J. Stewart Dixon, award-winning, best-selling humor and self-help author of Spirituality for Badasses has a bone to pick with conventional therapy and pharmaceutical companies concerning our collective bounce back and healing from the stress, anxiety and depression of Covid-19. Asserts Mr. Dixon in the introduction to his book: “So you see…I really do get it. I used to be depressed, anxious, too smart for my own good, opinionated and unhappy…a real loveless, badass-hole. But now I’m just a spiritual badass. Spirituality removed the hole. I transformed. I changed. I grew up. I learned some hard lessons. And I did all this without ever losing my cool, integrity, smarts, libido, sense of humor or soul. And that’s just what this book is going to help you do."
I’m self-published and 100% happy to be self-published. I wouldn’t touch a book publisher (small or large) with a 39-and-a-half foot pole (shout out to Dr. Seuss) these days. How did I get the inspiration to for my book? Well, I’ll let the introduction to the book answer that:
“I get it. I really do.
You’re a badass.
Cool, hip, down-to-earth, together, sane, practical, tough, smart, confident, fringe, alternative, creative, funny, athletic. However, you want to quantify your badass-ness.
You’ve been this way your whole life, or maybe it took a couple of decades for you to cultivate it, or maybe it just kicked in yesterday at 3:09 pm. Who knows…and who cares, right?
Because something is missing.
It seems that being a badass just isn’t—enough.
Is it?
Let me make this easy for you. I’m also a badass…
…except that for most of my adult life I’ve been involved with spirituality. And maybe you can relate here—this badass has always had…um, a slight issue: He doesn’t really love spirituality, being spiritual or hanging out in spiritual circles.
No thank you.
This badass…well, eh... he loves beer.
There—I said it! I love beer. Dark beer. Craft beer. Locally brewed beer. I also love fly fishing and kayaking and hiking in the mountains. I love making fart jokes with my twelve-year-old son. I love smoking the occasional cigar (or other things) in my hot tub. I love great sex. I love head massages. I love making lots of money. I love cool cars. I love taking vacations in tropical places. I love hanging out with friends and being potty mouthed. I love watching Netflix. I love sitting around on the weekends and doing absolutely nothing. There are a lot of things this badass loves.
But spirituality? No, I don’t love spirituality.
But...I do like it. I really like spirituality—a lot.
Spirituality has served this badass well. Here are a few of the benefits I gained from my years involved with spirituality:
· I used to be depressed. I am now depression free— because of spirituality.
· I used to be deeply unhappy most of the time. I am now happy most of the time—because of spirituality.
· I used to be unaware and off balance about lots of things. I am now very aware and mostly balanced about lots of things—because of spirituality.
· I used to be a mindless idiot caught, obsessed and jerked around by the thoughts in my head. I am now a mindfulness master who realizes that the thoughts in my head are mostly irrelevant, neurotic and frivolous—because of spirituality.
· I used to be timid. I used to avoid conflict. I used to deny certain emotions. I am now outspoken, unafraid of conflict, and I fully embrace all emotions whether they feel good or bad—because of spirituality.
· I used to believe that all existence was a flat, one dimensional, dead end. I now know from repeated experience that life—existence—is a multi-layered, vibrant, and mysterious realm—because of spirituality.
· I used to believe that death meant the end. I now know, also from repeated experience, that death is not the end and some part of us continues—because of spirituality.
· I used to believe that who I was, was this separate individual named J. Stewart. I now know that the real me springs from this same timeless, limitless ONE that we all are—because of spirituality.
So you see…I really do get it. I used to be depressed, anxious, too smart for my own good, opinionated and unhappy…a real loveless badass-hole. But now I’m just a spiritual badass.
Spirituality removed the hole. I transformed. I changed. I grew up. I learned some hard lessons. And I did all this without ever losing my cool, integrity, smarts, libido, sense of humor or soul. And that’s just what this book is going to help you do.
You and I are going on a road trip, starting in my hometown and then traveling across the United States. Along the way, we’ll visit some amazing places, take a few high-risk adventures and experience some strange shit. But what we’re really doing is exploring and where we’re really going is into the vast uncharted territories of your deepest soul.
Will it be easy? Nope. Will it be uncomfortable? Yep. Will it shake your world up like a three-hundred-foot drop on a Six Flags roller coaster? I hope so.
But you’re a badass and can handle this shit, right? Hell, yeah.
“Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire
Okay. You’ve now read the introduction. Buy the book and let’s get started.
About the Author; J. Stewart’s new book, Spirituality for Badasses, blossomed out of J. Stewart’s life as a spiritual seeker, finder and coach/teacher. He teaches based on his direct experience, twenty-nine years of interaction with numerous nonduality-advaita-zen-unorthodox teachers, his ongoing education / certification in modern mindfulness and a degree in communications / engineering from Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. He makes his home in Virginia.
Visit his website at http://www.spiritualityforbadasses.com or connect with him on Facebook.
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