guest post: stay as wacky as you want

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Reader's Note:

For the next week and a half I will be on a business trip. While I'm gone, I have some fantastic guest posts scheduled for you to read and enjoy. I'll do my best to reply to comments in between meetings and I'm sure the authors of these guest posts will be happy to respond if possible. I'll return on January 18, 2010 with lots of new posts for you!

Today marks the 3rd month of Random Acts of Kick Arse (RAOKA), a group I'm very fortunate to be a part of.The group -- which includes Life, Laughs, and Lemmings, The Jungle of Life, Jane Be Nimble, Joy Rebel, and Operation NICE -- joins together every month to take part in committing random acts. Each month we have a different theme and for the month of December the theme was "wacky." When I revisited the month of December, I realized that it was, in fact, pretty wacky. When you mix the holiday season with a ton of work and lots of fun activities, you tend to feel a little bit wacky. Today Armen's guest post is quite fitting with the RAOKA theme-of-the-month, and I've decided that my random act of wackiness is to have someone else's post featured as the RAOKA post for this month... Enjoy!

Today's post was written by Armen Shirvanian, who writes about mindset, communication, relationships, and related topics over at his site, Timeless Information. If you haven't been to Armen's site, I highly recommend you do so. He really does share some timeless information that will help you improve your mindset and understand your world from a new perspective.

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One big thing that helps you to smoothly and positively head towards your desires is to keep on doing those quirky or atypical things you feel like doing. The things we have customized in a certain way, which might be peculiar to others, are usually well-suited for us. Autobiographies always contain some wacky habits that successful people continued through their winning years, like going to a local pond every morning, going on a picnic every couple of days, taking three showers every day, eating pecans when doing thinking, or other material like that.

 

Society Wants Atypical Creations And Effortism

Many of the creations that our society prizes come from quirkiness. A lawyer who finds a past case, and spins it around in a wacky way that causes his client to go free, is revered for his amazing law skills. A designer of architecture that styles a building in an unusual way that hasn't been done before, based on some pictures he drew when he was 15, is praised around the world for his creativity and innovative design. A doctor who tries to treat someone, who has a drug-resistant condition, with a new type of method that he thought of during his peculiar thinking time at swimming, becomes the role model for other doctors who didn't have any treatment ideas. Society repeatedly supports those who are innovative, and a lot of that innovation can come from maintaining the weird things you do. Usually, they are not even that weird, but they are things you do that very few others do. These things can be very small differences. Maybe you have a set of fifty different types of pencils you got long ago, that you continue to use to this day, which give you a sense that you are connected to your past.

 

Reading In A Tree Example

Maybe you have a tree in your backyard that you used to sit in and read for an hour, but stopped since you feel that a neighbor might think of you as weird or unfocused. Bringing back that habit might be all you need to re-energize your interest in home gardens, or whatever you read about, and any neighbor who thinks you are weird for sitting in your tree and reading most likely wants to be in your shoes, not caring about others and having a routine habit of reading in a tree.

 

Doing Wacky Things Boosts Your Self-Esteem

When you do something that isn't normal, no matter how small, it boosts your self-esteem, because you are saying your uniquenessis more important than looking or feeling appropriate. This is true any time you break from the pack in some way. One minor example is like how I did some writing of notes on the soft sheet paper that they give with gift boxes for clothes. I filled this 10x18 inch sheet of paper with thinking that I had. It was sort of like Leonardo Da Vinci drawing doodles in his notebook (at least in my mind) that we are now amazed by. I could have easily written them on a regular piece of paper, but this felt cooler, and when you feel cool, you can do things that others couldn't make it through, which validates doing the quirky thing in the first place. As a closing point, who are you doing a favor to when you cut back on your wacky habits or things that make you feel cool? When you find that person, let me know, because I haven't found him.

Armen Shirvanian writes words of wisdom about mindset, communication, relationships, and related topics at Timeless Information. You can follow him on Twitter at @Armen.

Comments

[Lori]

Hi Armen,
Great to see you again!
I loved your words about reading in a tree! I used to love playing and reading in trees growing up - but there's really no accessible trees where I live currently. I can do similar things in nature, though, like laying in the grass and reading! Great idea!

I also get a kick out of writing on non-typical surfaces, like the paper you spoke of. I once wrote a love note to my husband on the back of a napkin. :)

Thanks for your words, Armen, you always amaze me with your insight. And I try NOT to hold back on my wacky traits - they bring me joy and help me to avoid being boring. ;)

Have a wacky day!
P.S. Have a safe trip, Dani!

[Jannie Funster]

I so agree on the boosting your self-esteem, some inner mechanism goes off when you are fun-wacky. Here's to more and more of it!

I joined the R.A.O.K.A. "wacky" blog posting today too. And I KNOW I'll never cut back on wackiness. We give the world a beautiful gift when we can "wack it up!" Like Katie West with her The Levity Project.

Off to read a book in a tree now, but I better bundle up!

:)

[Positively Present]

Lori - Thanks for the comment! So glad you enjoyed Armen's post. It was perfect for the RAOKA word of the month!

Jannie - It sounds like you've got the wackiness thing down, which is great. It's awesome to be unique and to "wack it up," as you say!

[Lance]

Hi Armen,
I think a real key here is this idea of allowing our own uniqueness to surface. And when we do, that's when our true greatness also shines! It may appear wacky or strange or a little off-beat, and that's okay - it's our true colors...and those are so worth getting out of the crayon box!

Dani,
Have a wonderful trip!

[Armen Shirvanian]

First off, I want to thank Dani for allowing my words to be showcased here on Positively Present.

Lori - Hello to you. Good to see you also. Well if you don't have the guts and resourcefulness to find a tree that's fine to use grass also.

Good call about the note on a napkin, as that is a cool thing. The writing object and paper type can change how we think when writing. I like to write on edges of ads, or small pieces of paper from mini-notebooks, or stuff like that.

Thanks for your nice words there.

Jannie - I like that term "fun-wacky". It is worth it to do things that are that way. If you get a chance get a picture of yourself reading in a tree. Anyone who does that here gets an imagined e-award.

Lance - This is true huh. Our own uniqueness is what we can't hide away. When I hide mine away, people can feel it. They know something is up. Good call about the crayon box. If I'm a mahogany or lavender, there's no point acting like a sea green or pearl white. I like light blue, by the way.

[Sami - Life, Laughs & Lemmings]

Hi Armen. You bring up a great point; being wacky does promote great self esteem. It takes a courageous person to be/do something different to the norm. Wackiness is often veiwed as "uncool". In my own delusional world, "uncool" is the new black! Bring on the wackiness I say!

Thanks Armen and have a great trip Dani.

[Dawn]

I am a self admitted "flake"...and it's taken me 39 years to really embrace my uniqueness...and I love it.

[J.D. Meier]

> your uniquenessis more important than looking or feeling appropriate
Well put.

Also, sometimes you just have to say or do, what others are afraid to, and pave the path or break the ice.

[Armen Shirvanian]

Sami - Hello to you. Thanks about the point. It sure is viewed as uncool. People think the person doing something out of the ordinary is confused or missing the concept, when they might be above the concept, and pushing bounds. Anytime I don't fit in, after a time of feeling awkward, I go back to remembering that I'm like a frontiersman when I do atypical things.

Dawn - That's not bad as long as it fits you, and you can find ways to make up for it or sustain it. You're bringing a good attitude to it. Admitting something is always good when you know it to be the case. I have gone late to numerous gatherings as well.

J.D. Meier - This is true about breaking the ice. Sometimes I will do something wacky, which then leads to another person being more comfortable to do something they had wanted to do. We can be helpful in that way.

[Katie West/The Levity Coach]

Armen, I agree so much. And I think it is worthwhile to say that it takes great courage to stand just outside the box (or dare to live as if there is no "box") When I did my first The Levity Project Event (a spontaneous Laughter Flash Mob)...people stared and in the middle of it I was thinking "AHHHHH what am I doing?" But then people started to laugh with us and I could tell it changed their whole day. And that was when I knew the world needs those of us that are willing to stand out and take a risk.
Cheers to all of us.

[Positively Present]

Katie - Thanks for your comment on Armen's post. I'm sure it was odd at first when you were working on your project, but it really does work out well to be silly sometimes and it's so awesome that you're inspiring laughter in others. Taking a risk must definitely be worth it in your case!