5 Tips for Embracing Your Inner Crazy.
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“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” ~ Mark Twain
I don’t do ‘normal’ very well.
I’m not sure how to define normal, but I’d guess that it would be the polar opposite to madness. Normal is safe. Normal is accepted and sits next to sanity, whereas madness associates with ‘odd’, ‘weird’, or ‘different’.
Marilyn Monroe famously believed that “madness is genius, imperfection is beauty and I’d rather be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” I salute you Miss Monroe, the archetypal feminine goddess, glamorous, desired by all men and envied by all women yet, deep down, beneath it all, a dreamer, a free thinker, a ‘crazy’ just like the rest of us who yearn for so much more than the mundane regularity of life and the expectations that society imposes.
The dictionary states that ‘madness’ can be defined by ‘extremely foolish behaviour’ or ‘a state of frenzied or chaotic activity’…I don’t know about you, but when taking a glance at my life to date, I can safely say a lot of it has probably been spent in either of these states.
We, as members of the human race, are taught from an early age that crazy people should be avoided.
You know the ones that stagger and flail their arms and shout at themselves in the street, the poor souls ravaged by loneliness, alcohol abuse or perhaps they have just given up with partaking in a society that requires us to believe that money and fame is power and that material possessions are more worthy than values and spirituality.
We are subtly informed via our schools, our parents and the media what is considered to be ‘normal’ and we should, as best as possible, follow these rules and live a safe and happy life within the conforms of their intelligent instruction. We are advised, as young women and men, how to act.
For women we are scolded for acknowledging our naked bodies and insulted for enjoying sex. We are encouraged to look good in order to be desired, but to restrain our sexual desires in order to act like ‘ladies’.
Men are taught to hide their emotions, to see them as weakness. They are encouraged to see success as power and to see power as the ultimate gain, above personal growth and spiritual awareness – sometimes, but not always, this power extends to relationships and this is accepted as the status quo.
Is this not the real madness?
I would almost certainly class this as extremely foolish behavior, to accept and adapt your beautiful, loving, and ultimately free-spirited soul to fit within these expectations…
There is a homeless man who sits a few blocks from where I live — he is there every day in the same spot, come rain or shine, with his small trolley full of belongings, and a few books which he sometimes reads — I pass him every day and say hello — sometimes he is lucid and says hi back, and some days he is lost in the universe within his mind. But always he smiles. His eyes will close and he will sit in the sun and will always be wearing the smile of someone who has accepted their ‘madness’ and this has brought him peace.
I’ve never seen a more peaceful smile.
And every day I see his smile, and see his ragged beard and unwashed hair and clothes, his trolley packed neatly with all his belongings, in his same spot and I think, is madness the problem or is embracing our inner madness, perhaps the answer?
I believe that in this world, sanity is the acceptance of our madness.
My inner madness consists of my impulsive energy, my obsessions with music and the beauty of nature and the wisdom of books. It is my yearning to move, travel, dance, love, laugh, cry and write. I call this madness because this is not what we are encouraged to explore. This is the juxtaposition of normality, or sanity. It’s my colorful crazy, my flailing armed creativity, my smiling inner peace, my madness is my genius.
Jack Kerouac once stated: The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing.
I’m with you Jack. I am drawn to the unexpected and the unusual, I love the odd and the bizarre. If you think you’re weird, I’ll most definitely want to talk to you…all night. We can talk about anything you want…let’s inspire each other and expand our hearts and minds..
My inner crazy feels uncomfortable with the boredom of small talk and commonplace things.
I want to know what makes your heart come alive.
I want to know what drives your desires and makes your soul sing. I want to lie under the stars and imagine other worlds. I can’t understand when you tell me how much you earn or what you want to buy, but I want to listen when you tell me what you want from life and what you want to see and how much you want to give of your crazy self to the world.
I can relate to your delicious insanity and your craving to get naked and shout obscenities as you run into the ocean, under the moon…
“I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world.” ~ Anais Nin
#1 It’s okay to not feel like you fit in. I would rather not fit in and dazzle with my crazy than dim my light so as not to blind the masses.
#2 It’s okay to feel like sometimes you are going crazy. The world is full of madness; beautiful, unpredictable madness, and this is the essence of your soul crying out to express itself in any way it can. Listen to your crazy. It might be leading you to something wonderful.
Some of the most significant inventors, writers, leaders and all round awesome people were oddball crazy. You can’t change or inspire without that inner firey madness! Think Einstein, Charles Bukowski or Steve Jobs..
#3 It’s okay to sometimes want to withdraw from the crowds and sit with nature, or to be alone. Life can be overwhelming and confusing, especially as a sensitive soul. The peace you will feel in your own space will allow you to access that inner genius, soothe your soul and connect to your higher (crazy) self.
#4 It’s okay to not feel understood. Because you must know that whatever you feel, there are people out there who feel the same. We are united in our weird and wonderful ways, our foolishness and our delightful madness.
#5 It’s okay to go against the grain, to ignore everything you were ever taught and to act from the heart, despite people’s warnings. Some people will warn you out of their own fear, but we all have the freedom to do what we choose. Craziness is spontaneity and impulsiveness, creativity and change and this is okay. It’s more than okay, it’s exciting and it’s life.
So please, don’t be shy. Don’t be ashamed of your madness. Let me see it, in all its glory and let’s dance with our peaceful smiles and flailing arms and know that really, we’re all geniuses who can change the world, because we’re mad enough to believe we can.
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs
*****
{Daily Rebelle Cray.}
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