Today, many people around the world celebrate Easter.  Whether you believe in and celebrate this day or not, you probably believe in renewal, transformation, and authenticity.  And, that is what this story is about, the transformation of what seemed to be an ordinary man, to what and who he really was all along – an extraordinary, divine being.

I love this story because I do not believe in transformation.  I believe in resurrection. Before you say, “What?! A psychologist who does not believe in transformation? How can that be?!”

Let me explain.

I believe true, authentic, lasting transformation is achieved only when we find and allow ourselves to be who we have always really been all along – our True Authentic Selves.

I have seen many people, throughout the years, trying very hard to ignore or deny who they really are – their authentic selves, their true selves – and running away from their true purpose in life by transforming and reinventing themselves into just other False Selves, living new false lives or “shadow” lives, as described by Steven Pressfield in his book, Turning Pro. These people then wondered why they worked so hard but still remained unhappy and even miserable. Well, this happened because they transformed or reinvented themselves into something or someone further away from their True Authentic Selves, rather than closer to who they truly were.

I believe that our goal as human beings is, not to transform into something we are not, but, to resurrect and BE who we were created to BE, who we have always been deep inside – our True Authentic Selves.

Don Miguel Ruiz, MD, author of The Four Agreements, The Mastery of Love, and many other great books, talks about the Toltec wisdom and how people have been domesticated by having made agreements to believe in lies that continue to hurt them to this day. But, he also says you can unlearn these agreements and start agreeing with the truth.  The truth that, according to Toltec wisdom, we are angels (messengers), divine and free.

In other words, your True Authentic Self is a divine messenger without limits.  It is meant to be free to fulfill its life purpose, achieve what it was meant to do, and successfully deliver the message it was meant to deliver – that for which it was created.  It is then that it finds true happiness.

Start Again, Not Over.

Make this day also the day of the resurrection of your True Authentic Self.

Start again by being Aware of and paying Attention to the truth of who you really are and what message you are here to deliver. Look inward. Listen to your True Authentic Self who speaks to you through your intuition, your gut feeling, the butterflies in your stomach, the ideas in your mind, and the excitement in your chest. Believe in the divinity of your True Authentic Self and allow that true self to resurrect.

If you are like many, your True Authentic Self has been so repressed inside that it is, not only incarcerated in your heart, but, buried in your soul. Don’t be afraid. Make the Intention to stop judging and punishing yourself over and over again. Make the Intention to allow your True Authentic Self to resurrect and be free!

Start taking Action by unlearning the untrue agreements that hold you prisoner inside (as stated in Don Miguel Ruiz’s many books and also discussed by Dr. Paul Wood in his TEDxAuckland Talk, What’s Your Prison?) and the piles and piles of heavy lies that have your True Authentic Self buried deep inside your soul. Start again by taking the Action of making new agreements – new agreements that serve as keys to open the prison of your heart, new agreements that serve as shovels to dig out your True Authentic Selves from your soul. And, finally live the life you were meant to live, as your True Authentic Self.

What shadow life are you living under your current false self? What true authentic life do you intend to live as your True Authentic Self is resurrected and free.

Feel free to share your thoughts below. We’d love to hear from you.