When we last left our heros....

[earthy44]

Hey all,
Glad to be back! Yea! Anyway, before the site was down, we were talking about where did "it" start for you? There were a couple of people who posted about how they tried living the "good american lifestyle" but are now coming back to their "roots". Can you please elaborate? What do you consider the "good american lifestyle" and why are you now abandoning it? What initiated the return to hippiedom? Thanks, I would love to hear your stories.:D

[charredacacia]

I didn't see that thread before the forums went down, but it sounds like me. Like, a few years ago, I played Football, I wrestled, I played lacrosse and I was dating a cheerleader. I was a right leaning authoritarian, I wanted to go to West Point (military academy) and I was a republican. I'm not really sure what happened. I think I started to become more liberal when a) i started smoking weed b) my buddies got sent off to war and c) i went to an interfaith summer youth leadership conference that the ADL ran. It forced me to think about myself, my predjudices and life in general. It's good to be free of my self-imprisonment. I am finally begining to find myself.

[bertrose]

I didn't see that thread before the forums went down, but it sounds like me. Like, a few years ago, I played Football, I wrestled, I played lacrosse and I was dating a cheerleader. I was a right leaning authoritarian, I wanted to go to West Point (military academy) and I was a republican. I'm not really sure what happened. I think I started to become more liberal when a) i started smoking weed b) my buddies got sent off to war and c) i went to an interfaith summer youth leadership conference that the ADL ran. It forced me to think about myself, my predjudices and life in general. It's good to be free of my self-imprisonment. I am finally begining to find myself.
That post kicks ass! Dude, its always good to see people shape themselves in peaceful ways...war sucks dude...and weed changed my life too! good job!

[Shamrock]

i think it was mostly because I had a friend i alienated and i saw the error of my ways, everyone else's ways, society's ways and the world's way.. I then started to try to resolve all my conflicts peacefully.

[charredacacia]

yes, it is very good to be who you are, rather than be whatever the societal archetype is. Also, where I used to resent radicals, I now am one :)

[MamaTheLama]

Ok.. I went into the system (college) to become an artist (free humanistic self expression for the mind opening of anyone who cares to see).

So.WTF... I don't even know what side I'm on ;)

Personally I tried the hippy thing and was starving to death. I say, when in America.... eat McDonalds, make lots of trash an crank that AC UP!

[MoonlightSilver]

I used to be a cheerleader and all that sort of stuff. I think I just started to get annoyed with all the stupid drama and stereotypical bullshit. I"ve always been really into art and writing and being different, so I just sort of began to explore other things....it's so much better. Also, I think it was just a part of growing up...I mean, in junior high I didn't really know myself, and once I realized more things, I began to see...you know?

[TreePhiend]

my becomming a hippy was a multi-phase opperation. First I started smoking weed, then I got into classic rock, then I realized that hippys were right wanting peace and brother/sister-hood, then I became a communist, then I started experimenting with other drugs (psychedelics mostly) then I became vegitarian, then I became vegan.

I have always been an environmentalist and an artist, I have always had a special connection and appreciation for the earth. It took me really 18 years to fully break away from the typical American life and become a full blown hippy!

[Dakota's Mom]

I'm one of those who tried to live the all american lifestyle for a while. I was pretty much hippie in the late 60's, early 70's. Then I tried to conform. Went to college, raise my kids in public schools, ate red meat and other junk, and kept quiet about my values. Finally I got to the point where I didn't exist any more. Just the me that everyone wanted me to be. I started leaning more and more back to the old hippie ways. It probably started with better eating habits. Was vegatarian for years. Then my concern for the environment. Then the wars. Then becoming pagan. Now that I have a toddler again, I'm concerned about raising him in a healthy manner to respect the earth and all her inhabitants. I don't want him going off to war to die for someone else's ideals. That's how it all evolved for me the second time around.

Kathi

[We_All_Shine_On]

Gigantic thumbs up to dakota's mom.:D

[DeadheadHippieForPea]

i guess with me i didnt even realize it...in middle school i listened to what everone else was..but then found the beatles and loooved them..even though noone else really did..then eventually started getting more into classic rock..and then found the grateful dead..then really started getting into the peace and love..and then into vegetarian and non conformity...i always cared about the enviroment and i just started becoming more caring...it just was a process...i dont really know how i got just how i am now...it just happened:) peace and love

[bradleydontpush]

I'd also agree it was a multi-phase realization. It all started with rock n roll most definetly. The drugs just kinda meshed into the scenario. But remember..were all born hippies! :D

[beachbum7]

For me, it started with the tie-dyed shirts. Then, the next step was my growing frustration with the Bush administration (which is still growing, and probably won't stop growing). Then it was finding hipforums, and learning about the 60s and the counterculture. Then it was listening to the music of the late 60s (and now current music that captures the vibe).

I'm still not where I want to be as a person. Unfortunately, I'm ashamed to admit (but it's true) but I have eaten meat in Japan (It was easy for me to reject meat in the U.S., but I wasn't eating enough here, and I didn't resist when my friends threw meet in front of me). But since going to an Ani DiFranco concert in Japan, I've vowed not to eat meat, and I've done a good job of rejecting meat. I haven't been really active in activism as much as I'd like to, but I did go to an anti-war rally last year (the only one I've been able to make it). There are plenty of causes that we can fight for. And I definitely want to become more active in activism.

[Pobble]

born a hippy- got bullied for it at a young age so stopped being one for about eight years. then grew confident enough to assert who I am and have reamained a hippy ever since

[bradleydontpush]

Brother you should never be ashamed of who you are. We are the same and all so different at the same time. You are who you are. Never conform to being something your not for other's pleasure, or even for your own. The best way to be is to just be. Whatever you intuition tells you, is what is true. That little voice talking in your head knows the anwser, alot of times we push it out of the way though.

[Pobble]

Brother you should never be ashamed of who you are. We are the same and all so different at the same time. You are who you are. Never conform to being something your not for other's pleasure, or even for your own. The best way to be is to just be. Whatever you intuition tells you, is what is true. That little voice talking in your head knows the anwser, alot of times we push it out of the way though.
little voice? am I the only person with at least 3?

[realiseddreams]

I also have three...of my own. What's really bad is when I hear my mother's voice too *shudders*.

[ThreeLeaves69]

born a hippy- got bullied for it at a young age so stopped being one for about eight years. then grew confident enough to assert who I am and have reamained a hippy ever since


i can relate, for about six years i was into conformity, ect.., cuz the first five years were hell....lol
but its all good now...
i have found my voice and my passion :D

[Sage-Phoenix]

Ok.. I went into the system (college) to become an artist (free humanistic self expression for the mind opening of anyone who cares to see).

So.WTF... I don't even know what side I'm on ;)
LOL same here. (I'm a writer though.)

I used to be conformist, didn't ever like it much, but I didn't know any better. There aren't really any hippy role models for a shy little kid from Hampshire.

Then at sixteenish maybe, I started on the road to hippydom. It probably began with discovering River Phoenix then lead on to the whole hippy thing.
It's an ongoing project, but I've never felt freer wiser and happy. Probably because I haven't been.

Oh and I changed my name (long story) it just feels more me than my given name ever has, so I like it better. Of course it's hippyish, but then I'm hippyish, so it's all good. :)

TTFN

Sage

[Pobble]

I also have three...of my own. What's really bad is when I hear my mother's voice too *shudders*.
aye- got so bad mine now have names- sol, neble and fern

[Pablo]

the last time i belived in christianity was when i was probably 8 years old, thats when i started doubting things, but i had no direction. then i started to notice that a lot of things werent how you were told they are. Over time, during my teens i supose, i noticed this more and more, the school didnt know what it was doing, the government was full of it, companies are full of it, and the church has forgotten what its doing. For a while i was very depressed. I wasnt trying to be a hippy but i guess i started looking and sounding like one, long shaggy hair, rough jeans, sandals, i even liked tie die, but what got me made fun of and labled even more was my opinions on things. I was beaten up several times for not beliving in god, though i never brought it up, it came up once and from then on people knew and brought it up. I got better at defending myself. I took an interenst in martial arts, which led to eastern philosophy, and eventually studying of buhdism, and Ghandi, passivism, and non-violence. I stoped fighting. I stoped even acting angry when attacked. And just as Ghandi wrote, when i did not turn their hate back on them they noticed something about themselfs, or atleast one did. He stoped the otheres who were with him saying "come on, leave him alone, thats not cool" and that made me smile, someone months earlier had dreamed of torturing for the humilitation and pain hed caused me for no reason, had learned something.
all that was diferent about me is that when something sempt wrong to me i was driven to learn about it more, rather than turn away or attack it, though im still trying to learn to be that way with all things. About a year and a half ago i became a vegitarian, for this same kind of reason, something didnt seem right, and all these people were making fun of vegitarians. So i talked to some, astrocat here on the hipforums primarily, and they had many good reasons, id heard arguments for it already too. All the harm meat does to the planet, and the way those animals are treated.
The hippy movement is about gaining perspective i say. The longer i live it the more i see of the true world, some try to gain perspective through mind expanding drugs, though that is not a way i use i understand it. Some travel, that is more my way. also by reading and observing, any kind of learning. I am no longer sad about life, im rather happy though i see infinitly more problems then i did before, but sadness doesnt help, changing what you can does.

[underwhelmed]

right on pablo!!! i agree w/ your underlined statement. becoming my hippy self has been all about perspective, a different perspective on everything. My story... through middle school i was such a lost soul, i had no clue that i was even my own person, you wouldnt have been able to tell me and my whole group of friends back then apart from eachother, we all tried to be exactly like eachother....and it felt so wrong. coming into high school, i went from a private to a public school, and my eyes were opened. i wanted to be me...and i did everything possible to be who ive been created to be. and as i find myself, everything else in this world has been so much more attractive and interesting. ive learned respect and patience and most of all love. I guess all i have to say is to follow what feels right to your heart even if it doesnt always make sense

[realiseddreams]

aye- got so bad mine now have names- sol, neble and fern
Sam (short for Samantha), Rebecca, and Ranas

[mimosa]

Well said, Dakota's Mom. and Pablo too (I did not turn the page before I posted)


I am still searching for my old/young self, but it started with my grown kids becoming now, who I was in the 70's. I realized that they were me, and I was them, and I was very proud. I thought I had left my 70's roots, but here they were growing in my kids. I am sorry I ever thought I had to leave my roots, because I didn't have to leave them, if I ever did. So I am searching still, to find my old/young self. I may not ever age if I keep this up. :) My face may have a few wrinkles, and my head a few grey hairs, but my spirit is like it ever was. namaste

[Pobble]

Sam (short for Samantha), Rebecca, and Ranas
have yours got distinct personalities too? mine aren't so bad any more- and they generally reach a consensus but they used to be really bitchy.

[realiseddreams]

have yours got distinct personalities too? mine aren't so bad any more- and they generally reach a consensus but they used to be really bitchy.
Sam's the little kid in me. She delights in the simple pleasures, likes everybody, and loves to play. Rebecca's the 'mystical' one, she's more in tune with nature, very motherly, calm, rational, and thinks things through. Ranas is a fighter. I don't know much about her. She's a very latent part of my personality, one I haven't learned enough about yet. Sometimes everyone fights things out, but as they all come together to form me, generally they come to a consensus, though sometimes I end up doing something someone is still griping about.

[Day Dreamer]

lol, well first, I'd like to say that my first name is Dakota. Really.

Second, i confess that I only recently began to get into the Hippie lifestyle & the counter-culture movemnet of the 60's (about a year ago).
But, throughout my life, I had always noticed that I thought diffrently than my friends, and that my music tastes also differed greatly. I wasn't listening to any classic rock or anything of that sort, I just generally disliked their music. The turning point, you may wonder? One day in 7th grade, this kid says to me, "I wish i had lived during the 60's, so I could of seen Hendrix live." He loaned me his Experience Hendrix album, begining my love of Hendrix's music. I then started finding out about other 60's bands, namely the Doors, the Beatles, and Steppenwolf. Then, I started gettign into the counter-culture movement.

[Dakota's Mom]

Hi Dakota. Glad to meet you. My little Dakota is almost two. (One month from today.) I haven't met a lot of people with that name.

Kathi

[Day Dreamer]

It's an awesome name, but the oldest person I've ever met with the name was a 10 years old, so I guess i'm one of the first.

[cerridwen]

here here, Dakota's Mom.

Eventually you start finding out what matters in life, in finding yourself and going down that path.

Hate to say it, but devoting time to smoking weed or doing other drugs seems only to be cool when you're like in highschool. (saying this with knowing the risk of getting flamed but nonetheless....) Weed is just a temporary escape from reality.