Finding authenticity in faith

[Intro] Hello, and welcome to my podcast, Empowered to Thrive. I'm your host, Corinne Powell, and I'm the owner of Change Radically. In this space, we'll talk all things inner wellness, and parenting will certainly come up too, because I'm a mom to four kids, so parenting is a huge part of my life.

This space is designed for safety. Your inner child is welcome. Your past self is invited to listen as well, and no matter what type of day you're having, I want you to know I'm glad to be with you.

I live out of vulnerability and transparency, so come and be, be yourself, be messy, invite a friend, and please stay a while, keep coming back, I want you around. Now let's jump into today's episode. 

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Hello and welcome. We are going to continue the conversation that I started last week around being authentic within your faith practices. Whether you're like myself and you've come out of an evangelical Christian background and going to church was a routine practice, or you worship in a different way, it doesn't matter.

We're just talking about the healing journey as it relates to our faith, to the religious elements of life. And for those of you that have not yet listened to last week's episode, it would be helpful to go back and take a listen. It'll fill you in and it'll bring you up to speed with what we're continuing with today.

But the crux of what I want to talk about is how can you practically become authentic in your worship setting. As you go about interacting in your faith community, if that's a part of your lifestyle, how can you do it authentically and what is authentic to you? Perhaps you do practice your faith by regularly going to a place of worship and you're not actually sure if that's authentic to you anymore. This is a great time to reflect and to consider. 

As we become more aware of why we do what we do, the reason behind our patterns, the mindsets and underlying beliefs that we carry, we then have the opportunity to create change in our life. Without awareness, it's really hard to navigate and know where do I need to go. 

And the healing journey infiltrates all areas of our life. So your faith is simply another area of your life. And it of course makes sense that you're going to have to reflect and consider, if you're like myself, do a bit of deconstruction around that. Because it's another facet of your life. So authenticity must start at home, in private, before you're going to be able to comfortably practice being authentic in a public space.

It takes courage. It takes intentional living. And you're going to have to do some of the inner work. Actually looking within, becoming mindful, noticing, oh, why do I do what I do? Not to figure it out. You may come to understand in time, but initially it's to become aware.

So authenticity, authenticity. If we don't know who we are, we're not going to know what's authentic to ourselves. So it's initially about learning, who are we? What lights us up? What are we passionate about? And why do we practice the things that we practice? A practice as in anything you do on repeat. And so for some of us, we have a practice of going to a place of worship. For me, it was church. It still is church. I go sometimes. 

But I've learned that authentically, I do not go in a religious way. What's authentic to me is to not just show up because it's the day and time to show up. It's not for me to coerce and force others of my family to go. In the everyday, I have a connection with the spiritual realm, the spiritual components of life. And it's a very big part of who I am. 

So going to a place of worship and expressing myself in that setting to my connection to the divine is a very important part of life for me. But it's been a journey for me to understand, what was I doing because it was simply what was modeled or expected of me growing up and into adulthood? And what am I doing because it's actually authentic to Corinne? 

These are the things to consider. What are you doing because it was simply what was modeled, what was expected in your family of origin, perhaps with the partner that you do life with? What are you doing because of what you want to model to the next generation that you might be bringing up? What do you do because you believe that it's going to positively or negatively affect your outcome in life? Because when we talk about spiritual or religious things, there's a lot of conversation that's had around what's blessed, what's favored, what's going to put you in right standing with God or with your higher power. 

And to that, it's worth considering, what is it for me? Why am I doing the things I do? Am I afraid? Am I driven out of fear of what will happen if I don't? Am I motivated by a passion, an excitement? Do I have a connection to this divine source that propels me to do the things I do? What is it for you? If you don't pause this episode right now to reflect, I encourage you to reflect afterwards. 

It's a wonderful thing to sit and listen. But as you sit with yourself in stillness, that's where you're going to get a lot more insight. And if you don't, you don't have to figure it out. Don't feel like the pressure's on. There's nothing to have to know immediately. It'll come to you over time. And if you want to continue the conversation with me, feel free to reach out.

You can go to my website at changeradically.com. You can find me on social media, connect. We can have this conversation together. I'm not an intuitive guide for no reason. I'm able to offer my tuition as a support to you. I'm able to offer my guidance to you, not as a way to tell you what to do. That doesn't even satisfy me. But as a way to be on the path with you, to see what's illuminated to me, that might be actually helpful for you to hear. So we work together so that you're able to go in the direction that feels authentic to you. 

So let's see, what else? Consider what are your interactions when you go to your place of worship or if that's a part of your past? What were your interactions like? How did you go in feeling? What did you notice about your body's response? Those sensations that we feel, the tightness in our body, the sense of excitement. Sometimes we have butterflies, we say, in our stomach. 

There's all sorts of different sensations that we feel, but do we notice them? They're indicators, they're communicators. What do you notice and how do you feel as you're leaving that place of worship? Even as you reflect on it, if this is a thing of your past, and now it's not a part of your present day practice, reflect on the differences.

Is it because? I do love to present this. If you do not practice going to a place of worship anymore, I have no opinion on that. It's not like I think that's better or worse. What's the reason though? Because I know personally, I've struggled finding a place where I feel like I can show up and that there's space for me to be me and to express myself in the way that's authentic to Corinne. And for me, I've been very much propelled to discover where is that place? Believing that as I've been healing, there is a place for me. 

It's just a part of my belief system. It's the conclusion I've come to as I've been on the healing journey. More and more, I believe there's a place for me. I do belong. And that doesn't mean one group, one facility, one community, but as a general whole, I belong. 

And so for you, I pose that question. Do you believe there's a place for you? What does belonging mean to you? I'm just sifting over the notes that I've written. And if there's a pause here, just sit with yourself and reflect. 

Suppressing yourself for the comfort of others is not your responsibility. You don't have to do that. Other people will be uncomfortable with us at times. They'll be uncomfortable in themselves at times. It doesn't mean it's our fault. It might be a byproduct to the way we are showing up authentically. But when people are triggered, it's more often about them than about us. If you know me personally, so for those of you that don't, I'm not someone who doesn't consider other people. I'm very considerate. 

But what I've learned is, I was too considerate to my detriment. So I've had to recognize that, you know what, it's okay if people are triggered by me. It's okay if they're uncomfortable because of how I show up or how I interact. It doesn't mean I'm not considerate. It's finding that balance between not considering myself at all because I'm so focused on everyone else's comfort and everyone else's opinions. And yet not going to the other extreme of, I don't care about anyone else. I only care about what makes me happy. That's not my goal either.

So much healing comes throughout this journey, though. I don't even feel like I can put it rightly into words. You'll have to experience it for yourself.

And some of the things that I say, for those of you already experiencing them, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, you know what I mean. I'm not here to prove myself to those of you who don't quite know what I mean.

So with all this, I would go back to that piece of noticing because noticing is key. Becoming aware of our own patterns and our own mindsets is a great place to start. Consider for yourself.

If you are in a place of worship, does this actually take us even outside of that arena to the other places, to the other groups you're a part of? Does this space fit me? Is it actually a place where I can go and fill in the space that I need to fill in and that everything is able to shift and move for those of us there coming, filling in our spaces? Or is there already a pre-cut size and you have to fit into it to be able to stay? 

There's a lot there. Sit with that. Sit with that visual. Sit with that idea. See where it takes you. And as I close, I just want to again confirm that there is space for you. This is not about a religious setting as much as in the greater scheme of life. There is a place for you. You belong. You belong. And you hear me say it if you listen to the end of the podcast every week, but I'm really glad that you're alive.

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[Ending] Here we are. We've come to the end of another episode. Sit back and reflect on what you heard. What's the one thing that resonates with you that you can take away and do something with? Let's not just listen. Let's listen and take action. 

Now action may look very different for us, but it's doing something with what we hear. I hope that you'll share today's episode with a friend that you think would also enjoy it and please come back next week.

I hope that you have a fabulous week. And that you remember when you pillow your head at night, when you're going through your days, that who you are is good. And I'm glad that you're alive.