The Meaning of Badass and Badass Counseling
Badass isn’t a conventional way to name a counseling business. That said, it perfectly captures the kind of counseling that Badass Counseling provides. Read on to learn more.
What is 'badass' and what does it mean to live a 'badass' life?
I come from the world of sports and also the world of the arts. The true badasses are the ones who are not constrained by what society, family, religion, or life would say to them with garbage such as:
You must be normal
You must be afraid to express your real self-authored self
You must be what we want you to be
Feelings do not matter
Always be tough
Don't express, just follow
The badasses are the ones who have the courage to kill it; it being life and life on their own terms. I think of feelings and tears and how men (and many women, too) have been conditioned to believe that feelings, especially tears, are a sign of weakness. Yet, to the badass that makes no sense.
A true badass is just being whomever he damn well wants to be in any given moment. He's so tough that he can be weak and not concern himself with utterly arbitrary definitions of manhood.
When his dog dies, he allows his sorrow to come out.
When his child must have surgery, he allows his terrible fear to find healthy expression.
When she has a fiery vision she wishes to pursue, she does not constrain herself with the expectations and criticisms of others.
When he is hurt or offended in love, he says so, not waiting for all the small and medium hurts to build up into one giant mountain of hurt, which he only then feels justified in expressing.
To be badass is simply to have the courage to be authentic, which is a path and trait far too rare in our homogenized lives.
Why a 'badass' counselor? What does that even mean?
To then carry 'badass' into the realm of counseling and coaching means we're no longer trying to get people to be tough, per se. For, old forms of toughness are a facade, a completely arbitrary and pretend notion of what you 'should' be rather than simply being who you are.
Badass Counseling is the raking out of those old forms and conceptions to reveal beneath the packed crud the fledgling shoots of your real self, waiting to poke through and grow. Badass Counseling is to get rid of all the shit that has been dragging you down from inside (and some of it around you), your entire life. It's to help you hear your own inner voice, calling you to your greatest peace, power, and sense of purpose.
It is to then hold your hand as you endure the criticisms of those around you and soon free yourself from them. It is to watch you fly away on your own new journey, armed with the tools you'll need to live as a badass, as an authentic.
>> See The 10 REAL Reasons You're Not Happy & Your Business Isn't Successful: Diamonds and Raw Sewage
More importantly, what's the benefit of Badass Counseling?
But, Badass Counseling not just helps you become your fullest, most badass self. The method itself is badass because it forces you to go deep, fast, hard, and get results now, not 6 years from now. It's just frickin' hard. But, in the hands of the Badass Counselor, the hardness feels simultaneously liberating and exciting.
Badass Counseling rejects the notion that the goal of any sort of counseling or tending the soul is to get to a state of normal – i.e., to simply get out of the depths of life's hard times. The goal is not normalcy, but aliveness, which is the elevation of what is normal to what feels like bliss, not in every moment but more as a resting default state.
The grand benefit of Badass Counseling, then, is to finally experience a sense of genuine, lasting physical lightness. It is to experience spontaneous energy. It is to be excited to wake up each day. It is CLARITY, which has eluded you for far too long. It is to know your path and your own sense of strength in endeavoring that path. It is to finally have the courage to stand up to, or at least finally walk away from, the bullies.
The benefit of Badass Counseling is to finally feel and know ALIVENESS!
If everything is 'badass,' why the salutation, “Have a Kickass Day,” which seems to be the Badass Counseling motto?
First, linguistically, kickass has two plosives and one fricative in it. So, it just carries more of a punch in the face when it comes out of the mouth.
Secondly, and equally important, badass is an aspiration, a noun (largely), a solid adjective, and a compliment. Kickass is a verb or very strong adjective, and a bit more of an imperative.
In short, third, badass implies power; kickass implies fire. So, they work well together, each a nuanced version of the other.
Are You Ready to Be Badass?
If you aren’t yet in touch with your authentic self, it’s time to reconsider. Life is too short to spend it being constrained by what others tell you to do and be. Instead, be badass so you can feel and know aliveness.
Thanks for reading. Have a Kickass Day!
-- Sven Erlandson, MDiv, Is The Author Of Seven Books, Including 'Badass Jesus: The Serious Athlete And A Life Of Noble Purpose' And 'I Steal Wives: A Serial Adulterer Reveals The REAL Reasons More And More Happily Married Women Are Cheating.' He Has Been Called The Father Of The Spiritual But Not Religious Movement, After His Seminal Book 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Came Out 15 Years Ago, Long Before The Phrase Became Part Of Common Parlance And Even Longer Before The Movement Hit Critical Mass. He Is Former Military, Clergy, And NCAA Head Coach For Strength And Conditioning; And Has A Global Counseling/Consulting Practice with offices In NYC, NJ, And Stamford, CT: BadassCounseling.Com
