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    Talks With Al
    Talks With Al
    Talks With Al
    Ebook75 pages55 minutes

    Talks With Al

    By Gina Stoner

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A teenage boy with typical troubles meets the local handyman Al - a guru in disguise. Their unlikely relationship provides a framework for ideas and events that open the boy's mind to perspectives never mentioned at home or at school. Al's instruction starts simply enough. Then the learning curve becomes vertical!
    Although Birdie is a smart kid he's no match for a guru. And, as his terrifying guide explains the rudiments of inner awareness, he enters a new world where he can't go back and can barely go forward.
    Author, Gina Stoner,spent her life studying systems of self-development with Eastern teachers and put much of what she learned into this deceptively simple book which uses the 'young adult' format to demonstrate the approach to inner transformation. Here are challenging ideas both practical and profound. Talks With Al is a land mine.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBuzzword Books
    Release dateMay 16, 2013
    ISBN9781301382316
    Talks With Al
    Author

    Gina Stoner

    Gina Stoner is a British writer who has spent a lifetime studying systems of self-development with extraordinary teachers. She has summarized much of what she has learned in the deceptively simple "Talks with Al" which uses the 'young adult' format as a medium to open the way to a radical way of living.

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      Book preview

      Talks With Al - Gina Stoner

      Copyright 2011 Gina Stoner

      The author asserts her moral rights in the work.

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

      If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

      This edition published by Buzzword Books at Smashwords 2012

      First published by Buzzword Books 2011

      P.O. Box 7, Cammeray 2062

      Australia

      Buzzword Books.com

      Talks With Al

      by

      Gina Stoner

      Contents

      Shafting Sampson

      The Law of Two

      Plugging leaks

      Relaxing the face

      The Mechanical Universe

      Experiment with time

      Stopping thoughts

      Talking on the inside

      The girl who bothered God

      One thing at a time

      What doesn't change?

      Walking blind

      Being something

      Money

      Hanging off a string

      About Gina Stoner

      Shafting Samson

      I walk down the lane.

      I want to die.

      As if school isn't bad enough. To get monstered each day in the quad just sucks.

      There's this low-life called Simpson. Nickname: Samson. He's a total drop-kick but big. He picks on any kid who's not as dumb as he is.

      He shoves me up against the fence and says, 'Watch where you're goin'.' Then the two hoons he hangs around with cack themselves and hoot. They're deadbeats who'll end up as landfill. But right now, that doesn't help.

      I want to die.

      'G-day,' says Al.

      He's standing at the door of his shed. The shed's as old as he is. He fixes things for people. Radios, mixers, lamp stands, toasters. He doesn't charge, just likes doing it. The shed's really a big garage with a shutter that opens onto the lane. He puts the shutter up some afternoons to get the sun.

      He says, 'What happened to your knee?'

      'Kid pushed me into a fence.'

      'You push him back?'

      'No point. He's bigger.'

      'Right. Want some cake?'

      'Cool.'

      Mrs Al makes fruitcake that's more fruit than cake. He has a plate with several slices on his workbench and a bar-fridge with soft drinks where he keeps cans of ginger beer. He hands me one. 'So did you tell your teacher about it?'

      'About what?'

      'Getting shoved.'

      'That'd make it worse.'

      'Right.' He slowly sips his tea. He's a deliberate sort of guy. He keeps the ginger beer for visitors but only drinks green tea. 'Know what's wrong with schools? They teach you what to do. But not how.'

      'Schools suck.'

      'Right.' He always agrees. He says there's no point not agreeing because people only hear what they want to hear so you can't tell anyone anything. 'So! You just going to let them keep pushing you around?'

      'What else can I do?'

      'Well, you can't let people walk all over you. You have to draw the line.'

      'How?'

      'You have to figure that out. Have to be intentional.'

      'Meaning what?'

      'You don't just cave in. You make a plan and stick to it.'

      'Like what?'

      He has an old copper kettle on the bench with a turned wooden handle and nicely curved spout. There's a can labelled flux and a big soldering iron warming up. He shines the base of the kettle with steel wool. I guess it's leaking somewhere.

      I say, 'Why fix that old thing?'

      'Because it's something a kid made at school. In the days when they taught you things.'

      'A kid made that?'

      'Spout and all. Hard to believe. Then that kid grew up and went off to war and got shot down in a bomber over Germany. But his nephew kept the kettle because it was all he had left of his uncle. Looked after the kettle all his life.'

      'You're the nephew?'

      'I am. War!' He looks sad, then glances at my scraped knee. 'People never stop fighting. Except for those who won't. Who they call, for your information, conscientious objectors.'

      'Or cowards.'

      'No. Not cowards. You have to be pretty brave not to fight because then everyone has it in for you. So a lot of them are brave. But that doesn't make them smart.'

      'So what are you saying? I should fight back or not?'

      'It depends. People always want to be told what to do. But there

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