“The proper function of man
is to live,
not to exist.”
– Jack London
We are precariously and very briefly perched upon this beautiful planet.
How Do We Live,
Not Merely Exist?
BE YOURSELF
And how do you do that?
And who am I?
Perhaps we will
never know.
But this much we are aware of:
we grew up trying to be
the person you wanted,
you expected,
you demanded,
you approved of,
you were proud of,
you were disappointed in.
And you now have,
Whatever that is.
That’s me,
And that’s you!
Have Faith that things will work out.
And today,
from our experience
we have finally come to realize
that one of the single greatest gifts
we can pass on,
bestow upon tomorrow’s child,
is to simply,
“let it be”.
“And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light
that shines on me.
Shine on until tomorrow,
let it be,
let it be.
– The Beatles
My Dear Friends,
we need to laugh
at the confusion that prevails,
it is hilarious!
The illogical, superficial,
and arrogant attitudes
toward what we do,
collectively and as individuals
of unbelievable perfunctory indifference
toward the nature of our reality,
can be really funny.
So why not enjoy it?
“Do not take life too seriously.
You will never get out of it alive.”
– Elbert Hubbard
Where is the average person?
If we can laugh at our mistakes,
and I do mean, “out loud“,
we can, in a more positive manner,
actually take some credit for them,
(here is where you take a bow)
and allow for them to become acceptable
lessons learned on this all too difficult
path of life.
And you get three guesses
as to who made it difficult,
and the first two
don’t count!
We are so perfectly and beautifully
imperfect,
that the result is:
there is simply no one
we can call normal
or average.
(Thank God!)
“Normal
is a setting
on a washing machine.”
– author obviously not normal and unknown
Stop thinking about yourself.
I counsel with others,
especially children,
to make at least one mistake
on purpose,
daily.
This creates a highly controlled
learning opportunity.
It admits to our humanity.
It opens the window
of our awareness.
Children, of all ages,
view it as time for a
great practical joke.
(Mrs. A became the master of this.
Which is another reason
I Love her!)
When she speaks to me,
I always pause to reflect upon
what is really going on.
We have learned over the years
not to take life so seriously.
Super serious attitudes
lead to stress, strokes,
and striking out.
The lighter side of Life
Is also a great adventure
and a broad avenue of opportunity
that may lead to
being on Comedy Central,
finding a new friend,
falling deeply in Love,
or stumbling up to the Altar
and saying, “I did”
instead of, “I do”.
A broad avenue of opportunity.
Creating us,
proves to me,
that God
has a sense of humor.
We almost always act like
we are going to survive
this very brief existence.
And the truth is:
we are precariously
and very briefly perched
upon this beautiful planet.
It opens the window of our awareness.
Live in the moment.
One of my very favorite expressions is:
“Now remember,
We are just a nice normal family”.
You know,
I am always wondering,
where is this normal family?
Where is the average person?
“Normal”
Is Also a Dryer Setting.
We go through life thinking
I am too short,
Too tall,
Too fat? Too whatever?
Ever get stuck
in a comparison cycle,
pursuing the
unattainable?
Yes you have!
My Friends,
I have news for you:
A NORMAL child
simply does not exist.
That is an illusion.
If not,
Please introduce to me to one.
One will be sufficient!
(Now, don’t drag your child up here!
He or she will embarrass you
in a highly abnormal manner.)
“Only ONE person in 6,500
could be credited with achieving true
averageness in every measurable respect.
That person having molded himself into
the nicest, dullest and most proper
“freak of normalcy” for miles around.”
– Guy Murchie
Our exceptionality is but one
of one of the things
that make us,
and our lives,
so very interesting
and very, very beautiful.
We are all a
modern work of art,
You know,
expensive,
different,
museum quality
and something
no one understands.
Who am I?
But can you imagine how dull,
how terminally boring
would life be
surrounded by a plethora
of normal, average human beings.
What would we ever talk about?
Today is your property.
My Dear Friends,
stop worrying, wondering, and doubting.
Have Faith
that things will work out.
And if they don’t,
well, my fellow humanoid,
celebrate!
You now have something to talk about,
something to laugh at
and something to think about.
And hey,
you did not worry about it!
“No one knows enough
to be a pessimist.”
– Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
We all live for Love.
“A hundred years from now
it will not matter
what my bank account was,
the sort of house I lived in,
or the kind of car I drove,
but the world may be different
because I was important
in the life of a child.”
– Forest E. Witcraft
The past,
if left undenied,
can become a thief.
Don’t let the past steal today.
Today is your property,
your beautiful gift from God.
You’ve got to love this life.
If not,
you are probably
going to hate it.
And how do you Love it?
Well,
it’s actually quite simple:
quit thinking so much about it.
And stop thinking about yourself.
Think about someone else!
That’s called Love.
And when you Love others,
they Love you back.
And Life, my friend,
is good to live
again.
We all live
for Love.
And if you think deeply about it,
Love is the only thing
worth living for.
Yes,
it is that simple.
Now,
go to bed
in a really dark bedroom.
Your body needs to produce
melatonin
to fight cancer!
read more
And tomorrow,
wake up and do more good
than you ever thought possible
for someone else.
And tomorrow night,
you will sleep well,
And wake up the next day
deeply Loved
by someone else,
and
happy.
“We know
that for those who love God
all things work together for good,
for those who are called
according to his purpose.”
– Romans 8:28
Remember,
turn out all the lights,
It needs to totally dark
when you are asleep
to prevent cancer.
Sleeping while exposed to light at night
causes a dramatic drop
in blood melatonin levels,
setting the stage
for growth and proliferation
of breast cancer cells
and other cancer cells.
I Love You.
“Don’t hang around
and let your problems surround you.
There are movie shows downtown.
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close.
And you may find somebody kind
to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you
and needs a gentle hand to
Guide them along.
So maybe I’ll see you there
We can forget all our troubles,
forget all our cares.”
– Petula Clark
Do more good than you ever thought possible for someone else.
In Our Philosophy Class on Thursday
we will view and discuss
Waking Life
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. He observes and later participates in philosophical discussions of issues such as reality, free will, the relationship of the subject with others, and the meaning of life.
Along the way the film touches on other topics including existentialism, situationist politics, post humanity, the theory of André Bazin, and lucid dreaming itself. Waking Life, is a reference to the philosopher George Santayana’s maxim: Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled.
Director Richard Linklater has created a masterpiece of philosophy and film with Waking Life. The film is beautifully done. The cinematography is wonderful with a stellar soundtrack and well-placed philosophical discussion that runs throughout the film.
Linklater possesses a substantial understanding of philosophy. The philosophical ideas explored in this film are well thought out. The presentation of these ideas and the eccentric personalities of those presenting them makes for a very thought provoking experience.
The movie presents a plethora of philosophical ideas from many different view points. The vivid imagery of the scenes combined with the deeply philosophical content makes this an extraordinary film. The beautiful animation combined with the philosophical input makes Waking Life one of the most interesting films you’re likely to ever see.
click here to view film
— — —
Ohio high school senior Ryan Chester
became the inaugural winner of a new
college scholarship on Sunday night,
winning $250,000 for his 7-minute film
that uses simple props and hand-drawn graphics
to explain Einstein’s special theory of relativity.
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge
asked young people between ages 13 and 18
to create short videos that communicated
a big idea in science.
More than 2,000 students
from dozens of countries applied.
Ryan Chester
click here to read more and view film
From our friends at the
Underground Health Reporter
read more
Did You Know…
… that there’s a nutrient that could eliminate 50% of all deaths from cancer and prevent other diseases that claim nearly 1 million lives every year?
That nutrient is … Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin,” which is now recognized by traditional and natural doctors alike as one of the most powerful, inexpensive ways to prevent disease.
Vitamin D is found in small amounts in some foods, such as milk, eggs, fish, and fortified orange juice – but the most important, natural source of vitamin D comes from exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin D influences over 2,000 of the 30,000 genes in the body, which explains why it has been found to inhibit the onset and spread of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, autism, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis, to name a few.
Next to smoking, not getting enough vitamin D is the No. 2 risk factor of cancer! Every year, 30% – or two million people worldwide (200,000 in the U.S. alone) – could be spared of dying from cancer if they would just take the proper amounts of vitamin D.
According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, an Osteopathic physician and New York Times bestselling author, “Groundbreaking studies proved that 600,000 cases of cancer could be prevented every year just by increasing your levels of vitamin D. And without question, the best way to obtain your vitamin D is by UVB sunlight falling on unexposed skin in doses that do not cause sunburn. Beyond cancer, increasing levels of vitamin D could prevent diseases that claim nearly 1 million lives throughout the world each year.”
Dr. Michael Holick, one of the world’s most respected authorities on Vitamin D and author of The UV Advantage explains that “Vitamin D is made in the skin, gets into the bloodstream, and then goes into the liver and kidneys where it is activated into a hormone called 125-dihydroxy (calcitriol). It is this activated vitamin D that has biological, disease-prevention effects, such as preventing prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and colon cancer.”
The proper amount of vitamin D in the body helps to:
- stop mutated cells from forming and spreading;
- cause diseased cells to commit “cell suicide” – i.e., cause them to literally self-destruct;
- causes the differentiation of cells (Cancer cells are often undifferentiated, and this causes them to reproduce faster);
- reduce the probability that dormant tumors will regenerate into cancerous cells by inhibiting the growth of blood vessels in those areas.
Absorption is the key. Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., Director of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center, and an expert on the effects of the environment and diet on chronic disease, recommends that adults get 2,000 to 4,000 IU’s of vitamin D every day from the sun or from vitamin D supplements to prevent cancerous or dysfunctional cellular activity. However, most people get less than 300 IU’s a day.
While it’s true that excessive amounts of unprotected UVA rays can increase your risk of melanoma skin cancer, there is an overwhelming body of evidence that shows that moderate sun exposure combats cancer and other disease without risk.
It is virtually impossible to overdose on vitamin D. In fact, there’s never been a reported case of vitamin D toxicity – so go outside and enjoy your daily dose of sunshine! If you’re unable to get sufficient sun exposure, taking a high quality vitamin D supplement is recommended by many health practitioners. Natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), or human vitamin D, is the type most often prescribed for therapeutic reasons because it is far superior to vitamin D2, which is synthetic.
Danica Collins, Managing Editor
Underground Health Reporter
From businessinsider.com
by Emmett Knowlton
writing for Business Insider’s sports page:
What does Tom Brady eat
to stay in peak football shape at 38?
Emmett Knowlton graduated from Amherst College in 2015.
80 percent is vegetables. The freshest vegetables.
If it’s not organic, he doesn’t use it.
And whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans.
The other 20 percent – lean meats:
grass-fed organic steak,
duck every now and then,
and chicken. As for fish,
mostly wild salmon.
No white sugar.
No white flour.
No MSG.
No coffee. No caffeine.
No fungus.
No dairy.
For Friday Jan. 8, 2016
We will meet at 10:00 a.m. at Half-Price Books, located at 475 Sherry Lane, north of Ridgmar Mall –Telephone: 817-732-4111.
At approximately 11:00 a.m. we will meet at the Ridgmar Mall 2300 Green Oaks Road, Fort Worth, TX 76116 – TELEPHONE: 817-566-0025 to enjoy (burp!) lunch at the food court and then walk to the Rave Theater to enjoy the new movie: Concussion. Younger children may view another movie with the permission of Mrs. A.
PICK UP will be at the Rave Theater at 2:30 p.m.
“Love is giving,
it has nothing to do
with what you receive.”
– Wayne Dyer
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material including some disturbing images, and language.
Starring: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Arliss Howard, Paul Reiser, Luke Wilson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (that’s easy for you say), David Morse, and Albert Brooks.
1 hours & 22 minutes in length and starting at 1:05 p.m.
Students with hot popcorn have permission to sit close to Dr. A. and Diana (the munchkins).
Synopsis:
Forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovers chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease that causes brain trauma for football players.
If you arrive late, we shall have departed with your child(ren) and will return to school.
Students are NOT to leave the bookstore, food court or theater without the approval of Dr. or Mrs. A.
FINANCIAL:
Please provide funds for a book (as low as one or two dollars – see Mrs. A), lunch, snacks and ticket priced at $5.00 to $8.40. (I was provided 2 prices by different people!)
Uniform pants with a belt & red monogrammed school shirts are required.
PARENTS / FRIENDS / SIBLINGS / NEIGHBORS, are invited to participate on our trips.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Jan. 18 (MONDAY) Martin L. King Holiday
Jan. 22 Fort Worth Stock Show
Feb. 15 (MONDAY) President’s Day Holiday
March 14-18 Spring Break Holiday
March 25 & 28 (Fri. & Mon.) Easter Holiday
April 29 Scarborough Renaissance Festival
May 16 (MONDAY) Preparation for Adventure Trip
May 17-20 Adventure Trip
May 20 Last Day of School
Please see William’s Weblog at andersonschool.net for trip details (posted each Wed. at 6:00 p.m.)
carried her home in my arms, she drew her last breath.
William's Weblog - Anderson Private School for the Gifted, Talented and Creative 