The Soul of Service!!

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Rod's World

I’m suffering a hit of ecstatic bliss at the moment because I received Danielle LaPorte’s new book White Hot Truth in the mail this week. Subtitled Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path – from one seeker to another the small portion I have read delivers on all fronts.

I flipped the book open and came to the section on service, hence the title, the chapter also includes the words conscious optimism and giving from your fullness, I love this statement. In the chapter is this following quote:

I am driven by two main philosophies; know more today

about the world than I knew yesterday, and lessen the suffering

of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you – Neil Degrasse Tyson.

The one comment I wish to make on the Manchester bombing is the graciousness the homeless man showed to the victims, he could of quite easily snuck off into the darkness of the anonymity of that subculture. For his kindness he has been gifted six months free rental of a house by the owner of Manchester United . This is what should be remembered about that horrendous event, not the event itself.

So what happens when you live from a space of giving, let’s have a look:

1. A mining magnate in my country of Australia has gifted $400 million dollars , about 10% of his wealth to various charities. He said that making money is not about having bigger houses it’s about making a difference if and when you can.

2. Live the life you were really meant to, his holiness the Dalai Lama says happiness does not come from loving yourself first, it is from helping others and compassion: Give.

3. A kind gesture can be as simple as smiling at the person sitting next to you on the tram, train, or bus.

4. Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier: Love Life.

5. Perhaps an oxymoron but you need to create space so that you can give one of the great gifts in life, the joy of allowing others to give to you.

6. Time is a made up conversation, how much do you value it. The gift of quality time is priceless to another, much more than an object: Time after Time.

7. “Don’t Just

Don’t just learn, experience.
Don’t just read, absorb.
Don’t just change, transform.
Don’t just relate, advocate.
Don’t just promise, prove.
Don’t just criticize, encourage.
Don’t just think, ponder.
Don’t just take, give.
Don’t just see, feel.
Don’t just dream, do.
Don’t just hear, listen.
Don’t just talk, act.
Don’t just tell, show.
Don’t just exist, live.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

8. What’s your gift to the world, how are you doing in giving it away to others: Pablo Picasso.

9. Don’t be a two handed taker!!

10. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up: Just the Way you Are.

11. Minimalism is a current fad, to make your life simpler by cleaning it up, giving away what you don’t use and not taking stuff you don’t need.

12. One of my dear friends is having treatment for cancer at the moment, I send her a song from Youtube on a regular basis to cheer her up, I also call her the divine one: Standup.

13. This is called the pay it forward philosophy, join the movement.

14. I am one of the chronic givers who fights the battle with being able to receive, I was well trained by my mum to be a lifelong volunteer: Castle on the Hill.

15. Give from Love.

So I will finish with another paragraph from Danielle:

Use your Soul. Stop, drop and send light. You believe in it so use it. After you dry your tears from the latest shooting or news headlines, take four minutes – twenty if you can – to sit in silence and very specifically send love, positive energy, healing, light and prayers to the person, people, place or situation on need. How many times so we say to someone, “I’m sending you Love”?Really send it

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

How do You ……..?

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Rod's World

The Challenge of leading in a culture of never enough is in chapter six of Daring Greatly which is headed Disruptive Engagement: Daring to rehumanize Education and Work. One of the questions asked in it is What’s the most significant barrier to creativity and innovation? The answer given is quite lengthy, but worth reading –

“I don’t know if it has a name, it’s the fear of introducing an idea and being ridiculed, laughed at, and belittled. If you’re willing to subject yourself to that experience and if you survive it, then it becomes the fear of failure and the failure of being wrong. People believe they are only as good as their ideas and that their ideas can’t seem too “out there’ and that they can’t ‘know everything’ The problem is that innovative ideas often sound crazy and failure and learning are part of revolution. Evolution and incremental change is important and we need it, but we’re desperate for real revolution and that requires a different type of courage and creativity”.

The rehumanizing of work and education will take courageous leadership, so who is out there commenting on it,, let’s have a look:

1. How did you act when you were challenged, did you lead others or were you a victim to it?

2. Always remember that people you are leading have qualities that you must take in consideration: Don’t you worry Child.

3. If your people are just coming to work to collect their money at the end of the week, you are not doing your job as a leader, you are managing the Titanic just before it sinks.

4. If you train people to replace you and make yourself redundant that is closer to the mark of leadership: Mother Teresa.

5. I used to try and run away from my struggles, sometimes over a thousand kilometres, the only thing was when I got there, the reason for the struggles was still there because it was within me.

6. When I saw this I just had to include it to showcase why we should be very very afraid: Trump on Woman.

7. They can give you tips and techniques but it is what you do with them after the event that matters.

8. If you are doing it for another circumstances in your life will start to get in the way, if you are doing it for yourself, well that’s a different matter: Pony.

9. This may be the only quote by Joshua J. Marine, there is little information about who he actually is.

10. Does leadership come from the head or the heart, I’ll let you answer that: Heart of Gold.

11. One word: Leadership = Oprah.

12. The road to Leadership is not the road of less. It is in being better, more skillful and wiser: Wiser.

13. The quickest road to true leadership is to learn the lessons the first time they are revealed to you.

14. There are many books on the art of leadership out there, this quote speaks to the fact that that is what true leadership is, an artform: Art for Art’s Sake.

15. As I mentioned before in great leadership there is a quality of redundancy, that it would happen if you were not there.

So, famous people and totally obscure people make comment on leadership which means you still have the time to exhibit yours this lifetime, Go for it , we need you and it to flourish.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Why don’t you Understand?

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Rod's World

One of the most obscure and funny workshops I have done is a jargon workshop. Each person had to do a five minute talk using the jargon of their profession and the other participants had to guess what their profession or career was. The one profession nobody could guess was aeronautical engineer. It made me realise that jargon can be very costly when dealing with people who do not work in your industry. Little wonder that you see a lot of blank stares from people at shops, online and in government institutions.

So what has been said about the cost of using jargon over the centuries, let’s have a look:

1. While wading through the whimsies, the puerilities and unintelligent words of many documents to apply for most legal actions we know why lawyers are one of the highest paid professions.

2. Chesterton is often referred to as the “prince of paradox”. Time magazine has observed of his writing style: “Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out: Perfect Illusion.

3. What words does your profession confuse people with?

4. The curly haired genius , Albert points out why using jargon is not the way to go: One Little Finger.

5. Mason Cooley (1927 – July 25, 2002) was an American aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. Perhaps he was using some of his own when he wrote this quote.

6. I think I know what two of these words mean, not sure about the others though: So What.

7. I am a one on one English tutor to three Chinese mothers, I would not dare do this to them.

8.I didn’t know Helena began her cosmetic empire in my country. She migrated to Australia at the age of 30 and began her empire in Melbourne before moving to London: Lay me Down.

9. Don’t know about this, at least books you can usually understand the words contained in them.

10. The Irish have a term Anam Cara, it means soul friend, I have the honour of being declared one by a dear friend: Anam Cara.

11. the dumbing down of society, methinks.

12. What culture are these words from, do they relate to yours: Instant Karma.

13. Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim. She is known for her penetrating insight; her work deals with dark themes such as betrayal, death and the origin of human evil.

14. The recommendation these days is to write blogs, because they personalise events, even for businesses, they are fascinating stories: Amazing Grace story.

15. The jargon of twenty years ago is now obsolete, if we used it how would we explain the Iphone?

Jargon may be costing you meeting your Anam Cara, cut it out of your arsenal of words.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Does it Violate the Golden Rule?

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Rod's World

The Golden Rule is to do unto others as you would want done unto you. Rules that elevate some while devaluing others are suspect as bullshit rules – such as rules that grant or restrict opportunities based on skin colour, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, whether a person has a penis or a vagina, or any other arbitary or subjective criteria

A passage taken from Vishen Lakhiani’s excellent book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind that I am re reading at the moment. Vishen sets the premise there are two sets of truths, the physical world of absolute truths and the cultural world of truths based on Belief, he calls the second brules, aka bullshit rules that we adopt to simplify our understanding of the world.

He lists four major ones, 1. The college brule – we must go to college to succeed in life, 2. We must be loyal to our culture Brule – Our nationality is better than the others, 3. The religion brule – My God is better than your God, and 4 The Hard Work Brule – If you are not working hard all the time, you are lazy.

So lets see what sort of life we could set up with the Golden Rule:

1. Why talk and say the unsaid words in haste when silence can speak the unspoken words?

2. Ready, Steady, Go: Ready, Steady, Go!!

3. George Bernard Shaw , known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1903), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation. He was the first person to be awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award, receiving the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature and sharing the 1938 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film version of Pygmalion.

4. Self Love , one of the major golden rules. Have this and you will know how to deal with others: Born This Way.

5. Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

6. The only time you should put others totally before yourself, if you wish them to spend their money: Keep the Customer Satisfied.

7. Instant Karma – It’s going to get You – John Lennon.

8. Actions not Words, my friends: Shake your Sillies out.

9. Are you willing to grant your golden rules to others?

10. If all these religions followed these rules the world would be a different place, we could Lose ourselves to dance!!

11. I find this quotes extremely powerful, especially the what you see in others – exists in you.

12. Do you catch yourself saying those things to your children you promised yourself you would never ever say. Stop It: See You Again.

13. Three Super Golden Rules.

14. From Texas, The state where everything is bigger that everywhere else. The request is don’t get dirty: Dirt off your Shoulders.

15. Can your Golden Rules be heard over the screaming your actions create?

I recommend you buy and read his book Link to freight free site. It just may allow you to see where you have followed your brules in life and give you another chance.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Opportunity looks like a Bald Woman!

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Rod's World

The title of this blog is a famous Spanish quote, I don’t think you are meant to know what it means straight away. Pema Chodron writes in her beautiful book When things fall Apart ” When things are shaky we are on the verge of something “. The usual advice for coping with pain and suffering is to sweeten it up, smooth it over, take a pill. But distraction only makes you miss opportunities for happiness – when the courage to live in the present can bring clarity, and even spiritual change…

Do you call your mistakes opportunities? I try and live the ethos there are no mistakes, everything is a gift. It is not easy, we are trained from an early age to blame things we do not want in our lives as mistakes. let’s have a look at the world of opportunity:

The author of the classic Think and Grow Rich, one of the top ten self-help books of all time, Napoleon Hill was one of the pioneers of the industry and is widely quoted by current gurus such as Anthony Robbins and Zig Ziglar. Here are three more of his well-known quotes

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

2. Beginning his acting career at the age of 12, you do not expect to see a quote by the man known as Mr. Television be listed among the great philosophers. Yet, this beautiful quote is fully deserving of it: Break on Through.

3. I don’t usually use quotes that feature the word, God, as I am a Gaia sort of dude, but I listened to a speech by a born-again Christian last night. In it, she related as a fourth generation Christian she saw God as being about kindness, can’t disagree with that.

4. Would you like a million dollars, you just have to fly unaided to get it. Do you accept the challenge? I’m your man.

5.Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

6. Are you a Yes or No kind of person? Just Say Yes.

7. What was that movie, Jim Carrey say yes to everything in? I can’t remember the name. But, yes it certainly challenged his limits and changed his life.

8. My favourite cigar smoker also said when they suggested cutting the arts to spend more on defence, then what would we be fighting for: Art for Art’s Sake.

9. They say you create a new world with the decision to turn left or right. My friend met his beloved when he bumped into her turning right, what if he had gone left?

10. A 20 year NBA player, Kobe also said – I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot. Negative or a small thing, take the opportunity: Scale Down.

11. Khalil can be obtuse to the extreme, after reading his quotes you will have expanded your knowledge.

12.Dr. Orison Swett Marden (1848–1924) was an American inspirational author who wrote about achieving success in life and founded SUCCESS magazine in 1897. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy.

His first book, Pushing to the Front (1894), became an instant best-seller. Marden later published fifty or more books and booklets, averaging two titles per year: Seize the Day.

13. There’s that famous story that most people on their deathbed talk about what they regret having done, don’t be one of them.

14. The curly haired wonder, Albert Einstein published more than 300 scientific papers along with over 150 non-scientific works. He took his opportunities: Taking Chances.

15. How many people shut the world out with headphones these days. I relate to you a story I heard from a Hazara refugee in our country who has made the decision that every person he meets is an opportunity to improve his English. He started talking to the person next to him on the tram and the elderly person sitting opposite asked if she could join in. She offered Haid and his family their beach house for a week and have become good friends. How many opportunities do we miss by making the judgement they wouldn’t talk to us.

Knock, Knock – Who’s there?

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

It was not in your Textbooks!!

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Rod's World

I love TED talks. 18 minutes of possibility and passion. I’m reading a book called Talk like Ted, because, yes, I have a deep wish to do one, it’s on my bucket list. Titanic explorer Robert Ballard in TED 2008 started his talk with ” Everything I’m going to present to you was not in my textbooks when I went to school. ”

So I ponder why education departments hold so stringently onto outdated technologies and teaching methods as the above statement changes at a more rapid rate. here’s his TED talk: Exploring the Oceans.

The New is what is taking us forward, allowing for what we know already, but it is the added bits that will make the difference.

Let us meander down the path we are being taken by the newness in our lives:

1. Oh, but for the brave experimenters, we would not have the electric light, the solar panel. The people who invented these things knew that the journey came with mistakes. That they did not have the answer instantly.

1. When I was sixteen I did not know that I would run marathons when another sixteen had passed. Or that I would run down the main street of Leningrad with the mayor in the name of Ending World Hunger: I’m not Afraid

3. Doe Zantamata is an author, artist, and photographer. In addition to the Happiness in Your Life book series, she also creates and designs poster books of different titles, including “Happy By Nature,” “Old Children, A Book for “Adults”,” and others. Doe has been writing since before she could tie her shoes. In addition to writing, she enjoys nature, history, and is an animal welfare advocate. She also runs a blog at http://www.thehiyL.com with daily posts.

4. What would you want to be posted on your mini whiteboard that they could use later in your life: Live Your Life.

5. One thing guaranteed life will change, be new, moment by moment. Remember this when you wake up each beautiful morning.

6. I’m old enough to remember Hawkeye from M.A.S.H. From his credits he had this not in the textbook thing down pat: Theme from MASH.

7. On this path, you have to let go of some things you have attachments to. Trust the magic.

8. A new project, travel to a new country, a new love affair. Your feelings are jolted in these situations: Feelings.

9. William Arthur Ward is one of America’s most quoted writers of inspirational maxims. His column Pertinent Proverbs has been featured in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and in numerous service club publications throughout the United States and abroad. He is one of the most frequently quoted writers in the pages of Quote, the international weekly digest for public speakers.

10. There is a quote that points out we all have the same amount of time in the day as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and HHDL. When I posted it on Facebook my brother went apeshit. This fact can be quite challenging: Absolute Beginners.

11. Don’t think that this is at the forefront of my mind as I travel through the day, I will remember it now, though.

12. Is it a creation if you already know how to do it: Imagine.

13. From the great Paulo Coelho, one simple word – “Hello”.

14. It didn’t work that time. Start again, from little steps big things grow: Starting Something: M.J.

15. How many mistakes a day do you make?

Got a little bit off the subject on the way through, but remember, what is dominant in our society was not in the textbooks you read at school.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

This is Brilliant, You are Awesome!!

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Rod's World

Caught up with the woman who started my blogging career tonight at a publicity do for her book on writing, Use your Words. I did her Gunnas writing course about two years ago and had not committed a word to print before attending. I am now up to blog 187. Here’s a link to her web page, if you ever intend writing your words, check it out: Catherine’s web page.

Cath gave some amazing tips during her talk, one being don’t seek feedback, they are your words, write them and then find a publisher or self-publish. Also, that whoever tells you that writing is easy is bullshitting you, It’s hard.

So what does the world say about the art of writing your words, let’s have a look.

1. I think I have done some things worth writing about. Interrupting the main street of Leningrad to run down with the mayor and the Minister for Sport on a Friday afternoon being one of them.

2. Great books to me are just as visually stunning as a great painting. The images you create as you read the words stick with you as long as seeing the Mona Lisa or Blue Poles : You’re The Voice.

3. People probably think Elizabeth Gilbert sat down one day and churned out the million-selling Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from New York University in 1991, after which she worked as a cook, a bartender, a waitress, and a magazine employee. She wrote of her experience as a cook on a dude ranch in short stories, and also briefly in her book The Last American Man (Viking 2002). It was not until 2006 she wrote Eat, Pray, and Love.

4. I have probably written as many wrong words as I have words that have ended up in these blogs: Elastic Heart.

5. I stopped writing this blog for three months when I had a thinking block that went something like this: No one is reading it anyway, so what will it matter if I stop.

6. I put Namaste at the end of every blog I write, it means one soul recognizes another. I hope that you can see mine in my writing : Say my Name.

7. We are all organisms, from our pet cats to the curious breed known as writers.

8. The world’s greatest booby prize, perfectionism. At the Gunnas master class, our first exercise was to write for 5 minutes, which was actually 15 which proved to us all that we could write: Hear You Me.

9. Just start your writing, now not later.

10. My 89-year-old mum can still recite William Wordsworth’s I wander lonely as a cloud. It must have filled her heart upon reading it. William got his job done: Daffodils.

11. I don’t know how many times I have thought is that revealing too much Like that I have been hospitalised 6 times for mental health issues, then I realise writing is not about censorship.

12. Motivation follows action, do you give up your designated writing times and word targets, never ever ever: Instant Crush.

13. What people think of your work is none of your business, as long as it makes you a better person, who gives a shit.

14. Write real words, real stories about real people, because that is who you are writing them for.

15. I only found out about Maya Angelou after she had passed. Maya Angelou , born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

I say I am a blogger, but am willing to own that I am a writer as well. I think the two words mean the same thing.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

As long as you don’t need them!!

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Rod's World

I saw a beautiful word on the way to my volunteer work today, when I got their I was told I was no longer a volunteer but a visitor and have to wear an ID identifying me as so, I have been volunteering there for 3 and a half years, bureaucracy is a beautiful thing.

The word I saw was transference, I wasn’t sure of its exact meaning so I went to google, here it is : definition of transference:

Transference is a phenomenon characterised by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is “the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person’s childhood”. Another definition is “the redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object”. Still another definition is “a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, especially of childhood, and the substitution of another person… for the original object of the repressed impulses”. Transference was first described by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for better understanding of the patient’s feelings.

I’m still not sure if I know what it means after that but I will have a go at discussing the following quotes on it:

1. Have you been to see a film and left disappointed because their interpretation didn’t match the one you had created from reading the book in your head, I know I have.

2. In the definition it talks about repetition in the present, if the repetition is of a negative nature get away from that transference: Bad Vibe.

3. I have a friend who does self development work, he says it is to have people become sane in an insane world, he must have read this.

4. How often do we fear situations in out life, and when they occur the result is nothing like the expectation, for me its a fear of heights, what’s yours: Guts over Fear.

5. Arthur M. Jolly is an American playwright and screenwriter. In 2006, he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for a script named The Free Republic of Bobistan.

6. Are you great at hugging , holding and being held. To me this is the greatest act of transference of the soul, spirit, energy through action: I Want to Hug You.

7. Nationalism, one of the great tools of fascism. Sport taken to extremes, killing in the name of!!

8. James Frank Dobie – was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range. As a public figure, he was known in his lifetime for his outspoken liberal views against Texas state politics, and for his long personal war against what he saw as bragging Texans, religious prejudice, restraints on individual liberty, and the assault of the mechanised world on the human spirit. He was instrumental in the saving of the Texas Longhorn breed of cattle from extinction. Imagine what he would have thought of our crazy times: The Human Spirit.

9. Aren’t they so charismatic: we all know one of them. In the conscious dance community I hang in, I know quite a few thankfully, people who are alive and full of enthusiasm.

10. That first day of school when we are with our mothers normally, and they leave us behind with a whole lot of strangers, how long did it take you to get over the first day blues: First Day of School.

11. How often do we transfer our vision into reality? I put it in google, guess the result: 20,300,000. I suppose that’s why they call it leadership.

12. Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. After her graduation from formal education, Weil became a teacher. She taught intermittently throughout the 1930s, taking several breaks due to poor health and to devote herself to political activism, work that would see her assisting in the trade union movement, taking the side of the Anarchists known as the Durruti Column in the Spanish Civil War, and spending more than a year working as a labourer, mostly in auto factories, so she could better understand the working class : Never Know.

13. Father of the Star Trek phenomenon, Gene Roddenberry – was asked to write a series called Riverboat, set in 1860’s Mississippi. When he discovered that the producers wanted no black people on the show, he argued so much with them that he lost the job, but what a great question.

14. The father of transference, Sigmund Freud lightening the situation a little: The Cigar Song.

15. The Diva of soul Nina Simone lived with the transference that music can be, a blessing or the burden of fame throughout her life, suffering mental health issues and family breakdown as well as playing to some of the biggest audiences of her era.

So what have you transferred from your childhood and who do you relate to like they were that person who did that to you the first time, It’s a life time journey battling the transference of our minds.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Make each day, a Story!!

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Rod's World

Are you a good storyteller? I love listening to podcasts and the ones that hold my attention are the ones who tell great stories. To me, a great story is one that has you live an experience you haven’t before. This means that everyone can be a storyteller for another because we all have our own unique experiences, how do you get other people to listen to yours?

Lets look at what people have said on their storyboards:

1. Christina Baldwin is a writer and seminar presenter of 30+ years experience. She has contributed two classic books to the exploration of journal writing, including the well-known classic, Life’s Companion, Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice, revised and reissued in 2007 after 100,000 original sales. This work led her to a long study of personal growth and group dynamics and as a result of that experience she wrote Calling the Circle, the First and Future Culture to explore how social container releases needed wisdom.

2. From little things, big things grow. In Australia an indigenous tribal elder Vincent Lingiari took on one of the large land owners Lord Vestey with a simple story, Its our land: From Little Things.

3. Steve Jobs was a classic story teller, he said Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest, my entire family now has apple computers.

4. How do you relate to stories, do they lift you up and give you a new direction in life. They do for me, it may be a simple half page or a 400 page volume but if they add to my knowledge they have done what is required : Compass.

5. Michael Margolis made a career from Story telling. on his twitter page he wrote the following : Helping trailblazers tell their story. Educator, anthropologist, entrepreneur. Left-handed, colour-blind, believes chocolate is a food group. Try the red pill. His webpage is called http://www.getstoried.com.

6. Our mainstream media tell stories, they unfortunately have become written for profit not the betterment of society. How did we let it become about money not what would help our society grow: Magic.

7. We have all heard the saying you will not be remembered for what you had when you pass, but how you made people feel, the stories that are told about you when you are no longer there.

8. Sir Terence David John “Terry” Pratchett, OBE was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett’s first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. His final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death. He definitely turned his life into a story: The Hedgehog Song.

9. Changes, don’t wait to be a richer man: Changes, just gonna have to be a different man. Lines from a famous Bowie song. Don’t keep telling the same story for your whole life.

10. Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All: Everyone Included. I set up a Facebook group so we can share great cultural stories, Join Here : FB Interculturalism.

11. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

12. Tenzin Gyatzo, HHDL has it down pat. Its not success that is going to transform the world. Will it be the Western Women as he has also said : Transformer.

13. I hadn’t heard of Michael Margolis before I wrote this blog, have watched a few YouTube videos while writing it, he is a fascinating man, have a look.

14. Nourishing is one of the great things stories are capable of as they strengthen our dreams: Dream.

15. I think my brother in law worked on this story. Images help stories as well.

So lets get out their and pump up our stories and fulfil our dreams.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

The best is yet to Come!!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Rod's World

Some days I struggle for a subject to write my blog on, I had nothing in mind today when Elliot Goulding’s Halcyon came up on my music feed. Not being sure what it meant I looked it up:

definition of Halcyon –

ADJECTIVE

denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful:

“the halcyon days of the mid 1980s, when profits were soaring”
NOUN

a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.

a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly coloured plumage.

With such a beautiful meaning I knew I had found my word for the day. The 15 quotes I have chosen relate to the adjective more than the noun but I promise you will know what the kingfisher looks like by the end:

1. I have many female friends who hang out together and empower each other with their music, art and businesses which allow them to take huge strides in being ultimately successful in fields you would not expect them too.

2. In his iconic Halcyon series of books Peter Kazmaler points out that its good to include both the dark and the light in your life when considering what will come next: Fear and Love.

3. James Thomas Fields was an American publisher, editor and poet in the 1800’s. His most famous poem is “The Ballad of the Tempest”, which includes the famous lines: “We are lost!” the captain shouted, As he staggered down the stairs.

4. A woman who has spent most of her life going her own way, Angelina Jolie has done some remarkable things: Go your own Way.

5. Glass Towers are an Indie band from Sydney, Australia. In answer to their question I say unless you are meditating in a cave high in the Tibetan mountains the answer is no, that’s not how society works.

6. They obviously write deep songs, I agree with the line from this song. The only reason the world will be lost is if we give up: Halcyon.

7. As we see with the dramatic changes going on with watch I.T. technology, virtual reality and driver-less cars this statement made Charles Khupcan, an expert on foreign affairs who served in the first Clinton administration becomes more real each and every day.

8. Go to the peace and quiet of the wilderness of your intuition to resolve those things that natter in your life, time for : Elliott Goulding.

9. We have only this moment, the power of now. How many Now’s do you waste?

10. Jeanette Winterson, OBE (born 27 August 1959) is an award-winning English writer, who became famous with her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against conventional values. Some of her other novels have explored gender polarities and sexual identity. Winterson is also a broadcaster and a professor of creative writing: Fifteen.

11. My halcyon days include this, for me peace and quite lives inside a good inquiry. And as they comment on Facebook when there is a cute dog picture, Aaw.

12. Karen Prior is a christian Professor of English who believes in the power of the word touching your soul, why books will never die: Great Big Words.

13. Remember those days when your mind and heart are in sync. They are Halcyon day but not days you are doing nothing but days you are living your dream.
14. Here is the beautiful Halcyon kingfisher. I take part in a return of the kingfisher festival in my hometown Melbourne Australia at CERES each year. It celebrates the return of the Sacred Kingfisher to an area that had been devastated by human indifference after many years. Here is the dance we do : The Kingfisher Boogie.

15. Gregory House, MD — typically referred to simply as House — is the title character of the American medical drama series House. Created by David Shore and portrayed by English actor Hugh Laurie, he leads a team of diagnosticians as the Head of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey (based on the real-life Yale–New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut).

House’s character has been described as a misanthrope, cynic, narcissist, and curmudgeon, the last of which was named one of the top television words of 2005 in honour of the character. He is the only character to appear in all 177 episodes and, except for Wilson’s brief appearance, is the only regular character to appear in the season six premiere.

So there are many moods that fulfil halcyon times for people some quiet, some full of action because that’s the way they roll, Choose the one that suits you and go for it.

Namaste until next time my dear friends