Several years ago, my daughter taught me a valuable lesson.. In her own way she made me look at my own authenticity. I had been asked to speak to a group of professional women at a  breakfast in Brisbane. My husband was in a palliative care ward and we knew that his time was swiftly running out, but I had made a commitment and I do not take commitments  lightly.

 The night before the breakfast I was feeling very fragile and sorry for myself. I went searching for my data show which I intended to speak to at the breakfast. I panicked when I couldn’t  find it and rang my daughter for a shoulder to cry on. She very wisely commented that maybe I was not meant to use that data presentation and just maybe I was meant to speak straight  from my heart. I took some deep breaths, plunged into a lavender bath and decided to take her advice.

The following morning I fronted up to a sea of forty beautiful faces. I was given a warm welcome and silently calling on all possible powers, I began to speak. The words flowed and the audience listened. It was only in the last few minutes that I felt a few tears sliding down my face as I told this special group of women that in a few days my husband would be no longer on this mortal coil.

Every person present bought one of my books, which was wonderful, but the best gift of all was their comment that they loved my authenticity and I gave a silent thank you to my daughter. These days I never use a power point presentation as I find it necessary to tune into the audience in order to let the words flow – sometimes I can be surprised at what does come out of my mouth – I just have to trust the process and usually I find out when someone comes up and tells me that is what they needed to hear. This happened again in a presentation last Saturday at a Health and Well Being Expo.  It has taken me many years to totally believe in my authenticity and I value it highly. It shapes all of my work in the corporate scene – in fact in every avenue of my life.

I began working with the executive group of a large national company a year ago now. They are highly skilled and capable individuals but it has taken time for them to operate as a team. I feel very privileged to be working with them and seeing little miracles happening. The old me would have been trying to put structures in place and perhaps being a little directive. These days I find more success in simply being aware of what is going on for each person and assisting them to be their authentic selves. It has taken a while to get the dialogue started but it is thrilling to witness the change in the way they are operating. Sometimes it takes a great deal of self-reflection to understand our actions and I have had to learn that we can’t fix what we don’t see.

Carl Jung said that,”The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” This really resonates with me

Authenticity is the key.