Charcoal Bag

Peter was a little boy that was constantly getting mad at his friends.
One day his teacher called his father and told him that the little boy was a handful, she told him how angry the boy was all the time.
Mrs. Savits was a peaceful and poor man, of huge humbleness and astonishing wisdom.
He worked at a small farm, far away from peter’s school.


One day Peter was playing with his toys and Mrs. Savits called him:
“Peter, come here please!” said Mrs. Savits with a smooth and natural voice.
“Yes dad.” Said little Peter.
“I’m going to gather the cattle; would you like to help me please?”
“Ok.” responded Peter.


Peter started talking about his friends at school, and how he was feeling up set all the time. Mrs. Savits listened carefully without interrupting. While they were heading towards the cattle, Mrs. Savits grabbed a charcoal bag, placed it next to his son, and said:
“Son, do you see my coat next to the fence?”
“I’d like you to imagine that my white coat is your friend, and that every piece of charcoal is a bad thought that you throw at him.”
“I want you to throw all the pieces of charcoal at my coat, and later on I’ll come back to check on you”.


Peter played the game and started his work. The coat was quite far from Peter, so only a few pieces hit the target.
An hour later Peter finished his task, his father returned, and asked him:
“Son, how are you feeling now?”
“I’m tired but happy; I hit a few pieces on your coat!”
Mrs. Savits looked at his son, and soon figured that Peter did not understand the reason for that game, and with a sweet and tender voice said:
“Come with me to you room please, I’d like to show you something.”
Inside the room, he is placed in front of a mirror where he can see all his body.
Peter got spooked; he could only see his eyes and teeth.
Then, his father tenderly tells him:
“Son, do you see… my coat is almost clean, but look at you…”
“The harm we wish to others is just like what happens to you.”
“We can try to harm others with our thoughts, but the entire residue stays with ourselves.”
After that day, Peter changed, and realize that he had become a better child.

Ganja addict

How do you feel when you smoke ganja or better how do you feel when you don't smole ganja?
Have long have you started smoking ganja?
Dou you prefer smoke alone or with friends?
What moment is the best for smoking?
How do you feel when you think that one day you will stop smoking?
Where do use to buy your ganja?
How smoking ganja's is important for you?
Do you really think that you smoke too much?
If yes so you ganja addict
In fact, when you spend your time to smoking or using addictive so make sure that you 're ganja addict. It is the case of Mr Mojo
Well, i'm Mr Mojo and i'm 26, i live in down town of lisbon. I started smoking ganja when i was 18. I feel more relax when i smoke, i can really control myself and think in the positive sense of things. It's why i hate smoking with friend, i usually smoke in my bedroom and when i don't smoking two hour ago, i'm capable to do foolishness. I rarely go out, it's only for buy ganja in my neighbourhood because there are some ganja's dealers. It's way a very difficult for to stop smoking ganja right.
If you really want to stop, you should ask a help. Your friends or your own parents can give you an psychologic help. Firstly, you should change your habits or try to smoke less during the day. Secondly, if all thoses things are very difficult for you, try to change your neighbourhood or avoid bad poeple.

The Famous Mbalax Dance

Mbalax (or Mbalakh) is the national popular dance music of Senegal and The Gambia. Mbalax is a fusion of popular Western music and dance such as jazz, soul, Latin, and rock blended with sabar. Influenced by the 'back to roots' philosophy of Negritude and the receding influence of colonialism, artists began to mix our sounds with traditional Senegalese music and forge new sounds incorporating our new national identity. Musicians began singing in Wolof (our predominant dialect) instead of French and English, and incorporated rhythms of the indigenous sabar drum. Mbalax Dancing is popular in nightclubs and social gatherings as well as religious and cultural gatherings for example; weddings, birthdays, and naming ceremonies. Mbalax dance style incorporates pelvic gyrations and knee movements. It's way, we have a lot of kind of Mbalax dance such as the "Ventilateur" «'electric fan', which describes the motion of the buttocks swirling suggestively»; "xaj bi" «the dog', in which a dancer lifts his or her leg in imitation of a dog»; "Moulaye chigin" «which involves pelvic and knee movements that perfectly match the sabar breaks»; and, "the jelkati" «a dance in which the upper arms, bent at the elbows, move in parallel motion from left to right». Mbalax music include instruments such as drums, balafon, riti, Tama (talking drum), sabar drum and other instruments like flute, electric guitar, piano, violin, trumpet and synthesizer.
The most Famous Singer of M'balax
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer and percussionist, perhaps the most famous singer alive. He helped develop popular music in Senegal, known in the Wolof language as mbalax, a blend of the country's traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with the Afro-Cuban and Haitian kompa arrangements. And he has collaborated with musicians Peter Gabriel, Axelle Red, Sting, Alan Stivell, Bran Van 3000, Neneh Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Branford Marsalis, Ryuichi Sakamoto and others. In Senegal, Youssou is a powerful cultural icon actively involved in social issues.

Drug problems

Do you feel more relax when you consume drugs?
The anxiety takes control of you if you don’t get fixed?
Did you ever spend all your money in drugs?
Do you prefer to do drugs alone in order to take more pleasure?
Do you only have fun under drugs?
Do you find that you have a different relationship with your non-users friends opposed to the ones that consume?
Do you suffer from any kind of psychological or physical symptoms when you don’t consume drugs?

If you reviewed yourself in any of the above situations maybe you are a drug addict.

A drug addict can be defining as a person who has a serious difficulty in live their ordinary life without consuming drugs.
The main symptoms are a compulsion to consume drugs which takes precedent over everything else and if he can’t get fixed, he can fall in depression and agitation.
Other problems include insomnia and debts or robbery in order to manage money to drugs. A drug addiction can lead to relationship problems, especially with the family, and social issues as unemployment, unsuccessful school results and isolation.
Some experts claim that drug addiction stems from childhood insecurities or family problems but new studies came to deny it. A drug addict can be anyone from different backgrounds and cultures. But we can say that the root of the problem is the desire to feel cool, to escape from emotional difficulties and a lack of capacity to be part of a social group, in which the drug addict can not find a place for himself.

So what can you do if you have a drug problem?
First of all you have to face your problem and talk to your family asking for help. Second you have to take professional help and a therapeutic.
You have to consider changing your habits, avoiding same environments and persons that are linking with the drug consume. Accept your family and friends support and don’t let you down.
With time and patience you will learn to live without drugs and rediscover the pleasure of life without emotional anaesthetics.

Are you a television addict?

Do you like watching tv?
Do you spend hours and hours in front of the tv?
Do you feel the need to watch tv everyday?
When you are out, do you just think of arriving home to see your Favorite programmes?
Is your mother always advising you, to not spend so much time in front of the tv?
Do you feel that you watch too much tv?


If you answered "yes", to any of the above questions, then the chances are that you are a television addict.
It is said that addiction is characterized by spending an unusually large amount of time using a substance that is addictive; finding oneself using it more often than intended; thinking about reducing the use, and are making repeated unsuccessful attempts to reduce it; giving up social activities to use the substance, and reporting withdrawal symptoms when one does achieve stopping the use.

Television can teach and amuse, and it does provide needed distraction and escape. Yet, the difficulty arises when one strongly senses the need to stop viewing as much, and yet find they are unable to reduce viewing.
That TV viewing has a numbing effect, and reaction to the body is likened to that of a tranquilizer. Drowsiness occurs, and one may even experience depression as the viewing continues. A person actually disengages from real life becoming immersed in what is being shown on the screen which, in turn, causes excessive viewing; more so than anticipated in the beginning.


So what can you do if you think you may be a tv addict? how do you avoid it to get your life back in balance?
start here:
-Keep a record of how much TV you watch and when you watch. Do this for one week.
-List all the other fun activities you can do at home instead of watching TV. Place your list on your refrigerator so you can check this list BEFORE you turn on the TV. Consider fun things to do as a family, household projects you’d like to complete, outside activities, reading, exercise, etc.
-Set a limit for how much TV you will watch in one week. Record your time and stick to your commitment.
-Commit to exercising whenever you watch TV, such as walking on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, etc.
-Consider removing your TV for a set period of time. You might find yourself talking to your family again instead of watching the TV so much.

The echoes of the woods

It was a nice June afternoon and I was in the countryside with my parents. Everything was so peaceful and quiet.
We could hear the bees buzzing overhead and the warm June wind rustling in the trees…It felt like heaven to me.
My younger brother was throwing rocks into a pond…this made a plopping background sound.
I heard the sound of our camera clicking. It was my father taking a picture of me.
“That’s rude daddy. I’m reading. I wasn’t ready for a photo, I’m dishevelled.”
“Oh, don’t be so grouchy…you’re beautiful all the time.”
“Darling, come over here, you have to see this…take a picture of this butterfly.” My mother said to my father.
My brother had started to play with a wooden boat that he made.
At that moment we heard a huge thunder rumbling in the woods.
The sound frightened us all…rain started to pour.
My family and I searched for shelter. We found a small cave and waited there until the rain stopped.
My little brother was bored because he didn’t have space to play, my father continued to take pictures and my mother went on and on about her Tupperware friends.
“Oh poor me, I’m really lucky to be stuck here with them.” I thought.
“Why can’t we go home?” – asked my brother in tears.
“Honey, you have to be patient. We have to wait for the rain to pass. The car is far from here.” – replied my mother.
I started to hear a subtle sound, an unknown sound to me. It’s really hard to me to describe it.
I recognized the sound, when I saw four horses passing by the cave. It was the sound of the clatter of horse’s hoofs.
The horses must have been lost in the woods and maybe they were searching for their path home, but I was really happy to see horses for the first time in my life.
That really made up for it.
Soraia Silva

nature sounds

I was in the car on highway with my friends and the was just beginning...that night suppost be the big night, but wasn´t!

the highway was dark, and the lighs was shame, wasn´t show up. But the sky was clear very shine as the stars!

The night was lovely during some minutes, but suddenly the sound of the wind began to enter for the window of our car that was opened.

We were afraid, even the sound that we were hearing in the radio was calm, the sound of the wind was strong.

Later it began the thunder cracks, that was so outlandish. with crazy thunderstorm we begin to hear the sound of the tyres screech. Unfortunately the tire of my car burst and in the middle of the thunderstorm we had to change the tire! We only laugh to not cry.

So much it was the fear that the noise and other sounds, since cracking finger of one of my friends was frightening us. The night that was lovely it was turned into a monster. Along the night only we hear out strange sounds. We only pray that night one ends.

After hours and hours on the road finally we reach house. We begin to go upstairs running and something crashes to the floor and the sound of machine hums start work. We look at the face one of other and let's ourselves laughing!

Jean Félix´s Story

When i was a teenager, at the end of the academic year, i used to have my holliday in the country. I made that choice because country life is more healthy and peacefull. Where i lived there was a lot of tries it was why, during the nights, we could hear the wind rustles in the tries. My neighbour had at his house a big drinking trough for horses, which came back in later hours looking for water, we could feel them by their clatter of hoofs.

Every morning i was been awaken by an alarm clock beeps hung on the wall of the living room and by an old door creaked open of my neighboor. And just behind where i lived there was a swimming pool that had been built for inhabitants, and from a distance we could hear the day along the children cried and plopped into the water. There, we could also hear the camera cliked when parents took pictures of their kids swimmig. And then so.....