This One Simple Rule Will Turn You Into A Total Badass

Do you know how to be a badass? It’s simple. Just be so mentally insulated and assured of yourself that you do not let anyone get a rise out of you.

You must master your ability not to react to anything or anyone but to learn to respond instead. There is a big difference. Reacting is giving away your power to other people’s shortcomings and infractions. Responding is harnessing and holding onto your own power while calmly getting your thoughts across after a period of silent deliberation. No one respects displays of anger, pride or of ego. It will only make you feel vindicated momentarily while making you feel and seem immature once your rage dies down. Why give anyone or anything in life such power over you?

Don’t allow other people’s actions or words to take up too much real estate in your mind unless they are a positive influence. Don’t take things personally because everyone has their reasons for doing what they do, so just don’t choose to engage with it past a certain parameter and that parameter has to be a strict boundary.

I allow everyone space to be who they are and do what they would like, so giving people the gratification of an impulsive reaction is not an option for me. If there is something to do or say, I will do so later when it will make a difference for me and not necessarily for them; otherwise, silence is a very natural and easy choice for me. Having said that, if it were my actions or words that caused an issue or hurt someone, then I will take full accountability and immediately apologize because I am human and liable to make mistakes, too.

Silence can be your biggest asset in this life, yet people are so quick to open their mouths and give sloppy arguments in the heat of the moment or to post passive aggressive messages via social media. Don’t do it and instead take the time to think and to form a mature response, whether it is through your actions or your words, and if need be, deliver it to them privately, one on one. Believe me, nothing is more attractive and cooler than a person who is in total control of themselves. Keep a mystery about you and what you feel. When others see that you are not quick to respond adversely when they expect you to, you end up earning their respect, and it will also prove that you can trust yourself to never betray your own self-control.

People always ask why I am different or why my energy is different, and I attribute it mostly to this one guiding principle of mine. Even more than meditation, prayer, or any other practice of stillness, this one principle allows me to live my life as gently and peacefully as I can. Life is hard enough as it is, you do not want to also tether yourself to the volatilities of human nature on top of it. The truth is, people change, people are impulsive, people can be callous and act for the self, so why tie your inner world to something that can be so fickle? Just keep your composure, baby.