Dalai Lama on being different

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Am I Weird/Strange/Unique...???

i'm sure most of us have asked ourselves that question at least once.

Most of us express our distinctiveness in many ways throughout our lives. Although, as we proudly share our offbeat traits and preferences with the world, we take great pains to downplay those eccentricities we ourselves deem odd. Instead of living lives colored by these quirky impulses, we seek out socially acceptable outlets for our peculiarities. We may not realize that we are editing ourselves in this way because our individual societal awareness is unintentionally attuned to the attitudes of the people we encounter each day. Over time, we have learned to suppress some of the most fun aspects of individuality. To rediscover and embrace these buried traits, we need only ask ourselves what we would do if we knew for certain that no one would judge our choices.

Visualizing this day without judgment can help you better understand the idiosyncrasies that are an important part of who you are but seldom manifest themselves in your existence. Perhaps you secretly dream of replacing grown-up, conservative clothing in favor of a changing array of costumes. You may envision yourself painting your car electric-green, hugging the trees in a crowded local park, singing joyous songs as you skip through your community, or taking up an exciting hobby like fire spinning. Try not to be surprised, however, if your imagination takes you in unexpectedly simple directions. In your musings, you may see yourself doing things such as breaking out in dance or dying your hair a fun color. Regardless of the nature of your suppressed peculiarities, ask yourself what is really stopping you from making them a part of your life, and then resolve to incorporate at least one into your everyday existence.

Life as we know it is so short. Making the most of years we are granted is a matter of being ourselves even though we know that we will inevitably encounter people who disapprove of our choices. When you shake your tail feathers like no one is watching, you will discover that there are many others who appreciate you because you are willing to let go of any inhibition. By doing this you help others know it is okay. No one else in the world is precisely like you and, each time you revel in this simple fact, you rededicate yourself to the celebration of individuality.

Me is not a fan of him, but this is interesting

Just to show how messed-up and strange I am, I consider most of his suggestions pretty pedestrian and usual. I do most of them all the time, save for changing my hair, which I prefer to keep short enough that I don't have to bother combing it. I regularly find myself skipping backwards from the store exit to my car, not really concerned with who might be looking. If I really wanted to show off my uniqueness, I'd have a prehensile tail grafted onto my backside and start smacking people with it for fun. On the off chance I got bored with that, I still want that exoskeleton.

Be happy: it annoys your enemies.

.....are you a furry?

Somewhat, when I was a kid, but I've mostly grown out of it. Gary and I still hang out with some of our old friends, but we've kind of cycled over to just meeting at pubs for drinks and chat. I've found that a lot of furs tend to have aspie traits, though, sometimes to a ridiculous degree. Maybe that's part of the reason I took well to their company. There is this one young fellow Gary and I had to coax out of his shell a bit before he'd even try interacting with other people irl. He's grown up a lot since then, and he's begun to date some. You see, we had to help the guy because his parents were threatening to send him to military school over the meltdowns. His relationship with his parents is getting a little bit better, but we meet people like that all the time in our circles. It's crazy.

that's cool. never got into that side of the culture myself but there are cool people who are into that.

Yeah. Some of these guys are like family to us. There's this one couple who has a daughter they bring for visits from time to time, and she ended up taking home one of my old books, on how to tie assorted knots of all things. Now she's bugging her step-dad for rope. She also nabbed my old, tattered copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, an aspie book if there ever was one.

Anyway, I have to say I generally find people to be more the same than different. Everyone has their little quirks, but I think that part of the usefulness of talking about them is that this helps us to realize how much we really have in common. It helps bring us closer.