Genuinity

About a year ago, I learned from a mentor about the notion that we send signals to people that they "hear" before we ever say a word to them.  It's so true.  Do you ever notice certain phrases we say, without ever thinking of it, that are linked to this principle?  Two examples:

• A dark cloud followed him everywhere he went.
• Her excitement was contagious.

Does that mean literally that a dark cloud follows someone?  Like a cartoon?  Or that her excitement was contagious as a bacterial strain is - just by being in the room, people automatically lose all their boredom and are infected with excitement? 

Often people across the country will have a "feeling" that a loved one needs a phone call, an email, or some other uplifting communication.  These are the channels through with unseen yet present energy works. 

In the last month, I've paid particular attention to the idea of genuinity.  I'm not sure what has drawn my attention to this, but perhaps it's the feeling I get energetically.  It seems to me that there are a lot of "fakes" – people pretending to be something they're not.  A few examples.

Some people I know pretend to be wholly spiritual.  They walk the walk, preach how everyone is to be, but when it comes down to living the faith, they do everything but live it.  To bring it "full circle", they tend to have a way of judging others when they falter, not seeing the hypocrisy in themselves.  Are they genuine?
 
Others pretend to be quite friendly.  They make a good congenial appearance, but behind closed doors, they are excellent at throwing others under the bus.  This is a tough one for me, because of wanting to feel like I fit in.  It's as if disparaging someone else when they're not present somehow elevates me in the eyes of the one I'm communicating with, who was perhaps offended by the person now under the bus.  We often use the term "validation" to excuse this behavior.  Does that make it right?  Does that make me genuine? 

Some people pretend to be rough and tough, but beneath it all they are gentle and kind.  Is this genuine?  Is there integrity in putting forth an act that might not be true?  Is that genuine?

Does everyone live an act?  Do we all feed our ego (aka "personality"), trying to maintain the persona that we work so hard to put forth? 

It seems to me that regardless of our common weaknesses, I really prefer honesty in presentation.  If you're a snob, I tend to think I'd like to know it at first junction, so I don't bother exposing my open book personality to your energetic, verbal, and visual darts.  If you're kind and giving, I'm sure your reputation would precede you, and the 6 degrees of separation (which supposedly connect all of us) would get you to my attention before your physical body ever would in person.  Either way, regardless of anything that is said, more and more I notice it's not that hard to tell if someone is genuine in what they put forth. 

So be careful.  People like me are picking up messages that you may not even know you're sending. ;)