Homespun Hippie: Like wow, dig the far out life

TIRED of the ho-hum of life lived diligently? Bored out of your tree? You need a cop out!

Get off the treadmill and spend at least a weekend being free and far out and follow the way of the hippie.

Let go, kick off your shoes, embrace the daisies and hug a tree.

Don your beads, scarves, and colourful, flowing peasant skirts and bell bottom pants, tie-dye T-shirts and blouses and let the fun begin.

The key to being a hippie is to not care about the material stuff. It’s about the attitude, not the fashion. As long as you’re comfortable and colourful, you’re cool.

And remember, clothing is optional as hippies are nature children.

Turn off the TV and every other technological contraption you have and get out your records because to feel truly groovy, you just gotta have the music, man, which is what Woodstock was all about. We’re talking Jimi Hendrix, Jo Cocker, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, The Doors and so on.

For an authentic experience, and to really be a cool cat, throw off your clothes and dance in the rain and mud.

Get counter-cultured. read Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe and Alan Ginsberg’s poems as his words ignited the creative spirit in eccentrics such as Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan.

Being a hippie today is obviously a bit different than in the 60s and 70s, you dig.

Today, you can do volunteer work, be green and recycle and don’t pollute, so as to look after mother earth. And avoid the conventions of ‘the man’.

Do your part to make the world better. You don’t have to take drugs to be a hippie! Remember, many hippies, Frank Zappa notably, avoided drugs and preferred the ‘natural high’, which they sought through meditation, listening to music, dancing, backpacking and other healthy activities.

Become a vegetarian. Some hippies eat only organic vegetarian and vegan food. Today’s organic foods, free-range and health food stores are a legacy of the hippies.

So, babe, just do your thing, like wow. Set your spirit free, it will blow your mind.

Remember to make love not war and give peace a chance. Man, it’s been great rapping to you, but I gotta split now, off to another gig.