We all have been taught by the internet about what a good password is: a mix of letters, numbers and special characters, with some extra rules thrown in. While long and complex passwords seem safer, it may be just an illusion.Most of these profound guidelines about strong passwords are plain wrong, as they are taken into account while creating bulk password cracking software.

Good Password Bad Password

Self Improvement

Password cracking software has algorithms and brute force techniques scanning billions of passwords per second, keeping into account the rules most people follow.It is only a matter of time a seemingly strong password based on these rules is hacked, based on the constantly updated algorithms for speedier intrusion.

Please Hack My PC

By following the password guidelines, we are paradoxically making our private information more prone to hacking, as we are using the language used by computers. We don’t talk in the strange character sequences used in passwords, but the machines do.

Don't Talk Like The Machines

One can make passwords more human, telling a three-word story or a phrase that is personal, individualistic and outside the rule book of computers.A phrase consisting of three words is surprisingly difficult to crack, providing it is original and not something out of a book easily available online.

Telling A Story With A Password

Fingerprint scanners deter cracking attempts, as do OTP(one time password) generation. Adding a second factor for authentication disarms the bulk-password cracking engine, though some people would still be vulnerable.

Two-Factor Authentication

Why “The fretful porpenpine” is an easily broken password, but “stepped forest squirrel” is not.


If you’re like most sophisticated Internet aficionados, you probably have a very clear idea of what a good password is, and have had to follow the formula to create one over and over again. And, admit it: You probably have just a handful that you re-use across all the websites you visit.

You can recite “good” password rules by heart: eight or more characters comprising a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and punctuation, and omitting the use of any words found in dictionaries, including substitutions (such as @ for a in p@assword or 1 for lowercase l in fai1).

You repeat these rules to less-technical friends and family, and hope they are observing the same kinds of care, although you’re pretty sure they aren’t. As you type a new password (or one of your repertoire) into a website’s form field and see a little color bar go from red for a weak password to green for a strong one, you relax a little bit.

You probably also think that you’re savvy enough to avoid being phished: mistaking a fake site for a real one and entering your credentials into it. You’re attentive to site details, and on sites that offer it, you pick an image that is supposed to jog your memory on your return so you know it’s the legitimate site.

“It’s a gut feeling when a password has all of these things—uppercase and numbers—how could anyone guess this?” says Markus Jakobsson, an applied security researcher who has written extensively about passwords and studied real user behavior.

Take a deep breath, because most of what you’ve been told about safe passwords is incorrect. Observing the rules might result in you creating a password that resists typical cracking techniques. But you could also be devising one that could be cracked in not much more time than “password” or “123456”. And even if your password is good, the possibility of entering it at a fake site that resembles the one you intended to use <a dir="ltr" href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2014/11/behind-enemy-lines-in-our-war-against.html">is real </a>.

No sensible site stores a password as plain, unencrypted text. For any financial, legal, or medical site, or for sites that process credit cards, it’s either illegal or against various regulations or terms of service. Rather, they run it through a one-way encryption algorithm. The algorithm, known as a “hash,” performs a series of operations on the password that transform it into an outcome that can’t be reverse engineered.

That is, for any given input, the output will be dramatically different and unpredictable. Using the common (but outdated) SHA-1 hashing method, the password 1234 becomes 7110eda4d09e062aa5e4a390b0a572ac0d2c0220, while 1235 becomes ac1ab23d6288711be64a25bf13432baf1e60b2bd. Knowing the output doesn’t help you figure out the original text.

Whenever you log into a site, your password—presumably carried over an encrypted https session—is hashed using whatever algorithm the site employs, and then tested against the version stored in the database.

A cracker who gets ahold of a file of hashed passwords uses brute-force methods to determine what password is associated with which accounts. This starts with using the most commonly used passwords, which are easy to find from previous large-scale attacks and cracks of large databases. It also includes all words found in dictionaries (English and others, depending on the site), and then proceeds to combinations of words.

Shorter passwords using a smaller character set, such as upper- and lower-case letters, can be cracked exponentially faster than ones that draw from the entire range of characters one can type or that are simply longer. Up until a few years ago, crackers built “rainbow tables” containing precomputed hashes using popular algorithms as a way of speeding up cracks against the most frequently chosen passwords. This would seem to indicate that a complicated and uncommon password like Spooning1! would be a great choice, and that the common wisdom about passwords is accurate. But not so.

Brute-force methods using modestly priced computers, which can be souped up with affordable arrays of graphics cards, tapping into the raw computational power of their graphics processors, can churn through billions to hundreds of billions of passwords per second with the SHA-1 algorithm. (New algorithms might only allow tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of checks, but SHA-1 remains in wide use for reasons of inertia.)

That amount of computational power means that crackers now try the likeliest matches in great quantities. Randomly constructed passwords of 11 or 12 characters that pull from the entire potential character set remain highly resistant to all but the most determined cracking. If you use a password generator and storage program like <a dir="ltr" href="https://agilebits.com/onepassword">1Password </a>or <a dir="ltr" href="https://lastpass.com/">LastPass </a>to create a unique, random password for each site, you’re minimizing your risk enormously.

But most people don’t. And that’s where the trouble lies.

Markus Jakobsson works at the intersection of security and usability, and his concerns center around arbitrary complex password requirements that leave users more exposed to a cracking attempt, even as a site claims that the password is strong and resistant.

In an interview, he notes that our minds aren’t built to recollect arbitrary letters, numbers, and punctuation. Rather, we remember stories. When asked to create a password, instead of creating something random, users “take their favorite word or concept and then just massage it into the correct shape.” He says, “We don’t tell people strange character sequences, and we’re not really wired to remember them.”

In his research, he finds someone might try to use the word “apples” because they like the fruit, but be told a capital letter is required. The visitor transforms this into “Apples” but then must add a number and punctuation. They pick the easiest course, and it becomes “Apples1!” This has eight characters and the requisite variation, and would pass muster at most signup pages. (Some might flag the use of a dictionary word or repeated letters, however.) Dr. Jakobsson says that of these password-quality indicators, “They measure your likely inability to remember your password.”

Everything You Know About Passwords Is Wrong

To be hypervigilant is to have a perpetual vigilance or alertness about what can happen with us or around us. The hypervigilant person is never at peace, never calm, and always obsessed about something or the other.
A lack of emotional stability while growing up, or being a victim/witness of domestic violence, or other environmental factors like being in a war zone, can develop into hypervigilance.

Being Hypervigilant

<ol>
<li>Get some closure about your old childhood regrets, resentments and all the things left unsaid. Diffuse your anxiety by letting out your emotions and being heard.</li>
<li>Understand what triggers the old feelings and puts you in hyper-alert mode. Build self-awareness to check your anxiety levels.</li>
<li>Do good to yourself. Avoid negative self-talk and try deep breathing, journaling or listening to soothing music.</li>
<li>Do not indulge with your brain’s never-ending thought patterns that can be destructive.</li>
<li>Get into action mode and solve the core issue, understanding that you are not a little kid anymore.</li>
</ol>

Overcoming Hypervigilance

Always being always on edge may have worked when you were a kid—but not anymore.

<ul><li>Hypervigilant people constantly monitor for threats and brace for worst-case scenarios. </li><li>People often develop hypervigilance in childhood to cope with an unstable family or environment. </li><li>Overcoming hypervigilance may involve getting closure, recognizing one's triggers, changing one's self-talk, and solving the root problem. </li> </ul>

Kara will admit that she is always on alert: Her head can flood with worst-case scenarios if she wakes up at 3 am; she is always looking ahead—to what might happen, what might go wrong—whether it is potential traffic, a talk she needs to give for work, or what the sales clerk might say if she tries to return a skirt that she bought.

Kara is hypervigilant. Her brain is wired to always look ahead, to always look around corners, to think about and brace herself for the worst. This can be exhausting. This can keep her from living in and appreciating the present moment because her head is always 20 steps ahead.

Are you like Karen? If so, this perpetual on-guard stance can be frustrating for those around you too—you’re the worry-wort, you’re never calm, there’s always something that you're obsessing about. The other person feels they are always trying to keep you from being upset, that they are walking on eggshells braced for when you might snap at them, that they don’t get much back because it seems to be always about you, that you can never get out of yourself and just be with them.

If you are this way, you likely grew up in a chaotic family where things were never emotionally stable—perhaps the mother struggled with <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/addiction" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at addiction">addiction </a>, the father had <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bipolar-disorder" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at bipolar disorder">bipolar disorder </a>, or the parents were always arguing. Or it was more environmental—the unsafe neighborhood, the war zone, the <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/trauma" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at trauma">trauma </a>of a natural disaster. It could have been slow ongoing trauma and/or sudden specific trauma. The results are the same as a child.

You needed to figure out how to cope and as a child your options were limited. For some, they learned to withdraw and pull back—shut down, hide in their rooms. For others, they learned to walk on eggshells—be the good kid who reads the signs and accommodates as best they can to not cause trouble or make waves. Or they get angry and flare up to try to get something to change.

But regardless of which reaction you figured out to have, the driving force, that ever-running anxiety wired you for being hyperalert: Is mom drinking? Is dad in bad mood? Again, with limited resources as a child, this makes sense and often works. You duck into your room if mom is drinking; you accommodate and be good when dad is <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/depression" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at depressed">depressed </a>.

The problem is that like many adult problems, what you learned as a child doesn't work as well in the adult world, and you don’t turn it off. You still can feel those little-kid feelings, you still are wired to look for those worst-case scenarios, and you still are over-sensitive to other’s reactions.

What you learned to do as a kid is like old software on a computer. You need to upgrade your software and rewire your brain for version 2.0. Here are the 4 steps:

Old wiring often lingers not only because you keep firing those same circuits but because psychologically you don’t have closure with your past. There is unfinished business, old <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/child-development" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at childhood">childhood </a>regrets, and resentments.

Put them to rest. If you are brave enough and your parents or previous partners are still alive or available, consider having a conversation with them via email or phone or in person or together with a therapist, where you can get finally get things off your chest, say now what you could say back then. It’s not about expecting some radical change in them, but having them finally understand how you felt. You are doing now what you couldn't do back then and the experience of simply doing that, of being heard, as well as your proactively and productively approaching your anxiety, will help you feel more adult.

2. Know your triggers

Many who are wired for hypervigilance as a child develop generalized anxiety disorder as an adult. Your brain is always scanning for what-ifs, possible trouble. But for many, the level of their radar goes up and down.

The key here is learning to know in advance what can trigger you and then recognizing when you are ramping up, getting into the hyper-alert state. You want to catch it before it gets too high and becomes hard to rein in. Here you can practice checking in with yourself regularly throughout the day and see where your anxiety is.

3. Change your <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/self-talk" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at self-talk">self-talk </a>

The <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/cognitive-behavioral-therapy" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at cognitive-behavioral">cognitive-behavioral </a>approach when you catch your anxiety increasing to learn how to calm yourself down. Again, this is about doing for yourself what you didn’t get as a child, that reassurance, that emotional support. You find yourself running down worst-case scenarios, you physically are feeling <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anxiety" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at anxious">anxious </a>. Time to cool yourself down. Here you want to have a bunch of techniques in your arsenal: deep breathing, distraction, and calming tools like journaling, listening to music, and taking a hot bath or shower.

What you want to work to avoid, and what your anxious brain is going to be telling you, is that the only way you can feel better is to resolve the problem in your mind. Don’t do this—you’ll go down the rabbit holes. Instead, tell yourself that your little-kid brain is getting fired up, that you are not a little kid but an adult and there is nothing to worry about. Use your tools to calm yourself down.

4. Be <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/assertiveness" hreflang="en" title="Psychology Today looks at assertive">assertive </a>and solve the problem

Hypervigilance is the result of coping in situations where you couldn’t solve the problem, but could only cope. But now you are an adult. If there is a real problem that is bothering you, this is the time to step up and put it to rest rather than working around it. Here you talk to your partner or supervisor about what is bothering you when you are calm. Put these problems and triggers to rest.

Take your time. You don’t have to do it now, but you need to do it.

Hypervigilance is common and understandable but it doesn’t need to continue. Is it time to start rewiring your brain?

Are You Hypervigilant?

Behavioral psychologist Dr. Carolyn Mair states that clothing is so close to us that it becomes part of our identity.
The clothes we wear shows how we want to be perceived, but how we are seen depends on the viewer.

Clothing as part of our identity

When we meet someone new, it takes under a second for us to construct our first impression based on how they look.
If we like the way someone looks, we may think of them as successful, pleasant, and intelligent without knowing anything more about them. From there, we tend to look for traits that will confirm our initial judgment of them.

First impression matters

<ul>
<li>A study showed that lab coats are associated with attention and care.</li>
<li>Another experiment showed that people who wore lab coats performed better on attention tests than those wearing painters&#39; coats.</li>
<li>People who receive compliments when they wear certain items of clothing may feel more liked and influential when they wear that item of clothing.</li>
</ul>

Clothing and cognitive function

Sending messages on social media that equate objects like clothes with mental health can be harmful when people are dealing with deeper mental health issues. Clothing can help us feel empowered and authentic, but it can&#39;t give us mental wellness.
In the fashion industry, people that don&#39;t fit the thin, young, white, eurocentric image are marginalized with less opportunity to communicate identity and feel empowered. This can harm people&#39;s self-esteem when measured against the norms of society.

Clothing and self-esteem

<ul>
<li>Position a mirror in a well-lit space so that you can see into your eyes. Sit on a meditation cushion or chair with feet on the ground. Sit with yourself for 10 minutes.</li>
<li>Tune in to your breathing while breathing regularly.</li>
<li>Gaze into your eyes. Is your gaze harsh or soft? If hard, try to soften your gaze.</li>
<li>Observe your inner critic, then see the person under that critic. That&#39;s who you really are.</li>
<li>Notice any sensations or emotions that arise and allow them to be there without judgment or interpretation.</li>
</ul>
You may be surprised how your view of yourself can change.

The mindful mirror-gazing practice

How the clothes we wear can affect our relationships, behavior, and identity—and why it’s different for almost everyone.

How the clothes we wear can affect our relationships, behavior, and identity—and why it’s different for almost everyone.

Fashion is a pervasive market worth billions that affects every person who wears clothes, works in the industry, or works in relation to the industry. This means that if we can understand the relationship between humans and the clothes we wear, we gain insight into the behavior of everyone who wears them, including ourselves.

“[Clothing] is so close to us it becomes part of our identity,” says behavioral psychologist Dr. Carolyn Mair, author of The Psychology of Fashion and founder of <a dir="ltr" href="https://psychology.fashion/" rel="noreferrer noopener">psychology.fashion </a>. Mair pioneered the world’s first master’s degrees in psychology for fashion and is part of a relatively small group of people who have carved out careers at the intersection of fashion, design, economics, and psychology.

“What we wear is a reflection of how we want to be seen,” she says, although, “that isn’t the same as how we are seen, because that depends on the viewer.”

Picture yourself on a first date at a relatively fancy restaurant, the kind with candle light and wine service. You’re sitting at a table waiting for your date to arrive and when they walk in the door, they’re wearing plain white, tie-up Balenciaga sneakers. What does that tell you about this person?

If you’re a follower of high-end streetwear, you’re likely familiar with the fact that these shoes cost over $1,000 USD and that the word “Balenciaga” printed in clear black lettering on the sides of the shoes means that they’re designer. Overall, you’ll likely assume that this person is from a higher economic status, or at least that they try to communicate wealth.

But If you’re not immersed in the world of designer streetwear, perhaps you would personally opt for dress shoes on this occasion and you might be surprised if someone showed up in plain white sneakers. You may even be unimpressed.

When we meet someone new, we construct our first impression of them in <a dir="ltr" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x?ssource=mfc&amp;rss=1">under one second </a>based on how they look, Mair explains in a 2020 <a dir="ltr" href="https://psychology.fashion/why-the-fashion-industry-needs-psychology-more-than-ever">blog post </a>. If we like the way someone looks, we imbue them with characteristics like “successful,” “pleasant” and “intelligent,” without knowing anything about them other than what they look like. From there, we tend to seek traits that back up our <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mindful.org/a-meditation-on-observing-thoughts-non-judgmentally/" rel="noreferrer noopener">initial judgment </a>. In psychology, this is called the <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.britannica.com/science/halo-effect">Halo Effect </a>, “and once generated, it is hard to change,” Mair says.

It gets even more complicated when you consider that our behavior is influenced by the way someone else acts in response to us, and vice versa. Our interactions are cyclical, so our first impression and how we act based on that impression can really make a difference in our ability to <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mindful.org/connection-practice-remedy-feelings-isolation/" rel="noreferrer noopener">connect </a>with someone.

“It can make communication difficult, particularly if the person who is wearing the clothes has this sense of them making an obvious statement. But, in fact, clothing isn’t really obvious unless it has a slogan on it,” says Mair. “It can be like speaking a different language.”

We develop these <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mindful.org/how-are-you-seeing-the-world/" rel="noreferrer noopener">associations </a>between clothing and certain human traits, professions, or ideas over the course of our lives as certain associations are reinforced by our interactions, what we’re taught and what we observe.

In 2012, psychologists at Northwestern University ran a <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103112000200#!">study </a>where they predetermined that lab coats are associated with attention and care. They had some participants wear lab coats while others didn’t and when they all did attention tests, those wearing the lab coats out-performed those who were not.

In another experiment, the psychologists gave every participant an identical lab coat but told some that their coats were doctors’ coats and told others that they were wearing painters’ coats. This time, the people who wore the supposed doctors’ coats performed better on attention tests than the others. The researchers concluded that both the experience of wearing certain clothes and the symbolic meaning that we assign to clothes affects our psychological processes. This concept is called enclothed cognition.

Another example of enclothed cognition is when we repeatedly receive compliments on a certain item of clothing. Our association with this piece of clothing is that other people like how we look and “that item of clothing becomes something that gives us some power,” says Mair Although, she’s quick to clarify that clothing does not have inherent power to change the way we feel. After all, clothes are simply pieces of cloth of various shapes, colors, and textures. It’s the associations that make the difference and while this can be helpful when we get dressed for a job interview, it’s important not to put too much stock in the power of the clothing.

We can be particularly mindful of this when it comes to social media, Mair says. If you’re currently in a good place with your mental health, there’s likely not much harm in associating a certain item with a feeling like happiness and posting on social media about your “happy dress,” for example. But messaging that equates objects like clothes with mental health can be harmful when people are dealing with deeper mental health issues. Clothing can help us feel empowered, authentic, and send a message, but it can’t inherently provide <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.mindful.org/4-ingredients-for-human-well-being/" rel="noreferrer noopener">mental wellness </a>.

“Your self-esteem is a measure against the norms of society,” Mair says, which means that the messaging we receive about the norms is important.

In the fashion industry, the messaging has been skewed to cater to a mainly young, white, eurocentric, and thin audience in its imagery and products. People who don’t fit that image are marginalized with less opportunity to communicate identity and feel empowered with the help of clothing. This can make people who aren’t represented feel like the product and high-end fashion culture of luxury, money, and parties aren’t for them, adding barriers for those who already face marginalization on a systemic level outside of the fashion industry. The industry is making strides in the right direction, but there’s still work to be done in offering diverse and realistic representation.

“Our desire to be seen and reflected is basic and innate,” says motivational psychologist Tara Well. “As children, we learn to understand ourselves through the reflections of those around us.”

The mirror can be a valuable tool for maintaining that connection with yourself regardless of the clothes you wear. Tuning into your image can help you stay present to your emotions. In our reflection, we can see and hear our self-criticism with exquisite accuracy and then mirror meditation provides a choice, and a practice, to treat ourselves with kindness.

A 5-Step Mirror Meditation from Tara Well

<ol><li>Set the space and intention. Choose a well-lit distraction-free space where you can position a mirror so that it’s freestanding and you can see into your eyes without straining or leaning forward. Sit on a meditation cushion or on a chair with both feet on the ground. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Have no goals other than to sit with yourself for the allotted time. </li><li>Tune into your breathing. Begin with your eyes closed. Tune into your breath. Are you holding your breath or breathing rapidly? Take a few slow, deep belly breaths. Then breathe regularly and naturally, just observing the movement of your belly, ribcage, and collarbones as you inhale and then gently contracting your collarbones, ribcage, and belly as you exhale.  Notice any areas of tension in your body, especially your face and shoulders, then imagine sending your breath to relax those areas and letting tension melt away. </li><li>Begin to gaze into your eyes. Notice if your breathing changes when you first look at yourself. Come back to full steady breathing. Notice the quality of your gaze: Is it harsh or soft? Try to soften your gaze as much as you can. If you notice yourself hardening by focusing on a detail or a flaw in your appearance—breathe until you feel yourself softening again.  </li><li>Observe your critic. If your initial reaction to looking at yourself is critical, notice your eyes as you look at yourself in this exacting, maybe even harsh or cold way—see if you can flip your attention from the person (or image in the mirror) that you are scrutinizing to seeing the person who is underneath receiving that scrutiny—that’s who you really are. How does that part of you feel about receiving those critiques? </li><li>Notice where your attention goes and associated feelings. Gaze at your reflection, staying open to whatever arises. Notice any sensations or emotions that come up and allow them to simply be there without judgment or interpretation. Let your feelings and thoughts simply pass by as you breathe, relax your body, and gaze at yourself with no goal other than to be present with yourself. Notice if your attention becomes very narrow and exacting, and if so, see if you can expand it back to seeing your whole body, your whole self, and notice any emotions on your face. Observe this expansion and contraction of your attention and the thoughts and images that come to mind. Just noticing where your attention goes and any feelings that are associated with it without judgment. Hold a kind intention toward yourself as you do the practice. You may be surprised how much your view of yourself can change. </li> </ol>

<ul><li>Stephanie Domet </li><li>April 20, 2021 </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Mindful Staff </li><li>July 10, 2019 </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Lisa Feldman Barrett </li><li>April 29, 2021 </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Misty Pratt </li><li>April 22, 2021 </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Amber Tucker, Barry Boyce, Stephanie Domet, and Oyinda Lagunju </li><li>April 16, 2021 </li> </ul>

What We Wear is a Reflection of How We Want to be Seen - Mindful

If one day you find yourself in need to improve, you might as well take into account the following elements worthy of your attention: you ought to find an obsession that keeps your interest to improve constantly alive, once you have that, you should study your strengths and weaknesses related to this obsession in order to improve further.

The self-improvement process

If you are planning on improving yourself at something in particular, you should also be prepared to work on developing some other several micro-skills necessary in order to get the job done.&nbsp;It would be useful to gather up all the knowledge you have acquired up to the present moment, be it even by hours. The more, the better.

Improving micro-skills

When trying to improve certain skills, bear in mind that failing is not an issue: the more you fail, the more chances you get to study your own mistakes and learn from them.&nbsp;Therefore, take risks by accepting different challenges related to your passion, which could teach you valuable lessons.

Failing is key to success

In order to be successful, one has to be the best at what he or she does. One sure way to ensure your success is by doing things differently than the others. That is to say, you should leave the comfort zone everybody is so addicted to.

Get out of your comfort zone

When thinking about self-improvement, try considering being original and having a unique point of view as a strong quality that makes you stand out from the crowd.&nbsp;Moreover, another secret which can enable you reach improvement faster could be by remembering, when in doubt, your basics.

Be unique and remember your basics

You can't. It's really hard to change. I've been an addict. When you're addicted to a drug you can't just say, "Well, this is bad for me. I'm going to stop." Just give up now or be ready to go through a world of pain. Or... You can.

How To Improve Yourself In 6 Months

Our lives are uncertain and impermanent, and paradoxically, this can lead us towards living authentically, as we realize that death is unavoidable, values are subjective, and life by itself is flux.
The Self-Perception Theory reveals that people manipulate their own information so that the audience is impressed. People portray authenticity and manipulate their behaviours to appear real when it is necessary.

Authenticity In Psychology

<ul>
<li>Self-esteem is a sense that is experienced when our true motives, feelings, values and self-perception are operating without any obstacles. This increases our self-worth.</li>
<li> Modern technology, especially intrusive wearable devices is a disruptive change in how we exist in the world, with our authentic self, like our face or biometric information available to others.</li>
</ul>

Authenticity: Psychological Research

A good life doesn’t mean a lack of problems, but having a diverse range of enriching experiences of all kinds. We realize that a complete, fulfilling life is a process, not an outcome.
When we fully develop our potential and live authentically, we experience meaning in life and personal growth with whatever is thrown at us. We are sincere, grateful, mindful and expressive. We engage in positive activities like volunteering, donating time or money, or helping society in other meaningful ways.

Benefits Of Authenticity

Know Yourself + Own Yourself + Be Yourself = The Authentic Life

The Authentic Self Formula

Authenticity is achieved when we are outside what we are inside. Putting on an inauthentic self (faking authenticity) is tiring and also damaging to our mental health.
We should be aware of our body, listen to the voice inside, amplifying the hopes, dreams and fears. We have to know ourselves, face our truth and then own ourselves. Being yourself means being honest, sincere and genuine, the pathway to authenticity.

How To Be Your Authentic Self

<ol>
<li>Are you free to make your own choices?</li>
<li>Can you express your own views and opinions without fear?</li>
<li>Can you be yourself on a daily basis?</li>
<li>Are you true towards who you really are?</li>
</ol>
If you are answering these questions as Yes, you are living an authentic life.

Check Your Authenticity Level: Questions To Ask Yourself

Authentic people are vulnerable and constantly enter a state of mutual vulnerability with others, taking it as a source of strength instead of a weakness.
Vulnerability is the wellspring from which love, belonging, joy, empathy and creativity erupt. When business leaders show humility and vulnerability, their team feels a stronger, authentic connection with them.

Authenticity And Vulnerability

A human being’s natural inclination is always authenticity, as seen in every child, who is authentic by default and loves everyone unconditionally. The fault lies in how some kids are raised and how their self-identity and ego starts to develop 18 months after they are born.
A developing child of an authentic parent is free to choose their path, with no impositions. But even then, the love they learn is often conditional, as it is almost always related to good performance, or securing good marks, which can pave the way to inauthentic living as an adult.

Note To Parents: Babies Are Authentic

As parents, our children should get unconditional love from us, instead of being tied to excelling in school or sports.
If we wish our child to be authentic, we have to stop putting conditions on our love towards them.

Note To Parents: Unconditional Love

Finding yourself and ‘becoming real.’ What do we mean by living an authentic life, and why is it so important? We explore how to make that possible.

For the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, authenticity was fundamental to the notion of freedom and living a meaningful life (Ang, 2019).

Authentic living requires us to embrace the reality of our freedom and be responsible for how we choose to live.

In psychology, authenticity is more than merely trying to be ourselves; it requires us to know and own who we are (Joseph, 2019).

Yet, how we balance authenticity and wellbeing throughout our lives and among the multiple roles we play brings challenges.

This article explores what we mean by an authentic life, why it is so important, and how it is possible.

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How we perceive our authenticity is a crucial aspect of who we are. Not only does it significantly influence the pleasure we derive from our experiences, but it also affects our judgment and behavior across all aspects of our life (Newman, 2018).

Even young children are aware of the importance of authenticity, learning to treasure originals more than copies from an early age (Newman, 2018). In later life, authenticity greatly affects our sense of the value of expensive and everyday objects such designer watches, specialty coffees, and chipped mugs.

Learning to live authentically is about understanding what it means to be real.

In Authentic: How to Be Yourself and Why It Matters , Stephen Joseph (2019) suggests that despite authenticity being natural, realizing our needs while considering others is not easy.

How and why do we stop being ourselves and being authentic?

Carl Rogers (1963), one of the most renowned humanistic psychologists, believed that being motivated toward fulfillment and self-actualization is a normal and natural human urge, yet it can be blocked when our needs go unsatisfied.

People will do all they must to survive. This affects behavior and how we perceive the world and the people around us. Those who have their needs met through positive, nurturing environments flourish .

Humans’ natural tendency is to strive to become more authentic, developing in the direction necessary to reach their full potential, like plants growing toward the light (Joseph, 2019).

We do not teach babies to be authentic; they simply are. They have no facade and are entirely in touch with who they are inside. When hungry, they cry; when their needs are met, they stop. Yet, as self-awareness develops (beginning at 18 months), so too does their sense of who they are, and their narrative starts to develop (Joseph, 2019).

The authentic parent ensures that their child’s needs are met. The developing child is free to choose their path, experience a sense of belonging, and develop and realize their potential.

In reality, love is often conditional. As children, we are shown more love and affection when we perform well, win the race, and ace a test. We learn that there are things we must do to feel an increased sense of belonging and love.

This can push us toward lifelong inauthentic living .

As Joseph (2019) reminds us, isn’t it true that for much of our adult lives, we put on a show? During the day, we may experience only fleeting moments where we are truly ourselves, saying and thinking exactly how we feel.

The person living authentically exists “moment by moment, striving to understand themselves, their motivation, defenses, and conditions of worth, while being aware of their responsibilities and choices” (Joseph, 2019). An authentic life involves following one’s passion and being intimately connected to our natural abilities, strengths, and talents.

While the psychology literature recognizes and describes the value of authentic existence, it’s useful to review some real-life examples of people living or moving toward authenticity:

<ul><li>Vic was a macho poker player, aggressive and competitive in his dealing with others, drinking and playing late into the night. Yet for years, Vic had been living inauthentically, hiding behind extreme masculinity. </li> </ul>

It took a further 10 years before, having moved to Australia, Vic became Victoria and started living according to her true self (Joseph, 2019).

<ul><li>Jon, then in his forties, was angry with everyone, his parents, marriage, and job. He blamed them all for everything that had gone wrong and for not having the life he wanted. </li> </ul>

Everything changed during one crucial therapy session when he realized, “it’s me, isn’t it? I need to step up and take some responsibility.” After that shift in thinking, everything was different. Rather than exist as a powerless victim, he started to take steps to fix what was broken in his life (Joseph, 2019).

<ul><li>After Andrew’s boss, Jason, had told the department that their jobs were safe, executive management called them into a meeting. On the journey, Jason admitted to having misled the team. They were planning to reduce staffing by 30%. </li> </ul>

Rather than risk low morale, Jason wanted Andrew to keep the truth from the team for as long as possible. Not comfortable being that sort of person, Andrew left the company, saying it was the best decision he ever made (Joseph, 2019).

Authenticity may come at a cost, yet it typically leads to a richer, more complete life.

Authenticity & Authentic Self in Psychology Research

Over the last couple of decades, there has been some fascinating research behind the factors impacting authenticity and its effect on how we live.

Life’s <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/impermanence/">impermanence </a>and uncertainty may actually increase authentic living (Martin, Campbell, &amp; Henry, 2004). For some, the realizations that death is ultimately unavoidable, values are subjective, and the universe holds no clear objectives can be wake-up calls that lead to more authenticity.

Modern technology, so intrusive and intimately connected to all aspects of contemporary existence, can also impact authentic living. As wearable technology continues to revolutionize the health, wellness, and sports sectors, providing previously unknowable biometric information to the general population, they offer (sometimes doubtful) promises to enhance users’ lives.

Wearable technology’s “development may also alter more fundamentally how we exist in and interact with the world” (Kreitmair, Cho, &amp; Magnus, 2017).

Self-presentation theory suggests that all people knowingly package information about themselves to varying degrees in order to impress their audience. Hart, Richardson, Breeden, and Kinrade (2020) explored the nature of authenticity on self-presentation using the surprising fact that authentic people see colors more intensely.

They found that “self-proclaimed authentic people, when pressed, will manipulate their behavior to appear authentic” (Hart et al., 2020). It seems that while authenticity may have personal value and add meaning to our lives, we may also wish to be seen as authentic to gain social benefit.

Indeed, <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/self-esteem-research/">self-esteem occurs </a>when our true self – motives, values, feelings, and self-perception – operates unobstructed in our everyday lives (Leary, 2003).

Authenticity or even being perceived as authentic may provide positive benefits to our view of our worth and abilities, and increase self-respect.

Why Is Authenticity Important? 7+ Benefits

According to positive psychology, a ‘<a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/good-life/">good life </a>’ is not “defined solely by the absence of psychological problems but by experiences that go above and beyond the absence of problems” (Joseph, 2019).

It is most likely when we are free and ready to flourish.

Authenticity and living a complete and fulfilling life are processes rather than outcomes. Living authentically involves moving in a direction that is most authentic to us as individuals.

Adopting an <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/eudaimonia/">eudaimonic </a>orientation, fully developing our potentials, and experiencing <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/meaning-of-life-books/">meaning in life </a>and a deep enjoyment or happiness include seeking authenticity, excellence, and personal growth (Huta, 2015).

Such a person is more likely to engage in the following positive, <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/increase-intrinsic-motivation/">intrinsically motivated </a>, and socially aware activities (Joseph, 2019):

<ul><li>Volunteering </li><li>Donating time and money to charitable causes </li><li>Engaging in positive community enterprises </li><li>Expressing gratitude </li><li>Being mindful </li><li>Engaging in challenging activities </li><li>Expressing our essential selves to provide meaning and purpose in our lives </li> </ul>

Such a lifestyle has several benefits to wellbeing, even at a cellular level, including improved antiviral responses (Fredrickson et al., 2013).

“Authenticity is central to eudaimonia” and gives rise to a flourishing life where we pursue “goals that are more intrinsically motivating to us and mak[e] the most of our talents and abilities” (Joseph, 2019).

We can engage in several practices and activities to be more authentic while encouraging a balance between what is going on inwardly and what we express outwardly.

In the long term, putting on an inauthentic front is tiring and ultimately damaging to our mental and physical wellbeing.

Joseph (2019) summarizes what is needed with the following formula and goals:

“Know yourself + Own yourself + Be yourself = the Authentic Life”

Learn to do the following in your daily life:

<ul><li>Become more aware of what is happening in your body . Having a tense neck or shoulders may be linked to what is going on in your mind, feelings, thoughts, and difficult decisions. </li><li>Listen to your inner voice rather than losing it in the noise of others’. Make it an ongoing process to listen to your hopes, dreams, and fears. </li><li>Know yourself , what you are good at, what you are prepared to do, and what you are not. Face up to the truths of who you are. Honesty is not always pleasant, but it has the potential to free you. </li><li>Own yourself  and your truths. Don’t let others push you into their way of thinking, but also don’t stick to views when you are proved wrong or they no longer work for you. Take responsibility for your choices. </li><li>Be yourself ; be honest and transparent in your dealings. People like and are drawn to those they perceive as sincere and genuine and distrust those who are not. </li> </ul>

Joseph (2019) suggests asking yourself the following questions:

<ul><li>Do you feel free to make your own choices? </li><li>Do you feel free to express your own views and opinions? </li><li>Do you feel you can be yourself on a day-to-day basis? </li> </ul>

If you answer “no” to any of the questions, reflect on one further question:

<ul><li>Could it be that you are not being true to who you are? </li> </ul>

Conditional love creates what Carl Rogers (1963) calls ‘conditions of worth’: rules we learn in childhood that tell us love depends on what we do and how we perform.

Ultimately, such conditions lead to the voices in our head that criticize us and pull us down later on in adulthood.

As parents, we must show our children unconditional love, not dependent on doing well at school ,passing exams ,being well-behaved , or excelling at sports .

Showing love only when our child performs or withholding it when they don’t are equally harmful. We should not want our children to develop to please us; rather we should wish for them to be authentic to themselves.

Authenticity and Vulnerability: Are They Linked?

There’s a strong connection between authenticity and <a dir="ltr" href="https://positivepsychology.com/how-to-be-vulnerable/">vulnerability </a> (Daniel, 1998).

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