BY NABANITA DUTT

Not just salt and pepper. A bohemian personality can be described like a bohemian kitchen that is well-stocked with exotic spices from faraway countries most folks will have trouble pointing out on the map. And while it’s easy to cliché away the bohemian lifestyle with stock images of tie-dye fabrics, bold colors and mismatched home décor, there’s much more going on under the surface than the `eccentric’ label will have you believe.

Bodmin Magazine digs deep into the `bohemian’ psyche to uncover eight mental markers that give these people their uniquely spiritual POV on life. Do some or all of them describe you?

Bohemian Personality Trait # 1: There’s no room for mediocrity in a boho mindscape, and nothing turns you off more than an effort that’s just…okay. The impulse to break barriers and think outside the box is so strong, you cannot tolerate the notion of being average or merely middle-of-the-road at anything.

You’re either very good or very bad – and there’s an interesting enigma in doing something really badly, that your esoteric consciousness is uniquely aware of.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 2: You like to know things that sound like `useless’ information to others. Thirst for new knowledge and fresh perspectives motivate you to be an avid reader and an ace Google surfer.

When something catches your attention, you want to know and understand all about it – and so what if your curiosity about the American Domestic Skunk Association isn’t ever going to be a trending topic on Twitter, or that nobody else seems to be giving a damn that the lost continent of Lemuria is possibly lying at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 3: The outwardly expressions of a bohemian soul has been so stereotyped, people often make the mistake of trivializing a boho existence in terms of weed and weird wardrobe.

But reality is this: you spend an inordinate amount of `alone’ time analyzing, debating and visualizing. Your thought process is so flexible, you always see both sides of an argument and give yourself plenty of latitude to change your mind. After all, without change, there’s no possibility of growth, and a boho free spirit cannot thrive if its bound and trussed by the restrictions of convention.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 4: `Ambition’ as a life goal sounds restrictive to you because it is striving for excellence in just one professional field, and what’s more, the world – and not you – gets to judge your merit for reward or punishment.

The boho free spirit cannot be contained within the parameters of any one identifiable `ambition’ because there are so many to achieve. And at the end of each triumph, the rewards of satisfaction and feelings of worthiness come from inside you, and not necessarily from an outside source such as job promotions or pay raise.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 5: The term `rose-tinted’ doesn’t apply to you, because the boho world is awash in high-pigment, primary colors that are born of nature. Your connection to the earth is deeply spiritual, and you’re excited by a grassroots palette more than sweet pastels or soft, synthetic hues.

The vivacity of bold, bodacious colors energizes you and feeds your optimistic, joyful anticipation of just living in the moment.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 6: Artistic pursuits aren’t a hobby – they are a compulsion. You may be a staid, corporate lawyer or a number-crunching accountant by day, but much of your leisure time is spent doing DIY, art-inspired projects.

Your fingers itch with a `need’ when you see handmade crafts, and you absolutely have to paint a mason jar or design a wall rack out of driftwood to work it out of your system.

And the results are usually pretty good because even if you lack a stellar artistic talent, your creative, bohemian `eye’ helps you turn out something pretty spectacular and original.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 7: New Age philosophies resonate with you more than any established religion because the ideas therein are left entirely up to you to interpret as you please.

The concept of the world being a vortex of energy, and our existence in this time-space reality as intelligent particles of a greater, universal consciousness makes the most sense to you.

You view life as a sum total of `experiences’ and you believe in every human being’s power to mould and shape their own destiny.

Bohemian Personality Trait # 8: Deep down somewhere…you are lazy, and you well know it. It’s almost a guarantee that no industrious hamster working the wheel has ever had a bohemian moment, or it would most certainly have stumbled off the grid, and then spent the rest of its rodent life laying about and observing the futility of others running on and on, never getting any closer to some non-existent goal.

In human beings, such occasions of pause are often interpreted as `laziness’, but a true bohemian revels in his/her freedom from the constant pressure to get everything done.

Free spirits work well in spurts, buoyed by spontaneous enthusiasm for the task at hand, and the results – though intermittent – are truly extraordinary.