badass

I’ve decided to declare this year The Year Of Badass. Now this doesn’t mean I’ll be getting all tattooed up, dealing drugs out the back of my place, joining a motorcycle gang, doing drive-by shootings or burning down the homes of people I don’t like. It’s not about being an asshole.

Being a badass dude is about living via our internal compass and doing life the way we want, rather than trying to keep other people happy doing what they think is acceptable all the time. It’s going to piss a few people off mainly because they’ll be jealous that they aren’t living their life the way they know, deep down, that they should be. Trying to keep everyone else happy is a recipe for misery. So being able to tolerate the discomfort that other people will feel when we live life our way is all part of learning to be a badass. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable occasionally.

At the same time, I’ve recently taken a deeper interest in Taoist philosophy. The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tze recognised that life had a certain flow to it, and that by living in accordance with our true nature we can live life much more easily. When we stop fighting against our deeper nature, things that used to seem difficult now become effortless. It’s almost as if the action we take requires no action at all because we’re living in accordance with “The Way” of our essential nature and the nature of life around us.

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