I made a bunch of money and moved from Crazy to Eccentric!! Woo-hoooo!!

Have you ever thought closely about the word eccentric or the concept of person “displaying  eccentricities”?

WTF does that even mean?

Not “normal”?

Do we want to be NORMAL?

Who decides what is NORMAL and WHY??

Bill Walton wondered this.

I’ve always said that the only difference between somebody that society calls crazy and who they call eccentric has nothing to do with their mental state or their behavior but instead has everything to do with their economic situation and status. Let me explain.

If you’re a 7 foot dude with the giant beard who is known to oppose the Vietnam war and you walk around as a grown man in your 60s, making fun of everything and laughing at all convention wearing a tie-dye shirt a lot of people in modern society might call you pretty crazy. 

eccentric

[ ik-sen-trik, ek- ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

1. deviating from the recognized, normal, or customary character, practice, etc.; irregular; erratic; peculiar; odd:

ab·nor·mal

/abˈnôrm(ə)l/

adjective

1. deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying.

in·sane

/inˈsān/

adjective

1. 1.

   in a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction;

However, if you happen to have a proven track record of being a sports champion in a sports crazy society and having proven that you are thoughtful, kind person in the public eye over and over again and you have a lot of money, you are no longer crazy with that cash you are in the club of the wealthy, crazy known as the eccentrics. 

So what is eccentric anyway?

Another term for eccentric a synonym is a free spirit. A free spirit, unlike the label crazy person carries a positive connotation as it invokes a sense of admiration for living in an authentic manner on the other hand, marginalizes to behavior for being different or outside of the norm with a negative connotation, and unless his followed by a superlative like “wow! Those ghost pepper buffalo wings were CRAZY GOOD!”, crazy means bad.

However, if we back up a minute back up a minute, shouldn’t we ask exactly who is deciding which person get the label of eccentric and crazy?  What exactly is the criteria for crazy?

The same as eccentric.

Bill Walton by sticking to his higher self and listening to his intuition chose a very difficult path at a young age as a basketball player at UCLA playing for the most legendary basketball coach in the history of John Wooden.

Coach Wooden was very much of the old school and when Bill Walton showed up with long hair and was participating in anti-war movements and peace protest there was certainly going to be some friction in their relationship.

Bill Walton was respectful and had conversations with his coach explaining that his positions on these issues were much bigger and more important than playing basketball and he respectfully agreed to disagree with his coach on whether or not he should participate in civil disobedience as a basketball player representing the university of California Los Angeles campus.

When he went to the NBA, he kept his hair and was welcomed into the community in the Pacific Northwest and could not have scripted a better location for his initial NBA career in Portland, Oregon. Portland back in the 70s was one of the most granola crunchy hippie cities in the United States and if you’ve never been to Portland, you really need to go visit. It is an American treasure.

I wanted to wait a little bit of time after Bill Walton‘s passing to write this because I’ve known this and felt this about Bill Walton for decades in terms of his authenticity and I’ve related to him on many levels because we both crave peace and know that love and unity is a reality. I feel like what made Bill Walton so special was the grin in his eye, a deep belief in agape or unconditional love.

It was his vulnerability that created his authenticity. 

Authentic Leaders are Vulnerable Leaders.

Hard Stop.

I repeat, it was his vulnerability that created his authenticity and it is why he was loved and cherished by so many and he will be missed equally.

What is the real message here?

The message is that these social measurements and labels that are blindly applied relative to how your actions conform with social norms that might not be healthy for you or anyone.

The challenge here for most folks is that it’s hard to stay connected to that voice which gives you the direction, which is your true calling that is connected to the gifts and the love that you’ve received from being part of the living family and being connected to the source of love light and all things that have ever existed.

When you don’t stay connected to your unique self and that you end up choosing behavior that conform with how other people are living their lives, regardless of whether or not it suits, you feels good makes you happy or brings you joy.  

You are making decisions based on your values the things that you’re grateful for and the people that are most important to you and instead you’re following the her and hoping for the best.

The only way to break these types of patterns are to change the thoughts that you’re choosing on a daily basis.

In order to know how to choose your thoughts, you have to learn how to come into the present moment of now and understand that your breath is what can anchor you to the only true reality that should exist for you and that’s the moment of NOW.

Awareness is the pathway to authenticity and gratitude gives you the real time feedback in order to develop the thought pattern for staying present and connected to your breath.

When you think abundant thoughts coming into the moment, it is just like giving a puppy a dog treat when it sits down for the first time on command.  You are programming and rewarding your brain instead of a bone dog biscuit you’re giving your brain thoughts of your own life and the abundance that you have when you choose to recognize it in the present moment of now.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how the sausage is made.  

That sausage being a happy life built on a proclivity to positivity.

Bill Walton cracked the code by staying true and he had very difficult challenges along the way by people that wanted him to live someone else’s life.  He chose to live his own life, and because he made a lot of money he enjoyed the label of being eccentric.

Had Bill Walton been Working as an organic farmer somewhere outside of Detroit, Michigan, growing soybeans and coming into town once a month or so he definitely would’ve been labeled crazy.

Which goes to show you those labels are about his valuable as another hole in your head.

So save me the labels.

Instead, I’ll choose a deep meditation and the reveal of my path as it’s delivered from God and the universe as they continue to conspire for my own happiness and the happiness of those around me as we expand our sparkling example of anAttitude of Gratitude.

EVERY DAY:

Love

and

Gratitude

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