#Authentic: "genuine", "true", "original".
In today's cult of personality we can easily be duped into believing that someone is not quite what he or she purports to be. How refreshing and reassuring it is then, when folks just allow themselves to be who they are--without the patina or persona.
Authenticity is like a series of pitons, or "pieces" of mountain climbing protection that are inserted into cracks in the mountain face through which the climber threads the rope as he advances in the face uncertainty. The pieces (placed correctly) serve as reliable anchors that will be there to arrest a fall in the event of error, mistake, or unforeseen circumstance. Authenticity is like those anchors. When we are anchored (true to ourselves and others), then we can be trusted and relied upon.
And therein lies the rub. Fear takes hold, and we ask ourselves: "Can I really allow myself to be revealed?”. The answer is yes. Authenticity can take many forms. If you are a bit quirky, then that quirkiness will engender trust so long as it is an authentic part of yourself. If you are serious at heart--be serious. If you are have a sense of humor--laugh out loud.
Polonias said it well to his son Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "This above all to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man".
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