embodiment

I’ve been thinking more about the difference between embodying the future version of your Self–I use this concept frequently when talking about pursuing your authentic Self, but I’m not sure it’s clear what I mean by embodying your future Self.

I’m afraid it’s being confused with the old adage “fake it ‘til you make it.”

While similar on the surface, they are not. Embodiment will more often than not result in achieving your future Self and faking it until you make it MIGHT get you there, but it’s more likely to lead you to financial stress, inauthenticity, and portraying a version of your Self you don’t really want to be.

Rather than write an essay comparing the two, I found a few simple word comparisons to help illustrate the difference. There will come a time for me to spend more time diving deeper into this, and that will fall outside of the Daily Notes, but for now, when trying to understand the difference between embodying your future Self and faking it until you make it, consider these comparisons:

Belief vs. Hope Embodiment is believing in your future Self and believing so much that you already feel as if you have achieved it. You speak, move, and act as you would if you already were the future version of your Self. On the other hand, faking it is hoping you might become a different version of your Self in the future; you don’t really believe it to be true, and instead, you hope that the act you put on will somehow create a new reality for you. Belief is higher energy, and hope is lower energy, in this scenario.

Abundance vs Scarcity Another way to look at embodiment is coming from a state of abundance–an abundance of confidence in the future version of your Self. It also requires a mindset of abundance to achieve a higher version of your Self—abundant opportunity, finance, support, etc. On the other hand, faking it is coming from a state of scarcity. Faking it, which really is pretending, comes from a lack of confidence, especially in the current version of your Self. The desire to move towards the version of your Self you’re faking is because of unhappiness with the current version of your Self—faking it is more like running away, and embodiment is more like moving towards something. It’s easy to see abundance is higher energy and scarcity is lower energy.

Behavior vs. Appearance Embodiment focuses on the behaviors of your future Self; to the outside world, your embodiment goes unnoticed because others are not usually paying attention to the behaviors of others–they are focusing on the perceived outcomes and appearances. Faking it is making it look like you are the future version of your Self–it’s all about the appearance to the outside world. Many times, when trying to appear as a different version of your Self to the outside world, there is little confidence and belief in this version of your Self.

Intention: For You or Them? When embodying a future version of your Self it is usually for YOU; yes, others will benefit from a greater version of your Self, but when you are embodying a new version of your Self it’s because you are being called to this version—there is a greater sense of purpose in the new version of your Self. This greater purpose is for YOU and others are the beneficiaries. Going back to the behavior vs. appearance comparison, faking it is for them–you are trying to present a different version of your Self, hoping others believe you are really that. Faking it is usually sparked by trying to be a version of your Self influenced by someone else and may not even be close to the authentic version of your Self.

I won’t pretend that people have not been successful in transforming their Selves by faking it until they made it; I just don’t believe it’s the most effective way to pursue the authentic version of your Self, and I’m not convinced faking it is even attached to authenticity—I think it’s usually attached to a prescribed version of your Self.

Embodiment and faking it are very close to each other, but there are very important differences that influence the energy and level of frequency that should shift your focus to embodying the future version of your Self you desire to become.

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See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC