Business Buddhism

“You are special” is a mantra peddled in classrooms, children’s books, self-help-books and on facebook. It leaves room for interpretation, but mostly it comes wrapped in ideas of destiny, plans the universe has for you and great gifts and talents bestowed unto you.

Obviously, none of that is true. The universe doesn’t give a single fuck about you. You might get hit by a bus tomorrow, get terminally ill, your whole country might be buried by a tsunami or a nuclear disaster wipes us all out.

The mantra is true only in so far as you can be special. The universe hasn’t chosen you, but you have choices! You can develop new ideas, learn new things, apply yourself in unique ways, and create a new path.

Mantras that place the onus away from you to some other power are a cop-out. That’s what makes them so appealing. Being chosen takes no courage, making choices does.

If you want to be special, don’t wait for the universe to give you a personal call: courageously go where no man has gone before you.