If Liberation feels like a chore, It isn’t Really Liberation is it ?

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Rod's World

This question goes deeply into our Psyche, doesn’t it. Its point to the fact you may go to conscious dances, attend bush Doof festivals, do ten day silent meditation retreats but if it is something you are doing to fit in, or because it is something you have always done it isn’t really liberating your Soul is it.

Wikipedia defines liberation as:

noun
the act of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression; release.
“the liberation of all political prisoners”
synonyms: freeing, release, discharge, deliverance, salvation, rescue, relief, extrication, setting free; More
freedom from limits on thought or behavior.
“the struggle for women’s liberation”

Being set free from imprisonment is how I relate to it on a personal level, that being that my mind is imprisoned when it comes to certain beliefs, and if I do not take actions to release it from its slavery to the thoughts that have me trapped there I do not liberate myself from these situations.

The 15 quotes I have chosen cover a wide range of views on what Liberation is and how it can affect your life. Lets delve into it :

1. The story of Nelson Mandela is living proof of this, Nelson said “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

2. Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director, stated this early in her career after struggling like many actresses to have success in her career but knew the path to liberation was not over.

3. Eckhart Tolle, best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world. What does he mean by this statement. Liberation lies in the answer to that question.

4. What is Harriet Tubman, well known slave abolitionist pointing to here, that what is called a certain life style by one person is not seen as that by another so can not be liberated because they do not understand the concept you are talking about, the power of language.

5. This should bring up some discussion, “believes she is human as a man”. My friend Justine posted recently that women run the world so don’t need to be liberated, they just need to wake the fuck up. Here’s some of her music Ikigai’s sweet tunes.

6. This takes what the mind does to us a step further, Nisargadatta, one of India’s great philosophers blames our bondage on it, and that our mission in life is to go beyond its influence on us.

7. How many of us have seen the pictures of horses being tied to plastic chairs and elephants held by the slenderest of ropes. They could leave whenever they felt like it but remain there imprisoned by their minds training.

8. Joseph Campbell, author of the Heroes Journey points to that liberation is not hanging on steadfastly to the life we have created so far. In fact we must let go of that exact one for us to have the life that awaits us.

9. Junebug is a mythical character of the Civil Rights movement in America. Liberation is being who you truly are , not what other people want you to be.

10. Stu Mittleman lives the above quote Stu Mittleman is an ultra distance running champion, as well as a fitness/running coach and author. Mittleman set three consecutive American 100-Mile Road Race records in the US National Championships 1980–1982. He is a liberated Elder proving that life does not stop at 60 when you retire.

11. Liberation is not handed to you on a silver platter, you have to work for it on a daily basis especially in the circumstances Assata Olugbala Shakur, who is an African-American activist and member of the former Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army who resides in Cuba describes above.

12. No one could ever accuse Mahatma Gandhi of uttering a Yes to please or worse, to avoid trouble, after all he led the movement that free the second largest country in the world.

13. Personal Revolution, one at a time is Jim Morrison’s cry for a large scale liberation. He wrote a classic song about this Break on Through.

14. There are thousands of references on Google pointing to Abe Lincoln being the first gay president, not something that makes it to mainstream media but David Herbert Donald wrote an extensive biography on Lincoln in 1995 that explored this.

15. Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence of Picasso on modern visual arts, the influence of Stravinsky on music, Martha says the path to Liberation is through discipline, blessed discipline.

Liberation is as we call it is unique for each and every person and culture. I hope you have enjoyed studying the history of Liberation with me.

Namaste until next Monday , my dear friends.

Did you Get It!

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Rod's World

I have started listening to Podcasts on the recommendation of my Anam Cara Emeli. I listened to a fascinating one about fulfilling your purpose by getting your message out there. This made me think did most people know what the Message they had to give in life was.

I have done several modalities to set up my message for the year and live from my Core Desired Feelings of . These are from Danielle LaPortes brilliant process The Desire Map. From the others my Word for 2016 is Sacredness and my Essence is Sacred Love, more about those in a later Blog.

I have chosen 15 diverse quotes, covering Love, Social Media and Purpose. No Oprah but there is Mother Teresa. Lets begin our journey.

1. This is describing the essence of Sacred Love, where you or someone say I Love You, and you don’t really have to say it again because they you or they hear it for the rest of you life this time in. Its to do with revealing your Sacred Stories.

2. Google didn’t find Aditya, but their message is Inspiring in its words and intention, don’t mess round delivering yours.

3. Its good to have a dream, I have a favourite image which is of a Unicorn and it says don’t let them kill your day dream. But to fulfil that daydream you also require the actions of Doing stuff.

4. Dennis S. Brown is a motivational speaker who grew up in a three room “Shot Gun” house in Central Louisiana is known as Mr Attitude. His ability to relate to transforming your message through real life events he has experienced draw people to him in the thousands.

5. Luke Rinehart wrote a book called The Dice Man back in 1971 where he shook a dice before making any decision. It is a fascinating read as to me the message is that we make decisions on much more shallow fears and judgements than this in our lives.

6. Throw in a bit of weird, a bit of not normal, Yes even some insanity to get that Message out there if you want it to be heard.

7. Probably not many people on Earth are quoted more than His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. When spreading you Message , if you want it to be joyful and easy look in the mirror and there is the person responsible for it happening.

8. There will always be critics, mainstream media makes a living from it, imagine if they reported the great messages that existed around the World instead, it would transform.

9. Parenting 101, give your used things to your next sibling or the family down the street who are not as well off as you. Thinking about it later and having judgements about it doesn’t get that Message out there.

10. I get to tell one of my sacred stories, about how I broke up a friendship via SMS because she said that it was a valid way to communicate and would not agree to meeting face to face. I told her it was a crap way and have not heard from her since after I said to her that I was not the negative person she talked about and that negative people did not send three things I love about you for 5 months each and every day.

11. Time for a song, Little Anthony from 1960. Tears on My Pillow, Tears may be necessary to move to the next level of getting your message out there. It isn’t always a cakewalk.

12. Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, juggler, comedian, musician, inventor, actor, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller. He is also known for his advocacy of atheism, scientific scepticism , libertarianism and free-market capitalism . The Message is the Message, we often forget this as it becomes more difficult.

13. Mother Teresa is much loved and much maligned, there appears to be no middle ground with her. She got her Message out powerfully to the World about the slums of India. As she states, you need to light the flame daily for it to keep burning, same with your message.

14. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most popular language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. There are 1,213,000,000 people in the world that speak that language. How about if we wrote our message in every language, that certainly would make a difference.

15. Finally a bit of humour about getting your message out there. Make sure it is real for you. if its not why will other people listen to it.

Each of us have a message to bring to the planet and its people, it would seem that the messages being spoken the loudest are those of war, corruption and Terrorism. Do not worry, it is the last cries of a time that has seen its day. We are entering the Age of Aquarius. Peace and Love and Human Connection.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Caring for Others = Too Sensitive?

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Rod's World

For the first few years of our lives we rely on our parents to take care of us, they are not accused of being too sensitive. I spend a day with my mother recently where she kept showing me a picture in our family reunion book of when I was a young child saying that I was a shy, sensitive child. Due to her memory issues Mum did it about 15 times in two hours.

Does this mean that I was a more difficult child to raise, that I reacted to things more readily than my siblings. I don’t ask my mother what she means by it as she is 88 years young and doesn’t remember what happened 5 minutes ago. So I have decided to see what society says about the Sensitive individuals that populate it. I have chosen 15 inspiring quotes on the subject, Lets explore them :

1. There are many articles and lists on what the actions of our pups and moggies mean. I agree with the statement that they know when their masters are angry or craving love, they are sensitive creatures who love those who care for them.

2. Its sensible to show your emotions by being sensitive to others and discussing your own because if you hold them in they will cause illness to arise. As a sufferer of Depression and Anxiety who was hospitalise 5 times I can assert the dangers of doing this.

3. Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian in the 1800’s. Famous for his quotes, He states the heart is our most sensitive organ.

4. Roy Ayers is a funk, soul and jazz composer. People who choose the Artists Way often face being considered sensitive as they grow up through the school system.

5. Love is the way of the sensitive soul. They feel what others are feeling, are highly empathetic and know when to contribute to another.

6. In being empathetic this opens up the area of suffering to enter your life, but you are also gifted much more Love and many more dreams of the night and day varieties.

7. Sometimes we sensitive people let people stay too long in out lives. This is something to always keep working on, staying strong and always Moving.

8. In our country boys are trained from a very early age to act like a man, this means no displays of emotion or sensitivity, that is women’s business. There are a lot of wounded souls amongst these men, I know I was one of them, at the age of 61 I am working my way out of this by attending men’s groups and ecstatic dance.

9. Time for a song, sensitive people tend to believe in the magic in life, here is Beyonce’s song about that, Yes we Believe in Magic. This is how we react.

10. With all the horror that is reported on mainstream media, which I recommend turning off, being sensitive is an act of Courage, worthy of an award.

11. Want to charm your beloved? Jane Austen says that the ultimate way to do this is through having a tender heart.

12. What a great line, an Empathetic Bad-ass with Superpowers Oh Yeah!!

13. Going through the struggle of the dark side gives you the gifts of appreciating life, a sensitivity and understanding of it and the ability to be compassionate.

14. Beth Gibbons is the lead singer and lyricist for eclectic band Portishead, her distinct voice catches your attention every time you hear it, writing on many an emotive subject, here is one of my favourite tracks, Mysteries. This is an example of the above statement.

15. The Heart is where you feel your sensitivity first, it is the home of Beauty and Love. These are signs you are a sensitive soul.

I have enjoyed creating this blog, as the Dalai Lama says, we need more Lovers, Artists, Musicians not soldiers, millionaires. I think a large dose of sensitive people would help solve the issues he is pointing at as well.

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends.

The Irish got it Right!!

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Rod's World

I was given the honour of being declared someone’s Anam Cara the other day. We are entirely different people – Emeli is a kick Ass entrepreneur who is about having people see their purpose in life through workshops and retreats and I am a wordsmith who loves blogs and conscious dancing.

Historically, your Anam Cara is a person to whom you look as the person to share, confess and reveal the hidden intimacies in your life. With your Anam Cara you can express your mind, your heart, the very core of your innermost self. Your friendship with your anam cara is not just a friendship, but also an act of belonging, a place of recognition. Therefore, the most powerful gift you can bring to your friendship with your Anam Cara is your attention and awareness. It is your responsibility to be completely present with your Anam Cara.

So what does society have to say about Anam Cara’s, I have chosen 15 pertinent quotes to examine this, here we go.

1. Your Anam Cara may not be your lover or partner, He or she may not even be your bestie or live in the same state or country. But you simply know when you meet them that they are.

2. Back in the 1500’s Paracelsus came up with this beautiful quote that to me describes the Anam Cara relationship divinely. Partelsus was strangely called the Father of Toxicology as well as beng a being a philosopher.

3. Its said that with your Anam Cara you could sit there for days and days and resolve deep issues. My friend Kavisha, who is a renowned musician and chantress says the healing is not in the words, its in the silence in between.

4. It could have been easy for me to overlook Emeli as on of my Anam Cara’s, we meet putting chairs out at a yoga and meditation event mutual friends were running. It was when Em did a 45 minute workshop promising that you would know what stopped you in Life and delivered that caught my attention.

5. I love Ten Years After I’m Going Home from Woodstock , one of the great raw guitar performances Adam Cara Live. it reminds me of the joy you feel being around these people.

6. I was at a party Saturday night and overheard my friends housemate saying she was bored. it was full of bush doofers who would open a conversation with which doofs do you go to. She had just come back from working on AIDS projects in Africa and Asia. We had this amazing conversation about what we saw as making a difference for several hours. It was an honour to meet her soul.

7. John O’Donohue wrote the 1977 best seller Anam Cara. A former ex priest , he traces the expression back to the monastic traditions. I love you have arrived at your most Sacred Place – Home. Here is his last recorded talk on the subject – The beauty of Anam Cara.

8. John O’Donohue was skilled with his words and his quotes on the subject are very moving and this one touches me in many places.

9. More from John, after all he wrote the book on the subject, its on my list to read with about 6 others. This mystical quote speaks to how I feel about Emeli because it is not how we look, and what we say that draws us to be Anam Cara, it is other worldly.

10. I don’t know how many Anam Cara you are allowed in your life but another dear friend and I were discussing Yoni staring, I think this constitutes feeling the confidence to share everything.

11. I think this is self explanatory as to what it has to do with Anam Cara, it is breathtaking beautiful in its simplicity.

12. It was only less than two years ago I met Emeli, I am 61. but those two years feel like they contain as much of a journey as the previous 59.

13. Time for another song, Continental Robert Desouza and the Dynamic Hypnotics from 1984, he’s still performing around Sydney. Its a soul kind of Feeling Anam Cara Feeling.

14. Elephant and Cat, Anam Cara come in strange combinations, but they always feel Oh So right.

15. I like throwing in an Oprah quote or An image without words, I believe these beautiful butterfly friends are Anam Cara.

So when Emeli explained Anam Cara to me, I believed I entered a new phase in my life, as well as being an Elder, no longer a little boy I am an Aman Cara, sweet.

Namaste until Thursday , my dear friends

What’s on Your Wall?

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Rod's World

I recently received the phone call all renters dread a few weeks ago, the Real Estate agent advising you that the owners are selling. John advised me that if an investment buyer brought it I may be able to stay. My walls are covered with the displays of my life.

The Indigenous painting my sister gave me as a house-warming present four years ago, the Tiwi Island painting my friend did, the letters that you write at my friend Jules Sutherland’s extraordinary events like Mojo Tantra Dance. I thought they would want me to remove them but they liked the homely look of them, I only had to take the 50 or so thing I had on my fridge. It goes up for auction Saturday so here’s to fingers crossed.

So I have a commitment to write a blog every Monday and Thursday and when I didn’t have something planned I used to look at my wall at home and something would inspire me. I write them at my voluntary position at Darebin Intercultural Centre between English students and the only thing above my desk is a Life is a Gift sticker, so what do we think of life is a gift across the Universe. Here are my 15 quotes of Choice, Here we go :

1. Here is a formulae worth relating to, Who doesn’t like receiving a present or being in the present!!

2. Marinela Reka is a noted English poet, Her Web Page full of poems. This quote from her suggests that there is a way of living life that you could get presents daily not just on your birthday.

3. Life’s gifts do not come to you when you take your eyes off your vision and dreams on your daily journey.

4. Life is many things, these are all pretty cool ways of relating to it. Go forth and prosper.

5. David Viscott was a pioneer in the Talk Radio Therapy shows in the United States in the 1990’s . He points to the access to fulfilment in life is to give your gift away to others when you discover what it is.

6. Several of my friends are overseas at the moment at the bedside of their sick and ailing parents. One of the had not seen her mother for 15 years. She set up a fund to ask for help getting back to see her before she passed on, of course we contributed what we could.

7. It isn’t always the famous who come up with the best quotes or insights. This unknown quote speaks beautifully about the gift a simple kiss can be between two people.

8. Who would suspect that a revered Basketball Coach would be remembered more for his quotes than his sporting feats. Jim Vivano is remembered got this beautiful quote about the influence parental belief can have on their children.

9. Another unknown person came up with this quaint idea, live each day as a thank you note. If we did this the art of letter writing would be flourishing.

10. Do you unwrap your day as if it is a precious gift, or do you just fall out of bed, throw a coffee down , get in the car and speed off to work. Mindfulness added to your day adds something to its quality.

11.This person likes the number 15 like I do. 15 fantastic things to spark your day off on an ongoing basis.

12. Are you Awake? most of the great disciples aren’t asking you to become Muslim, Christian, Orthodox or Buddhist. They are asking you to awake to the power of Love in your life, Are you Awake?

13. Its always good to remember that life’s gifts are not always what you expect. This saying came from the Trojan War, when the Greek army left a wooden Horse full of soldiers outside the gates of Troy. The Trojans thought it was a parting gifts. Boy, did they get it wrong.

14. Maria Shriver calls herself an Architect for Change. Ex Wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger : Powered by Inspiration, Maria looks to the simple things such as friendship to fulfil your life’s purpose.

15. Finally the thing you cannot be paid enough for if you offer it from your heart, Your time. This is what your friends and family love you for, the giving of your time to them without attachments.

Some of these would be great posters to put on your walls, I am not a minimalist like my brother in law, I think wall space is to proudly display what you are up to in your life.

Namaste until next Monday my dear Friends.

Do Unicorns Dance?

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Rod's World

Had an amazing dance journey over the past three days, the first a Sacred Cacao ceremony, the second a pyschotranced filled shared house party spectacular and finally the completion of my beloved Kundalini dance journey with Leyolah Antara – Pathways to Ecstatic Awakening.

It was interesting that even though I danced to 4.30 a.m. in the morning at the house party I did not feel as touched by the music or the fellow dancers as at the other two events, which had my think that purposeful sacred dancing is a different experience to moving and shaking your body.

So having thought about it my definition of Sacred Dance is an exploration of movement that heals and transforms your soul. I researched as to what other people had to say about it and chose these 15 gems, Gabrielle Roth and Michael Jackson feature quite a bit. Here we go :

1. Possibly the greatest poet to have lived Rumi equates the sacredness of Dance to be able to crete verse as you move through the dance floor.

2. Gabrielle Roth (February 4, 1941 – October 22, 2012^[1]) was an American dancer and musician in the world music and trance dance genres, with a special interest in shamanism. She created the 5Rhythms approach to movement in the late 1970s; there are now hundreds of 5Rhythms teachers worldwide who use her approach in their work.

3. Dancing with Life day by day guarantees that love will be present on an ongoing basis.

4. Sacred dance has been a part of societies for generations. Black Elk, a Lakota Chieftain in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s compared completion of Sacred dance to floating in the air.

5. Sacred Dance practice takes a dedication to the art and a willingness to push through what you already know. It could be said it is a firm of Worship.

6. If we persist with Sacred dance it will flow over into other parts of our life making the dance all parts of our journey. And Yes, we will be healing and creating a better world.

7. From the Moonwalk to the incredible dance steps in Thriller The Killer of Thriller, Michael Jackson believed that dance is an eternal journey that is part of Consciousness, we as dancers are just its current disicples.

8. To reach the stage of no judgements of others and ourselves on the dance floor, that is the moment of sacred dance.

9. The five stages of the 5 Rhythm’s Wave are Flow, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness – Gabrielle’s Wave. Dancing these as a daily practice makes this sort of life available to anyone.

10. When you obtain that magical and sacred moment on the dance floor when there is no you, just the dance, Empty Mind as my Tai Chi teacher Andy refers to it as, the Balance of Synergy becomes available.

11. Mata Hari is better known for being executed as a spy in WW1 than for her career, she was an exotic dancer and courtesan, but this beautiful quote shows that she did not see it as a secondary role.

12. The first time I heard about Gabrielle Roth was when I brought her book Sweat Your Prayers at Savers in Sydney Road Brunswick. My hand reached out and pulled it out of the secondhand books for $1, an action that would change my life profoundly.

13. It seems they can : Pink Fluffy Unicorns dancing on Rainbows

14. Early Christianity demonised dance but Famed Anarchist Emma Goldman had a different view, that the revolution would not succeed without it.

15. Editor of the renowned Huffington Post, Arianna feels that you need to balance planning with free thinking to allow all of life to dance at it wildest and most effective.

I will miss my Sunday nights in Fitzroy with the people who are willing to discover what is possible through Sacred Dance. I honour Leyolah Antara for creating this beautiful and sacred journey but request that she not forget us, the Men of Dance when planning her 2016

Namaste until Thursday my dear Friends.

Doing the Honourable Dance!!

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Rod's World

I went to my friends Jules Mojo Trance Dance on the weekend. Its a dance where you change partners each song and dance to a theme. This month it was on being Honoured, not a subject that I think of much when it comes to Conscious dance. Jules is a beautiful, beautiful soul who’s commitment in life is to empower people’s souls and build community. Here’s the link to her Facebook page – Perpetual Mojo.

So how do you honour one another at dance. You follow the two signals, I want to dance with you, but I don’t want to be touched, there are a lot of Contact Improv people among the attendees who just love being touched and the other signal that I want my own alone time. You always get so much out of the night and the group Hug at the end is worth the money alone.

So what do we as human beings have to say about honouring one another. No Oprah again but some quality insights among the fifteen I have chosen. here we go :

1. We go way back to 400 B.C. for our first look at honour. Sophocles is one of the three surviving Ancient Greek playwrights, imagine out of such a prolific era that only three people made it through. His message is simple, Honour is all that matters, corrupt success is bad for the health.

2. Our school system seems to be focusing more and more on the three R’s, turning out corporate clones. What matters later in life is how you relate to others not your ability to know the 12 times table.

3. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is Mark Twain’s real name. He lived by this famous quote above, a true man of honour.

4. Remembered for saving England and smoking Cigars Winston Churchill was meant to be a man of simple tastes and it seems simple words – freedom, justice and of course Honour.

5. Back to the 400 B.C. time frame Socrates is held to be one of the founders of Western Philosophy. This cute and pithy quote points to how to live a great life, be who you say you are going to be, Astronaut or President or Postman. it doesn’t matter, the joy is in the honouring.

6. Winston again, He had a profound belief in the fact that if you kept your word that you could do anything, but that honour and good sense were vital ingredients in the recipe required. He helped save a country with this belief.

7. I have several of Martin’s speeches on audio. They go for over 15 minutes but you are riveted the whole time. One of the most honourable men of all of history he made a race of people believe they weren’t niggers, they were proud African Americans.

8. Balastar is a cool name, he is a Spanish Jesuit prose writer. He was also known for his insightful quotes, why say something with more words that necessary. Balastar points to the value of keeping your words in the face of pleasing others is what counts.

9. Looks like this has been taken off a graffiti installation, How many of us create our present moment to moment. I know I’m guilty of not doing this 24 hours a day.

10. The Law of Abundance, always remember that abundance does not mean more possessions. In fact most awards are given to those who have contributed the most to society, get out there and be abundant by giving of yourself.

11. Taking us back to the the fact that Honouring oneself not be so significant is well known screen hero Chewbacca. I could’t find the language on Google Translate but I’m sure it is profound.

12. Prepared to die, not many people live by this creed. Nelson Mandela was one such inspirational being. I remember singing Free Nelson Mandela in our singing group Soulsong and how much we were moved by it each time we sang it. Here is the Specials great version of the song The Specials.

13. Off to ancient Egypt for this one, 1300 B.C. Akhenaton was a Pharaoh. I suppose the Pharaohs words got saved before anybody elses. Interesting that the soul had importance way back when.

14. I have been a bit male centric this Blog, and unfortunately this is by an other man. But it is about our mothers. Sai Baba, eccentric Indian Hindu guru from the 1970’s made a promise that we would come to no harm if we honoured our mothers.

15. Misunderstood critical thinker Werner Erhard, founder of the Landmark Forum, the mainstreams rite of passage into Transformational work came up with this classic. I did his work back in the 80’s and 90’s when he was still around. We did courses led by out there Americans who shocked us naive Aussies, so much that I went to the States and did two of their advanced course and ran the Moscow Peace Marathon the year before the Berlin Wall came down.

So I promise that my Blog on Thursday will be focused on that the wild women of our society have to contribute. Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Passion, Power or Fruit?

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Rod's World

I have recently been getting a lot of articles in my News Feed about how the education system is letting our children down, that they learn very few practical skills for later in life and definitely do not look at what are you passionate about. When they begin at the age of four or so they are astronauts Prime Ministers, League footballers, Rock Stars but this is soon crushed out of them as impractical and everybody is taught from the same book.

So how do we get our Passion back? For me it was a journey of lots of workshops, long periods of mental health issues, running marathons, drug taking , singing in choirs etc. I found it attending a film night at the end of my last period of Mental Health issues. A Colombian film at the Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston, Victoria, Australia I was impressed by the sense of community. I asked if I could volunteer and that is when my love of Interculturalism began. Here are the links to the Facebook group I created called Interculturalism, a place people can post their examples of the ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included Interculturalism.

I have chosen 15 quotes on Passion and of course, one of them is from Oprah, here we go.

!. Oprah, loved or hated. I’m part of the former group. A newsreader who has created an empire based on possibility and sharing it. One passionate individual.

2. It is said that your dreams often reveal your passion in life to you. I have been remembering mine more and more lately and it looks like it includes travel.

3. I recently posted that Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa had the same 24 hours as we did. What made the difference is their level of passion, I think. My brother went ape-shit at it, is saying I was being arrogant. Not arrogant, passionate.

4. I receive a post called The Daily Flame from my friend Lissa Rankin who I met in Byron Bay. My friends think I write it. It is empowering your Inner Pilot Light, her latest book is about it The Fear Cure. If your Inner Pilot Light is aflame people will notice.

5. Beauty is one thing that attracts our attention. It interrupts the mundane. How to transform the mundane into beauty is live a life of passion fulfilling your dreams.

6. Passion begins now. You don’t have to know how it s going to be fulfilled, that’s called perfectionism , one of life’s booby prizes.

7. I find that as I get into filling my life with things I am passionate about this rings true. Don’t know about no sleep though. A different time and space continuum I’m thinking.

8. Deepak Chopra, doyen of the Spirituality genre, says Always, yes lets repeat that again, Always go with your passions, Are You doing this?

9. Vincent Van Gogh, In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. This is passion, to me boredom is a made up concept that covers our profound laziness.

10. Love this, the Drunkenness of the mind, when we have lost control of our senses. Being sensible and being passionate do nor correlate in my world.

11. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the great philosophers of the 1700’s was a poet, novelist, playwright, diplomat and civil servant as well. He points to you see the world as angry or sad if you have an angry heart, but it is just as easy to have a happy and passionate one. Its your choice after all.

12. Our hearts, the lifeblood for our bodies. Why are more and more people dying from heart attacks in our heavily compartmentalised world. I think its time we etched Passion on them at birth.

13. Dennis Waitley is a founding member of the Council for Self Esteem, the old chestnut of make you life about what lives in your heart , not your wallet. Love the image as well.

14. I see the sun come up most days. This is a new occurrence over the last few years. For most of my life my sleep was a sacred site as it filled up my day as relevantly as what I was doing to fill up the rest of the day. No alarm clock for me.

15. Novelist Galen Watson combines the two things that will have you live an extraordinary life, Passion and Love in his moving quote.

Passion turn to the left, Passion turn to the right or whatever direction you need to to fulfil your dreams. Namaste until next time my dear friends.

The one Life we Know we Have

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Rod's World

I am doing a personal development course Sunday run by two of my friends called NOW – The Art of having it All. They start the event blurb with the following line – Do you sometimes feel like a 40, 000 year old sage in some areas…And a shit scared 4 year old in others?.

A fantastic question. How would it be to live life full out in all areas. Here’s an explanation of what living life full out means for one person, Nancy Solari, life coach , radio host and best selling author who happens to be legally blind. Here’s the link to her webpage Living Full Out

Living Full Out is a way of viewing your world – your circumstances, your goals, your life story – as a springboard to success. When you live life full out, you not only embrace change, but also look for opportunities to create change. You never settle for stuck, never run from a challenge, never rest on your laurels. People are access to reaching your goals, not obstacles to get around. “Making a difference” becomes a mantra not a slogan. You wake up each day excited to greet what will happen next – the good, the bad and the frustrating. No area of your life is too small to bring passion to.

I have been part of a group of runners who had the main street of Leningrad, Nevsky Prospekt interrupted on a Friday Afternoon for us to run down with the mayor of Leningrad and other dignitaries to support Ending World Hunger. I have also been hospitalized for major depression five times. Is this having it all. I couldn’t keep up the commitment that saw me run down that promenade and make a huge difference to world relations, I also ran the Moscow peace Marathon when I was there and after a few years my knees told me that they didn’t like me running 100 kilometres a week anymore.

here are the fifteen quotes I have chosen on the subject, some from the famous, others quite unknown.

1. We have an official retirement age, in out country it is 65. People live to their 80’s in retirement. Wayne Dyer tells a story where a passenger on an airplane asked him how long he had been retired when he was about 70 years old. Wayne replied why do you think I am retired. I will retire the day they put me in a box. He lived up to this touring Australia the week before he recently passed away.

2. Leonardo Da Vinci left many a great gift to the planet. One of his obsessions was flight, he created designs for helicopters and gliders centuries before they came into being. This quote has also survived from his time. This link is to some other amazing things he did Why the sky is blue.

3. I have found that I feel the most full and content when I am doing good deeds that assist people and the planet. Focusing on myself takes me down a path that is not a great place to be.

4. How often my mind has said to me that you can’t do that, or no one will listen to you is uncountable. When I have achieved my greatest triumphs is when I have said thank you for sharing and ignored it allowing for me to breakthrough and get it done.

5. The joy and imagination of youth where nothing is impossible. Oh but if we could bottle this and drink its essence when the naysayers said to behave ourselves as we got older.

6. The story we tell our-self about how we are travelling in life is what makes possible apathy or success. Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King had stories just like us. Change yours if you want to live life more fully.

7. Popes and dying. The Eastern philosophies teach that you cannot really live until you realize that you are going to die one day. Our whole society in the west is focused on denying this until the moment it happens.

8. I love these 4 things. The lines that you can barely read say like no one is watching you, like you have never been hurt, like no one can hear you and as though heaven was on earth. 4 prescriptions to live full out without excuses.

9. Postscript , you cannot change that which has gone before, write your dreams down and go at it full bore, the past won’t care.

10. Ever had those days were you laugh and smile uncontrollably. They are the special ones. Replicate them as often as possible and you will live a fantastic life.

11. My friend Emeli has a saying, Get real, Get it Done. It is a fantastic way to look at life, because living it through another’s ideals or wishes is fake as it can be, your heart will shatter into a million pieces eventually.

12. We actually are living our lives full out moment to moment. Just that a lot of the time we know we could do better. Seek out resources to help you break through when you become blocked in your creativity.

13. We all have this silly assumption that we will wake up tomorrow, some people don’t and really we never know when it will be our turn. Big dreams full out, action like we only have this moment to fulfill them

14. I had a friend at high school who I wrote The Boston Gobbler, a satirical look at our life in a rural Victorian town. it lasted three episodes because the thrusting horses in the letters to the editor offended our conservative Christian head master. I gave up having my words in print for 40 years because i let the opinion of someone else define who I became. I love writing with a passion.

15. Whoever and whatever you believe about being brought to this mortal plane, it was for a purpose or it would not be your turn. make it a brilliant one.

I am looking forward to Sunday, Jules and Clare are brilliant facilitators and live their lives full of purpose more than most.

until next time Namaste my dear friends.

Whatever gets you through the Night.

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Rod's World

Tonight my friend Emeli Paulo is leading a RAW session on Addiction : What’s Yours. I have been thinking about this and I think my friends may feel it is posting positivity on my Facebook page Positivity HQ, but I believe this to be a sacred calling to counter the evil mainstream media is spreading across the planet.

So I thought long and hard, not Sex, not Alcohol , I gave up drinking on my 40th Anniversary of doing that, not gambling, I see that as a waste and came across Music. I have 23,000 songs and lectures on my Itunes library, I am subscribed to both My Music and Spotify and have Mixcloud, Souncloud and Bandcamp accounts. 23,000 songs is 77.6 days of music to put it in perspective.

So what do we get from our love of Music. Here are the 15 thoughts I have put together that our sages, musicians and people of note have contributed to the matter.

1. What does this truly mean. To me it is in those moments when a chill goes up your spine. Years ago I worked on the door for my friend Kerri Simpson and I knew when she was on, She always sang Summertime and when it sent chills up my spine the effect would last for hours.

2. When first contact is made they will bring many new and exciting things with them. But one thing they will certainly bring is their music. Even Klingon’s had music in Star trek, admittedly it was hard to appreciate but they loved it as we do our favourite style.

3. Billy Thorpe’s Somewhere over the Rainbow doesn’t make me think what a great song, there are many finer versions. But what it does make me remember is the night at the Myer Music Bowl that I and 200,000 other people sang it along with him.

4. Among my 23,000 tracks I have quite a bit of meditation music. I listen to it primarily when I am travelling on public transport. I lowered my Carbon Footprint to an Electric Bike, a pushbike and Public transport several years ago. It takes me to a place of genuine bliss while journeying through the chaos of a major cities thoroughfares.

5. There are so many styles of music that one can listen to, It seems there are new ones being developed every year. I am not a huge fan of Death metal, Pagan Rock and such genres. More for me tunes that have a positive message.

6. We Live on our own part of the World, so in the other parts of the world our indigenous music is captured by the title World Music. This gives you many opportunities to learn and listen to the magic of other cultures as these year Five students did.

7. Here’s an image you will find hard to get out of your head. A naked 61 year old man bopping around his apartment’s kitchen to GodsKitchen doof.

8. Back to ancient Greece. Plato and his mates sitting around listening to an inspired bouzouki performance. He turns to them and says …….

9. Another cute memory, A hot 40 degree Celsius day in St. Arnaud primary school. Our class is singing the Yellow Rose of Texas, half way through we hear the class next door joining in. The power of music is irrepressible.

10. It is often said by people that a particular song touches their heart. In doing so these words give you access to precious moments of healing that enliven your human experience.

11. Nature plays music to us all the time, sometimes it is powerful in the form of destructive winds, sometimes almost silent like an early morning sunrise over the mountains. We cannot write such superb songs, just give it our best shot.

12. Eckhart Tolle speak of the inner stillness that music can conquer. I have seen this many times in my music listening career. The most memorable being when I went to my friend Alicia’s Melancholia event two years ago. A young musician named Dan Parsons did one of his original songs and you could have heard a pin drop. It was outstanding music.

13. What came first, the horse or the cart. Darwin one of the great naturalists discovered that music came before speech. I believe this to be true because Nature has always provided it from the beginning of time.

14. I had to get the comment of one musician in the list. Levon Helm from The Band points to the healing side of music. It has been used in shamanic ceremonies for thousands of years, It has never been seen to fail.

15. And for our last insight, we cross to one of history’s greatest minds. The best way to crack a case of the Sad’s is to go inner and drench it with the music that inspires you.

I am including links to some of my favourite inspiring music so that you can appreciate them as well The Voice of an Angel, Goddess Songs, Indigenous Bliss, Ben sings of Love, Australia’s Heart and Soul, The Outlaw Women from Down Under, Lilith – Wild and Alive

Here’s to our love of music, Namaste until next time my dear friends