When I posted my excerpt on “Bloom Where You Are Planted” on Facebook, the word authenticity was brought up by one of the members of the group.  It reminded me of the piece I did on “Being Authentic” on page five.  Authentic people are genuine.  The real thing.  But in being real they are also vulnerable because they don’t wear masks or pretend they are something they are not.  It takes courage to be uniquely you. Authenticity is like transparency which is another topic I wrote about in my book on page 188.  Being transparent is to identity with others to the point of not just understanding, but being able to feel caring and compassion for them and permeate their souls.  When this happening others can look through a transparent person and see themselves. Anything that is said is all for the benefit of the other person.  Their thoughts and feelings as well are reflected back to them.  The problem in transparency is to keep viable boundaries.  Being transparent is a quality we find in the trending label of “an empath.”