You Achieve Your Dreams When You Turn a Negative Into A Positive

I keep reading about teens committing suicide due to bullying. This shouldn't be happening but it does. As a teacher and parent of a 10 and 12 year old, I have a good idea what needs to happen in order for this problem to subside from our ever crumbling society. The core of the problem is a mixture of a few things that we hold close to our hearts.

For example, our freedom of speech privileges were challenged in the late 80's by crude lyrics of a few rap singers in the music industry. After this happened some of our children had less and less respect for their parents, teachers, other peers, and anyone with authority. One of these groups was The 2Live Crew who fought hard to degrade our precious way of life only to gain monetarily and really never help anyone else other than themselves.

Then you also have the gaming industry in which you have a lot of foul language in most, if not all, of the most popular games out there. All of this is due to the freedom of speech privilege. Yes, I know what you are saying, that the gaming industry already has a regulating system to stop the younger crowd from playing these types of games.

Well guess what, it isn't working. Take it from me that I'm a teacher that listens to the latest gossip by mostly 9 year old boys in my classroom. I'm noticing that a lot of girls are joining in the act themselves. But I think that these two industries have taken advantage of those privileges. I don't hear a whole lot of complaints by anyone anymore because they have, supposedly, better things to do. But isn't having a well mannered society a good thing?

What are the advantages of having better mannered people in our society you might ask? Well, for starters, it just gives everyone a fair chance for everyone to wait their turn and think about their actions. Now think about people that are compulsive. Studies keep showing that children that spend a lot of time hearing crude music, seeing, and playing games that have a lot of violence with bad language are at a higher risk of committing acts of violence. In general they're a detriment to our society.

So if you are an educator and feel their is someone being bullied, please taken a strong stand in this issue because we can't afford to lose anymore previous lives. More and more teachers and administrators are joining and not taking a stand on bullying and that makes me sick because it is everyone's job to make sure that bullying is eliminated as much as possible.

Adapting to Lives Constant Changes So You Can Keep Dreaming and Achieving

The dictionary definition of adaptation is the ability of a species to survive in a particular ecological niche, especially because of alterations of form or behavior brought about through natural selection.

As I lived two separate lives growing up, I learned to code switch based on whom I spend my time with. If I was with my father I had to learn how to conduct myself with a variety of well to do people. But most importantly I had to do my best with the people that counted or I would get an ear full. That was one thing you did not want to get from my father.

Then there was my mother who always had to scrap for money due to the lack of financial help from my father. She only had a 3^rd grade education from her home country and did not know any English. This forced her to either work for hotels or for the rich in Beverly Hills as a cleaning lady. When she didn’t have a job she had to ask for government assistance. But after the age of nine I really got obsessed with the game of baseball. Most of my time was spent playing the game. I eventually became part of the best baseball team that my high school ever had. My success in high school followed me to college when I walked on and made it to the Arizona State University team. This is an example of having a goal/dream and pursuing it until you fulfill it. To this date, this event has become a memorable accomplishment and a failure as well. But don’t let me bore you with my life, let’s consider one of the masters of adaptation: Bruce Lee, who would constantly preach about the art of having no form when fighting in order to adapt according to the fighting situation. He would say, “be like water. When you pour water in a cup it becomes a cup. If you pour water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, if you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can either flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

I recall reading about Bruce Lee after looking into his biography. I learned to become water and as a result eventually finished college with several degrees and credentials, all which have shaped me into what I’m now. Adaptation has been one of the key ingredients throughout my college career. But do you think that this was enough in acquiring a stable job? No, not at all, it is just the beginning. Apart from looking good on paper I had learned a lot more in order to be highly successful. I had to learn to adapt to the different cultures at every job site that I have worked at.

It hasn’t been easy but you have to be open-minded to whatever is thrown at you. Being prepared is key in your continued success in your goals/dreams. Anticipation of things to come helps out a lot when things arise. Don’t get caught off guard. 

WHAT IT IS TO BE RESILIENT?

The dictionary definition for resiliency is the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

When applied to our own lives, resiliency comes to be this and more.  It becomes the act of gaining more power when you might think all might have been lost. Resiliency is the art of bouncing back, floating through life and staying alive. Resiliency is the most vital character trait anyone could own.  This is one of the main reason you have stories from rags to richness. 

Individuals who have overcome adversity in its worse forms: survival of war, abuse, starvation, persecution, etc. are often powered by the challenge of a better life versus those who have had it all and have nothing to compare their lives to.  When you become resilient, you are able to overcome obstacles in your life with more focus, patience, and positive thoughts.