As infants who only understood oneness with the mother, we were surrounded by people, attitudes, traumas, relationship dynamics and all manner of parental projections with which we identified. We, therefore, hung our name tags on our parents' old unresolved and projected "stuff" in certain prescribed ways that formed a mask and a costume meant especially for us. Though we were mistaken in donning the mask and costume laid out for us, this mistake kept us attached to our caregivers, and/or helped us survive sometimes horrendous childhoods.

But our survival technique has now become the albatross around our necks, while we walk the planks laid out for us by the roles we play. Do we imagine that our problems are really the result of some external force? Again, we are mistaken. Most of the problems that we have today have come about as a result of the role we play, its script and the choices we have made out of that identity. The solution lies in finding the Authentic Self.

And yet, our world teaches us that finding the Authentic Self is, at best, a well-guarded secret passage of mythical proportions, and at worst, wasted time and effort, for it simply cannot be done. If we believe that, we are mistaken yet again. Not only is it possible to find and begin to live out of our authenticity, but it is the most hopeful journey we will ever take. It offers us the potential of a lasting peace, and yes, even joy. Working the pages of this book offers a practical yet deeply spiritual guide to finding and living the Authentic Self.

Restoring My Soul: A Workbook for Finding and Living the Authentic Self" is a step-by-personal-step guide to YOUR authentic Self. You will do the work right there on the pages of the book. It offers a real experience with YOUR Authentic Self, uncovering both the masks and costumes that keep us unaware of our truest nature, while it introduces you to yourself at a deeper more profound and meaningful level. "Restoring My Soul: A Workbook for Finding and Living the Authentic Self" is a step-by-personal-step guide to YOUR authentic Self. You will do the work right there on the pages of the book. It offers a real experience with YOUR Authentic Self, uncovering both the masks and costumes that keep us unaware of our truest nature, while it introduces you to yourself at a deeper more profound and meaningful level. The central issue of our lives is self-definition. Most of us have defined ourselves by the requirements of our early upbringing—even if that upbringing required that we act out the “bad guy” role. In fact, we put on masks and costumes meant to help us survive so subliminally and so early that we are completely unaware of the role and its effect on our lives. But the roles meant to save us have quite often become the albatross around our necks while we walk the planks laid out for us by those very roles. Within us, however, and awaiting our discovery is an Authentic Self, and its inherent peace. It’s been sending us messages all along, but we’ve been so busy living out the role that we haven’t heard the messages at all or if we have they come in the form of feelings we’d rather not feel. Restoring My Soul is a step-by-step personal guide to YOUR Authentic Self. It allows you to discover both the masks and costumes with which you have identified and the Authentic Self. It introduces you to yourself at a profound, even spiritual level and allows you to begin to take charge of your life in a way that you have never before dreamed possible. To a greater or lesser degree we have all been taught to wear the particular mask and costume that fit in with our families of origin or our primary caregivers. They subtly and overtly demanded it, and we unconsciously agreed to it--mostly for two reasons: 1) when we are at our most vulnerable early ages we are looking for mirrors, and we believe that our environments provide them, and 2) we fear that if we don't fit in here, we will be abandoned. Even if no one ever threatened abandonment, we still fear it at that vulnerable and dependent age. And so we don the mask and costume that both provides us with an identity that fits in with our family, and assures that we will not be abandoned. But these masks, costumes and roles were not meant to last forever. Eventually we were supposed to begin to live out of the Authentic Self. But we didn't know this and instead identified more and more with the mask and costume, until eventually we really think it’s who we are. But our crises have a way of reminding us that these masks and costumes are not natural at all, that in fact, they may now have become the albatross around our necks as we walk the planks laid out for us by these assigned roles. Our crises bring us to this most important existential question: "Who am I really?" This question is usually presented by uncomfortable feelings and reactions to life events. One example of many: You might be someone whose mask, costume and role demands that you always be there for others and never ask for anything of your own. You feel responsible for their well-being and you wonder why no one ever seems to feel responsible for you. You most probably put this mask and costume on because your family members perceived your gift for empathy and because they were not dealing consciously with their own issues, you felt the pressure to take them on. That became your habit and here you are, years later, feeling resentful and lonely, and sometimes wondering if anyone would ever really love you if you just were true to yourself. Those feelings are challenging you to ask the right question. The right question isn’t, “How can I get others to do what I need them to do?” The right question is, “What am I doing, feeling and thinking that has put me in this predicament?” What you are doing is being untrue to your genuine heart. You are most probably filling your life with shoulds instead of desires, and living from duty and obligation rather than true compassion. Though you may truly care deeply for others, what you do comes from fear of feeling guilty later, rather than from your truest compassion. Why is this? You are wearing the mask and costume that fit when you were a child, but no longer fits today. So, now the right question is, “Who am I really?” If you are asking that question now, this book is for you, for within its pages you are the writer, seeking and finding your own Authentic Self.

Andrea Mathews, LPC, NCC has 30 years’ experience in the mental health field, 15 of these in a thriving solo practice, assisting others in finding and living the Authentic Self. Restoring My Soul came directly out of her unique Transpersonal approach to psychotherapy as well as her own personal experience discovering authenticity. Mathews is also the author of The Law Of Attraction: The Soul’s Answer To Why It Isn’t Working And How It Can (O-Books, 2011), and the author of several magazine articles published internationally. She is the host of the Authentic Living Show on VoiceAmerica.com, the 7th Wave Network, on which she has interviewed some of the world’s most profound and prolific bestselling authors and entertainers in order to facilitate greater consciousness of the path to the authentic self. The list of these guests includes such thought leaders as: Marianne Williamson, Gary Zukav, Tom Shadyac, Rosanne Cash, Byron Katie, Caroline Myss, Thomas Moore, Dr. Clarrissa Pinkola Estes, Dr. Judith Orloff, Dr. Christiane Northrup and many more. The show was syndicated in 2008 and based on Restoring My Soul. Mathews is also a Corporate Trainer and Motivational/Inspirational speaker, training and speaking on an international basis.