The Two Heads of Education

My life began the moment I broke out of my cell of doubt created by the public school system! Every summer vacation I felt like my sentence had ended, and the only sad thought was that it would begin again, in just a few short months, when school started again. Most kids feel the same way; they hate school but they go because they are trained to believe it is the Great American Expectation. Remember, we are told time after time that if we do well in school then we will be successful. So we strive to please our parents, our teachers, the system, and ourselves. This is the secret, cruel pressure that molds our spirits.

The simple question that has followed me around like a pesky fly all of my life has been, "Why did I hate school so much?" I wanted to like school, but the moment I entered kindergarten I felt like I was not allowed to be my free little self anymore. I can remember it like it was yesterday—the classroom looked fun, but only five years earlier I had been delivered into the hands of my parents, and now I was being delivered into the hands of complete strangers and expected to perform! Even when I was five years old, l knew there was something wrong with this picture, but a giant cloud of expectation had become ever present in my life. It was inescapable, and it seemed to follow not only me but my brothers and my parents.

As matter of fact, it followed everyone I knew. As a child, it felt so wrong that many of us lived under this cloud of expectation. It seemed to be the very thing that kept me from doing what I really wanted to do, especially as a child. This cloud of expectation never allowed me to see through it, to the outside of the cloud. It was ever present and kept up a fog, and that fog seemed to have a head on it with an authoritative quality. This authority had so many of us wanting so badly to please it, and because we needed its approval and acceptance, just one negative mark on our report cards could make us feel like we had failed completely. And so we then tried even harder to please this authority.

The one secret this authority has is it that it will never allow anyone to ever know that you can never make this cloud of expectation happy, and that once you buy into its power, it holds you hostage forever! Without the approval of this authority, you will always feel like a loser! Its power and hold over us makes us view people on the other side of the fog as outcasts and losers, and even entices us to feel above these so-called radical types and to look down our noses at them. If you are accepted by this powerful system, then you are part of the club of expectors. You are then paid for by entitlements. Once you find the excitement of being entitled, you are set forever, and you now have the club of expectors behind you who will protect their own at any cost.

As I grew older, I became sick of this cloud of expectation following me, so I broke out to the other side of the fog, and, guess what? You can breathe better, see better, and you can feel the excitement of ideas and dreams becoming part of you—sometimes for the very first time in your life. But still, that cloud of expectation wants us back; it does not like losing anyone, so it turns on the doubt switch that is planted in you, and you can’t really be free until you discover the key. That key is the other head of education! It is the freedom of discovery, the love of teaching yourself, and the understanding that everything you ever wanted to learn or know is within yourself. You can excel beyond the expectors' understanding and knowledge, and they no longer know how to control you because you have become an individual! You confuse the expectors, because they don’t understand what true freedom really is, so they label you a rebel, and they try to keep you from succeeding.

The other head of education is not a cloud of expectation, but a blue sky of freedom. It needs no degrees to prove its brilliance. Once you learn to believe in yourself and your own ability to learn what you love in your own time, motivated by the love of your interests, then anything and everything becomes possible. It is also possible for your children. We all must learn to believe in our children and not in the cloud of expectation that is put on them. When your child does not want to go to school, think about it—maybe they are smarter than you. Don’t allow the cloud of expectation to cloud your intuition; we are all conditioned to believe in it and not in the other head of intuitive education. Who says a child cannot teach himself? I beg to differ. Children are brilliant little beings, and they only need the trust of a parent to free them to become pure brilliance. Children have common sense and they will know when they need teaching; they also know when they don’t need to learn something they are not interested in.

The moment you stop believing in your children and start believing in the system of expectation, and that authority, you hand your beautiful, innocent children over to that system and they are no longer under your authority. Just look at our teenage population. Where are the individuals? Most kids find a peer that they can feel accepted by, because remember, you just handed them over to strangers, and they know it! These kids now feel completely abandoned and look for someone they can identify with. Most kids at school are in the same boat, but there is always going to be that one person your child will confide in and, “bam," there is almost no hope of retrieving them. They no longer trust you and become part of an even more dangerous system.

My life began the day I quit public school and started my own business at sixteen years old! My journey has taken me from a jewelry business, to becoming an award-winning author, publisher, restaurateur, writer, nationally-syndicated radio talk show host, successful entrepreneur, chef, mother, teacher, speaker, and mentor to thousands of troubled kids. And all it took to help these kids was to hold their hands through the fog to the other side where they felt the fresh air of freedom on their faces, and the rest was within each one of them. Why is it so hard to believe that real education does not need degrees or fanfare? It only requires the love of learning and the love of discovery.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit Dianne's online shopping cart.

The Seduction of Education

Steve Jobs was the perfect example of what a well-educated person should be; he was self-educated! The older I get the more I realize how we all buy into the idea: “If we could all just get a good education, we would all be successful!” I have never fit into that box and even had feelings of shame and embarrassment for being so-called “uneducated,” until recently.

It all started about four years ago when my daughter was about 10 years old. She was just like me, never really fitting into the groove of school and always behind everyone in her class. The school principal was very concerned about her future. Alexandra could barely read at 10 years old and hated school with a passion!

The principal told me that Alexandra really was just lazy and that I gave into her, and in the end I would ruin my daughter. The principal is a good friend of mine so I doubted my daughter and forced her to attend school! I could not help remembering how I hated school, and Alexandra reminded me so much of myself, but my own doubt and fear was ever present because of my so-called “uneducated” status. The almighty authority of education made me feel so insignificant, and I did not want my daughter to feel that way. I wanted her to be smart and become anything she wanted to be, so I did what was expected of me and pushed her out the door each day to attend the box.

My daughter, thank God, is a very strong person, but I hurt her very much by going against my gut instinct. Alexandra came to me one morning and laid out her own plan. She was crying, and through her tears, I felt her pain and felt like my spirit was dying all over again. So I decided to go against all authorities, pull her out of school, and homeschool her! I was told that I would destroy her chances of getting a good education, or even a good job. I thought, “Job, what the heck. I have been in my own business since I was 16 years old.” Suddenly, it came to me, “Wait one cotton pickin’ minute! Is a job or higher education that carrot that seduces us to remain planted in our chairs five days a week, 8 hours a day in the almighty box, called school?” Wow, I suddenly had an awakening. As the answer to my prayers began to unfold, it all came so clearly to me how we have been made to believe all of the rhetoric and B.S. that says without a formal education, by the system, we are all going to be just a bunch of losers, but with a formal education, we will be winners. But, what do we really win with this so-called education? Do we lose something along the way, like our own initiative, self-motivation, vision, ideas, and belief in our own ability to teach ourselves something?

The real fear I had was the thought of homeschooling her, because I was so bad at traditional education I did not even know where to start. So I panicked. Again the doubt tried to find its way in, until the next morning, when I woke up and walked into my living room and saw Alexandra drawing! I decided to just leave her alone and let her relax and come down off of all of the pressure that she was a part of for so many years. I wanted to see what she would do if I did nothing for her, so I did! After a few hours of drawing, she went out into our backyard and played with her dog, a big beautiful golden retriever. I just watched in amazement, as Alexandra trained her dog to do tricks. My husband had built her a dog cart, and she had never tried to use it, but now Winchester was pulling her all over the yard.

After a few hours of playing, Alexandra ran in and said, “Mom, I want to build a chicken coup and have chickens.” So guess what? She went online and researched chicken coups, chickens, chicken feed, what type of chicken she wanted for laying capabilities, and boom, she was in the chicken business. She was also reading, learning, and expanding her universe in a real life situation. Weeks passed, and I still did not one thing for her except free her to find her interest, and she was on fire, all of her zest was back. She felt free to become anything she wanted, teaching herself beyond my wildest expectations, and completely self-motivated.

This type of learning is called education of the highest form. I found the following definition in a dictionary: “Education derives from the verb educe, which means ‘to draw forth from within.’ The original teaching method of Socrates of drawing from within has been largely displaced by professorial deference to received scholarly authority. Students are taught how to take exams but not how to think, write or find their own path.”

This definition will never be shared by super-educated, elitist institutions. They want to hold back the brilliant kids, and keep them from thinking for themselves. This concept is like herding a bunch of sheep into a pasture, and, when it is eaten down, only then will the shepherds make the decision to move them to the next pasture.

God forbid, if one of the sheep decides to jump the fence and find a greener pasture! It will be the first one sent to the slaughterhouse because if the other sheep notice that the free-thinking sheep is outside of the enclosed pasture eating green grass, there will be mutiny. The captured sheep will begin to wake up, and this will ruin everything. The shepherd will lose control and nothing will bring the mutinous sheep back!

As long as the system of education can make people believe that they are only as good as their education, then America has no chance of prospering and remaining free. The people will continue to be enslaved by their own fear. But, if one person could be that lamb and jump to greener pastures because they want to be free, then fear not! Life begins when you rip open the box and find that self-discovery is the highest form of education. Let no one ever steal your thunder, your ideas, and your belief in your true self!

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” You can also visit her online shopping cart HERE.

How Entrepreneurial Kids Can Save America

Just imagine a thriving American economy, full of happy business owners on the constant lookout for great employees! Imagine kids, instead of standing on street corners looking for trouble, standing in line for their business licenses. And imagine what the attitude of our country would be if the school system looked at our kids as potential leaders instead of as potential losers. We would wake up in the morning full of vision, dreams and ideas, and our employees would feel like part of something gigantic, as if a huge nest egg were about to hatch. But instead, so many in our workforce today have contempt for the very people who give them their paychecks. They have been trained to expect instead of perform; they have been indoctrinated with the idea that the American Entrepreneur is the monster in the closet.

I hear it every day, “My son or daughter is running with the wrong kids,” “I have no control over them,” “They used to be good kids, now they are taking drugs and not coming home at night,” etc., etc., and it never ends! We all scratch our wooden heads and ask ourselves: Where did we go wrong? What happened to my beautiful child? Let’s reflect. From a very young age, did you give your kids everything they ever wanted? Do they have all the latest electronics and distractions, all the designer clothes, or do they have nothing but their friends, no money for anything, no direction, but find out that if they hang out with the wrong crowd, they can have it all the wrong way? Do you give your kids money when they need it? Do you know what type of people your kids hang out with? What do you see in your child—a spoiled couch potato with no interests; a lost soul wandering from person to person looking for inspiration, or a young man or woman full of ideas and dreams, and not afraid to take on the world with gusto?

In these questions are the answers to our country’s future success or failure. We have become a nation of spoiled, entitled people with only ourselves to blame. We have failed our children by allowing the system to dictate to our guilt what we should think and how we should act and feel as Americans. The system has betrayed us, and it has lulled us into a sleep that has created an epidemic of politically correct zombies—followers who act without ever truly thinking.

History shows us that we used to be a country of fearless entrepreneurs, and kids learned by becoming apprentices. We now spawn leachy, ungrateful kids who think they know everything, and even when many of them have the opportunity to go to college, they graduate without knowing how to write a check and end up flipping burgers. Strangely, they take up the quest of fighting for the government's protection so that the system's nanny-like qualities will always be there to care for these dulled, dumbed-down students who step into reality for the first time in their lives completely clueless.

I am convinced that deep down inside each and every true American is a yearning to be free and independent, whether it is planting a garden, designing and building, or creating a dream business. I truly believe that each and every American wants to be self-governed and self-reliant, but then why do we believe in the system that takes this all away? It is the system that does not inspire self-respect; the system is in the discouragement business, not the encouragement business!

I have found a secret that cures most of what is hurting our kids and, believe or not, it is beyond simple—teaching a child as young as five years old the art of entrepreneurship! Kids are already natural entrepreneurs. Just help them set up a lemonade stand and watch their innate ability to create, sell and promote their product, and the end result, self-respect. If the American school system could turn out entrepreneurs and leaders instead of employees, we would have the perfect balance of economic strength and the true American Dream!

If we inspire our youth to be self-reliant, we will spoil the plans of the enablers and grow a new country within a country. We will awake the sleeping giant of the Entrepreneurial Spirit which is the engine of the American Dream and strength.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online bookstore HERE.

Chunky Chili Salsa - Dianne's Style

 

Syndicated national talk show host Dianne Linderman talks about Everything That Matters, while sharing her wonderful, healthy, quick recipes that can be easily made in your own kitchen, for the whole family to enjoy around the dinner table.

 

Dianne loves bringing families together back to the dinner table and believes that kids are not learning how to cook anymore because everybody eats out so much! When Dianne was growing up, going out to dinner, or breakfast, or lunch once a month was a big ordeal, and nowadays many families eat out pretty much every single meal. Fast food tastes good and is inexpensive, and is easily accessible, so we all eat out... but fast food is not necessarily healthy for you!

 

One of the things that matters most to Dianne is healthy cooking. Dianne has battled weight her whole life, and has just recently lost 35 lbs by slowly changing the way she eats. Her recipes are healthy, yet delicious, and you can find them all in Dianne's cookbook, Everything That Matters in the Kitchen, which came out only a little over a month ago:

 

Here is one of Dianne Linderman's delicious salsa recipes – Chunky Chili Salsa - that is healthy, simple, fast & easy to make in a matter of minutes! Use all organic ingredients for an organic salsa:

 

- Roma tomatoes (use 4 or 5)

- Green chiles (boil, chop and take seeds out)

- Green onion

- Red onion

- Organic cilantro

- Lime 1 to 1.5

- 1-2 tsp garlic salt

- Add sweetener if desired

 

Chop in a blender for some seconds, but do not puree, and -viola!- you have just made some delicious salsa that can be used with chips, or to go along with home-made quesadillas (Dianne makes scrumptious quesadillas, too!).

 

Dianne owned a restaurant for 25 years, and for 10 of those years she had a restaurant on an organic farm, where she learned all about fresh vegetables and herbs. People came from everywhere to get married on that farm and have their wedding reception right there with the most incredible food that you could ever have.

 

This restaurant became so popular that it was written about in the Sunset Magazine, and sometimes people told Dianne that they were moving to the area for the restaurant, which was pretty incredible! The restaurant was called Country Cottage Cafe & Bakery, located in the beautiful Southern Oregon.

 

Today, Dianne loves to showcase her cooking at various Fairs throughout the country, and she does 3 shows per day, and presents a different recipe every single time! Dianne's cooking is very versatile – one day she is cooking up oriental foods, the next day – Mexican foods, and believes that if they are done right, they can both be very healthy. Dianne uses all fresh ingredients, such as vegetables, and preserves their natural quality throughout her cooking process. All of Dianne's recipes take 10 minutes of less to make!

 

Join Dianne Linderman's “Recipe of Month Club” membership at no charge – just sign up with your e-mail on Dianne's website: http://www.everythingthatmattersradio.com/contact.html .You can also hear Dianne's show on KMED.com, and read her articles on her blog: http://diannelinderman.blogspot.com/

 

What is Real Leadership?

For me it’s simple! Doing what I know and love, having a deep rooted direction and not allowing anyone to derail me. Here’s an example: I was working with one of the young girls in my company, setting up one our beautiful attractions at a fair, and we were down to the last details. (I am a firm believer that you never leave out any details, especially when these details are what make our business great!) The girl tried her best to get me to forget the last few details so we could go home for the day because she was tired! I saw her efforts as a very interesting study, so I allowed her to use her subtle will to try to convince me to just settle for what we had done. I found it astonishing that she tried every manipulation, even telling me that the attraction was so beautiful the way it was and that no one would ever notice the tiny details that I was attending to! I finally had enough of her tugging and took this lesson to a place she did not expect; I used my true leadership skills and showed her a fascinating principle.

I looked at her and asked this simple question, “If I were to listen to you and not listen to myself, and not attend to the details, what do you think would happen to my company? What would happen to me as a person if you could talk me out of my own principles—principles that I have built my life and business upon? Worse yet, what would happen to you, a lazy, dishonorable person who thinks that your opinion really matters, when it is only about you and not the future of my company? Worse yet, if you want to live a life of nothingness, then you can remain a minimalist, and you will be assured a minimal existence!”

These words may seem harsh to you, but they snapped her out of her journey of tearing down success, and she now is a star employee/partner in my company. This scenario happens every minute of every day, and a real leader recognizes that people can go either way and watches and waits to see those who will not snap out of that destructive state and weeds them out. After a while, you can simply flick them off of your shoulder like a bug. However, every once in a while a person will come along who may even be well-meaning at first, but will eventually try to pull you and your whole company down into their trap.

They can be the most useful people in the world. They will do everything for you in the name of respect and for the cause. They subtly make sure you know how much they do, and cast a tiny shadow of doubt on your other staff, especially your finest, most loyal associates or family members. Sometimes they don’t even know what they are doing, compelled to undermine while looking like they are the most important, always there and willing! They are always some sort of expert in something, which is their greatest tool. I call this their separation tool which they use with pinpoint accuracy like a sword. They gradually bring down the morale of a business and even families because they are not real leaders. Trust me, I have experience with these types of people—they are so good at what they do, you want to adopt them and put them in your will. I almost lost my entire company to one of these people, but it ended up being the best awakening I have ever had.

A real leader is the perfect equalizer. Their strength is in their purpose, which is not their own. They are not always aware of why they move in a certain direction, but rarely even question, because a great leader has great faith. A real leader helps liberate a searching person from their fears and conditioning, and raises them up out of their box to see for brief moments the freedom and opportunities that real leaders see! These brief opportunities to see life lit up is all it takes for the true leader to help others out of their tangled mess. There are some that will never be blessed with vision and ideas; their job is to simply tear down morale and to complicate life for everyone.

A real leader simplifies the complicated and finds a solution for every problem, because it is their greatest joy to see what most people miss and to show them the simplicity of the solution. Many people miss the solution because they are about themselves and not the cause. A real leader never puts off until tomorrow what they know they need to do today! They move things off of their desk and conclude their tasks with ease. Most people love to work with a true leader because they feel life moves at a healthy rate, and they are inspired to dig a little deeper within themselves. A pretend leader will never understand a real leader.

I have seen that people who pretend to be leaders are somewhat like a block of cement tied to your foot. Life does not move the way it should, and there is always a lot of waiting for non-leaders to direct, whereas a real leader knows how to delegate tasks, inspiring people to not only trust in themselves, but also to have an understanding of what real trust is. You will never know what a person is made of until you trust them at least once, and maybe a few hundred more times.

A real leader does not hold back people from their potential; they see a person’s options allowing each person to see their own potential. A real leader is not always aware of their leadership qualities, but they are always aware of their effect on both good and bad people and do not use their strength to hurt or destroy a person, (people do that to themselves.) A real leader leads and does not trip people up. A real leader is born a real leader, and no matter what you do, you cannot stop them in their mission!

Dianne Linderman can be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show- “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online shopping cart.

Dianne's Fudge Brownies

Dianne Linderman spent a lot of time creating this delicious brownie recipe!  Why? Because she didn't like brownies that tasted like they were "store-bought," or “boxed.” She wanted something entirely different - brownies that were crunchy and delicious on the outside and gooey on the inside. Doesn't that sound delicious?

This recipe is very simple to make, and takes less than 10 minutes. Dianne doesn’t use white flour or white sugar, which makes these brownies a whole lot healthier! 

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 cup of softened butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla (not imitation vanilla)
• 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2.5 cups organic brown sugar (maple sugar or maple syrup work great too)
• 6 1-oz squares of unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• organic olive oil spray (like PAM) to coat the bottom of your baking pan

To make the brownies:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (this lower setting will make brownies turn out gooey on the inside)
• Except butter and unsweetened chocolate, place all the ingredients into a stand mixer and mix well
• Take the chocolate, add it to butter and melt it; then add into the mix
• Mix everything until smooth, and then stir by hand to make sure that you get everything from the bottom
• Coat the bottom of your baking pan with organic olive oil spray; pour the mixture into the pan
• Bake for 35-45 minutes

You want your brownies to be a little soft on the inside when you pull them out of the oven. When you insert a toothpick into the middle, you want it to come out with a little bit of batter on it; this is a perfect time to get your brownies out of the oven. Brownies actually keep cooking for at least 5-10 more minutes when they come out, so leaving them soft on the inside makes them taste gooey and oh so scrumptious!

Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

For this and more of Dianne Linderman's recipes, please visit http://www.everythingthatmattersradio.com/recipes/fudge-brownies.html
 

Getting Back to Basics

Because of this crazy economy, we all start to think about the real possibility of losing our jobs and our way of life. Unfortunately most Americans have searched most of their lives, not for long term financial security, but for comfort! We buy beautiful things for our homes, nice cars, overpriced clothing and jewelry. We wine, dine, and pay for expensive entertainment, all the while not thinking about what we would do if it all came to a sudden stop!

It is never too late to start planning, and because I have had to find a way to survive a few financial disasters in my life, I can now look at any adversity in life as a total adventure. It’s all about your attitude and how willing you are to live with less. I call this getting back to basics. What did you do that made you money when you were a very young person? I was 16 years old when I became a silversmith. At first it was just for fun. I took my simple, plain sterling silver bands to school and sold them for a hefty profit to all my friends. After making dozens and dozens of plain bands, I had to really start thinking of new and more interesting bands, so I purchased some silver stamps, and stamped my bands to make them look unique and was able to sell my new designs to the very same friends. I moved on to setting stones on my simple bands, and, before I knew it, I was a full fledged silversmith.

I am sharing this story with you because everyone has a creative base, and even if you think you don’t have one, you can start this very moment. Jewelry is not only a craft, but it is also a passion, an investment, and, if you don’t mind sitting outside all day, it can become the perfect business for anyone with even a small amount of creativity. My favorite memories were the days at outside crafters fairs with my 14-year-old brother in the sunshine just hundreds of yards from the beach. Even then I thought, “What a way to live!” When my brother and I returned home at night, we counted our bounty, and, on a good day, at 16 years old, I pulled in hundreds of dollars, and as I told you in a previous article, on my best day ever, I made $800.

So many of us have forgotten the simple times in life, always believing that, if we could get the perfect job and make lots of money, we would be able to relax, but what most of us found out is that we spent the first half of our lives acquiring things and the second half of our lives getting rid of things. Having too much becomes a burden and then you can’t enjoy anything that you have acquired. I guess as we get older we start to appreciate the simple things in life again, and that’s where I am at.

Plant a garden, rid yourself of stuff you never use, redecorate your home in things you have made or found and painted, even photos you have taken. Set up a monthly yard sale and even embellish and recycle some of your old junk. I know people who make a huge living doing this, and they are happier than they have ever been, spending days going through thrift stores and yard sales. And, once a month, they have what they call a barn sale, or even something quaint, like a garden sale. These same friends of mine used to make six-figure incomes and are so much happier being creative, treasure hunters. Some of them buy antique jewelry and add new beads and crystal to make unique, beautiful jewelry.

Getting back to basics is really about finding your original passions in life, and, before you have to, start thinking of what you could do and simply start doing it. Go to crafters fairs, flea markets, and farmers markets and even find others who have an online presence and grill them about what is effective. Learn photography; everything I have ever done in life has required some photos, and just like everything else, they represent quality. I buy hundreds of magazines, and look for ideas in decorating, colors, and even the way photos are taken. Educate yourself, and don’t be afraid to fail. If you start thinking about the basics before you need to, you will have security and will not find yourself without them.