Paradox, Humor & Change

I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.


Paradox, Humor and Change...

Life's three simple rules,

that keep you from simply going insane


Giving everything you have,

leaves you so exhausted and deflated.


Ripping marijuana plants out of children's homes,

gets you attacked and very hated.


Life is a mystery,

don't waste time trying to figure it out.


A warrior's life is about right action,

and not about appreciation.


Life is change,

know nothing stays the same.


And when the world is an ugly place,

Don't let it come inside and make you crazed.


Instead have a sense of humor,

especially about yourself and your foolish pride.


Then change the world by closing your eyes,

and playing the music you hear on the inside.


Play it so loudly,

until it drowns out the noise on the outside.


And one day,

depending on how long and loud you can play,

you will open your eyes,

to a more beautiful and brand new day.

- Adam Stuart (December 2007)


*Katie and I celebrating her new day, going from an "F" to an "A" on a science test a few weeks back.

It took all my morning, all my patience, all of my love and ability....she was crying in the beginning....but I have to think that giving all of yourself to others can mean something more than just being taken for granted and used, which is what I've experienced so much of in my past.

It can mean creating a better day. And with enough better days.....better lives. And with enough better lives.....a better world.

And that day is the today when we close our eyes and begin to play the beautiful music we hear inside....





DON'T BE AFRAID TO LIVE

YOU'VE GOT THE MUSIC IN YOU!













DON'T GIVE UP

THIS WORLD IS GOING TO PULL THROUGH!








When the night is falling, and you cannot find the light. When you feel your dreams are dying....Hold tight

**My children keep me going. I trust their love. And no, it's not my little gymnasts' home or any of my current students I've gone into to remove drugs. But life has picked me up, shaken me, and thrown me against the wall more than once these past few weeks. To tell you the truth, I want to give up, even in spite of the victories (including the class having the highest science growth again and going from the lowest scoring regular class to the highest).

It's just taken a lot more giving than getting......You can't keep driving the car without gas or oil, or the engine will blow. Giving unconditionally, to honestly give versus get, is the right thing to do, but it means being vulnerable to a world that can be very taking...

This whole world, can fall apart. It'll be OK, follow your heart. You're in harm's way, I'm right behind. Just say you're mine....

.....It's OK though, because I have the dreamer's disease.....and I can't stop dreaming of this world pulling through. Go back and look at the children's faces as you listen to the lyrics of the song, "You Get What You Give". Tell me it's not true, that if we stop dreaming, we start dying....



DON'T GIVE UP

YOU'VE GOT A REASON TO LIVE

ONE DANCE LEFT

WE ONLY GET WHAT WE GIVE

For London Marie...and Us All

I'm very upset about the death of London Marie, the latest victim of SBS (shaken baby syndrome). Three-to-four babies A DAY die in the US from this. It is a real-life situation that's too bad, TOO BAD TO CONTINUE HAPPENING.

I know, I know...I can hear it now, "Oh, Adam....you silly, silly man. We can't stop it. It has been happening since man and his naked emotions first arrived on this planet

'Eve, I got to tell you I'm really upset about the whole apple incident.'

'You're blaming this on me? Listen Adam, if you would have planted the orange tree like I had asked you months ago I never would have had to pick that apple. YOU made me do it!'

'Me?!? You're blaming this on me? If you hadn't eaten the apple we'd be in paradise instead of thsi run-down motel! This is so like you...you....Hippo!'

"Oh no you did-ent! You.....Ape!'

Smack!

Smack!"

And so it began, and always will be.....emotional creatures unable to control their emotions. And babies will continue being shaken, children abused, marriages broken, people murdered, environments ruined, etc. etc. etc.

And there's nothing we can do about it......too many will say.

I say......A Life For a Life!

If SBS takes a life, we save two, or 2 million....AND WE STOP IT! It can stop...and it DOES stop, when WE do our part to stop it, no matter what it takes out of us to do it.

A few years ago, Tewani lost control of his emotions and tried to "shake" a classmate with a chair to the head. I caught the chair in one hand and grabbed Tewani with the other, dragging him into the hallway and pinning him against the wall with my forearm buried in his throat.

I angrily reminded him I had promised to protect him from anyone harming him in and out of the classroom, and I would protect anyone from being harmed by him. Tears poured out of his eyes, not from fear, but from incredible hurt and inner pain....exactly what causes people to hurt other people, including babies.

I remember looking at him and saying in an intense low growl (controlling my own temper) to, "...Use this great pain you feel to turn it into great power. Focus all of this hate you feel for the world for giving up on you and use it to develop yourself. Turn weaknesses into strengths. Give yourself that, and I promise you I will work with you EVERY SINGLE DAY we have left together to help you do this. And there is NOTHING I can't do that I focus on, JUST LIKE YOU! I am willing to focus on you. Help me out. Work WITH me, not against. TOGETHER we will defeat your demons."

Tewani went from being an angry, uncontrollable, dangerous student who was dangerously close to being held back again and a destructive member of society, to a happy, smiling, productive member of the class and society....who did better than he ever had and went on to 6th grade.

The cycle CAN be stopped. As humans we are responsible for our own actions and emotions. We believe we can control ourselves when the adults in our world control themselves. Strong emotions aren't bad. They just need to be controlled, controlled by a greater inner strength than outer. And this works when you have no strength left at all.

Last week Katie had given up on her science test and snuck out to go home. I had her brought back in to finish it, angrily telling her if I don't give up on her, she doesn't give up on herself. She started crying. Even though she's in the top 5% of readers in the US, she doesn't believe she can learn science, and that scares her, so she avoids it and runs away, unable to control her emotions.

I took her hands in mine and made a confession. I told her I was tired, and that I had nothing left. The only thing I could feel was an unconditional love for her, one that wouldn't let me give up on her in any way. I told her I would be here for her no matter how long it took, and no matter how much it took out of me, but I couldn't do it on my own. I needed her to do it with me.....She answered by leaping into my arms.

Emotions can be controlled, even when you feel you have no strength left whatsoever. And in our choices to love versus hate, to believe versus doubt, to fight versus do nothing, and to be completely vulnerable versus hardened and completely "invulnerable"....changes are made between two people, then two more, and then two more, and then the world.

Our worlds get better when WE get better.


As I receive this wonderful blessing below from Anita, I pass it on to you, and dedicate it to London, a life much too short.

This is a picture of her after she had just passed away.



Traditional Buddhist Blessing and Healing Chant

"Just as the soft rains fill the streams,
pour into the rivers and join together in the oceans,
so may the power of every moment of your goodness
flow forth to awaken and heal all beings,
Those here now, those gone before, those yet to come.
By the power of every moment of your goodness
May your heart's wishes be soon fulfilled
as completely shining as the bright full moon,
as magically as by a wish-fulfilling gem.

By the power of every moment of your goodness
May all dangers be averted and all disease be gone.
May no obstacle come across your way.
May you enjoy fulfillment and long life.

For all in whose heart dwells respect,
who follow the wisdom and compassion, of the Way,
May your life prosper in the four blessings
of old age, beauty, happiness and strength."


Our worlds DO get better when WE get better. I see it happen in my own life and students' lives year after year. It is possible to stop SBS, and for Baby Kaleb and London Marie, I'm going to do my part by filling my world with powerful life-changing love, and ask you to do the same.

The Self Alone Exists

Before the world was created, the Self Alone existed; nothing whatever stirred. Then the Self thought: "Let me create the world." He brought forth all the worlds out of himself: Ambhas, high above the sky; Marichi, The sky; Mara, the middle region that is earth; And Apa, the realm of waters below.

-Aitareya Upanishad

Did you know that in the first moments when we wake up, we have to actually REMEMBER our problems, and become stressed? This is hard scientific evidence that we really do create the worlds we live in. Our dominant thoughts and feelings dominate how we see our reality. And this either empowers or disempowers us in the pursuit of achieving our dreams.

The brain processes 400 billion bits of information a second but we're only aware of 2,000 of those bits. And most of these bits are of the environment, time and our physical bodies. - Dr. Joe Dispenza (undergard in biochemisty, post grad training in anatomy and physiology, neurochemisty, neurophysiology, and genetics)

So many of us simply accept what we see as a set reality and unable to change it very much, feeling helpless; the mind being just a reflex organ that reacts to everything it sees.

I've heard "Every day is a new life to the wise man". With the new lives I've seen in students created by making the choice to see their worlds as full of potential, this is becoming truer every day.

This picture is from a student's web page, called "LIVE LIFE TO DA FULLEST". I had Michael two years ago, and told him if I ever found him not living his dreams, I would come after him and make him, even pulling him over a fast food counter as an adult (he told me his biggest dream was becoming a chef). He had come too far in one year to ever allow his dream space to get small again; going from "F's" to "A's", and from being someone who said "he'd try" (but didn't succeed) to someone who said "He'd Do", and DID!

I think his title lets me know he still believes. I encourage you to add him as a friend, letting him know other incredible people believe in him as well. You can find him among my top friends on MySpace.

And if children are capable of doing this, so are we adults. (Rarlynn, another amazing student from two years ago)

"Throw out everything you don't need in here (the mind) that is keeping you from this moment....You'll be amazed at what you can do....This moment is the only thing that matters." (from the movie Peaceful Warrior)

In those first few moments of each new dawn, the self alone exists. Let your first thought be:

Today, out of myself, let me create my world.

Wishing you Zen and Inner Strength......and Miracles in Your Life,

- Adam