Hello,
My name is Tawana and welcome to this talk on how to be your authentic spiritual self by practicing courage over conformity.
I want to get right into it and share my story about me choosing conformity over my courage in support of you finding the courage to be your spiritual self and to follow your soul's path for your spiritual life.
After years of running and hiding my spiritual truths from many,
I thought I was finally fairly secure in my chosen spiritual path.
But not too long ago,
I found myself unconsciously complying to the very religious expectations and programming I had worked so hard to evolve from all while in a Walmart parking lot.
As I settled into my car that night,
I was unexpectedly faced with choosing to speak my truth about my spiritual beliefs or pretend I was what's considered normal.
A young lady and two younger boys were selling religious materials that I knew were not in alignment with my truths.
I could tell she assumed we shared the same religious beliefs and I let her make this assumption despite my feelings when she confidently asked me questions only a non-follower would struggle with.
But I showed no sign of a struggle as I pretended to be normal by automatically reassuring her of her assumptions.
By saying what I knew she expected to hear when she asked me about being what's called a believer and if I also believed I would be saved by her savior.
I'll just quickly add here that a believer is usually a term used by certain religious groups to identify that they fully accept the gospel,
Creed,
Or dogma of their faith or religion and to identify like-minded religious followers.
So in that moment she asked me those questions.
I didn't know how to inform her that I no longer practiced this kind of religion so I simply allowed myself to say yes.
Yes to indicate that I too was a believer in what she believed.
Although I didn't buy anything she looked satisfied and simply gave me this huge smile of approval as I rushed away to find a place to process what just happened.
During that event in that split second of saying yes over no,
I went from an actual believer in universal consciousness with no gender or race attached to it back to the stone ages of my personal spiritual journey.
I immediately felt I had betrayed myself by so quickly giving in to what I believe she expected me to confirm and afterwards I didn't like myself for it.
I later knew I had to further process this experience and forgive myself in the process.
In my process of self-forgiveness I could see how much I feared being different and then there was the conditioned fear that I would somehow be persecuted or punished if I verbalized my truest sense about the source of life I now honor.
I thought I was done with fearing a stranger's judgment and rejection in this area of my life but I became very aware that this was not the case during my healing process.
I now see this experience and this young lady as one of my greatest teachers.
I was given this opportunity to face my fears of being seen and heard as my authentic spiritual self and experiences like this has become the practice because I'm in the process of shedding the many layers of conditioning to be what and who I was taught it's safe to be.
It's not abnormal to be deathly afraid of letting people know who you really are and what you believe about life and your source of life.
Many including myself have spent a lifetime trying to untangle the many fears and emotional traumas that come from being what's considered different or unconventional according to the norms.
I'd like to add a little afterthought here about me telling my story.
I tell this story as an example of choosing courage over conformity but I'm not here to tell you to no longer follow or practice a particular religion unless it no longer works for you.
Whatever your spiritual path,
Whether that be an all-inclusive loving religion,
Personal spirituality,
Or something else along those lines.
This talk is about honoring what aligns with your soul,
Your core authentic values,
And who you are in this life despite what others might think.
We are all conditioned to fear what's outside of our culture,
Socialization,
And family standards.
But there may come a point in your life when the parameters placed around your life no longer fit and you are experiencing more inner pain than pleasure in life.
If you feel constrained,
Contained,
Or overly pressured by the social cultural requirements that force you to pretend and hide your true self,
Then it might be time to let others and yourself see who you really are.
I know this is easier said than done for most of us.
You might fear you have a lot to lose by letting others see you for who you really are.
But all is not lost.
Even if you've gone years pretending you are a part of some or most of the mainstream religions or other groups.
Even if you've had panic attacks over being seen and heard as your spiritual self.
Even if all or most of your family doesn't know you don't share in major core tribal beliefs they hold about religion.
And even if you've built spiritual friendships based upon safety and conformity and not by being an integrity.
All is not lost.
Today you can begin to choose courage over conformity as you awaken the parts of your soul you may have abandoned long ago.
Today you can also begin to give yourself permission to honor your unique voice in this world.
It may be beneficial to practice some forgiveness of yourself and if possible for those who have hurt you and pressured you to conform to being what's expected in our society.
It may help to accept that this is a process and can take some time to peel back the layers and shift the pain.
With the practice of being seen and heard as your authentic spiritual self please be kind to yourself and remind yourself that doing this kind of work can support you in letting go of any fear of another's judgment.
The next time you're faced with a choice to be your spiritual self or to comply with others expectations you can take a deep breath and let your truth lead your next move.
If you can't do this right away don't despair get the help you need instead.
You have some options to do things like journaling,
Seeing a professional for some human support and practicing how you want to show up when life offers you another opportunity to be who you really are.
As far as me I've done all three and you can too.
I encourage you to be mindful of your opportunities and to access the courage available within you when given the opportunity to be your spiritual self.
Just be aware that accessing your courage is a gradual process involving small steps to own your truth and to live in alignment with your soul's wisdom,
Intuition,
And power.
Thank you for being here with me today.
I encourage you to never give up on becoming your authentic spiritual self despite what others might think.
If you found this talk helpful today I'd love to hear from you in the comments and if you'd like to hear more from me I'd love for you to follow me.
Namaste
