Take Time To Connect To The Divine.

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Rod's World

I spent the weekend at three entirely different connections in my life. Friday night I made chai at Dancing Freedom, Saturday I crewed on a Spring Chant Meditation and Sunday I attended Sunday Assembly. Each fulfils a different part of my soul and the people come from completely different parts of society.

I believe the more parts of society I have contact with it helps me able to strengthen my resolve to see the ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included become accepted across the planet. I am working on the Act Local, Think Global principle. I live in the Darebin Council area in Melbourne, Australia where there are over 150 different cultural groups residing and volunteer at the Darebin Intercultural Centre where differences are Acknowledged, Explored, Understood and Embraced.

How has the world look at connecting in this time of world leaders talking about nationalism vs, Globalism and the difference which of these being dominant will make to human beings connecting with each other? Lets have a look over time:

1. From Hollywood, the land of fables comes this wise insight regarding human connection.

2. Jacqueline is an entrepreneur who left the banking industry to make a difference in the area of global poverty: We are all Connected.

3. In our instant gratification times, we can easily miss the message of deep connection.

4. The We are all Starseed conversation: Across The Universe.

5. It can be as simple as eyes locking across a crowded room at a party.

6. Harvey grew up openly gay at a time when very few celebrities were. So to have the above be true he must have had a strong belief in universal connection: You’ve Got A Friend.

7. Hip Hop artist Dramatik of the Wolves speaks about the mind, body and soul connection we make with certain individuals we come across in our life journey.

8. Don’t really know what Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg . is referring to here, although I know I have connected to quite a few people on a deep level across the airwaves: So Far Away.

9. I agree, if you can discuss your shadow and light with your connections, they tend to be more intimate than just making polite conversation.

10. Our roots are our common humanity: Human.

11. Connection isn’t always about spoken words, it may be a shoulder to cry on.

12. And then there is the special one: We Found Love.

13. One World.

14. John is known for his work on marital stability and relationship analysis through scientific direct observations, many of which were published in peer-reviewed literature. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counselling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviours shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships: Steady Love.

15. And our final lesson is from Steve Maraboli, I spend my time on how to make all relationships like this. Imagine that world paradigm.

A short blog today, Dancing Freedom fuels my body transformation connection. Chanting my heart connection and Sunday Assembly my desire to connect to humanity through service.

Today’s playlist begins with one of the most unusual songs I have used, it is a group of scientists known as Symphony of Science. Then a cover by Rufus Wainwright followed by two songs by Carole King and James Taylor where they reverse roles. The beautiful anthem by Rag N Bone Man is next, the penultimate song is by Rihanna and we complete with the golden voice of India Arie: Take Time To Connect To The Divine.

A dear friend who passed way to early, said that Love was the Answer. I agree, the more we communicate it the closer we will get to having Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included in all our relationships. Remember, if you wish to receive a reminder about when I have done my latest blog, sign up on the right-hand side. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Painting is just another way of keeping a Diary!!!

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Rod's World

I . have just begun journalling again after a break of several years. I was in North Fitzroy Library yesterday when I saw the book: Creative Journal Writing – The art and heart of reflection on the shelves: Get it Here, Free Shipping… I could not resist even though I have three other books on the go at the moment. The following . review sums it up pretty well from my 3 hours reading:

Winner of the COVR Award for Book of the Year (2007) From the #1 creativity publisher in the country comes to our latest creativity bestseller–Creative Journal Writing–the ultimate book for those who are looking to use this powerful tool to heal, expand, and transform their lives. In this exceptionally positive and encouraging book, Stephanie Dowrick frees the journal writer she believes is in virtually everyone, showing through stories and examples that a genuine sense of possibility can be revived on every page. Creative journal writing goes way beyond just recording events on paper. It can be the companion that supports but doesn’t judge, a place of unparalleled discovery, and a creative playground where the everyday rules no longer count. Proven benefits of journal writing include reduced stress and anxiety, increased self-awareness, sharpened mental skills, genuine psychological insight, creative inspiration and motivation, strengthened ability to cope during difficult times, and overall physical and emotional well-being. Combining a rich choice of ideas with wonderful stories, quotes, and her refreshingly intimate thoughts gained through a lifetime of writing, Dowrick’s insights and confidence make journal writing irresistible? and your own life more enchanting. Included in Creative Journal Writing are stories of how people have used journal writing to transform their lives; – inspirational instructions, guidelines, and quotes;
– key principles, practical suggestions, and helpful hints;
– 125 starter topics, designed to help even the most reluctant journal writer;
– more than forty powerful exercises;
– and much more!

Starting to read it has made me think of the different ways I have journaled over the years. The most obscure was probably a period of time I attended Saturday afternoon art lessons in Brunswick for a year, the entry being a bottle of red as Miklos was a lover of the wee drop. I have used Julia Cameron’s methodology for several years: Morning Pages., attended Catherine Deveny’s superb Gunna’s Writing Workshops: This is what started my blog writing career. Another art experience was my dear friend Jac Price’s fantastic Creative Meditations Practice: Meditative Art. At the moment I am faithfully doing Danielle LaPorte’s Daily Planner, a short sharp precise journal of what you are committing to for the day, what you are grateful for, what isn’t working, what you should stop and a daily meditation are included, I also write a daily love meme and post it on my Facebook page: 5 years and counting, one of the original users.

So what do people say about journaling or what do they write that ends up as a quote, there are some beauties:

1. For some people they love quotes, I admit to this fetish.

2. We go back to the 17th century for this piece of sage wisdom from one of the founding fathers of the United States: A Song For You.

3. Or then you can journal new possibilities in your life.

4. Journal well, my friends: It Was a Good Day.

5. Journalling on these days will help you snap out of it quicker, remember, the shadow and the light both need some loving.

6. George was a Republican, he spoke in favour of African-American equality and civil rights. Something the current mob seem to have forgotten: It’s My Life.

7. Did MLK keep a journal, they would be a great read.

8. Envision greatness, why not: The Greatest.

9. One of life’s great mysteries, creating your life with the written word.

10. A save your personal planet kind of space: Earth.

11. When putting the words on the page, don’t forget to water your soul.

12. And from one of the most famous of those who journal, why we do it.: You Only Live Twice.

13. Love this definition of writing.

14. I actually do a celebration, challenges, commitment practice: Life Is Worth Living.

15. And we finish with a lesson from the world’s most famous journal writer.

Stephanie makes some suggestions, lets finish with those:

A routine for your journal writing supports what you are doing. It also keeps you on track. It isn’t essential to write every day, but writing most days does really make a difference.
Sit somewhere to write that feels really good to you. Let go both physically and mentally before you begin to write.
Whenever you feel flat or ‘stuck’, describe that state of mind in your journal. Be a scientific observer of your own condition. (‘I kept writing in circles, just commenting on that, then suddenly I took off against all my expectations…’)
Go against the current tide that tells you ‘instant is best’ That’s only sometimes true in journal writing. Here you can be both tortoise and hare.
‘Forget what you wrote yesterday. Practise coming into this day, freshly. Bring to your journal writing your capacity to be present in the moment – even when you are writing about the past.
Are your expectations high enough? Do you feel like trying something that you are at present? Taking greater risks with language or subject matter or point of view? Looking more attentively at what you might be avoiding?
Concentrating mostly on ‘thoughts’? If so, look at the feelings associated with whatever topic you are writing about. If you have written a lot about your feelings, take some time to review your thoughts. Or to be a little more analytical and detached than usual. Or look at these feelings themselves somewhat dispassionately. What do you think about those feelings? How precise are they? Are they your familiar repertoire? Could you think about your feelings with great subtlety?
Notice with interest where you might be limiting yourself. What are you telling yourself that you can’t afford to notice, feel or write about?
Notice with interest what’s exciting you about the journal writing process. Let yourself be surprised.

We cover 50 years in today’s playlist. Beginning in the 1970s with Leon Russell and Friends, then forward a bit with Ice Cube. Then to last decade with No Doubt and finally to today with Sia and Little Dicky. The penultimate number returns to the 70s with Nancy Sinatra and then forward in time for the last number with Justin Bieber: Painting Is Just Another Way of Keeping a Diary!!!

The more I journal, the closer I get to achieving Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Remember if you like reading my blogs to put your name on the email list on the dropbox on the right. Until we meet again my dear friends.

In Praise of the Women and Men of DE, Sensual sisters to the Core.

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Rod's World

OK, I admit I am a DE sister in a male body, and I love the distinctions of this magnificent portal in life.

My friend and mentor Arion Light recently wrote an epic article praising it, Here is some of what he said:

For me, this is medicine our disconnected culture so desperately needs. A return to an honour of the beauty of the feminine. I feel, as do many of you I’m sure, our disconnection from our deep love within is at the heart of our insatiable need for stuff and distraction. When we truly see ‘her’ beauty all we can do is bow and give our lives to celebrate and serve her.
I really get it’s not the ‘only’ answer. Clearly, this reverence for love, women, earth and simplicity has to turn to action if we are to make the cultural shift that many of us hunger for. Yet this is a portal to initiating women, men and all beings to know this wild dark love in themselves, and that has to be a very central step to the revolution we need to survive.

There are five archetypes studied, The Erotic Mother, The Wild Women, The Slut, The Maiden and the Priestess over either an intense week or an eight-week evening format. The way you look at life and the human beings in it are transformed forever.

Given this is relatively new work, just seven years young, how did the world speak about female archetypes prior to this, lets walk down that path:

1. Sisters, do we run with the wolves?

2. Spell time methinks: For Love of Woman.

3. Could be the DE sister to-do list.

4. This work clearly heals the participant’s relationships with their ancestors: Familiar.

5. You enter many doors over the times, and you come out the other side, some easier than others.

6. Lucy rocks: Tantric Shamanic Dance Journey.

7. You get the opportunity to enquire into your relationship to the naked body if you wish.

8. Fuck Off: Closer.

9. Mrs POTUS, did she pass the test?

10. Take the risk, sisters: Last Stand.

11. Shadow and Light, they travel together and both are as necessary as each other.

12. It was some brave male sisters who kept requesting who saw this work became available for he’s as well as she’s: Good For You.

13. A drop of free water, magnificent line.

14. And from the lesser-known member of the Gates partnership, comes this powerful quote: Touch.

15. And our final lesson comes from Lord of The Rings. Haldir was an Elf of Lothlórien, probably a Silvan Elf, and a march warden who guarded the forest’s northern borders. When the Fellowship of the Ring arrived in Lórien, he became their guide to Caras Galadhon. He and his companions are described as wearing grey hooded cloaks and residing on platforms or flets. Underlying all is Love.

This is Arion’s final wish in his news feed article about the work and its courses, May they fill with people and may we all grow an inner and outer love that brings a revolution of deep love and healthy power throughout the fabric of our worlds. I second the motion.

Today’s playlist comes from one of the Dancing Eros playlists I created from existing Spotify lists that began with the Dancing Eros titles. See, I much prefer visual to the audio, there are some damn sexy videos in the lists. If you put in Dancing Eros in the Youtube search engine you will find a few. The first track comes from Perequios, then Agnes Obel which is followed by a momentous track from Leyolah Antara. Two men follow, NIne Inch Nails and Kwabs. The penultimate track is from Selena Gomez and we finish with Holy Other: In Praise Of.

If this amazing work could spread across the planet, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included would happen sooner than later, methinks. Remember if you like these blogs register to receive them in your inbox on the right-hand side. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

At Our Core, We Are Love And Light!!!

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Rod's World

I will begin today’s blog with two paragraphs from Brene Brown’s unknown tome I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) on that verboten subject, Shame. The chapter it is form is entitled Practicing Compassion in a Culture of Blame: Get It Here, Great Read.

“This is YOUR fault! This is all MY fault! You’re to blame. I’m to blame. We are a culture obsessed with finding fault and assigning blame. Holding ourselves or others accountable is a good thing, but blame and accountability are very different. I think the difference between accountability and blame is very similar to the relationship between guilt and shame> Like guilt, accountability is most often motivated by the desire to repair and renew – it is holding someone responsible for their actions and the consequences of their actions.

On the other hand, we often use blame to discharge over=whelming feelings of fear and shame: “This is painful – who can I blame? I’ll blame you! You are bad and this is your fault.” Inherent in holding ourselves or others accountable for our behaviour is expecting change or resolution. Like shame, blame shuts us down and it is not an effective tool for change.

So what is the opposite behaviour we could utilise, we travel to the land of Nepal and visit one of the greatest human beings, His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. This is the person that instantly comes to mind when the words and actions of compassion are uttered. Mind you I was a practising Tibetan Buddhist for Eight years and lead 4 hours of calm abiding meditation and diety practice for five years every Sunday.

So what has the world said about practising compassion over the journey. Here are a few of HHDL comments and the rest:

1. His most famous quote on the subject, by a long way. Features across the planet.

2. Got to love this acronym C.A.R.E, replace God with your favourite entity, for me it is Gaia: Unstoppable.

3. Looks like old school crayon writing, but what a question.

4. What is your Bodhi tree: True Power.

5. This powerful image says it all really, no comment.

6. Some world leaders have forgotten this: Killing In The Name Of.

7. Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West.

8. Life a simple life, his Holiness rocks: Who You Really Are.

9. The first step, Self Love 101.

10. Repeat after me, we are not alone: Is This Love.

11. Why this, I just loved this image.

12. A bit difficult to read for us bespectacled folk, but very insightful: Morning Has Broken.

13. Pick it up in your hands and offer it, love.

14: We are one day away from the worldwide school strike for the climate crisis, One of my slogans best describes this event: It’s Up To Us, Because We Can, It’s Our Time: Big Yellow Taxi.

15. And for our final lesson, we go to the good old USA, American-born multi-genre author Aberjhani (born July 8, 1957, in Savannah, Georgia) is a historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist, and editor. Although well known for his blog articles on literature and politics, he is perhaps best known as the co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance and author of The River of Winged Dreams. The encyclopedia won a Choice Academic Title Award in 2004.

I will finish with some comments from the interviews Brene did in relation to shame:

“She’s Chinese or something – you know, she’s smart.”
“She’s Indian, They’re super rude like that.
“She’s so closed-minded – I can’t stand old people.”
” I think she’s like that because she was raped a couple of years ago.”
“It won’t hurt her feelings- She’s the sweet grandma type.”
“I don’t think she’s mad, she’s just got that whole angry black thing going on.”
“Her boyfriend is from Pakistan – she’s probably not allowed to go out.”

How would you answer the questions that had these type of answers occur?

Our playlist today contains some classic tunes and if I don’t say so myself, the best obscure track so far. We start with Sia, then the unknown Emily Ebert, great song. One of the great rock anthems from Rage Against the Machine is next. We then enter the spiritual world with a tune from Kirtana. We go back a century for the last three numbers. Bob Marley, Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell end this beautiful playlist: At Our Core, We Are Love and Light!!!

So, we have discussed our penchant to blame when life becomes hard and the compassion practised by His Holiness. One of Brene’s lines sums up the choice for me: – it is holding someone responsible for their actions and the consequences of their actions. To me, compassion allows for this, and blame does not. It behoves us to walk alongside Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included. Until next time, my dear friends. If you are enjoying reading these blogs of mine, sign on to receive them in your inbox on the right-hand side of the blog.

Let Go or You Will Be Dragged!!

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Rod's World

Today we discuss desire as a feeling. I met a woman at a dance last Saturday who I desired, but then the thought I have no idea how to fulfil it came up. I discussed this with my mentor the following Wednesday and he suggested I spend the next week enquiring and breathing into what I felt desire was.

Some history, I have not been in a long term relationship for ten years and made a decision after the not so healthy breakup that it was probably better to remain single the rest of my life. Having made this decision and not having fully put it to rest may have something to do with my lack of ability to be in the acting on my desires with women space. I have declared it at times I am ready for one, but when the opportunity has arisen to express them I have tended to freeze so still some work to do in that area, methinks.

So what has happened in my enquiry into desires over the week? I was meant to attend a concert by a friend on Sunday morning but when I arrived at the address advertised it was a house not a church, so I decided to go to one of my favourite cafes for brunch. As I was sitting there, there was a tap on the window and there was one of the women I admire in my community taking her client for a walk. We blew a kiss to each other and I decided that I desired to get to know her more intimately as I consider she has one of the most beautiful souls I have met in recent years.

I sent her an SMS saying how it had warmed my heart seeing her beautiful smile and acknowledged her for the work she does in the community. It made me feel great having done it and put it down. An aside, I was sitting at a four-seat table on my own when a party of three came in, they were told there was no space, so I offered to move. When I left the owner thanked me as this was not the norm. I replied., why wouldn’t you if you could.

As I was leaving I ran into my friend on the street and was able to continue the conversation and find out a little bit more about what resides in her heart. It helped me realise that I had a funny idea of the desire of being intimate with people was.

Concerning that, what has humanity said about desires over our short journey on the planet, here are a few examples:

1. Rumi’s words are seven centuries old but the profound messages they hold ensure that they are read worldwide today.

2. Shreya is a Bollywood actress and singer, I’m sure most people on the planet have had days like these moments she mentions in this telling quote: Dhadak Title Track.

3. Is passion just another word for our desires?

4. I think the more intimate we are willing to be with each other, the greater the transformation possible, especially of our heartspace: Shallow.

5. A fine scientific formula in my opinion.

6. Shadow and Light, they travel together: Beautiful Pain.

7. Are these called tautologies?

8. In 1986 Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. On the path, he had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. In an interview, Coelho stated “[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer.” Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time: Listen To Your Heart.

9. I’m still contemplating this one.

10. I think we are talking about Faith here: Faith.

11. Where do desires come from, for me, they seem to pop up in the most ridiculous times and places.

12. In this area, I vacillate between clucking and soaring: Fly Like An Eagle.

13. I need to have this done as my first tattoo.

14. As I have discovered over the past week, it is the same with your desires: Perfect Places.

15. We go back 2,500 years for our final lesson on desire to the time of the Ancient Greeks, Aristotle ensure us that all that drives our desires is imperishable whatever life throws at us.

Brene Brown writes in her book, I Thought it Was Just Me = But it Isn’t: There is a beautiful quote from spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson that really inspires me. As you read it, I invite you to think about what she has written in the context of experiencing the shame you have around your desires:

Our deepest fear is that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel unsure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

The playlist today contains some Bollywood and two duets, which is probably apt seeing this blog is about desires. Off to Bollywood for the first number with Shreya, then to Hollywood for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Rapper Eminem and Sia seem like an odd couple next then some classic rock from Roxette. George Michael features next. The penultimate number is a classic 70’s jam from The Steve Miller band and we cross the ditch for the final number from that fine songstress, Lorde: Let Go or You Will Be Dragged!!

So I believe if we were more willing to express our desires authentically we would be much closer to living in a world where Love and Respect For All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends. Don’t forget, you can sign up to receive. these blogs in your inbox twice weekly.

Love The Trees Until Their Leaves Fall Off!!!

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Rod's World

In my state of Victoria, Australia, a group of indigenous women from the Djab Wurrung tribe have been fighting the State Government to save their ancient birthing trees, I attended a rally of support outside our Parliament House yesterday.

Among the women speaking out against the eviction of the Djab Wurrung protection embassy camp and the removal of thousands of trees between Buangor and Ararat, including some 200 sacred birthing and direction trees, some of which are believed to be around 800-years-old, embassy leader DT Zellanach travelled from country to speak into power, supporting the rally’s calls of “no trees, no treaty.” The embassy camp has been actively blocking the removal of the trees for around 14 months, despite notices of eviction from the Victorian government being delivered to make way for Major Road Projects Victoria to begin clearing the land.

Our government declared a public square that is just 17 years old, Federation Square being added to the state’s heritage register in recognition of its cultural significance to Victoria. Yet they will not recognise the birthing trees which are around 800 years old the same protection.

When did we forget that nature and the lore of the indigenous people of our country are just as important, if not more so?

What has society said about the rights of mother earth and its peoples over the centuries, remembering that the First Australians are the world’s longest existing culture who had looked after this land for 60,000 years before European settlement, lets have a look:

1. We are the only European settled country that does not have a treaty with the indigenous people of the land we invaded, our relationship with them suffers accordingly.

2. Embassy leader DT Zellanach had this to say at the rally: Zellanach: We are the land. What you do to our country you do to us. We’ve never ceded sovereignty.

Our women and children are the most oppressed people in this land. I get sick and tired of seeing what men want to do to our women and children. The trees are Women’s business: Wild Women Do.

3. The actions the Djab Wurrung women have taken to raise support to resist for 14 months is truly magnificent.

4. These women can clearly hear their regions earthsong: Earth.

5. Sixty thousand years, I believe we have something to learn off these women before it is too late.

6. Ralph Emerson was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, he died in 1882. Luckily there are still people like the Djab Wurrung women who are willing to stand up for their rights: Eve of Destruction.

7. Clearly does not satisfy the Victorian State Government.

8. A quirky individual, Michael Jackson stood for the earth, he possibly would have been at the embassy if he was alive today: Earthsong.

9. I consider the Djab Wurrung women Earth Angels.

10 What are the birthing trees but not the soul of the Djab Wurrung nation: With Arms Wide Open.

11. Our premier, Daniel Andrews has forgotten this, No Trees, No Treaty.

12. I was gifted the ability to hear the earth by an indigenous elder at Confest, sometimes I hear the earth crying, I sure you can hear the trees on the Embassy site: The Memory of The Trees.

13. To all the people who attended the rally with me, thank you for giving the trees a chance.

14. Many Christians who follow the greed train seem to have forgotten this quote from their holy book, including members of our state government in this situation: Timeless Land.

15. And for our final lesson some words from one of the great women of this and the last century, Maya Angelou. To the Djab Wurrung women, I stand with you, No Trees, No Treaty.

Indigenous land, it’s where you stand, we cannot keep denying 60,000 years of occupation. Time for a treaty, and time to protect the Djab Wurrung sacred birthing trees.

Today’s playlist is about the Earth, birthing and trees. We begin with Natalie Cole. Some rap from Little Dicky follows, then we go back to the 1960s to Barry McGuire to demonstrate we haven’t really learnt the lesson this song is about. Then a Michael Jackson song I actually had never heard of. Creed follows with a beautiful ode to birthing then, the penultimate song is from Enya and we complete with a tune from one of Australia’s preeminent indigenous bands Yothu Yindi in praise of the timelessness of our ancient continent and its first people: Love The Trees Until Their Leaves Fall Off!!

I have not written a political based blog for several years but realised that it was time to reenter that space. No Trees, No Treaty. If we are to have Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included becoming the worlds catchcry all must be willing to take action. Until we meet again, my dear friends. Remember if you wish to receive my blogs sign on in the follow space.

Why Walk When You Can Dance!!!

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Rod's World

I made chai for Mojo, The Dance of Connection over the weekend. I have been chaistro for four different dances over the past month: Mojo, Dancing Freedom, Ecstatic Dance and Resonance Project. Here, in Melbourne Australia, we have a vibrant conscious dance scene which I love being part of. I hold that dance is one of the true forms of healing available on the planet. It has existed longer than language and takes us to states that words alone cannot.

Each dance is different: Mojo, to me, is the dance of healing where people get to be touched in a safe, loving manner during the forest and if they fulfil the request to dance with a different partner each track, they get to examine their relationship to connecting with others: How to contact Mojo. Dancing Freedom is more a personal shamanic transformational dance through the elements the earth is made from, you are a little bit different after each journey: How to contact Dancing Freedom. Ecstatic Dance each fortnight brings you diverse rhythms beats and melodies to attune your Body, Mind and Soul to: How to contact Ecstatic Dance. Resonance Project brings together an evening of 5Rhythms embodiment and sound medicine magic, a full sensory experience for you to journey deep and invite transformation of the highest frequency. It includes a guest musician as well: How to contact Resonance Project.

So there was dance before language, what have we said about it since we learned to speak, read and write, here are a few of my favourites:

1. The Hebrew Bible is not somewhere I would expect to find this quote praising dance.

2. Passion, turn to the left, hold on that’s: Fashion.

3. My Happy Place.

4. I just had to look up who Marilyn Ferguson was after reading this fantastic quote, A founding member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, Ferguson published and edited the well-regarded science newsletter Brain/Mind Bulletin from 1975 to 1996. Her acquaintances included Bucky Fuller, Ram Dass and Al Gore: Let’s Dance

5. Considered one of the most innovative dancers of the last century, Isadora Duncan began teaching dance in her teens, unfortunately, she suffered one of the most bizarre causes of death when her scarf went around her cars axle.

6. Transcend the limitations of our self – what a beautiful description of ecstatic dance: Desert Dwellers at Burning Man.

7. All hail the teachers of dance that exist on the planet.

8. They have them, they are just made out of gossamer: Fly.

9. We dance for all the things!!!

10. And for me, it is always an honour: Waiting for Love.

11. How true is this in a dancers world, very in mine.

12. I feel so sorry for the deaf ones, they do not know what they are missing out on: My friend Suebee Fae.

13. In all its forms: folk, ballet, conscious, line, rock and roll, swing, etc. etc. etc.\

14. Even the cardiganed one has something to say about it: Dance Monkey.

15. Our final lesson on the dance comes from an extraordinary source: Margaretha Geertruida “Margreet” MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France.

So as you may have guessed dancing is one of my passions, I have fallen in love with my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff’s lists again: Here are some questions on passion to make you think.

1. What will you never give up on?

2. What activities make you lose track of time?

3. What’s something you would do for every day if you could?

4. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?

5. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

6. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?

7. What is something you would hate to go without for a day?

8. Would you rather have less work to do or more work you actually enjoy doing?

9. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

I have tried to include some more obscure tracks beside the classic tracks about dance in the playlist today. We begin with David Bowie twice, yes, one of them is that track. From The Desert Dwellers next is a sunrise set then we fly with Marshmello. Avicii lays down the next track and then my friend from Byron Shire, Suebee Fae features. We end with a track from Ireland by the Tones and I: Why Walk When You Can Dance!!!

Remember to signup to receive these blogs in your email box if you enjoy them, we can dance our way to a new world ethos: Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

It’s About Breaking Down The Walls

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Rod's World

I am starting to get a lot of information in my Facebook news feed as to what makes a man a real man, I was in my local library the other day when I saw the updated version of Steve Biddulph’s visionary book Manhood first released in 1998, now called the New Manhood: Love, Freedom, Spirit and the New Masculinity and re-released in 2015. I discovered a review of the book which sums how I see the situation, written by a phycologist named Katja:

Just reading the first ten pages of this book will probably be enough to leave you in no doubt – we in the Western world have a serious problem with men. Lonely, frustrated, confused, unhappy men. Men who can’t express their emotions and either numb them or channel them in negative and violent ways towards women, children, and other men. Men whose identities are tied up in their careers, because they never learned that there were any other options. Men whose fathers were authoritarian, cold, distant, abusive, or absent, and who are perpetuating those same patterns in their own families. Particularly affecting is the section in which Biddulph explores where we as a society got our modern conception of “manliness” – and where, frankly, it all started to go wrong. If this book impresses upon you one message, it is that our concept of manhood has become warped, constricted, deranged – and is in desperate need of re-evaluation. The fact that this is just as much the case as 20 years ago when it was written is extremely worrying. Biddulph doesn’t mince words – he cuts straight to the point and tells it like it is, succinctly but deeply exploring the problems of modern manhood, with a writing style that is refreshing and at times devastatingly emotional. So much so that the friend who lent it to me said that it made him cry – and if you think there’s anything wrong with that, then this book is for you in particular! Here is a link to the book: The New Manhood.

All over the world movements are arising to shift this, in my hometown, Melbourne we have one-day events called Isle of Men and a three-day retreat called Menergy, they are for men to attend to become a better man for themselves, their partners, their children, their families and their friends. So what has the world said about masculinity over the years, let’s take that journey:

1. Withholding causes emotional and physical pain on an ongoing basis.

2. Little Boxes, Little Boxes all in a row: Mask Off.

3. What one could call living a complete life, not ignoring the hard parts.

4. Wrong-way, go back: A Woman’s Worth.

5. Boom!!!

6. The shadow and the light, Its all part of the deal: Shadow of The Day.

7. If this irritates you, its time to begin the journey.

8. The journey from the mind to the heart and back again – a great start: Jar of Hearts.

9. I am 65, I only learnt this in my last five years, it is very freeing.

10. Both M and F words, but they have totally different meanings and distinctions attached to them: Breaking Free.

11. Repeat after me, It is not given to you.

12. The film industry has a lot to answer for: Gangsta’s Paradise.

13. Because I can.

14. Fuck, this is good: In My Feelings.

15. And for our final lesson in masculinity, who is the greatest victim, time to go and look in your mirror.

Each chapter has a quote at the beginning, I thought I would finish with a few:

You and your father: Oh will you never return to see, your bruised and battered sons? Oh, I would, I would, if welcome I were for they loathe me everyone – Traditional Folk Song.

Real Sex: Slowly, Slowly in bed with a woman, I am learning to be human – Jesse Kornbluth

From Boy to Man: Between childhood, boyhood, adolescence and manhood there should be sharp lines drawn with tests, feats, rites, stories, songs and judgements – Jim Morrison.

You would think a playlist about masculinity would be all men lamenting on the subject, not so. There is quite a bit of rap though. We begin with Future who is followed by Alicia Keys. Linkin Park gets quite dark next then Christina Perri and Ruby Rose have their say. Back to rap to finish with Coolio and Drake: It’s about breaking down the Walls.

In the steps forward I have seen in the men’s movement in my country I hold great hope for my ethos: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Death takes no Bribes!!!

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Rod's World

I spent yesterday watching the ABC inspiring documentary Old People’s Home for 4-Year-olds, the premise is a group of 4 years old would visit an aged care facility and re-inspire a group of 70 and 80-year-olds to partake in life again. But what if you don’t make it to 70 or 80 like my friend who passed away at Burning Man this week in what would seem the most extraordinary circumstances. He is the third person I have known this year who has passed before their time. One of them gave me a download as follows: Get on with your passion and dreams, I am living evidence that you cannot guarantee you will be here tomorrow, so get on with it.

As the title of this blog says, Death takes no bribes, so how has society spoken about those that we lose earlier than we expect, here are some of my favourites:

1. For me, it was Fathers Day in our country yesterday, even though it has been over 9 years my dear dad passed away I still remember his quirky habits that I loved so dearly.

2. Because they are not here to answer it in the flesh: Too Young To Die.

3. The three people I knew said this in their own unique ways.

4. It is very rarely we assume that the goodbyes we say to our beloveds will be the last time we have the opportunity to: The Last Goodbye.

5. Charles Palahniuk (born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist and freelance journalist, who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He is the author of the award-winning novel Fight Club, which also was made into a popular film of the same name.

6. I think every human on earth has an unfinished story in their life: The Unfinished Story.

7. One of my favourite stories relating to this is when a butterfly magically appeared when he was selling his dearly departed’s car.

8. Lest we forget: Never Forget You.

9. Time to go out bush and look at the Milky Way again.

10. What is it that reminds you of your departed? For me, it is the meditation stool my parents brought me as a surprise birthday present: There You’ll Be.

11. Loving memories cannot be taken from us.

12. At what age the person is this doesn’t matter, I missed with my mum, I was on the way to see her when she passed. And all the younger souls, who would have thought you would not get the chance again.: How Long Will I Love You.

13. A positive way to remember those who have passed.

14. It may be one year, thirty or ninety years, remember how lucky you were to receive the blessing of their life: Sunbeams.

15. And for our final lesson, remember they always remain in your heart if they may no longer be here physically.

So taking my friends download to heart, lets get out there and live our lives to the fullest.

The playlist begins with the man and finishes with the women. First, we have Jamiroquai, then Jeff Buckley. Our unknown entry is from South Africa, their name is Stimela. Zara Larsson starts the women, followed by Faith Hill. The penultimate song is Elliot Goulding and we finish with Lil Bo Weep and Zheani: Death Takes NO Bribes.

So given that we rarely know when our loved ones will pass, remember to live from Love and Respect from All, Everyone Included. Also if you wish to receive my blogs on a regular basis remember to sign up on the email list. Until we meet again, dear friends.