In the Search of Authenticity

Caroline Pakel-Dunlop

Abstract

I had always wished I could sing. I had never learned and had never been encouraged or coached to sing during my formative years. I then found myself, as an adult, surrounded by people who sang spontaneously and frequently, with confidence and joy. I started envying them: they seemed so happy when singing! I wished I could experience singing and I could sing with them. It took me a very long time, several years in fact to find the courage, to put the wheels in motion towards learning to sing. I found a teacher and started to learn. The learning process was simultaneously a source of great joy and the trigger to great anxiety. I soon realized that my wish was not merely about being able to sing. My being was calling me to find ways to express my true voice. As in any journey undertaken towards unveiling one’s truth, the voyage was very emotional and transformational. This project is about my journey and what I learned about myself, about singing as a form of creative self-expression and the role of creativity when it comes to authenticity - how it offers a way to access and unveil our true, authentic being. The story is not only of my own journey. The latter is presented in the context of readings and conversations held with others about creative self-expression and authenticity from a wide variety of creative fields, namely philosophy, psychotherapy, coaching, acting and improvisation, writing and music playing. The outcome of this project is a Pecha Kucha presentation which details my own journey and understanding of what it takes to be authentic and speak (or sing!) one’s truth.