Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Rod's World

I crew on three drug and alcohol-free dances within our community so ever rarely come across toxic drug and alcohol abuse spaces. I attended one on Saturday night as I had been invited by a DJ friend of mine, Mickey Space to attend his birthday gathering at a place called Horse Bazaar. It was like a return to my dark secret past. This was the venue my wildest girlfriend and I used to attend to dance after taking Acid or Ecstasy over a two year period every Saturday night 15 years ago. I never thought I would return there.

Mickey plays great music, so I was enjoying the dance when this rather drunken, amazingly beautiful young women, most of them are young when you are 64, came up to me and said, “You are too transparent, you’re not allowed to be that transparent, it’s unfair.” I told her I was a Dancing Eros sister, an ISTA graduate and a Warrior of Love. I sat her down and showed her the Dancing Eros homepage, and said look it up when you are sober: Access to Dancing Eros.

What would life be like if we were all as transparent with each other as I was that scared the bejesus out of this young woman? I am an empath so often feel the effect we have on each other. Unfortunately, I feel the pain people think they are hiding that they don’t want people to see so often have to leave events early. What has society said about transparency over the decades? Here are the most relevant I could find:

1. This is one gift if you think of it as one you receive as you become more and more transparent.

2. Simply, His Holiness rocks: Dalai Lama’s Guide To Happiness

3. All you do is confuse others when you continually change directions.

4. Wikipedia thinks Himanshu is either an Indian Bollywood actor or a New York rapper, I’m not sure about that, but I really like the intent of this quote: There is So Much Magnificence.

5. I have discovered I have worn a lot of masks over the years: Shyness, Judgemental, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, it takes committing yourself to a journey to remove them.

6. Some words: Brene Brown, vulnerability, it’s worth it: Embracing Vulnerability.

7. Not greatly relevant, but I like it.

8. How often in our lives don’t we do this for the sake of keeping the peace: Honest.

9. Transparency may lead you here.

10. I think if you are living a transparent life, that the other two would just fall in place: I’m Your Man.

11. When I am writing a note to the woman I wish to be my beloved I write the following: Remember to Breathe next time we meet, my beloved. From your beloved, if that is what you have chosen. I am still waiting for a reply.

12. It’s all in the eyes. They say they do not lie as they are the gateway to the soul: Bette Davis Eyes.

13. Does this go along with Home is Where the Heart Is. Maybe.

14. This may be a fallout out if people are on different journeys towards transparency: So Am I.

15. And our final lesson comes from Bono, who points out powerfully the cost of not telling the truth.

There were quite a few definitions of what transparency means, this was my favourite: the quality of being done in an open way without secrets.

In tribute to being in Rise – Speaker Training the playlist contains two spoken word tracks. We begin with His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, then two of my favourites Deva and Miten. Then the current Netflix craze, Brene Brown. Then one of the many rappers around at the moment, Future. Two legends follow in Leonard Cohen and Kim Carnes, completing with Ava Max: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.

What I am transparent about is spreading the paradigm Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. The more people I can have see this as a possibility, the merrier. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

There’s Enough Sun for Everybody!!

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Rod's World

I am part of the conscious community of Melbourne, we love dancing, workshops and parties. A lot of the people make there living from offering healings, workshops, and dances to the other members of the community. One thing people in the community are naff at is self-marketing. There are over 15 Facebook groups and several Webpages they could offer their products on for free, yet many do not seem to know of their existence.

They post on their personal page and their business page and cross their fingers that it will land on enough of their friend’s pages for people to find out about it. One thing that fascinates me is that not many people take the time to share their friend’s offerings on their personal pages. It takes at a maximum, 30 seconds and is one of the ways that you can best support their endeavours. Facebook algorithms are getting mean as fuck, so reliance on them is at best, stupid. I made a decision several years ago that I would share every event that I came across in the community as my gift to my friends. Recently this is a message I received from a friend I did it for Wow. Rod that is so incredibly kind of you. Thank you! I do often feel I am promoting a million things and it makes it hard to find a genuine connection to my community and audience (even though I know what I offer has value and worth). Having others spread the word is an incredible gift for me. Thank you.

To me, supporting local creativity is a no brainer, but what has society said about supporting each other, let’s have a look:

1. As I said, it takes 30 seconds to post an event on social media.

2. From an often pilloried POTUS, comes this beautiful request: Where Is The Love.

3. You may never know who you heal with your kindness, just be kind.

4. I was stopped in the central mall in our city by a young family one day, He said you may not remember me, I used to be a heroin addict who came to your Centrelink office, your kindness to me over time helped me get off it, you saved my life. What do you say when someone says that to you: People Help The People.

5. Hearts, Ears, and Hands. Everybody has them.

6. Cheap at half the price: Inspiration from Muhammad.

7. Empowerment is what works, jealousy is the booby prize.

8. Shadow and Light, they travel together. That which you focus on has the power in your life: Faded.

9. I have been working on this for over 40 years, it is not as easy as it seems.

10. That’s what friends are for, only one song really: That’s What Friends are For.

11. Find yourself, by losing yourself, not totally logical, but it works for me.

12. Who have you lifted up today, this week, this month, etc. etc: I Can See Clearly Now.

13. This means something totally different down here in The Land Down Under, check out Australia Slang Terms.

14. Pass it along: We are Family.

15. The final lesson is from the world’s curly-haired genius, Albert. Lets live a worthwhile life.

So my call out is every time you see an event shared by a friend, take the 30 seconds to share it, you could be paying their child’s school fees.

The Playlist today is a very positive one. Black Eyed Peas and Ariana Grande kick it off, then Birdy shares a very positive number. The spoken word is from Muhammad Ali today, New to me Alan Walker with his over 1 billion hits follows. Then a posse, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight combine. We head to the West Indies next to hear from Jimmy Cliff and finish with Sister Sledge: There’s Enough Sun For Everybody.

I love my community, it is a place where my paradigm, Love and Respect For All, Everyone Included is very close to being fulfilled:

Intimacy is Into Me See!!

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Rod's World

What is true intimacy? This is a question and a state of play I have been exploring for the last three years. Admittedly I am coming from a very low base. I have found one of the things that most gets in my way is when I come from I think I know what intimacy is. All those memes, books and audios on finding your true soulmate have begun to confuse me, how she should look, how old she should be, what sexual predications she prefers, does she have or want children, etc., etc. etc.

I make chai at a dance called Mojo, The Dance of Connection, It is a truly sacred place where most of the angst that society attaches to intimacy disappears over the duration of the night. One night I looked out over the dancefloor late into the night, and a sense of sadness came across me because I realised that over 50 per cent of these beautiful souls would go home alone. The expression Sacred Love Letters passed through me. I had no idea what that meant.

Over the next two weeks, I had many thoughts to what it could mean. This is what I came up with. Here we go: As we get older we are trained to not share our intimate moments, being told that it is not safe to reveal our greatest secrets. What does this lead to: Three facts, the divorce rate, average length of relationships 18 to 25: six months and the proliferation of dating apps with their dick picture postings.

So this workshop idea came through, its called The Sacred Love Stories workshop and the premise is that for each chakra you tell your, “If they ever knew that about me, they would never talk to me again story as well as your: Yes I actually did this, and I am not boasting story”. The premise is in doing it with people you might not know as well as your intimate beloved people there will be not as much as a charge and it will move you down the path to doing it with your beloveds.

I have not had the gonads to actually run it yet, but have a list of people I have to contact when I do. Its very close.

So what does society say about intimacy? There are lots of beautiful quotes on the subject, here are some of my favourites:

1. I recently discovered that the person I hold in my heart does not feel the same way, surprisingly, in letting her go, I had the most erotic dance with her I have ever had in my life on Saturday night.

2. Would you get an A-plus or an F: Hold My Hand.

3. This is what I did the first night I put the women I mentioned in my heart.

4. So who of my readers have heard of the 70’s group the Seekers: A World of our Own.

5. Can’t read the authors name, but more Eye Gazing.

6. Kiara was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. She took her first steps into the entertainment world when she joined her school choir but, because of her distinctive, powerful voice, the rest of the members didn’t feel she blended in well and wasn’t allowed to stay in their musical ensemble. Seven best selling albums later, she sort of proved them wrong: Liberame.

7. Jim Carrey, Fear and Love, Google It.

8. Mazlo missed this one: All of Me.

9. One day we meet the one we never get over and then we know why all the others did not work out.

10. You look across the room, and their weird says, Thank god I finally found you, game over: Sweet but Psycho.

11. I love the saying it’s easy to get a kiss, not that hard to have sex, but finding the one who touches your heart and warms your soul, that’s hard shit.

12. Rollo Reese May was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book Love and Will (1969). He is often associated with humanistic psychology, existentialist philosophy and, alongside Viktor Frankl, was a major proponent of existential psychotherapy: Hope.

13. Sometimes its not about the jiggy thing.

14. Break down the wall that prevents you from having intimacy in your life: The Mystical Power of Intimate Relationships.

15. And for our final lesson, a reminder that the intimacy must begin with ourselves.

So my breakthrough has come by being curious about it and checking with my heart, and not the memories in my head of my past failures. Would you like to be added to the Workshop waiting list? I promise it will happen this year.

Today’s playlist covers 5 decades and three countries. It begins with the County superstar, Jess Glynne. Then a blast from the past, the most popular 70’s Aussie band, The Seekers. We cross the ocean to Venezuela to hear Kiara. The smooth John Legend follows, then the quirky Ava Max. Pop diva Natasha Bedingfield sings a song of Hope and we finish with some spoken word from Marianne Williamson:Intimacy Into me See

As well as intimacy in my life I also wish for the community paradigm to be Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Words aren’t Enough To Convey How Much I Miss You.

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Rod's World

I have begun an amazing journey with one of the best Spoken Word artists in Australia if not the world Fleassy Malay, it’s about public speaking and is called Rise: Access to the journey. Fleassy has a spoken word performance Witches, Fleassy’s inspiring poem on women’s empowerment, reached 1,000,000 views in 3 days. It currently sits at over 2,600,000 views in less than one year: Witches.

Truth is Fleassy’s power used to scare the shit out of me, as when she performed she stood in her power, something I had sought for over 60 years and until this year, failed to achieve. Each week of the course I am falling more deeply in love with what gifts she has to offer the world. Each week we have a group Zoom call, this week it was on giving and receiving gifts. I belong to the tribe of the Givers and am incredibly naff at the latter. Each person shared their own version of how they perform them, each one was unique.

So I went in search of my quotes on the subject, not surprisingly there are thousands more on giving than there are on receiving. I think the ones I have chosen display this quite well, let’s begin the journey:

1. It doesn’t say you have to create a cycle of giving and receiving that never ends.

2. The red words are the important ones: The law of Giving and Receiving.

3. Self Care is always an essential part of the recipe though.

4. Dame Freya Madeline Stark DBE was an Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays. She was one of the first non-Arabs to travel through the southern Arabian Desert. I imagine that she would have had to be a maven at receiving given the cultural conversations of the time in that part of the world: Sweet Child of Mine.

5. Love the name, Peace Pilgrim, and her ethos.

6. And yes, they rhyme: Treasure.

7. The names a little bit clouded, but what a beautiful quote.

8. This is exactly what we discussed today: Superwoman.

9. How good are you at actually asking for receiving help, let alone a gift?

10. From Little Things, big things grow: That magnificent song.

11. Yes, it can fulfil your dreams.

12. Bit obscure, but I love the colours: Singing In The Rain.

13. One of my top ten on the net, I have 5,000 groups, so that says something. if you don’t know him, Google time.

14. Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1947 film The Farmer’s Daughter and received an Oscar nomination for her role in Come to the Stable in 1949. Young moved to the relatively new medium of television, where she had a dramatic anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, from 1953 to 1961. The series earned three Emmy Awards, and was re-run successfully on daytime TV and later in syndication. In the 1980s, Young returned to the small screen and won a Golden Globe for her role in Christmas Eve in 1986: Nobody’s Perfect.

15. The final lesson, there’s that asking word again. Go on, you can do it.

I’m sure as I go through the excellent material provided by Fleassy to transform my listening and ability in the arena of Public Speaking I will fall more deeply in love with what this course has to offer, by the way, it is online so any of you can sign up, we have a few Americans already.

How could I not start the playlist with Spoken Word, so Deepak Chopra leads off followed by The Gunners. Some pop from Bruno Mars and Alicia Keys fill the next two slots. My most ever chosen Playlist song is next, an Aussie classic by Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins. We finish with two uniquely diverse artists, Hollywoods Gene Kelly, and the pop world artificially created Hannah Montana: Words aren’t Enough to Convey How Much I Miss You

So to our beloved group of humans on the Rise journey, I wish you Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

She slept next to the Fires!!

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Rod's World

It took just on a week to get back from the magical land that is known as Confest. The title comes from the glorious minimalist I meet on the last day who had decided to come the day before Confest began, she hopped in her car with a backpack and slept on the earth the entire time, could also do the most amazing earth sounds, I fell in love with her from the moment she shared her vision for the planet.

How do I feel after experiencing my first Confest in 30 years, a mixture of joy and sadness actually. The joy that I have come home again and sadness that I waited 30 years to return. There were hundreds of things to do, workshops, mudtribes, Temple rooms, Silent discos, I chose to hang around our firepit in Tranquility during the day: the drug, alcohol and smoke-free camping area and receive the connections that would come my way and must admit to a silent disco addiction garnered from attending similar events in the Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy. They were not the same, the evil energy of drugs and alcohol permeated the tent, still, I danced.

How did the connecting go, fucking magnificently: Saturday night this is the countries represented around our little fire: Finland, Chile, Argentina, Japan, China, The United States, and me as the token Aussie.

The United States started it all with Woodstock, Confest is Australia’s answer. Woodstock’s motto was Peace and Love, how did Confest fulfil that in my heart and how do we as human beings do that on an ongoing basis, let’s have a look:

1, Jimi performed at Woodstock, he would have loved Confest. Died too young at 27.

2. MLK Jnr. knew what was a need, they shot him: Love Your Enemies.

3. Just keeping it real.

4. Heartspace, way to go: Listen to Your Heart.

5. From the greatest of philosophers, Ms Unknown comes this pearl of wisdom.

6. Working together to make the change, Fuck Yes: Let’s Stick Together.

7. Self-love first, the rest will follow, there were 10,000 souls to share yours with.

8. His Holiness recognizes Love and Peace as the new religion that will make the difference, will you: Love is My Religion.

9. If you don’t know who Ram Dass is, check him out, pure gold.

10. Only one song: Stairway to Heaven.

11. Of course, we cannot forget the powerful morning potion after the few hours of sleep got each night.

12. I met dozens of these beautiful angels over the time I was there: Give Peace a Chance.

13. If you truly want to integrate the Confest spirit in your life, do this.

14. And, especially this: We are family.

15. And the final lesson comes from the divine one, Maya Angelou.

What was the most profound moment of Confest for me? When the indigenous elder ran up to me and said, it is good to see you again this lifetime, then performed a ceremony on my face for 15 minutes in the indigenous language, then told me to listen to the forest. Want to know what it said? It said why do these people come here and play the musical instruments of Africa and sing the songs of India, don’t they know we are the oldest surviving culture on the planet and we have our own sounds. We will heal when they leave. it feels like I can hear the Earthsong. By the way, I had never met him in my life.

The playlist of Love and Peace contains some spoken word and all-time classic anthems. We begin with Martin Luther King Jr, then the unusual combination of Roxette and Eminem. Back in time to Bryan Ferry, then Bob’s son Ziggy Marley. Two more old Love and Peace classics follow from Led Zeppelin and John Lennon. We finish all in the family with Chic and Sister Sledge, Lots of live versions because music is just better live: She Slept next to the Fire!!

Confest was a great example of how I want the world to relate: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until next time, my dear friends.

A Relationship Is Like A House!!

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Rod's World

Shit, I forgot to do my Thursday blog, sorry if you rely on it for your morning coffee break but I been having such a great time lately it slipped my mind. This morning I am feeling joyful after attending my friend Cat’s awesome graduation for the process she created called the Cor Method. Here’s the link, travel to Melbourne for eight weeks, it’s worth it: Link To A New Life.

I have been to both graduations and often find myself moved to tears by the amount of heart the participants reveal to their families and friends. From singing to dancing to spoken word each is creative in their own way, all speaking from the heart.

So what has the people of planet Earth said about opening one’s heart to the people in your life, let’s have a look:

1. Many of the participants spoke of the negative stuff their mind was saying to them, but then their hearts took over, superb!!

2. I prefer the former, hate has never resolved anything for me: Love and Hate.

3. Gangaji currently writes and tours as a teacher. She holds that the truth of who you are is already free and at peace, which can be realized simply by ending one’s search.

4. The course definitely allows more space for this: Love Myself.

5. Maya loves the Cor Process too.

6. Lots of famous people know the power that is contained in the heart: So Much Magnificence.

7. Having revealed their hearts to the people they love, the participants need not worry about the former.

8. You could palpably feel the hearts cracking open last night: Hallelujah.

9. When you reveal all of what is in your heart some of this may happen.

10. The eyes have it every time, for me: Bette Davis Eyes.

11. How old is your Inner Child and does She/He still enjoy play?

12. You know where it is hanging out, Go there: Yogi B Truth Hurtz.

13. And how could I leave out the Persian poets?

14. Why Cat is such a heroine in having created this bundle of transformation work: Always Look On The Bright Side of Life.

15. The final lesson for today, Is a life without mistakes a real life?

I must acknowledge how I got to know Cat was through her delightful partner Ryan McRobb, through many connections. They give me hope as to what a joyful relationship could be like.

Today’s playlist has some long live tracks, I prefer live tracks to those from the studio, it’s more real. Using 7 artists in each blog and having done over 450 blogs you discover new artists all the time, we begin with one of them, Michael Kiwanuka, then one of my standard songs about self-love by Hailee Steinfeld. Then two great live tracks by Deva and Miten and Jeff Buckley. For a song about eyes, there is only one choice, Kim Carnes. The heart has to have some Bollywood so Vassan is next, and for some silliness, we complete with Eric Idle: A Relationship is Like A House.

In my heart lies the expression: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Come for holidays in Melbourne and do the next course, we have some ace B and B’s here. Till we meet again, my dear friends.

We Are All Visitors to This Time, This Place!!

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Rod's World

Narrin-ik Mandy. Wurundjeri-wilami-ik, Wurundjeri-baluk-ut. Marramb-ik Dja Dja wurrung ba Nguirai illum wurrung, German ba Irish, Dhunba-njan Woiwurrung. Mundainai-njan Liwik-bulok nugel-ik, ba Lalal ba Gugung nugel-ik, ba Murrup Galada Birrarung, Mundanai-njan Biik-ut. Biik-dui, Baanj Biik, Murnmut Biik, Wurru wurru Biik ba Tharangalk Biik. Bungul-al Wiliam-u. MUndani-njan kirrip-bulok nugel-ik.

This is Wurundjeri language, The native language of the indigenous people who inhabited the land where my home city, Melbourne was established. Translated it reads:

My name is Mandy. My clan is the Wurundjeri-wilam, within the Wurundjeri-baluk patriline. I am also Dja Dja wurrung, Ngurai Illum wurrung, German and Irish. I speak Woiwurrung. I embrace my many ancestors and my many Grandfathers and Grandmothers, and the Spirit River, Birrarung. I embrace the Below Country, On Country, Water Country, Wind Country, Sky Country and the Forest Country above the clouds, which is Bunjil’s home. I embrace my many friends.

Indigenous wisdom was nearly wiped out in my country under harsh policies that did not see the indigenous people included in the census. The following story exemplifies this:

In 1935, an Australian of part Indigenous descent left his home on a reserve to visit a nearby hotel where he was ejected for being Aboriginal. He returned home but was refused entry to the reserve because he was not Aboriginal. He attempted to remove his children from the reserve but was told he could not because they were Aboriginal. He then walked to the next town where he was arrested for being an Aboriginal vagrant and sent to the reserve there. During World War II he tried to enlist but was rejected because he was an Aborigine so he moved to another state where he enlisted as a non-Aborigine. After the end of the war he applied for a passport but was rejected as he was an Aborigine, he obtained an exemption under the Aborigines Protection Act but was now told he could no longer visit his relatives as he was not an Aborigine. He was later told he could not join the Returned Servicemen’s Club because he was an Aborigine.

Their culture is the oldest culture in the world and has much wisdom to offer, here is some indigenous wisdom from around the world:

1. The love of the land is a paramount thing that Western society could learn from them, not the rape and pillage in the name of commercial profit.

2. So many ancestors have handed their wisdom on the next generations: On Sacred Ground.

3. They had so many wise ways, I suppose it was their form of therapy without the expense.

4. A great place to start: Rise.

5. Indigenous wisdom across the planet, Mother Earth, Father Sky.

6. Settlement of new lands 101 by the great? European empires throughout history: Highway To Hell.

7. In my country is has been the women who have cared for the planet.

8. Many governments seem to have forgotten this with their reaction to the Climate Change issue the planet is facing at the moment: With or Without You.

9. My indigenous friend Stevie uses this as part of the name of his organisation Dardi Munwurro – Strong Spirit.

10. Simple wisdom, but we and the planet are always changing, so why not fulfil your dreams: Give It A Go.

11. Add your favourite things you would like to give up.

12. 60,000 years versus 250, makes sense to me: Wiyathul.

13. Oops, missed by that much.

14. Catherine Astrid Salome “Cathy” Freeman, OAM (born 16 February 1973) is an Indigenous Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. She would occasionally compete in other track events, but 400m was her main event. Her personal best of 48.63 currently ranks her as the sixth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec’s number-three time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women’s 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame: Cathy wins gold.

15. And this statement speaks to why we, Western society have so much to learn from our indigenous brothers and sisters.

Ngaga-Dji! Ngaga-Dji! – Hear us, hear us. They are waiting to offer it to us, when will we listen?

The playlist today begins with an artist I thought I would never choose, Yanni. Then Jonas Blue, new to me then we rock out with AC/DC and U2. Timbaland comes next then we honour Australian indigenous folk with Gurrumul and we finish with Cathy Freeman winning gold: We are all Visitors to This Time, This Place.

I also honour indigenous cultures for showing Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

It’s Not About Perfect, It’s about Effort!!

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Rod's World

Today I’m writing about making decisions. I attended an evening run by some German Trainers I did some of the most advanced training I have done in my life. We played the Possibility labyrinth game where there were only two instructions, beep if you took an incorrect path and go if you did not meaning you got to have another chance to move forward. There was no marking and sometime the next step was outside the marked areas making it a very challenging game.

We also got to look at a difficult decision we wished to make in our lives and listen to our bodies contemplating a yes or no answer and take a step towards the answer it provided. I chose the opposite answer to the one my mind had been telling me. I felt clarity about it after doing this where before I had been living out of my expectations of what I hoped would happen.

So what has society written about making hard decisions over the centuries? Let’s take a walk down that pathway:

1. Don’t regret asking that person out, or moving continents.

2. Each decision you make could change the direction of your journey quite dramatically. Do not worry, you are on the right path, it’s your path: Don’t Stop Believing.

3. That old Gut Feeling, It knows what’s best for you.

4. One foot in the front of the other, or jump and learn to fly on the way down. Either way, something will happen: Fight Song.

5. And sometimes they don’t end up with the same result.

6. All those what if, it won’t work out thoughts, that just you mulling it over. Underneath it all, you already know if the answer is Yes or No: Dear Anxiety.

7. So, where do you want to be, time to decide.

8. How close do you get to a million before you have the courage to leap: Unstoppable.

9. In the background you already knew it was time, didn’t you?

10. Nicholas Sparks decided to start writing based on a simple remark from his mother when he was 19 years old that introduced him to the possibility:

‘”Your problem is that you’re bored. You need to find something to do…” Then she looked at me and said the words that would eventually change my life: “Write a book.” Until that moment, I had never considered writing. Granted, I read all the time, but actually sitting down and coming up with a story on my own? …I was nineteen years old and had become an accidental author: A Thousand Years.

11. Very surreal, this quote, what does it mean?

12. Breath in, Breath Out, and Decide. It sounds simple enough but at times is far from that: Take My Breath Away.

13. One of the biggest decisions we make in our life. The one to partner someone through life.

14. It’s like walking through the deep jungle, sometimes the path does not appear to be there, yet the indigenous people have moved through it for centuries: Follow Your Arrow.

15. And for the final lesson of the day, decisions are a lot harder when these things are in play.

The decision was over whether to ask a woman I had met recently out. The circumstances do not allow for it at the moment. With the new space the clarity of making this decision has created, who knows what may happen.

A few pop divas in the playlist today, and some Country and Western. A rock anthem from Journey leads off, Then the first pop diva Rachel Platten. A spoken word piece then Camila Mora and Christina Perri. Another blast from the past with Berlin and we finish with some C & W from Kacey Musgraves: It’s Not About Perfect, It’s About Effort.

As you are making these hard decisions in your life remember, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Peace Out until next time we meet, my dear friends.

I’m a Good Enough Person to Forgive You, But?

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Rod's World

Two weeks ago I did a course called Awakening Women for Men led by three of my friends, Alley, Shaney and Jared, for some reason I like befriending the leaders more than the participants. An exciting occurrence after having done this course my other women friends are very interested in what were we taught, something like, did they give our secrets away.

I shared in a non-revealing way one of the processes called opening the veil and that women like men being in control in certain situations that invoke the mature masculine in men. One of my friends who asked is my acupuncturist and as I lay there with my needles on board this came to me:

Say I had walked in the door and our eyes crossed, and I said beautiful one, I want to go out with you, by the way, I recently broke up with Julie a month ago. I would know when I am projecting Julie onto you when I am actually with you, It would give us a chance to create something new and magical, my friend shuddered.

Move on ten days, The woman who I did my first ever retreat with was in town, Tanishka Tantrika. It was back in December 2013 and called Rainbow Bridge 13:13:13. It’s another story how I got there but I gave up my what is this woo woo and trusted my friend who recommended I go. Tanishka was running a Sacred Union ritual with her new partner to heal the break between the divine masculine and divine feminine. The closing circle where 19 men and 19 women stated how they had betrayed the union between the two and the ceremony of forgiveness by washing them away while chanting I’m Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You, I love You, an ancient Hawaiin chant will remain in my heart for the rest of my life.

So, how do we restore trust and what have we written about it over the centuries: let’s party.

1. It’s the actions that buy back the trust. Having sold 10 million books on the subject, Dr Clouds actions lie in homelessness in the inner city, as well as missions in the developing world.

2. I think my friends name for working with Anger: Reclaiming Anger speaks volumes as to who the person suffering is: Hold On I’m Coming.

3. From the worlds greatest quote writer, Ms Unknown, this one bites home.

4. How many times have you broken this trust in your life, you may even do it to yourself: Trust.

5. Heartbreak Hotel came to my mind, not a song track though.

6. You will be able to fire your Fortune Teller: Fortune Teller.

7. A vital part of the recipe.

8. Trust trumps Love: does it in your life: Nothing Else Matters.

9. Shadow and Light, they travel together.

10. Hate is the most dangerous form of Anger, it belittles our soul so much, but at times the last line speaks volumes: Part of Me.

11. One for the inner work.

12. What you serve up in life, that’s how much you are capable of receiving back: When You’re Gone.

13. I have a friend who did not speak to her parents for 13 years when she forgave them and reconnected they did not even remember the incident, please do not do this to yourself.

14. Three letters. MLK: New Attitude.

15. And the reason I chose this for our final lesson, I so love the image.

According to Nietzsche, to wish away our past is to wish ourselves out of existence. It’s nearly impossible to steer our lives in a particular direction until we come to terms with our past. Each significant event in our lives changes how we view the world and ourselves. The thought of reviewing our entire past is often overwhelming. But it an essential part of the process. Our past is a blessing that guides and teaches, and it carries as many positives as negatives. Will I be able to not project as much, we shall see, but it feels fucking magnificent.

The playlist goes nearly as far back as my year of birth, 1954. We begin with Sam and Dave, move forward to Christina Perri. Bounce back with early Rolling Stones, then rock it out with Metallica. Three superb women finish it off, all from different eras, Kate Perry, Avril Lavigne and to finish Patti Labelle: I’m a Good Enough Person to Forgive You, But.

So we will finish with the ho’oponopono mantra to presence Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included. Until next time, my dear friends.

Not on my watch, Anymore!!

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Rod's World

I wrote the following in my Facebook news feed two days after New Zealand:

I am sitting in Preston Town Hall at the Multicultural fair, cultural diversity Festival 2019. There are hijab’s and henna painted hands everywhere, so many different cultures. Firstly I went to the Preston Mosque, ironically the day after NZ they had already invited their neighbours so they could meet and enjoy a meal together. I was privileged to hear the Imaan give his welcome speech and his communities comment on NZ. I firstly had spent an hour having my hand shaken by both Muslim men and women thanking me for being there, I did not know if it is cool to walk around a mosque with tears flowing from your eyes so I sort of controlled it. The Imaan spoke of common humanity, then of a noble death, where you are looked after in the afterlife. He quoted the Koran where it says if you kill an innocent human being you kill the spirit of the human race. I made a promise to myself at that moment I will do everything in my power that this will never happen again on my watch.

I picked up my friend and extraordinary poet Ari Amal’s beautiful tome: The Details and the Infinite when I got home and opened it to the following poem, it spoke to my heart, here is her webpage link: Find out about Ari.

May All The Blossoms Within You Unfurl

It only takes one brave bud

To start a revolution

So to the buds in you that are yearning to burst open

These words are for you:

Darling ones

Spring has come

It is time to become

All that you are

So lift your face to the sun

& laugh with the sky

For even your fragrance is a Gift

To those who happen by

It only takes one brave bud

To start a revolution

So tell me,

Who amongst you will inspire

the Fiesta?

I don’t think the human being who committed the heinous act in Christchurch had read it, who amongst us will do what it takes to transform the world into the majestic place it could be. What have we written about it, let’s take a look:

1. One of the bravest acts a human being , can commit in their lifetime, be themselves in the face of the crap society throws at them not to be.

2. Can’t read their name, but I have enjoyed the revolution, my artistic friends have created for the past 45 years: Art for Art’s Sake.

3. “Nisker’s book (Essential Crazy Wisdom) is twenty-three times more liberating than the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran combined. It may be crazy to say such a thing but it is also wise.” — Tom Robbins, author.

4. From the Black Panthers, if you don’t know who they are, google it. It’s not about the people, it’s about their stand: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

5. Begin one today.

6. No Isaac Newton here, grow some: Formation.

7. Donald Trump, Scott Morrison and other far-right world leaders, Jacinda and us mob, we are coming for you.

8. Dorothy got this answer to a question, I don’t accept it: Que Sera Sera.

9. A revolution of desire has given us today’s world, pick again.

10. Will it be yours, what area in your life will it be: Stir It Up.

11. He, Joseph Stalin may have got carried away with his zeal but I get his point, just don’t go over the top like Uncle Joe did.

12. When I read George’s books, I decided Tyrion Lannister was one of the great characters in literature. Not just fantasy literature – literature! A brilliant, caustic, horny, drunken, self-flagellating mess of a man. And there was only one choice to play him.”: Never Forget You.

13. And, Go!!

14. If you are decluttering your house to do this, stop it: Smooth Operator.

15. And finally to my Mojo crew, Awakening Women for Men brothers, Warrior of Love travellers, Dancing Eros sisters in male bodies, Expand the Box and Possibility Lab cronies, my ISTA family and my siblings Hugo, Ruthie and Jann, two words, Fuck Yes!!

I think writing this has helped the sadness I feel in my gut for what happened in New Zealand, time to grow some and go.

I like today’s playlist, it has some of music’s icons and one of my favourite spoken word jazz tracks: 10cc with a classic head it off, Gill Scott-Heron then some diva pop from Beyonce. Then we go way back to Dorothy Day. The certified legend Bob Marley follows, next is new to me but not ten million people, The Noisettes, and we finish with the always sensual Sade: Not on my Watch, Anymore.

Do I really have to say it, We need Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included or we all may not wake up one day because we thought everything was OK and someone will prove that wasn’t true in an ultimate way.

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