Express Your Unique Essence

When you don't know yourself, then you have no way of expressing yourself authentically and making a unique contribution. There is much wasteful suffering and stress that many are experiencing because they have not connected to the truth of who they are and expressing that truth in a way that brings fulfillment and meaning.

That's what I experienced in my life before I awakened to my true self, and came to know my soul. I knew there was something more of me that wanted to be known and expressed and I committed to the path of uncovering and sharing that with others. It is through the same path that you must go if you ever want to find true fulfillment and end the suffering in your life.

When you express yourself authentically, you are expressing your true self and are doing so in a way that contributes your unique gifts to others. Following are four steps you can take to begin to express yourself more authentically.

1. Explore Your Individuality. In order to ever express yourself authentically, you have to first know yourself - your unique gifts, talents, passions, and values. In other words you need to know what you are individually made of and what makes you tick. Questions to ask yourself are, "What makes me unique, like no other?" and "What is it that I can do easily that others find difficult?"

You also want to look at your unique life experiences and special knowledge you have gained in your life. What you are doing is putting together a life map of you. As you begin to put this map together, you will begin to experience an increased sense of meaning in your life along with a greater appreciation of yourself for the incredibly unique person that you are.

2. Experience Your Soul. This is where you go in and get to know the "real" you, the you underneath your personality image and roles you play. You experience your soul when you get quiet and pay attention within. The journey to the soul is through your heart, through the feeling of the heart. As you become more intimate with your feelings, you can easily let them take you to the deeper place of your soul. As you do this you will become aware that you are much more than you thought you were. You realize your depth and know this is your authentic place - a soul place where your essence qualities such as Love, Wisdom and Power exist.

3. Express Your Essence. Once you have gone within to experience your authentic self, your next step is to express this deeper part of you. You may do this through writing, speaking, dancing, singing, communicating or even a simple gesture as smiling at someone. There are numerous ways you can find to express this authentic part of you and as you do so you will feel more alive because you are connecting with your essence energy and letting it flow through you into expression.

4. Expand Your Consciousness. In the final step to authentic expression you will intentionally focus on expanding your consciousness to see beyond yourself and to the needs of others. You will look at the big picture and ask, "What is my unique place here?and "What need exists that I am to respond to?"?" Authentic expression calls for you to contribute your uniqueness to the whole of which you are a part. As you do so, you grow more and more into who you really are and feel an exuberance of joy and delight because you are fully being yourself and at the same time giving your best to others.

When you follow these four steps and learn to express yourself more authentically, you will dissolve the old feelings of depression begin to sense more meaning, purpose and true fulfillment in your life as you find a way to be of service to others in your own unique way.