{"id":7,"date":"2026-08-09T00:49:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2026-08-10T19:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:34:58","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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AN INVITATION<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Have you ever felt that life is an endless struggle to become somehow better than you believe yourself to be?\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Perhaps you’ve tried to overcome old wounds, quiet the inner voice of self-doubt, or simply feel more at peace within yourself. Yet despite your best efforts, the same undesirable patterns keep returning.<\/p>

Perhaps, early on, life asked more of you than it should have.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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You are not alone.\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I \u2014 The Human Predicament\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Human Predicament<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For many years, we are completely dependent on others for our care, approval, and belonging. To receive that care, we adapt. We learn, often without realizing it, to become who others need us to be.<\/p>

Those adaptations serve us well. They help us survive and find our place in the world. But over time they become so woven into our sense of self that we mistake those adaptations for who we truly are.<\/p>

As a result, the longing you’ve carried\u2014to feel more at peace, more real, more valued\u2014may not simply be a search for healing. It may also be an invitation to rediscover the spontaneous self that lived long before you learned who you needed to become.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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II \u2014 The First Glimpse\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The First Glimpse\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What if the person you’ve spent your life trying to improve isn’t who you truly are?<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

What if many of the struggles you face arise, not simply from what happened to you, but from who you needed to become in order to survive what happened to you?<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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That question\u2014and the possibility it points to\u2014is explored more fully in Awakening Into Authenticity, and perhaps, in considering it, lies the first glimpse of who you truly are.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sometimes a single glimpse is enough to change the direction of a life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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iiI \u2014 The BOOK\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Awakening Into Authenticity: A First Glimpse<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In an engaging and enlightening dialogue between Gordon Allan and his teacher, Vic Gioscia, PhD, the book invites readers into a conversation exploring how the person we believe ourselves to be gradually takes shape. It then reveals a path toward the possibility of seeing what lies beyond the adapted self\u2014who you truly are.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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iv \u2014 The Author\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gordon Allan<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I didn’t arrive at the ideas in this book through academic study or theory. I arrived at them through lived experience.<\/p>

For much of my life, I found myself asking many of the same questions you may be asking today. Like many people, I believed that if I could somehow become a better person\u2014more successful, more confident, more acceptable, and less self-critical\u2014I would finally be enough. Yet even while building what many would have considered a successful business, something essential remained missing. I was not at peace within.<\/p>

Then I met Vic Gioscia.<\/p>

That meeting did not give me a new set of beliefs. It gradually changed the way I saw myself. Over the years that followed, our conversations transformed how I understood myself, and in doing so, what it means to live authentically.<\/p>

The conversations shared in Awakening Into Authenticity<\/em> changed the direction of my life long before they became a book. My intent is simply to share these conversations such that, if these questions resonate with you, they may illuminate your own journey as they did mine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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v \u2014 Mentor\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Some people answer our questions. Others change the questions we ask.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Vic Gioscia\n\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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phd<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Some people answer our questions. Others change the questions we ask.<\/p>

Vic Gioscia was one of those people.<\/p>

For more than twenty years, he was my guide, mentor, and friend. His gift was not simply an extraordinary understanding of human nature, but a remarkable capacity to help people see themselves with honesty, compassion, and fresh eyes.<\/p>

During our conversations, Vic rarely imposed conclusions or offered quick solutions. Instead, he created the conditions in which deeper questions could emerge\u2014questions that gently dissolved the assumptions I had carried for much of my life without ever realizing they could be questioned.<\/p>

The conversations recounted in Awakening Into Authenticity<\/em> grew out of the many days Vic and I spent together. They are shared here with the expectation that, as you continue reading, you may discover what I discovered: that sometimes seeing ourselves differently is the first glimpse that changes the direction of a life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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vi \u2014 Continue the Conversation\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Continue The Conversation\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If this exploration resonates with you, I invite you to join Vic and me in a stimulating conversation that has unfolded over many years, exploring how the person we believe ourselves to be gradually takes shape, why familiar, unwanted patterns continue to repeat themselves, and what becomes possible when we begin to see ourselves with new eyes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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You may discover that, before long, the questions become your own.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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And perhaps, in exploring these questions, you will begin to see yourself, and your entire life, from a perspective you may never have considered before. And, in doing so, discover the possibility of psychological freedom: the quiet experience of finally feeling at home in your own skin.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREAD Awakening Into Authenticity: A First Glimpse<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Available on Amazon\n\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AN INVITATION Have you ever felt that life is an endless struggle to become somehow better than you believe yourself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":412,"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7\/revisions\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefirstglimpse.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}