Learning to Live a Healthy, Non Conformist Life

Speak your mind. Express your opinion, not for the sake of it but to develop your mind, intellect, your personality.

Experiment. Gandhi always “reserved the right to differ with himself”

His life was an unending experiment. He was not a conforming Hindu or conforming pacifist, he was independent, unpredictable, exciting and difficult.

He dared to go anywhere without a chart.

Say no occasionally to others. In order to say yes to yourself there are ways to say no with kindness. There are times in order to say yes to the best, we must say no to the goof. We must resist those who try to manipulate us.

Continually Learning. Jean Renoir, son of the Master Artist, Renoir, spoke of his father becoming old and his body diminishing. It was during this time he painted “Women Bitter” now in the Louvre. He lived on the edge of knowledge, new discoveries. 

Spend time with people who encourage non-conformity. It’s a rare gift to find people you are loyal and give you space to be yourself.

To be loved without having to change, to pretend to be something other than what we are.

Keep creating. Make time for creative enterprises, fight off stagnation. Use art, music, paint.

Stay off the beaten path. Alexander Graham Bell- “leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods, you will be certain to find something you have never seen before”.

Be with children. Children are “trailing clouds of glory”. Be spontaneous, don’t worry about others so much.

Have flair. Each of us was created unique and the discovery and expression of the uniqueness is one reason we are in this Earth. Resist conformity and develop some small eccentricities. These will lead to independence and self confidence.

Run your own race. Ussein Bolt winning the 100 metres in record time preformed at his best, he didn’t care about how the other runners would perform.