Enough BS is in full swing, and day 2 was crazy! The call ran to two hours and was overflowing with goodness. If you were there, thank you so much for your energy! It was awesome.

While day 1 was all about finding your purpose and figuring out your first steps, day 2 was about how to rock it all with authenticity and STOP kissing society’s ass. :o)

Wanna view these notes as a PDF? Click here.

Takeaway #1: Escape the validation trap

It’s normal to be inauthentic. We learn from a young age what will get us attention from our parents, and they drill us down into their way of thinking. Eventually we start to fear that if we don’t act a certain way to please our parents, we won’t get their love. This spills over into other areas of our lives and we create different images of ourselves for different people, pretending to be who we think they want us to be.

The irony of all this is that we’re trying so hard to get love and validation, but the love we receive isn’t the real deal ’cause people aren’t seeing the *real* us.

While we think our parents and families want us to happy, they actually primarily want us to be *safe*. And of course they’re gonna be worried when we stray from the path they walked on, because they don’t know our purpose! They only know what *they* were taught. As Elena Brower said in our interview with her in WTF2013, parents only playa-hate on our dreams because it reminds them that they never chased their own. So if you find yourself getting pissed off and playa-hated on, don’t freak out. Separate the person from their behavior and love them anyway.

It might even be time to have a chat with your parents, or whoever’s doing the playa-hating, and let them know that you gotta do your thing. According to Mastin Kipp, your approval of yourself is more important than the approval you get from your parents. He also says, “The quality of your life is directly related to the amount of difficult but necessary conversations you’re willing to have.”

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Takeaway #2: We’ve all been hypnotized

Whether we like it or not, we’ve been undergoing a mass hypnosis. Alan Cohen describes this as “a cultural agreement that the way it is, is the way it is.” Since the unspoken agreements are everywhere (news, TV, movies, products), no one ever thinks to question them. Many of us simply accept them as the norm and let ourselves believe that money, status and beauty are where it’s at. But don’t be afraid to stand up and say, “This ain’t right.”

If you’ve figured out your values, you’ll know what works for you and what doesn’t. But of course, it can be tough to ignore the hype and focus on your own journey. Self-acceptance is a funny thing because a lot of us were raised in a generation where our parents gave us a propensity for self-admiration, but society says the opposite. It tells us we’re not good enough, so we feel insecure. We need to say that everything is already OK right now, and then work on going from OK to better in our own way.

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Takeaway #3: Authenticity = Self-Awareness + The *Courage* to Express It

Authenticity isn’t just about knowing who you are. It’s also about having the guts to say, “This is who I am.” To be authentic means to be an author, to write your story your way. To do this, we’ve gotta spend our time with people we feel safe being *real* with.

Connection is love. Validation is fear.

We all have an intrinsic need for full self-expression. Think about what’s preventing you from realizing this. If you’re not happy with how you’re living, what’s stopping you from changing it? What would you do if you knew no one would judge you? People think about us a lot less than we assume they do.

“What will they think of me must be put aside for bliss.”
-Joseph Campbell

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Peep This Too

Check out Revolutionary Act, the sister site to Experience Life magazine, founded by WTF interviewee Pilar Gerasimo. Bucking society’s trends to live an extraordinary life *is* pretty revolutionary!

HW + Action Steps!

Take some time to get clear on the following questions:

  • If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do?
  • What one great thing would you dare to do if you knew you wouldn’t fail or be judged?
  • If you could wave a magic wand and have *anything* you wished for, what would it be?
  • If you designed your perfect lifestyle, what would it look like?

What were your biggest takeaways from day 2? Share your insights in the comments!

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #EnoughBS on Twitter if you wanna join the conversation.

You can still get involved

The live action might be over, but you can still grab the course and work through it at your own pace. Just click here for the info.

You can also join our private Inner Circle where we’re gonna continue these conversations weekly. Check it out!

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