The most common fear among successful people is that they will somehow be discovered to be a fraud. If you feel that yourself, you might think that you are totally alone….and that there is no solution.

You aren’t. And there is.

You see, I disagree with the very idea that Imposter Syndrome is a “syndrome.” In the world today we tend to pathologize and medicalize things that happen, but this is distorted thinking. It is utterly normal to be uncertain, nervous, or destabilized when you uplevel. To make it into a “syndrome” is to make it something  you “have” which you have to “manage”. It becomes part of your identity. I disagree with this as a fundamental premise.  

What’s more accurate is that when we are in uncertainty, we have the choice between sliding back into the fear response (in the amygdala) or coming forward into curiosity (in the prefrontal cortex). 

You see, the feeling of being a fraud isn’t real ~ it comes from the fear response. We can call that an “amygdala activation”. In coaching, we often refer to this negative voice as the “Inner Critic.” It is notorious for not telling the truth. And EVERYONE has an Inner Critic, so you’re definitely not alone in that.

Learning to identify the Inner Critic brings you into greater integrity, wholeness, and authenticity. Added bonus: it makes you sexier, too.

It can be quite a process to master this internal voice, and 90% of therapists are ineffective in helping their clients do so. This is because healing is not an intellectual exercise, and talking through the stories of your past is entirely unnecessary.

The bottom line is this: your soul is eternal, powerful, magnificent, and entirely undamaged. Nothing can ever change that because it is your essential nature. When you know that, you know that it’s not telling you the truth ~ and you don’t have to agree. ~ just like if someone told you the sky was magenta when you can see clearly that it’s not. 

When you are in touch with the magnificence that you really are, the voices declaring your fraudulence will be silenced. Acknowledging your authentic self gives you freedom from internal oppression. Once that happens, there is no going back.

The first step in the journey of discovering the essential self is to stop believing things that aren’t true. ALL the conflict that occurs in your life comes from clinging to untruths in the face of contradicting reality, which is that you are perfect, whole and complete.

More strife has been caused by people wanting to cling to untruths in the face of contradicting reality than just about anything else in the history of humankind.

The truth is that you were born to be powerful, successful, healthy, and happy. You were born to bring your soul’s power into the world and experience love, joy, and purpose. Nothing can change this, although everyone may hide from it if they choose. 

Whoever it was who said that the truth will set you free was right. Regardless of your circumstances, if you feel like a fraud the solution is to practice believing the truth. Your inner narrative may be stubborn, doubtful, or disbelieving but working with these parts of yourself is part of the journey. Many others have done it successfully, and so can you. 

The more you practice believing the truth about yourself, the easier it will be. There’s no better time to remember this than right now.

To your success,

Kimberly