I’ve been thinking a lot about the gaps we create between our inner and outer worlds; between who we are, and who we try to be. Like Halloween costumes, we sometimes put on masks to live up to perceived expectations, or to cover up the parts of ourselves that we think don’t belong.
Psychologists call this gap between our true selves and the version of ourselves that we present to the world incongruence. Incongruence is exhausting. It creates a constant strain, a persistent sense of effort. It creates self-consciousness and anxiety, and it blocks our ability to be in the flow and to feel the glow of authenticity and real intimacy.
How much effort do you put into living up to who you believe others need you to be?
How much of your energy is lost in the impossible task of holding up a mask?
What would it be like to surrender this effort?
This month I am offering you a tool that comes out of my Women’s Awakening course. It’s a simple guided journaling exercise to help you identify some of your everyday masks and costumes—some of the efforts you make to tweak who you are to be who you think you should be. This tool will help you surrender the effort of incongruence so you can live in more ease and freedom.
I hope it brings you some insight, and paves the way for letting your true self shine.
Yours in authenticity,
Lindsay B. Jernigan, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist – Doctorate
Eastern View Integrative Medicine
185 Tilley Dr. #14
South Burlington, VT 05403
802-229-8270
drlindsayjernigan.com
instagram.com/dr.lindsayjernigan