I am moved by this powerful talk by Gabor Mate. He talks about the importance of the drive for attachment in our early years and it's relationship to authenticity as an equally powerful survival need.
These are some phrases that stood out to me in his talk:
We don't survive without attachment.
Without attachment there is no life.
Authenticity is as powerful as the attachment need in the long term.
We repress authenticity to stay attached at any cost.
To be authentic is to be in touch with your body and your gut feelings.
The habits you form around your self expression begin early in life. These habits are emotional, physical, psychological---they involve your whole self. As Moshe Feldenkrais wrote:
"To every emotional state corresponds a personal conditioned pattern of muscular contraction without which it has no existence."
When you suppress authenticity as a strategy to receive care from your caregivers, you shut down your true feelings, gut reactions and the ability to listen to your body and creative impulses. This shutting down is a useful survival strategy. And then at a certain point, if you don't come out of the shut down, you can go down a road of chronic illness, pain, disease, etc. (Mate talks about this in the video above...)
In the end, the authenticity that you suppress to survive, is something you need to find again, return to, uncover---in order to survive and thrive throughout life. The Feldenkrais Method® and Authentic Movement are both paths to connect more intimately with your bodily experience, your true self, and your creative impulses.
I'd love to hear from you.
What is your reaction to Gabor Mate's talk? What is one thing you can do today or this week to connect with your authenticity? Comment welcome below.