People get so caught up in what they think that they should be doing that they lose their authenticity. So much so that authenticity has lost all meaning. It has become a buzzword, something to package and make money off of. Even the most self alienated adventure is a valid experience to learn more about yourself. The fact is self alienation and getting lost in the false ego is an essential part of the human experience. So what is really meant by being authentic?
The most direct way to approach this question is through the experience of the smile.
The smile is a social compact that non verbally communicates your approval of an experience. You smile to let people know that you approve. In a social context a smile does not necessarily communicate how you actually feel. This is a terrible and disastrous side affect of civilization. Civilization is only actually composed of agreements between people. But if you have been raised to agree with experiences that you find disagreeable, this leads to cognitive dissonance which leads to extraneous rationalizing of entirely irrational and unacceptable circumstances. So you smile while screaming on the inside or having wonderful fantasies of slaying your supervisor.
If you reach a point where you see no reason to smile and reason that it makes you realistic, then you are actually being unrealistic by not being authentic with anyone in your life, even your self. So what does a smile have to do with it? An authentic smile emerges from deep within and is irresistible. Not only can you not resist its arising but others cannot resist an authentic smile. Your smile is really like a canary in a coal mine in relation to your level of being in touch with your authentic nature. If you experience an irresistible smile now and then, your individuality has probably not been swallowed whole by the social compact.
If you really want to excavate your authentic self, begin with a smile.
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