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So, Miraka (the badass formerly known as Shelly), just how did you become so badass?

When people started asking me, how did I become THIS version of me, the one they see on a stage, owning a room, the one they see facilitating a group of resistant people to completely reframe and reposition themselves, the one who keeps getting up again and again even when life throws her suicidal, addicted, or just plain broken-hearted kids, grandchildren too soon, dead husbands or asshole exes, and ALL THE THINGS, I would answer them:

I dunno, I’m just like everyone else. I’ve just learned some good shit.

So here you go. A small collection of just some of the good shit that’s helped me to learn about and love myself and recognise that the power is in me.

Lessons in badassery, you might say.

Hey, Badass. Shall we become powerful together?

Miraka (was Shelly) reading her own book? Yes, please!

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I think a lot about the concept of power because we tend to think of it hand in hand with control—and that’s a bad thing. When we think of powerful people we think of selfish, manipulative dictators, wielding their power.

But me?

I’m powerful in my world.

I have the power to choose, at any given moment, to act or not to act. To speak or to stay quiet. To go left or go right. To be resistant or be open. To take on a client or not. To charge what I want for my services and expertise. To be generous, to love, to be vulnerable.

And because I KNOW the choices are all mine, I’m powerful.

“Life is what happens in our head in response to what goes on around you.”

— Miraka Davies, Lessons in Badassery

Become powerful. Reclaim your voice. Give fewer fucks. Have it all.

Scratch that. Have what you want—why waste time trying to be everyone’s cup of tea when you can be your own two shots of vodka?

When Miraka walked away from her family’s conservative religion in her forties, she embarked on a journey of discovery and growth. There was therapy and boundary-setting. There were tears. Learning vulnerability is stronger than titanium, and faults are actually superpowers, Miraka transformed her life and leaned into her truth. So much so that she etched it into her skin in the form of a moko kauae - a traditional Māori chin tattoo.

For almost a decade, Miraka has been teaching people how to break the rules and give themselves the permission to stop just wishing for what they want and actually fucking get it!