ENERGY AND AUTHENTICITY

We talk a lot about energy - someone’s ‘energy’ and how they come over to another person.  We are great at sensing when this is authentic energy or when it is being created from an ego point of view.  Generally speaking we learn how not to be beguiled by someone’s energy when it is not authentic.  By this I mean we have that familiar gut feeling that all is not well whenever we feel we are being manipulated in a way that is not to our benefit.

I was involved in some team-building this week and we were working on ‘elevator speeches’ - you know, the sort of 30 second description of what you do or what you are passionate about.  This type of exercise is designed to hone in on the essence of what it is someone is passionate about and express it in a way that totally engages their listener or listeners. 

As people practised this exercise, I noticed that they were drawn to collude with themselves about what they thought they ‘ought’ to be saying and how they ought to be being, possibly because it was a corporate activity, rather than feeling free to come from their own core.  We went on to test this out in the exercise as each participant expressed their particular passion in front of the whole group.  Because we had created a safe environment all participants felt OK about giving straight feedback to their fellow participants.  It was very clear that everyone could easily see below the persona or corporate veneer.  They absolutely knew when another person was expressing themselves from their essence, rather than toeing the party line.

 You see, these people were not attempting to delude those standing in front of them, convincing them that they are better, more important, more senior, more experienced, than their listeners.  They were merely expressing themselves applying the rules they have learned over the years and it simply did not work.  When they allowed themselves to be who they truly are, then there was an energetic sense of engagement with everyone.  And this made a huge difference to how the person was seen, heard and accepted by their fellow participants.

We are simply not brought up to use this important resource of ‘reading the energy’  . . . and yet it is never too late to learn.  The rewards are many, not least of which is the joy of feeling strong in oneself and totally seen by others. 

You can try this out by watching personalities on the TV and feeling in your body how this person is coming over and whether it ‘lands’ for you as authentic.  This is not a mental process at all.  In fact the more you can let go of analysing what a person is doing and how they are appearing, the more you will feel their essence - or not - as the case may be.

Lynn Hull