Dear
Reader,
(Author Note: My book actually speaks directly to the
reader and breaks the 4th wall throughout. So, no need to elaborate here. I’ll simply leave you with the introduction
to the book, which answers this question…Thanks. – J Stewart)
Introduction
How to be a badass without
being a badass-hole
I get it. I really do.
You’re a badass.
Cool, hip, down-to-earth,
together, sane, practical, tough, smart, confident, fringe, alternative,
creative, funny, athletic. However, you want to quantify your badass-ness.
You’ve been this way your
whole life, or maybe it took a couple of decades for you to cultivate it, or
maybe it just kicked in yesterday at 3:09 pm. Who knows…and who cares,
right?
Because something is
missing.
It seems that being a badass
just isn’t—enough.
Is it?
Let me make this easy for
you. I’m also a badass…
…except that for most of my
adult life I’ve been involved with spirituality. And maybe you can relate
here—this badass has always had…um, a slight issue: He doesn’t really love
spirituality, being spiritual or hanging out in spiritual circles.
No thank you.
This badass…well, eh... he
loves beer.
There—I said it! I love beer.
Dark beer. Craft beer. Locally brewed beer. I also love fly fishing and
kayaking and hiking in the mountains. I love making fart jokes with my
twelve-year-old son. I love smoking the occasional cigar (or other things) in
my hot tub. I love great sex. I love head massages. I love making lots of
money. I love cool cars. I love taking vacations in tropical places. I love
hanging out with friends and being potty mouthed. I love watching Netflix. I
love sitting around on the weekends and doing absolutely nothing. There are a
lot of things this badass loves.
But spirituality? No, I don’t
love spirituality.
But...I do like it. I really
like spirituality—a lot.
Spirituality has served this
badass well. Here are a few of the benefits I gained from my years involved
with spirituality:
· I used to be depressed. I am now depression free— because of spirituality.
· I used to be deeply unhappy most of the time. I am now happy most of the time—because of spirituality.
· I used to be unaware and off balance about lots of things. I am now very aware and mostly balanced about lots of things—because of spirituality.
· I used to be a mindless idiot caught, obsessed and jerked around by the thoughts in my head. I am now a mindfulness master who realizes that the thoughts in my head are mostly irrelevant, neurotic and frivolous—because of spirituality.
· I used to be timid. I used to avoid conflict. I used to deny certain emotions. I am now outspoken, unafraid of conflict, and I fully embrace all emotions whether they feel good or bad—because of spirituality.
· I used to believe that all existence was a flat, one dimensional, dead end. I now know from repeated experience that life—existence—is a multi-layered, vibrant, and mysterious realm—because of spirituality.
· I used to believe that death meant the end. I now know, also from repeated experience, that death is not the end and some part of us continues—because of spirituality.
·
I
used to believe that who I was was this separate individual named J. Stewart. I
now know that the real me springs from this same timeless, limitless ONE that
we all are—because of spirituality.
So you see…I really do get it. I used to be depressed, anxious, too smart for my own good, opinionated and unhappy…a real loveless badass-hole. But now I’m just a spiritual badass.
Spirituality removed the hole. I transformed. I changed. I grew up. I learned some hard lessons. And I did all this without ever losing my cool, integrity, smarts, libido, sense of humor or soul. And that’s just what this book is going to help you do.
You and I are going on a road trip, starting in my hometown and then traveling across the United States. Along the way, we’ll visit some amazing places, take a few high-risk adventures and experience some strange shit. But what we’re really doing is exploring and where we’re really going is into the vast uncharted territories of your deepest soul.
Will it be easy? Nope. Will it be uncomfortable? Yep. Will it shake your world up like a three-hundred-foot drop on a Six Flags roller coaster? I hope so.
But you’re a badass and can
handle this shit, right? Hell, yeah.
“Come
to the edge," he said.
"We
can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come
to the edge," he said.
"We
can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come
to the edge," he said.
And
so they came.
And
he pushed them.
And
they flew.”
―
Guillaume Apollinaire
Okay. You’ve now read the introduction. Quit fucking around. Buy the book and let’s get started.
Fist bump,
J. Stewart
Spirituality for Badasses and 21 Days blossomed out J. Stewart’s life as a spiritual seeker, finder and teacher. He teaches based on his direct experience, twenty-nine years of interaction with numerous nonduality-advaita-zen-unorthodox teachers, his ongoing education / certification in modern mindfulness and a degree in communications / engineering from Syracuse University.
He has been interviewed by Rick Archer on Buddha at the Gas Pump, was the meditation editor of the mind/body/spirit blog All Things Healing, was a board member of Sevenoaks Retreat Center (a nondenominational spiritual retreat center in Madison, VA) and is the owner/founder of a tech design -install firm called Charlottesville Audio Visual Services.
J. Stewart Dixon has been a very creative individual for most of his life. In addition to two self-published books, he has written and produced a rock musical, has two professionally produced and recorded CDs with his former band Alchemy and has dabbled in abstract art.
He lives in central Virginia with his family. When he’s not working or creating he can be found cavorting with the fish, bears, and bald eagles on the local rivers with a fly rod in his hand.
Stewart Dixon, award-winning, best-selling humor and self-help author of Spirituality for Badasses has a bone to pick with conventional therapy and pharmaceutical companies concerning our collective bounce back and healing from the stress, anxiety and depression of Covid-19.
Asserts Mr. Dixon in the introduction to his book: “So you see…I really do get it. I used to be depressed, anxious, too smart for my own good, opinionated and unhappy…a real loveless, badass-hole. But now I’m just a spiritual badass. Spirituality removed the hole. I transformed. I changed. I grew up. I learned some hard lessons. And I did all this without ever losing my cool, integrity, smarts, libido, sense of humor or soul. And that’s just what this book is going to help you do. “
Kirkus Reviews – the prestigious book review media outlet wrote this about the book: “A motivational work blazes a spiritual path for those who consider themselves too cool for such things. A jokey yet earnest and useful guide to enlightenment for badass readers.”
On a whirl-wind virtual tour of radio station and podcast interviews J. Stewart Dixon has been offering his “calm island in the middle of the hurricane” solution to eager hosts such as celebrity chef Pete Evans from Perth, Australia and sportscaster i-Heart radio-DJ Ken Broo from Cincinnati, Ohio. “It’s about noticing that part of you, which hasn’t changed your whole life. If you can notice and nurture this inner badass part, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by its’ ability to heal, help and restore.”
Mr. Dixon knows first-hand about finding an inner badass, as he suffered from years of depression during his early adulthood. “I didn’t throw myself into spirituality to become a saint or a purist– I did it because I was hurting and in pain. I did drugs and alcohol. I tried therapy and Prozac. None of it worked. I was dragged kicking and screaming into spirituality and mindfulness practices and what I found was that, lo’ and behold, this sh%# works.”
A common question Mr. Dixon receives is, of course – Why all the swear words and humor? “I love the title Spirituality for Badasses because it instantly disarms any preconceived notions about spirituality and renders it friendly, approachable and down-to-earth. I think many of us are burned out by absolute truths, cures and opinions right now. So– I’m simply offering an alternative non-pharmaceutical “cure” that worked for me. As a bonus, I’ve thrown in some humor, and to keep it real, a few swear words.”
Mr. Dixon’s background as an engineer and business owner has also shaped his opinion about spirituality and mental health. “As an engineer most of my adult life, I’ve been hired to reduce complex systems into bite-sized, manageable portions. In Spirituality for Badasses I do the same: Mental health and spirituality is, to say the least, complex. I spent decades sifting through and integrating it, and what I came up with – which I’m proud of and grateful for today- was a process that worked both for myself and the thousands of readers who are now finding their own inner badasses.”
PRAISE
“In his new book, Spirituality for Badasses, J.Stewart Dixon has written an irreverent, exuberant, free-wheeling, stream-of-consciousness saga that chronicles the spiritual journey in ways that are unique, humorous, challenging and a hell of a lot of fun. Gone are the heavy-handed, esoteric pontifications so often included in books about “living like a spiritual warrior” and, instead, J. focuses more on de-mystifying this eternal quest by successfully normalizing its ordinariness. So, buckle up and be prepared for a wild ride that’s readable, accessible and eminently relatable. Two enthusiastic thumbs up! Highly recommended!”
-Chuck Hillig, Licensed Psychotherapist, Spiritual Teacher& Author of Enlightenment for Beginners, The Way IT Is, Seeds for the Soul, Looking for God, and The Magic King
“Spirituality for Badasses is The Way of the Peaceful Warrior for the rebels among us who are tired of sickly-sweet approaches to spirituality and have a sincere need to laugh out loud on the regular. J. Stewart Dixon is a true original … He’s your irreverent, potty-mouthed best friend and big brother, but don’t let the humor fool you: the teachings offered here are profoundly liberating, important pointers to awakened awareness. Dixon teaches us all to en-LIGHTEN-UP with his special blend of hilarious, profound, crazy-ass wisdom.”
-Erin Reese, M.S., Spiritual Counselor & Teacher & Author of Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Liberation & The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India
“Accessible. Compulsive. Irreverent. Fun. Practical- All the while lacking nothing in richness or depth. Take an adventure with J – a spiritual guide that comes off more Han Solo than Obi Wan Kenobi on the surface – as you journey along with the R-rated spiritual everyman with a lizard draped over his shoulders on a path that winds inside and out, through valleys and up mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, as you make your way toward becoming more your badass true aware self. This book is rich!”
-Zac Cannon, Pastor
Book Information
Release Date: January 21, 2021
Publisher: PIE Publishing / Awakening Resource Center, LLC;
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-0-9858579-9-8; 329 pages; $15.99; E-Book, $5.99
Book Website: www.spiritualityforbadasses.com
Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B08SMP9982
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