In my book, I define audacity as the counterpoint to resilience, which has been overrated of late. Audacity is always defined by our local tribe, the times we live in, the social context, and the persuasive sway of the “fool who rushes in.” In the final analysis, you must judge whether your audacious act is doing the right thing, for the right purpose, in the right way. The traits are listed in sequence-development of earlier ones can be a prerequisite for those that come later. So the main question is: How can you cultivate a more positive orientation toward your own audacity? How can you discern whether your next audacious act is deliberate, thoughtful, and virtue-inspired or spontaneous, off-the-cuff, and capricious? Is there some abiding value, some higher meaning to your audacity? Or are you being irreverent just to get attention, Twitter hits, or political votes?īelow are seven qualities that, when taken together, can result in positive audacity. The perpetrator-the catalyst-will be loved by some and crucified by others. Even in its very highest forms, people will be either inspired or triggered. Rudeness is perhaps the most familiar form, found in conversation (“How dare he say that!?”), in public behavior (someone pushes past on a waiting line without even an “excuse me”), and in relationships (your best friend starts dating your ex the same day you broke up).īut what we tend to overlook is that audacity, by its very nature, breeds polarized responses. Bold acts of disrespect run a wide gamut from the ordinary to extraordinary, from history-changing events to outbursts on social media. Is it just about who wins?īold disrespect, the essence of audacity, can be perceived as either positive or negative. How can we discern positive from negative audacity? If you are a Native American, you might be less impressed with Jesus and the Declaration of Independence. The teachings of the Buddha and Jesus and the Declaration of Independence are audacious in the extreme. But had I struck a chord, irritating some edge of personal growth? Or was I just being provocative? I gave some serious self-reflection and peer-to-peer exercises to challenge listeners to share their experience-in a way that obviously caused discomfort.

So, literally trying to walk my talk, I chose to walk around rather than speak from the podium. It is also about actively seeking out challenges with an attitude of Bring It! or Let’s Do This! In fact, I wrote a book titled Raw Coping Power, which argues that life is not just about bouncing back from stress. I sometimes open my talks with a quote from Neale Donald Walsch: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” This time, I jumped right in because I felt some urgency about exposing the “McMindfulness” contrivance and wanted to take a risk. But of course the messages of the Buddha-and many other spiritual teachers-were truly audacious. Who would have thought this message could be so polarizing? Imagine what people thought when the Buddha abandoned his life as a prince: when such teachings were truly audacious. In response, the Buddha exclaimed, “Don’t say that! It is the whole of the path!” I quoted the Upaddha Sutta, where a monk tells the Buddha that at least half of the holy life is about having admirable companions on the spiritual path. I emphasized that spiritual friendship-rather than stress relief or health promotion-is a traditional cornerstone of mindfulness as a deep mystical journey.

In that talk I ranted a bit about what I call “McMindfulness,” a psychologized, pop spirituality approach that overemphasizes individual practice and forgets its roots in spiritual friendship. A few weeks later, however, I received written feedback that included comments like: “Horrible!,” “Made me uncomfortable,” and “Who does he think he is?” The last comment was especially painful and ironic given that my topic was “interpersonal mindfulness.” I recently gave a talk at a conference, and afterward people came up to shake my hand and say things like: “One of the best!” and “You should be a keynote!” A follow-up LinkedIn request even asked to learn more and to collaborate.

Audacity meaning