Toward Authenticity (Part 1)
On Psychological Safety: Part 1 of 2
How much you show up as your authentic self in any situation relates to your psychological safety.
Today in part one we’re going to look at a few angles to explore about your psychological safety in different environments… starting first with a brief definition of psychological safety.
Psychological Safety: Being able to freely express your opinions without the fear of negative consequences. The feeling that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.
The angle of incidence
In mathematics there’s a concept called an ‘angle of incidence’ - essentially how one object hits another object, and then describing how the object is either absorbed, diffracted, or reflected. In each of the following elements of psychological safety, keep in mind that they can be absorbed, diffracted, or reflected.
When absorbed you fully embrace the atmosphere and it adds to your psychological safety. When diffracted you soften potential barriers. When reflected you communicate to others that they too can absorb the environment and be authentic.
So here are the common elements associated with psychological safety:
1. Thoughts and Mindset / The Inner Critic
Your thoughts shape your reality. You often become what you think.
Positive thoughts centered on growth and self-acceptance allow you to show up more authentically - you accept prior limitations, you celebrate your abilities.
However, if you allow the inner critic a seat at the ‘table of thought’, you will give agency to those doubts and prevent authenticity. The inner critic steals confidence.
2. Impact of Past Conditioning
If you have been conditioned that certain behaviors or traits are undesirable, you might suppress them.
“____ isn’t a real profession”
expressing your emotions
avoiding conflict in favor of false harmony
Becoming aware of these behaviors - and how you might be ‘feeling held back’ can help you discover thoughtful ways to be authentic that are counter to your past conditioning.
Past traumas or other negative experiences can also create conditioning barriers. Seeking support and working through these experiences - perhaps with the support of a therapist - can help you reclaim your authentic self.
3. Emotional Management
Building off of the example of ‘expressing your emotions’ from the prior element, negative or overwhelming emotions can still be barriers to authenticity.
The physical reality is, there is a spectrum of brain responses to stress and emotion - at the center is the reptile brain response that triggers creation of stress hormones. Being aware of how those hormones make you feel, and calling upon techniques like mindfulness or emotional regulation will help you better manage these emotions and express yourself clearly. The clear communication could be conveying that you are feeling that emotion - “This change has me feeling frustrated because I put a lot of time and effort into meeting the prior deadline and now we are changing scope.”
4. Event and Expectations Triggers
Certain situations or spoken/unspoken expectations can trigger defensive behaviors. Similar to the topic of prior conditioning, understanding the source of these triggers helps you to manage how you react.
In social situations for persons with anxiety, for example, there can be a heavier self-imposed expectation for ‘not messing up’. This can lead to being quiet or under-sharing a point of view - which leads to a post-mortem inner critic - which leads to future social anxiety. An alternative can be to be more aware of the self-imposed expectations, and make a plan to both thoughtfully respect the forum while also respecting your authentic self.
The Role of Self-Awareness
In each of these examples you likely see that self-awareness unlocks authenticity.
By becoming aware of your triggers, emotions, and thoughts, you can navigate the complexities of your inner world and present your authentic self with more confidence… Yet authenticity is a journey, not a destination. It requires you to commit to reflect, challenge old patterns, and create environments where psychological safety thrives.
Being authentic is not about being perfect; it's about being real. Real life is messy - just like your where you live is never fully clean. You ‘tidy up’ the areas brought to your awareness to show up more authentically and improve the psychological safety of whatever room you enter.
In Part 2, we’ll explore further actionable approaches to further take control of the things that hold you back…