The challenges of being authentic.

Do you want to be authentic with others? If you do, what keeps you from saying everything that enters your mind? And, would you want to know everything that's on someone else's?

Perhaps what we need is to feel seen. To feel like someone else gets that we have a story - beautiful and complicated like theirs - and that we have a problem worth solving for.

Perhaps what we need is to see others. To realize that others have a story - beautiful and complicated like our own - and that we might be able to - if we stop and listen - do something worth something for them.

Authenticity is a red herring.

What we're looking for is acknowledgment, acceptance, and action.

P.S. I like this cover image because the image offers a simple message that’s universal - understand that we will never understand others, but we can accept that and be with them. That’s empathy.