Tom Peters on Getting Back to (or arriving for the first time at) Your Authentic Self

This morning I was doing the daily rounds.

There was a time when the headlines from Reuters, AP, et al would have claimed top billing on my home page. No longer. That prime realestate is reserved for the sanctity of RSS newsfeeds from my favourite diaBloggers.

Today I fell down one of David Weinberger's more interesting rabbit holes on "authenticity" vs. "credibility". Inspired by Evelyn Rodriguez's thinking about "credible voice" and "authentic voice" in corporate blogging, David had some interesting observations on this topic (and there were a number of equally thought-provoking comments left in his apron), but what intrigued me most was his reference to one of my earliest mentors, Tom Peters, and an article he had written back in July about what had gone wrong in his life, and how he's been trying to fix it.

I'm sharing this here, because Tom's intimate tale is one of simple things. In the face of tradition-ridden opinions in psychology about what ails us, and how to fix it, Tom had a profound moment of truth. He realized that what worked for him was cleaning out the crap we've been programmed to mask ourselves in, and finding our way back to (or maybe meeting for the first time since we were a kid) our "authentic self".

I first met Tom back in the 80s when I was young enough to think I had the world by the gluteus maximus, and old enough to believe the hard-baked biz philosopher dispensing healthy doses of "Thriving on Chaos" was the one-and-only face of Tom Peters.

I never would have thought this kind of "outing" was possible, and it's about time. I'm sitting at home right now with a blod clot in both my leg and my lungs, for the third time in 10 years, in pretty much the same headspace that Tom was in when he had his "Aha!". That special brand of hell isn't only saved for men, but also for women, like me, who are on a track that often insists we behave in the same "buttoned-up" fashion that took Tom to the edge.

As Tom points out, his way of coming to terms with restoring the balance in his life may not be for everyone, but it's a damn bit smarter than the routes that many of us have tried before.

In terms of our being socially programmed to hide our "authentic selves", I think we need only ask one question:

Is it working for me?

No?

Then better try something else ...

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A link to the article "Tom's Summer of Soul"

The books Tom recommends from his own summer journey:

Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man, Sam Keen
The Little Book of Happiness, Patrick Whiteside
The Instinct to Heal: Curing Stress, Anxiety, and Depression without Drugs and without Talk Therapy, David Servan-Schreiber, M.D.
The Calm Technique: Meditation without Magic or Mysticism, Paul Wilson
Meditation for Wimps: Finding Your Balance in an Imperfect World, Miriam Austin
Creating Health, Deepak Chopra M.D.
Ultra-Prevention: The 6-Week Plan That Will Make You Healthy for Life, Mark Hyman, M.D. and Mark Liponis, M.D. (Co-medical directors of Canyon Ranch)
A Morning Cup of Yoga: One Simple, Balanced Routine for a Lifetime of Health and Wellness, Jane Goad Trechsel
Freeze Frame: One Minute Stress Management, Doc Childre
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
Walden, Henry David Thoreau