Willie Nelson - The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart

The Tao of Willie

When something positive occurs, it contains within it the seeds of negative and positive.

The Tao Te Ching

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, youll start having positive results.

Willie Nelson

An Introduction by Turk Pipkin

S ome things never change.

Just like when we were kids playing games on a warm summer evening, the world is still comprised of two basic types of peoplehiders and seekers. Hiders are generally happy right where they are, while seekers are more likely to look for something new. In our hearts, most of us know which one we are.

There is also a third type of personthe master, one who teaches, inspires, and shows the way for the rest of us. In a game of hide-and-seek, a master will never be found (at least until they want to be).

Those of us on the student side of lifehiders and seekers alikeneed teachers to smooth lifes bumpy path, or to help us laugh at ourselves when we veer off course and land on our asses. If youre thinking that doesnt apply to you because you havent landed on your ass lately, just wait. You will.

My name is Turk Pipkin, and Id known Willie Nelson twenty years before I realized how much Id learned from himtwo decades before I realized that without his even trying, hed been showing me the way all along. For me, Willie has been that rarest of peoplea teacher.

There was a time, of course, when Willie was a student like the rest of us. But I think that somewhere along the way, he found himself on a higher path, so to speak. The Tao of Willie is a stroll along that path with a Texas boy who was born with an old soul, and whose heart seems to grow younger with each passing year.

Now before you go thinking Im gay for the guy, lets get one thing straight. Im not setting Willie up to be some kind of prophet, to have infallible judgment, or to be sneaking up on perfection. After all, Ive seen his golf swing.

Ive also seen firsthand as Willie weathered his own share of bumps and falls. And one of the greatest lessons Ive learned from him is the value of picking yourself up, dusting off your butt, and getting back on the road again.

Perhaps the best I can say of Willie Hugh Nelson is that no one I know has laughed harder or loved life more.

And if you really want to learn something, what could be better than how to laugh and love?

According to the ancient Chinese philosophy of the Tao Te Ching , it is possible to look into one mans eyes and see the entire universe. As a longtime friend and Willies coauthor of this little book of thoughts and wisdom, Ive had the opportunity to look into Willies eyesand into the thoughts that give those eyes their shine.

Many of Willies thoughts are more Baptist than Buddhist, some more cowboy than Indian, but all have stood the test of time through Willies achievements as a family man, as a friend to everyone he meets, as a believer in justice and freedom, and as one of the great legends of American music.

It wouldand willtake an entire book of wit and wisdom to give a fair account of what Willie the student has learned, but first I offer my own brief accounting of a few things Ive learned from him.

Call it my Ode to Willie ( who knows, maybe I am gay for the guy ).

Willie Nelson is an American icon. His voice as comforting as the American landscape, his songs as familiar as the color of the sky, his face as worn as the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps thats why its been suggested we add his face to the cliffs of Mount Rushmore and be done with it.

For half a century, hes played countless concerts across America and around the world. His appeal crosses nearly all social and economic lines, and hes been instrumental in shaping both country and pop music. Hes called an outlaw, though from Farm Aid to the aftermath of September 11, from the resurrection of a burned-out courthouse in his own hometown to fanning the flame of the Olympics, it is Willie Nelson who brings us together.

If America could sing with one voice, said Emmylou Harris, it would be Willies.

Willie Nelson is a Highwayman. He may have traded his horse for a tour bus, but he still rides into your town, kidnaps your girls heart, and pockets just enough of your cash to keep his life in order. And you can hardly wait for him to come back and do it all again next year.

It helps if people love you. Another lesson from the master.

Willie Nelson is a joker. After years on the road, he knows thousands of jokes, and can at any given time remember three. All three, by the way, will make you laugh. Come back next Wednesday and youll get three more.

Heres the last one he tossed out at me.

A skeleton walks into a bar and says, Give me a beer and a mop.

If you dont get it, read it again. It must be funny; Im still telling it.

Laugh, and dont give a damn whether the world laughs with you.