AuthenticDialogue.com
Finding your voice
The power of expressing yourself authentically

What’s it like to feel so connected, balanced and centered within ourselves that we feel empowered to express ourselves authentically – to say what we really feel, what we are thinking and what we really want at work and at home?

In addition to the words we use when we express ourselves, people also pick up on signals that we send out about how okay or not okay we feel about ourselves and our sense of self identity and wholeness.

Many of us have learnt to mask or hide who we really are for fear that if we revealed our real selves to others, they might not like, accept or approve of us. And in our effort to self-protect, we can get off center and lose touch with our essential self and become strangers to our selves and our values.
One outcome of this is that we present a sustitute self, one that knows how to play the game; to comply, provoke, defend or please others.

During the past twenty years of working with leaders, managers and private clients, I find a consistent theme; we all want to be validated. We desire to be heard, understood and accepted for who we really are. We need to be listened to and be treated with respect, compassion and dignity.

I used to present a substitute self in certain situations until I realized that when I reacted from my insecurities and fears I remained off-centre from my true identity. That didn’t feel good and it didn’t serve me or my relationships at all well. Over time I chose to explore different ways of being in the world. In finding my own voice I have experienced the power of expressing myself authentically. And this is what I love sharing with others.   

Result
Finding your voice is a journey to a deeper connection with yourself. As you integrate your spirit, body and mind, it enables you to make choices that align with your core being and your existing and emerging values. As you create new neural pathways for yourself that align with your centred self, you engage others from a more centered place within yourself. That’s the power of expressing yourself authentically - the experience of greater personal alignment, confidence, freedom and joy at work and home. - Deborah Rossouw

Aim
· To provide you with a framework for finding your voice
· To facilitate a journey to a deeper connection with self
· To recognize how the mind, at an unconscious level, affects your sense of self
· To understand the concept of self esteem and how it impacts on all relationships
· To discover what’s behind your voice – how your self-esteem contributes to effective voice usage
· To develop self acceptance and enhance your own self esteem
· To make choices that align with your core being and your existing and emerging values
· To engage others from a more centered place within yourself
· To lay the groundwork for speaking your truth assertively and authentically
· To learn how to express what we really feel, what we are thinking and what we really want
· To use your breathing to enhance your voice projection and self expression

Best audience
Managers, leaders and frontline leaders

Thank you for offering your services to the BC Securities Commission’s Toastmasters Club. Each of your presentations was surprising and compelling and you took big risks in both. Not so much in the way you exposed yourself to help us find our own voices (which you did), but in the way you asked us to look into ourselves when we might have preferred to look to you and your expertise instead for the answers. Your snapshots are a great tool, aptly named. They are dramatic, quick, revealing, easy to relate to, and really move your presentations along.
Mimi Brenda Lea Brown, ABC
Senior Communications Advisor
British Columbia Securities Commission

I must tell you that your speech has made a greater impact on me personally than ANY previous speech I’ve heard at Toastmasters. You revealed what I have been searching for from the beginning – permission to speak about what I love and in the doing finding my own voice. It’s a simple concept; like most simple things it ’s also profound.
Mimi Scoretz, BA
Logos Toastmasters
West Vancouver

Feedback >> from participants.

FindingYourVoice.biz | YourEssentialVoice.com

BarOn Emotional Intelligence Quotient Inventory - EQ-i™
Complete a BarOn Emotional Intelligence Quotient Report online prior to attending this program [preferred]. The BarOn EQ-i™ has been tested on over 110,000 individuals worldwide and is the first scientifically developed and validated measure of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence reflects one's ability to deal with daily environment challenges and helps predict one's success in life, including professional and personal pursuits.