Living La Vida Stupid!

Whenever I used to hear the word, "stupid" I'd cringe. And this is only because someone in my daily childhood life labeled me stupid and went into an abusive rage if I pretty much expressed myself ever. This makes me wonder if introversion is nature or nurture. But, it also groomed me to become a coach who strongly supports expressing and living our truth.

I recall Eckhart Tolle discussing the experience of being given the "stupid" label by someone during childhood. And he asked us to consider what type of person would feel it's okay to do such a thing? I also recall Barbara Sher inviting us to explore the up side of being given that label.

Have you ever done something where you were treated as though you were stupid for doing it...then time went by and it turned out to be smarter than you ever knew?
I remember a college professor suggesting we buy a certain out-of-print book for research purposes in his class. It cost $60, used, and I figured if he suggested it, it's important. When I brought this book to class, I found nobody else thought it was worth the money to own it and the teacher even said in front of the class,

"You bought that book? I saw that on Amazon. Is that where you got it? You must've paid WAY too much money for it!"

I felt pretty stupid for buying it for about ten years, until I ended-up selling that book for three times the price to someone who way appreciated they could find and own a copy of it at all at "such an affordable price."

The wildest creativity stems out of trying on ideas that may be labelled stupid or unacceptable. And why not try on "stupid" ideas, refining them to their brilliance a step at a time? I know "the failure factor" of any endeavor can feel like a stupid mistake. But that's the time to tap into your inner Edison. Thomas Edison accepted failure as though it was as common as brushing his teeth. He's proof that eventually it all comes together...and most likely not in the way we expect it to, or in the timeline expected.
So, being seasoned in of the art of stupid....I suggest exploring what stupid can do for you when you make friends with it, find the up side of it and especially learn from it. I think you're going to find that stupid and bravery have a lot in common and that there's a fine line between stupid and brilliant anyway!