The Inner Compass
Day Three:
Return to the Authentic Self
Your Authentic Self isn’t a role you play or a label you wear — it’s the living, breathing essence of who you are when all the external noise quiets down. It’s the you that exists underneath the layers: before you learned to shrink, perform, protect, or strive.
It’s also not static. Your Authentic Self grows, evolves, expands — and reveals itself in new ways as you do this work. But sometimes, it’s the hardest part of us to recognize. Especially when it’s been hidden beneath years of shape-shifting and self-protection.
Instructions
Today, you’ll explore one of three invitations to help you reconnect. Choose the one that stirs something in you. Let this be a homecoming — not a destination. Your Authentic Self isn’t something to capture or define. It’s something to meet, again and again, with curiosity and care.
Find a photo of yourself around age 4. Look into your eyes. What do you remember about that version of you? What did they love? Fear? Know with certainty before anyone told them otherwise?
Ask three trusted people who truly see you. Reach out to close friends or family members and ask, “What qualities do you see in me when I’m most myself?” Listen with an open heart. Often, the people who love us can reflect truths we’ve forgotten.
Reflect on this prompt: Think about an area of your life where being you feels completely effortless. Where you don’t have to think about who you’re being — because you just are. Where you feel at ease, joyful, and free. Where you’re not striving, proving, adjusting, or second-guessing.
It might be when you’re with certain people who just get you. A particular circumstance or environment where your guard naturally drops. A past experience — perhaps while traveling — where you felt fully alive and in flow. Or maybe it’s a key area of your life right now that feels deeply aligned.
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Let your pen (or keyboard) flow without filtering or editing. There’s no right answer — just an opportunity to reconnect with the most naturally expressed version of you.
Now ask yourself:
Who is that version of me?
What qualities do I embody when I’m in that space?
What do I not carry with me there (e.g., self-doubt, pressure, judgment)?
How do I speak, move, listen, and show up when I’m being that version of myself?
Want to go deeper?
Try giving your Authentic Self a persona — just like you may have done with your Rebel Mind or Guard. Imagine your Authentic Self as a character or presence: What do they look like? How do they move through the world? What energy surrounds them? Are they playful, grounded, fierce, serene, or wildly creative?
Give them a name, a voice, an outfit if you like. Let them become a presence you can identify and connect with — not an abstract ideal, but a lived expression of your truth.
This exercise isn’t about turning your Authentic Self into a performance. It’s about meeting this part of you more clearly — and creating a felt sense of who you are when you’re most true.