When asked about how he was able to create lifelike, detailed forms from blocks of marble, Michelangelo answered, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”
And so it is with your authentic self. You don’t need to create your personal truth; you simply need to remove everything that is standing in the way of self-expression. And the biggest obstacle is usually fear.
Rejecting Limits on Your Voice or Your Truth
When your fifth energy, the energy that corresponds to creative self expression, is unbalanced, it’s common to feel that you don’t have a right to express yourself. This lack of harmony can lead to fears about speaking up, for fear you’ll be judged, mocked, censured, or otherwise rejected.
But we cannot be totally free unless we are committed to telling the absolute truth — to others and to ourselves. And this takes courage! Often, we can be led to believe stories that it is safer to fit in, or that we have to earn our worth before we can speak up. Many people have had to fight to be heard, or maybe you were punished for telling the truth. Maybe you were, like me, taught how to fit in, and that being different was dangerous.
We’ve seen the impact of that conditioning over generations. And now, marginalized communities are finding their voice and sharing unflinching tales of the abuse and mistreatment. The result is freedom, awareness, and hopefully, change. But it all starts with the willingness to speak up.
I’m not saying this is easy! As I’ve been faced with an opportunity to speak up or be silent, the choice has not been a simple one. Many times I’ve been riveted in fear: when speaking in front of people, or setting boundaries with someone who didn’t respect mine, or making amends and taking real ownership of my part in something that caused a rift in a friendship. Sometimes I’m so afraid to disappoint someone I feel sick to my stomach. But I’ve learned the anxiety is something I inherited and over time became mine.
Bending to Fit In Stifles Your Sacred Soul
I’ve also learned that trying to live a life and a “truth” that doesn’t fit me is much more painful than trying to fit into a pair of someone else’s shoes. Our souls were not meant to conform to man made conditions and structures for acceptance. Each of our souls was created to be unique. And trying to fit in goes counter to the plans of the Universe, God, or your Higher Power.
At one point in my life, I actually tried to give up the “woo” and go straight. Can you even imagine…?? HA!
It came after I had appeared on Dr. Phil (yes, THAT Dr. Phil) and even though I was high on the success of that appearance, I came crashing down to reality when I started receiving death threats.
Really.
This shook me big time because not only was it a physical threat, it was also a threat to my very being of who I was.
It plugged right into a deeply held belief I had, that showing people my authentic self had consequences. From my earliest days, my mother had told me to hide my intuitive abilities, that I’d be judged for them. And so that instilled something in me that they were “wrong” somehow. I’d grown up believing that if people knew who I really was, or worse, showed my unique gift, I’d be rejected or threatened. And here it was happening. Horror set in. I’d shared my abilities with the world, and just like she said, I was being threatened and rejected. Total confirmation of those fears!
Joy Comes from the Freedom of Self-Expression
I won’t share all the ups and downs and ins and outs of trying to escape my true essence and how frustrating it was and how I ended up telling the Universe, “I SURRENDER! This is who I am!”
Let’s just say that it was a l-o-o-o-n-g, circuitous (and painful!) route… back to ME.
The short version is, we can’t escape who we are meant to be, and the sooner we embrace that fact, the more clear our path will be.
So what if you aren’t sure who you are under the layers of expectations, societal training, and mistruths?
Start with your imagination — which is a key concept in service to your fifth energy, and the sixth energy too!
That might sound a little counterintuitive… but your imagination can be a path to a true, pure form of self-expression. As I write in the guidebook for the Oracle of the 7 Energies, you are being invited to create, to be the artist of choreographing your life. Imagination can be the form the magic of your creativity takes. We must imagine our world before we can create it!
Here’s a little snippet about the interrelation between imagination and the material world
Learning How to Express Yourself
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to let your imagination and creativity out to play. Pull out your journal and spend some time contemplating:
- Who would I be if I had no fear?
- In what ways am I limiting all that I can be?
- What does my genius or creativity want to share with the world?
- What opportunities do I have to share my experience and voice to benefit others?
- What would I tell a loved one who feels scared to embrace themself?
When you give your voice room to play in a non-threatening environment (like the safety of your journal!) you can begin to see who you, at your core, truly are and what you have to offer. (This is one of the big takeaways of my free 7 Energies Challenge, coming your way soon!). Telling yourself the truth is the precursor to speaking authentically to others.
Sometimes the most transformative thing you can do is to accept who you are and live into that fully. When you do, not only do you set your own soul free, you serve as a model and inspiration for so many others!
Oh this hit home! Knee deep in the muck right now. Thank you Colette for your insightfulness! I am using my imagination to rewrite my timeline as best as I can! Miss you! xx Baba
Thank you so much, I was always punished and shamed for telling the truth, but I always knew it was necessary and continued to do so, the ego in other people is what I have come up against and the religious culture in life, that’s enough of that stuff, let’s get real
OMG, Colette sometimes I swear you and I are getting the same downloads, at the same time, from the energy of the universe. I just sent an email to a potential employer outlining my authentic passions and how I want to use them to benefit all and her company. I send the email as I said to myself ” I stand in the truth of who I am and will allow the universe to lead me where I can do the most good for all”. I open my email and get this message about authenticity from you. LOL I love when spirit validates my intuition.
Beautiful msg! Thank you Collette.I am aware of how I have silenced and hindered my self-expression and allowed others to do so to where I became mute and fearful to express myself at times. Sleep affirmations, prayer/meditation, learning (i.e. articles like this), acting, and even expressing my opinion in small ways like this comment has helped me to express my voice with honesty.
Beautiful up lifting words thank you
💕I Love This !!!💕
I can’t believe that you received death threats-!!!
That is nothing more than those people not living their authentic lives & instead live in fear of being themselves. And because they have always excepted what others told them they must do/believe/act, etc., they were reflecting all of that fear & anger onto you.
Hopefully, this is now starting to change.
Pretty much every human soul on earth has been through this (both ways) at some point, in some form. Pity, such a simple idea/emotion wasn’t recognized for what it was, to stop the round & round….If you do what you did, you get what you got.
(Hmmm-where have we heard those wise words before).
If everyone, were to be able to shine their uniqueness …it would become normal.
We are just spiritual beings, living a human experience…..maybe, that’s what the Aquarian Age, will be about.
As Above So Below
Thank You, for a great blog & lots to contemplate.
Love It its just what I would love to say to others. I can see how much we have hidden and stayed small to not speak up due to our lasts and expetiences. Thankyou. I t has given me food for thought I now I ow doubly that the choice of doing as I am or taking the steps to do my creative healing is now a no brainer. Making the changes for the good of all.
Hi Collette!
You know when you think about it… it is pretty funny… a psychic medium getting death threats. I mean is that the best they could do!
Very liberating Colette! Thank you and thank god you found your voice..
When my daughter was born – after two boys!
Hi Colette,
I have always appreciated your blog and the the safe space that you have created inviting others to share.
Today I listened to my intuition. With so many opportunities to participate on Zoom events
I am learning to honor my inner guidance. There is a trust established when I open the door to my home. Inviting someone in to my living space is a relationship. As I do not trust
everyone, I must be discerning. I had joined an online community, and although I was familiar with the work of the person facilitating the group, I didn’t understand the lexicon, it was very complicated. Each time I attended I felt confused. There were ” leaders” chosen to share on a topic. I was muted, could only chat which I am very slow at and by the end of the hour, I was not feeling better. So I decided to cancel my subscription.
A different experience on a 8 day event, part of the homework was to post a short video for our assignment to share our takeaways. I did this for the entire week 7 videos. I felt more at home and was celebrated for ” knocking it out of the park.” It was uplifting, and in the spirit of community. Very few people posted a video. It was an opportunity to share in a new form. I felt seen and heard and appreciated.
I grew from the experience. I felt supported, and valued. I could comfortably share my point of view. It was liberating. ” Be yourself, everyone is already taken. ” Oscar Wilde
I love this! I had to share it with my daughters. I wish someone had told me this when I was their age. Then again, maybe they did but I didn’t truly listen to, or wasn’t ready to hear, what was being said to me. Thanks, Colette!
Thank you Colette. I learning to with with who I am and with what I have, my husband is too. It makes such a massive difference to finger your authentic self under the rubbish of I should, I could but I cant. Well guess what you can and oh my is feels so good. It is good to tell yourself the truth
Colette: You are So precious. 💖
Love this! So grateful for your sharing so honestly. You are an inspiration to soooooo many🤗
I really applaud you for taking on such a courageous challenge as working in the public in the first place…it’s amazing how you do it.
Your wonderful work of bringing the light into dark places is outstanding.
Thanks for everything you do and many blessings, Colette!