Don’t Mind, I’m Cool!

It’s such a common word, yet how many of us can describe what it means to be cool? I surely struggled to even understand this term until a couple of years ago. At some point, at the superficial level, for me being cool only meant wearing cute hipster clothes (if there’s such a thing). And oh, for a few years skateboards were the cool thing to have too. I know that much. No, no, I can’t skateboard to save my life, but I know they were (are?) cool! But if coolness is meant to be superficial and only related to style, it would make absolutely no sense as to why even monks (smiles), doctors, kids, elderly people, etc are also described as being cool. 

And what makes our Om Swami the coolest of all?:) (I’ll let you answer this)

Recently, after a lot of thought and contemplation I came up with a simple conclusion. Being cool means having no mind. And if I could go back in time and advise myself, I would say:

You ain’t cool if you’re mindy!

 

You see, some people are the epitome of coolness, in everything they do and everything they say. It dawned on me that being cool is very much equivalent to comfort. When we are comfortable with who we are and how we act, we naturally become cool. Comfort can only come from a place of no thinking. Sometimes, we wear a piece of clothing and love it so much that we almost feel like we’re flying and no matter what others say, we still love it. That’s comfort and coolness. If, on the other hand, we dress to please society, without first truly loving what we wear, even if it’s defined as ‘cool’ by fashion magazines, try what we may, we will never truly feel cool!

Yes, yes I know, this is a very superficial example. But what about the deeper level, I hear you say! Well, my friend, the same applies to our behaviour. Truth be told, we cannot be cool if we are constantly thinking and using our minds to weigh the pros and cons. The cool factor ceases to exist once the mind becomes active. Why? Because in essence, we only feel cool when our actions, behaviour and life resonate with our True Self.  And our True Self is devoid of thoughts, scenarios, ‘what if’s’ or ‘wanna-be’ thoughts.

We are all unique in our own special ways and cool people wholeheartedly embrace their uniqueness. When we become comfortable and act according to what we like internally and externally, without putting much thought to it; that’s called being cool. Now, you may wonder if being cool means to follow our thoughts and desires? Well not really! Because our thoughts are ever fluctuating and if our behaviour; mental, physical, emotional and societal, depends on our thoughts, then can we really expect any stability in our behaviour and state of being?

We can only be cool from an empty space, from the centre of our being, where we are not constantly on a thinking-roller-coaster. Coolness comes from a place of comfort, and in reality, we are only ever comfortable with what we truly love and connect with at the soul level. From the moment that there is no mind, we instantly connect with our inner Self, and from that place, we allow the whole world to exist as it is, while we act according to what resonates with our own nature.

Have you ever watched a movie, whereby a very smart techie (lead role perhaps) fixes a huge problem in a matter of seconds? And as he walks away calmly and humbly, you catch yourself saying “Wow! He’s so cool!!!”. Well, what made him cool? It’s his comfort and confidence in his abilities. This guy may not be good at cooking, but he is hella cool for accepting his uniqueness. Chances are, he may even look cool in the kitchen if he accepts that he is not chef-material. You get the idea. 

Being cool is simple: we only have to be aligned with ourselves and accept that we do not have to be like others. Allowing our uniqueness to guide us towards our comfort as well as knowing and embracing our limitations gracefully with a touch of humour surely increases our cool factor. 

And to wrap up in a cool way, here are the Do’s and Don’t’s of being cool:

Do’s

• Just BE!!! To know how to BE, listen to M&D here. Otherwise, you can remain hot! No problem!:)
• Be comfortable with your choices. All of them.
• Laugh at yourself
• Embrace your uniqueness
• Embrace your Self

Don’t’s

• Be mindy
• Try to be cool
• Think
• Imitate

The bottom line is that being cool is quite simple, and it’s pretty cool. If you ain’t mindy, you’re cool! I hear you say that it’s a label, but is it really? I conclude that being cool is really a state of being, a state of ease and comfort with who we are, what we love and choosing to Be! 

But if you don’t wanna be cool, it’s cool! But really it depends what season it is in where you live! Just kidding! Go on, be cool! It’s ease-y!

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