?

I love the word alignment because there are so many parallels in life and literature and fiction that align with the essence of this concept. In Hercules, all the planets must be aligned to free the Titans. A key must be punched in perfect alignment with the lock in order to link open the door. Each individual puzzle piece is in perfect alignment with another, and it takes a keen eye and time to align them. The chakras are all centered and aligned in our body and energy body. There is a surge of energy that takes place once something clicks into alignment. We are just the same. 

It takes a great presence of awareness to make this shift. To identify our old ways and slowly plant the new habits we desire. Breaking the habit of being ourselves is no easy task. I am far from reaching my higher self, but I’ve caught a glimpse of him from time to time and it’s a magical thing. The trick is sustaining him. This journey is a constant practice. Every encounter, and opportunity and second that our heart ticks is time to practice.

I used to go to school to go to school and go to sports to play sports, but now konwing that every encounter is an opportunity to grow and learn and instill this new version of myself, it gives purpose and meaning to every second of life. It might sound rubbish, but it makes this game of life pretty fun.

What level are you on?

Can you see the highest version of yourself? Can you see and feel that Avatar?

I’ll catch you at the finish line. Let’s play.

All love.

Stay true.

-Andrew