I just Awesomed all over the Place!!

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Rod's World

I’m reading The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakshani, founder of Mindvalley. In it, he defines three kinds of happiness:

Happiness from Special and Unique Experiences
Happiness from growth and Awakening
Happiness from Meaning

Chances are we live our life somewhere in between our highest high and lowest low. Researchers call this phenomenon hedonic adaption. Vishen talks of using Blissipline to raise our happiness on a daily basis through three practices:

The Power of Gratitude
Forgiveness
The Practice of Giving

So how do you raise your happiness levels, let’s look at what the world has been saying about it over the years:

1. There are times in my life, I have thought, Why Me!!, now I realize I would not be leading the extraordinary Life I do now without these experiences.

2. Do not give up your happy land for others, you have to live there: Happiness is a warm Gun.

3. The first five statements sum up our childhood until they put us in the system that is meant to educate us. Fight for the right to party to be happy.

4. Not as easy as this classic Banksy image makes it: Letting Go.

5. One ingredient that helps a lot is a simple smile, practice it daily.

6. The Power of Now, not our to-do lists. Eckhart Tolle is the man for this: The Power of Now.

7. One of the practices to achieve number 6.

8. At 62 I am having the most awesome years of my life. I call myself an elder of the conscious community who has not brought the bullshit: Elder Hip Hop.

9. We are visiting that time that is the height of Object worship, captured by the retail industry Christmas has lost it original meaning many decades ago.

10.I have a daily practice to repeat the I Love You mantra in the mirror because I know that this is true but that I sometimes forget: Roar.

11. Go on, you know you can put it in your purse or wallet and bring it out when you need to.

12. How old were you when you were told to grow up and act like an adult, hopefully, it still happens today for you: Dancing Queen.

13. This quote comes from The Maxims of Marmaduke, written in 1908. It is ageless and just as relevant in this century.

14. Forgetting those things that wrecked the relationship will have a greater effect than apologizing or forgiving: Forget about Me.

15. Remember these people: Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Mark Pinkus, Jack Dorsey, Susan Boyle, Abraham Lincoln and Colonel Sanders. All took to at least the age of 30 to find their passions and become successful.

So what is your awesome, never give up on finding it, remember it’s a journey, not a destination.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Are you on the right path!!

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Rod's World

I have done several workshops lately, the latest being on Experiential Astrology , the new Moon and Kali. I don’t know a great deal about Kali, having studied more the Lilith and hecate lineage of goddesses over my trip so I looked up Kali.

Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time. There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time. In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala. Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses. The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote, “Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love.”

It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death). It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate. This is not to worship death but rather it is to overcome the I-am-the-body idea by reinforcing the awareness that the body is a temporary condition. Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the eternal I AM and not the body. This is underscored by the scene of the cremation grounds.

Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality. The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

A worthwhile guidance to follow in Life, so let’s have a look at what life says about being guided:

1. They sat very few individuals ever reach enlightenment because most people do not have the stamina to take all the steps required. I think we need to remember this and that there will be a lot more steps.

2. Yes, you are not one of the 150,ooo people who died on the planet today if you are reading this. That means you have survived those countless mistakes you have made and are still being guided: Life is a Flower.

3. In a week one of the two most unelectable people in the western world will be president of the United States. Guess what , have the courage to let go of what you can’t change.

4. Mason Cooley (1927 – July 25, 2002) was an American aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of these such aphorisms Cooley developed was “The time I kill is killing me.” He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the College of Staten Island. He was also an assistant professor of English at Columbia University from 1959 to 1967 and an adjunct professor from 1980 to 1988. He received his B.A. from San Diego State University and his Ph.D. from Oxford: Bad Blood.

5. One of the more forgotten religious guides, if you say you follow your guiding angel you often get a smirk from certain individuals.

6. If you are lucky you might find one of these guides in your life, perhaps even more than one. I have one at the moment, Arion Light from the Activation School: Blinded by the Light.

7. You can’t read the whole quote but certainly get the gist of it.

8. Pick a side to be on, Douglas bader was a famous fighter pilot in WW2 who lost both his legs in an accident and returned to combat. I want some of the divine guidance he was receiving: Break the Rules

9. I love the emoji for a hug, the little yellow creature holding its hands out, perhaps it’s doing this.

10. I would suggest you are being well guided by this quote,and there’s butterflies, yay!!: Stuck on You.

11. I am always so thankful the Chinese gave us the wisdom of Lao Tzu. This is from Confucius, another very wise man.

12. Coco Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both financial success as a businesswoman and catapulted to social prominence in French high society, thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron. In 1970, her net worth was $19 billion (equivalent to $118 billion in 2015), making her one of the richest women of all time. She thought for herself, very loud: I Won’t Back Down.

13. My friend Leyolah Antara swears by prayer, saying it is vital in entering being guided, she is the founder of Kundalini Dance, Leyolah Antara.

14. If there is a piece missing, all there is to do is persevere, really: Prince Ea.

15. My favourite cigar smoker, Led England during WW2, made great speeches and wrote some great quotes, here’s one.

Don’t give up on looking for your guided, I found my best one at 60.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

P.S. I was having the day off, and nearly forgot to write this.

We’re all in the same Game!!

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Rod's World

I live in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It was the policy of succeeding governments , both left and tight to place the heavily demonised asylum seekers who had arrived on the shores of our proud country amongst our population. What they did not mention is they placed them in houses without furniture and food, some without electricity for days. This would never be reported in the mainstream media of our country as they are on the side of asylum seekers are evil.

I work at Darebin Intercultural Centre, set up to assist the assimilation of new groups to our multicultural neighbourhood. We set up an asylum seeker lounge to get the new arrivals out of their houses and into the community and provided free English lessons for anyone, some visa classes issued to asylum seekers banned them from working, volunteering and receiving the basic 510 hours English training, but we are called a civilised country.

So who is an asylum seeker, here’s the definition if you didn’t know :

asylum seeker – a person who, from fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, social group, or political opinion, has crossed an international frontier into a country in which he or she hopes to be granted refugee status.

It does not say if you came by boat you were queue jumping, that is something our government made up, so lets have a look at what the world has to say about it:

asylum1

1. I was asked a question at an event called The Awakening that I attended yesterday. It was, What is it that makes you lose hope? My answer is tribalism or nationalism, that ethos that makes people thing that there are human beings on the planet who matter less than people born in your country.

asylum2

2. What would the world look like if we followed the above words of the great orator and civil rights champion, Martin Luther King : Justice.

asylum3

3. I teach English to asylum seekers. One of them is a Sri Lankan woman who was born in a refuge camp in Indian, having two children there. Whose relations paid for her to travel to Australia by boat as she had no chance of getting out of the camp legally, where she and her children was placed on Christmas island and Darwin detention centres for 12 months before being allowed into our community.

asylum4

4. This is how having to look after Asylum seekers is portrayed by mainstream media in our country : Share It Maybe.

asylum5

5. These are two lines from our national anthem Advance Australia Fair, we seem to have forgotten something.

asylum6

6. One of the tricks used to raise worry about asylum seekers is that they won’t fit in. Perhaps the fact that modern day coffee and the guitar owe their discovery to the middle east may allay these fears: Guitar Live.

asylum7

7. Our Air Force at the moment bombing parts of Syria, I would call that shock and awe, get the connection.

asylum8

8. How do we fix the problem of asylum seekers flooding our shores? Our country has increased its equanimity with each cultural intake of refugees. When I grew up as a child all you could get was steak and three veg. at roadside cafes, I now live in a suburb with about 20 different culture’s food outlets; When you say nothing at All.

asylum9

9. William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays, and screenplays. He is primarily known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he spent most of his life.

asylum10

10. Before planes everybody arrived in our country by boat, The first boat arrivals, the English, declared Australia Terra Nullius,Terra nullius – Indigenous Australians had inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years before European settlement, which commenced in 1788. Indigenous customs, rituals and laws were unwritten and their social and political organization was unknown or understood by Europeans as being analogous to their own institutions, and the British could not find recognised leaders with whom they could sign treaties.

The first test of terra nullius in Australia occurred with the decision of R v Tommy (Monitor, 29 November 1827), which indicated that the native inhabitants were only subject to English law where the incident concerned both natives and settlers. The rationale was that Aboriginal tribal groups already operated under their own legal systems. This position was further reinforced by the decisions of R v Boatman or Jackass and Bulleyes (Sydney Gazette, 25 February 1832) and R v Ballard (Sydney Gazette, 23 April 1829).

Prompted by Batman’s Treaty (June 1835) with Wurundjeri elders of the area around the future Melbourne, in August 1835, Governor Bourke of New South Wales indicated the significance of the doctrine of terra nullius by a Proclamation that Batman’s so-called treaty was null and void because Indigenous Australians could not sell or assign land, nor could an individual person or group acquire it, other than through distribution by the Crown. a land with out people , and set about trying to wipe out the native indigenous people on their arrival: Treaty.

asylum11

11. One of the methodologies used by the Australian government was to stop reporting the arrival of boats in the name of national security.

asylum12

12. One of the asylum seeker couples I taught English to were a civil engineer and a doctor who had to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban declared a fatwa on Lina, who was a doctor who had been empowering women. Most people who seek asylum had jobs before they had to drop everything and run for their lives: Getting It On.

asylum13

13. Words not included in the asylum seeker who arrived by boat in Australia policy. We have generously given them temporary visas where they must reapply every three years to see if they can stay. What would you feel like in your life was measured on a three year life span.

14. And this is one of the main reasons that we know the term asylum seeker: War, what is it good For.

asylum15

15. I have friends who say questionable things about asylum seekers, The first question I ask them is have they ever met an asylum seeker? There answer is usually in the negative.

I request you to research your knowledge of what is written about asylum seekers. A viewing of the excellent Mary meets Mohammad documentary helps greatly.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

namaste2

Like Icing with Cake!!

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Rod's World

How many truly intimate moments do we have in our lifetime? Is it a touch from our beloved, a feeling surging through our heart or screaming at a person you desire for 5 minutes like recently happened to me because words didn’t seem enough.

Type in Intimacy in Google and it brings up over 9,000,000 results. Lots of books, on line and experiential courses abound. It is defined as Intimacy:

the state of being intimate.

a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group.

a close association with or detailed knowledge or deep understanding of a place, subject, period of history, etc.:

an intimacy with Japan.

an act or expression serving as a token of familiarity, affection, or the like:

to allow the intimacy of using first names.

an amorously familiar act; liberty.

sexual intercourse.

the quality of being comfortable, warm, or familiar:

the intimacy of the room.

So academics are not even sure what it means, how has it been quoted over the centuries, lets have a look:

1. I like this definition a lot, it has happened to me recently leaving me gob smacked as what to do about the situation after it occurs.

2. Same person, blowing all over each others face: These Boots are made for Walking.

3. I’m available for this. Not sure if there is someone there at the moment.

4. Sounds like song lyrics , these words are so intimate: Just give me a Reason.

5. My friend Chris runs beautiful events that allow people to experience the intimacy of this over a day : The Yoga of Eye Gazing.

6. Is bilss really Bliss? my anal proofreading picked up the mistake. Obviously they didn’t go the hard yards of intimacy when creating this: I was Here.

7. A deadly trio for the sacredness of true intimacy. Watch out for them.

8. How often do we withhold this integral form of intimacy in the name of not hurting someone ? : Only Love can hurt like This.

9. I see You, a phrase donated to the English language from the blockbuster film Avatar. It expresses the depth of intimacy well.

10. Intimacy cake, without the icing you end up in bed, alone. : Commitment.

11. Do you do the small things from which big things grow in the intimacy stakes on a daily basis?

12. I want this oh so badly, come on. I am ready and able.

13. Are you a player. How much does the C word scare you in your dealings in your relationships.

14. Henri Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian. His interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice and community. Over the course of his life, Nouwen was heavily influenced by the work of Anton Boisen, Thomas Merton, Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh and Jean Vanier.

After nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, Nouwen went on to work with mentally and physically handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario.: Fear and Love.

intimacy-16

15. And isn’t this what we are seeking in the end, access to someone’s soul?

Hoping that you remember your intimate moments a little more after reading this.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Uncover your true Self!!

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Rod's World

I offered to send Facebook Birthday Cards to a friend of mine who runs a self development company and has close to 5,000 Facebook friends and was so incredibly busy. It lasted a day before one of her friends commented that if it was coming from her it would be more authentic. Shows how well our true friends know us.

So what makes something authentic, the definition is as follows

Authentic |

adjective

not false or copied; genuine; real:

an authentic antique.

having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified:

an authentic document of the Middle Ages; an authentic work of the old master.

representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified:

a story told in the authentic voice of a Midwestern farmer; a senator’s speech that sounded authentic.

entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy:

an authentic report on poverty in Africa.

Law. executed with all due formalities:

an authentic deed.

Music.

(of a church mode) having a range extending from the final to the octave above.
(of a cadence) consisting of a dominant harmony followed by a tonic.

To Emeli’s friend we were not being authentic, so what has been said over the centuries in regard to this matter that clutches at our heart strings, let’s have a look

1. Janet Louise Stephenson is an author who writes about abandonment, something that happened to her as a child until she was adopted by a Mormon family. She later searched for her mother and wrote a book about that experience.

2. We know when we are being authentic, we are not coming from those millions of frazzled thoughts in our head, but the openness of our hearts: The Song of the Heart.

3. Perfectionism is often said to be the booby prize as it stops you doing so much in your life as you don’t try things that you believe you won’t get right. Time to get real!!

4. We praise the doers of the world, but does just churning out tasks fulfil one’s soul. I believe there is another question that must also be answered in our daily to and fro, Who are you being about it. Here’s a fine article comparing the two: Doing vs. Being.

5. Authenticity goes by a few other names as well. Bravery and Courage are two that come to mind.

6. Brene Brown is a shero of mine, a she hero. Can you imagine the ride to work if everybody was totally open and allowing themselves to be seen, frightening or compelling, you choose: The Gifts of Imperfection.

7. How often do we catch ourselves seeking approval from our peers to justify our worldly existence? How much easier life would be if we could drop this malady from our daily actions.

8. What do you sell your soul for? I know that I get a knot in my stomach whenever I do this: Who will Save Your Soul.

9. The queen of authenticity, Oprah Winfrey admits that she wasn’t always that way. It was something that came to her later in life. She wishes she had come to it earlier.

10. With 80 publications to her name, authenticity is just one of the many subjects Marianne Williamson is one of the worlds most respected experts on. She rose to fame with her iconic Return to Love first published in 1992: The Power to Change.

11. Freedom is not just being released from behind prison bars. Nelson Mandela said if he had not been willing to forgive his guards whilst in prison for 28 years he would never have been free for that period of time.

12. How do you pray on a daily basis? Prayers can be construed as a matter of relationship with our true nature, more than a request or an invocation. Its purpose is to learn to be an ally of mystery, instead of trying to drive life according to our need and interest or to get specific help: Spirit Prayer.

13. Teal Swan has her fans and detractors. Teal is an internationally recognised spiritual leader and an influential new voice in the field of metaphysics. She was born with a range of extrasensory abilities including clairvoyance, clairsentience, and clairaudience. Teal survived 13 years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse before escaping her abuser at age 19 and beginning her own process of recovery and transformation.

Today, she shares what she has learned with millions of people, teaching them how to find forgiveness, happiness, freedom, and self-love in their lives. She reaches a wide audience through a range of powerful and accessible online resources and through various publications, media interviews, frequency artwork, and Synchronisation workshops that she presents around the world.

14. Do you fit in or are you like the zebra in the middle showing off their best backside shot because that’s whats authentic for them: Dancing Fool.

15. And this is an apology to Emeli’s friend, don’t believe everything you read on Facebook if you don’t think its authentic.

I see the power of authenticity in friendships and love can make or break trust, It’s something we must continually practise or it just falls away.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Does it strike a Chord?

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Rod's World

Whats your favourite program? What did you think on reading that? About T.V., radio, the gym. How do you get with the program in your life? In my life I do personal development program , online and Face to Face. Not much of a TV program kind of person, can’t stand the negativity of them all and definitely not a fan of realism TV, I know how to cook and I don’t need to renovate a house or marry a person I just met half an hour ago.

Strangely I have heard people having conversations amongst themselves like the people from these shows are their best friends, this challenges my sense of community participation profoundly.

So lets get with the program and have a look :

1. This program is not great for your health, I tried all three for about ten years ans spent a period of time being looked after by the men in white.

2. Suzanne Young is the New York Times bestselling author of The Program series. Originally from Utica, New York, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. She is a novelist and an English teacher, but not always in that order : History never Repeats.

3. In this “gripping tale for lovers of dystopian romance” , true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in.

And The Program is coming for them.

program4

4. Have you ever felt like life will swallow you up and you will never come back. I remember we used to play in an old abandoned gold mine in Bendigo and there were times I wanted someone to hold my hand : I want to hold your Hand.

program6

5.Definitely a member of this distinguished club, the darker the better.

program5

6. There is only one song to go with this deep comment by Jim on the program: When the Music’s Over, turn out the Light.

program7

7 H. Rap Brown – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, (born October 4, 1943, as Hubert Gerold Brown), also known as H. Rap Brown, was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, and during a short-lived (six months) alliance between SNCC and the Black Panther Party, he served as their minister of justice. He is perhaps most famous for his proclamation during that period that “violence is as American as cherry pie,” as well as once stating that “If America don’t come around, we’re gonna burn it down.” He is also known for his autobiography Die Nigger Die!. He is currently serving a life sentence for murder following the 2000 shooting of two Fulton County Sheriff’s deputies. He did not fit into the program.

program8

8. The first original astronauts came from the top gun flying squadrons, wold, daredevils pilots who had the gonads needed to risk it all in the name of the conquest of space: Danger Zone.

program9

9. Larry Niven is also known in science fiction fandom for “Niven’s Law”: There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it. Over the course of his career Niven has added to this first law a list of Niven’s Laws which he describes as “how the Universe works” as far as he can tell. Here are 5 examples of them Niven’s laws – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Never fire a laser at a mirror.
Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naïve.
It is easier to destroy than to create.
Ethics change with technology.
The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently

program10

10. With everybody having a phone attached to their hand or head it will be an offence to do this soon, ask that is: How do you think It/I feels

program11

11. Life changes moment to moment. Why do we live it like this is a lie, because we like holding onto a sense of normality as tightly as we can.

program12

12. What flavour would you buy, I would buy I am Enough : Ice Cream Truck.

program13

13. Jobs and this guy, they didn’t follow the program, they invented it.

program14

14. I’m training the company I consult for to think of their customers as fans, they have got onto Kevin Kelly’s method 1,000 true fans so they are up to it. Think I’ll buy the book to research nerd it.I’m your Man.

program15

15. I recently watched a YouTube speech called JFK’s last speech, the reason he was killed, he didn’t stick to the program, here it is The Secret Societies.

So we have many choices of program to fill our lives up with, my advice, makes your unique and live the purpose you were put on the planet for.

Namaste until next time, Dear Friends.

namaste

Be not perfect, Be original!!

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Rod's World

I am involved in a two year training course and we did our first training day on the weekend. This is on top of the weekend retreats and course that we are also involved in at the moment. One could call this a lot of work to be doing but when you find the thing you love doing they say you will never work another day in your life. Have a think about the times that you have discovered these moments and how quickly time has flown by when you have achieved this state.

How does the community relate to work and what saying have survived the decades, lets begin our journey:

1. There are millions of people who hop in their car, drive to work and do a reasonable job. These are not the people who they write articles about. It is people who stand out so much they simply cannot be ignored.

2. Steve Jobs is one of the great examples of this. The founder of Apple, he was sacked by his board, went on to found the innovative Pixar films and returned to Apple and took them to new heights: Steve on Work.

3. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla electric cars founded his first company because he was ignored when he waited several hours at a Fortune 100 company to drop off his resume. Elon thought, stuff this, I’ll start my own company. The career of the world’s greatest entrepreneur was born in this moment.

4. We have all uttered those deadly words, I just don’t have enough time for ……. Bring on Eight Days a Week.

5. Consistency is the best plan to produce great work, don’t think you just need to do it at the end of the project, that is called cramming.

6. They say the greatest inventions has come about because people have never lost site of the goal they intended in the first place. Plan A may have fallen by the wayside, but they have always had a Plan B and C. : Live Your Life.

7. Only one of these words in blue above gets things done.

8. When does this moment occur in a persons life. A musician playing at your local hotel would be the former, but at some moment when they cross over to stadium’s , it becomes the latter: Can I have your Autograph.

9. This statement reminds, me of my mentor Arion. His two influences were Tony Robbins and Eckhart Tolle. One get on with it the other Be in the Now. Each one works at different times in our lives.

10. There are many step programs in the world today, I like this one a lot: You’re the Hero.

11. Never undervalue your self, do it for free because you love it and would do it for nothing or charge what you are worth because you deserve it.

12. Time flies when you are having fun. The time this happens the most is when you are making a difference: Stand Up.

13. Working hard can be called by several names: slavery being one of them. If you do not have the freedom to believe in yourself then what are you doing it for?

14. Would you be missed it you stopped turning up to work, are you invisible doing what you do. Take a few days of and see what happens. Just Do It!!

15. And finally I am sure we have all had days like this. Swivel On!!

So I hope you are doing what you love. If you are not Tony would say do something about it and Eckhart would say breath into it.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

There is no Beauty in the Finest Cloth!!

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Rod's World

We are having a movie day at the Darebin Intercultural Centre today. It is a screening of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. We provide lunch before and the attendees were discussing the countries they come from: Malta, China, Vietnam, India, Ireland and Italy, most of how arrived as refugees , many of them asylum seekers who arrived in our country by boat.

Hanh, our elderly vietnamese who attends our events and was an asylum seeker who arrived by boat back in the 1970’s was sharing about how she was helping the new intake of Syrians who are arriving in our country because they have nothing. And she said how she could relate to that and how poorly our planet is set up so that all people survive.

It led to a conversation about the sustainability of our beloved planet, so I am enquiring into what has been said and done over the years in regard to this. Lets have a look:

1. I watched a discussion on A T.V. showed called Q and A the other night with a scientist and a politician discussing Climate Change. The politician said that it had been made up by NASA. The scientist asked him did he believe we had landed on the moon, and who was responsible for that.

2. Point taken, Prince Ea has a few words to say about this: Sorry.

3. Will there be an Amazon Forest in the future for our children and grandchildren to visit. In the past 40 years 20% of the rainforest has been cut down. Here are 20 Facts about the Amazon.

4. They say that everything is music, what tune what is happening in Syria playing:War, what is it good for?

5. Anna Lappé is an author and educator, known for her work as an expert on food systems and as a sustainable food advocate. The co-author or author of three books and the contributing author to over ten others, Anna’s work has been widely translated internationally and featured in many journals. With her mother Frances Moore Lappé, Anna co-founded the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute, an international network for research and popular education about the root causes of hunger and poverty. The Lappés are also co-founders of the Small Planet Fund, which has raised nearly $1 million for democratic social movements worldwide, two of which have won the Nobel Peace Prize since the Fund’s founding in 2002.Anna’s research on sustainable agriculture has taken her from Brooklyn to South Korea, China, Bangladesh, India, Poland, France, Italy, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and beyond.

6. Sustainability depends on us all, stop using plastic bags, throwing rubbish in the streets, purchasing pre wrapped items from supermarkets etc. etc. etc. : Sustainability Song.

7. One of my favourite songs is by Paul Kelly , From Little things, Big Things grow. It depicts the action of an indigenous tribe in Australia and their battle for their land with Lord Vestey, a British landowner: Here are the words:

Gather round people let me tell you’re a story
An eight year long story of power and pride
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiarri
Were opposite men on opposite sides

Vestey was fat with money and muscle
Beef was his business, broad was his door
Vincent was lean and spoke very little
He had no bank balance, hard dirt was his floor

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Gurindji were working for nothing but rations
Where once they had gathered the wealth of the land
Daily the pressure got tighter and tighter
Gurindju decided they must make a stand

They picked up their swags and started off walking
At Wattie Creek they sat themselves down
Now it don’t sound like much but it sure got tongues talking
Back at the homestead and then in the town

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Vestey man said I’ll double your wages
Seven quid a week you’ll have in your hand
Vincent said uh-huh we’re not talking about wages
We’re sitting right here till we get our land
Vestey man roared and Vestey man thundered
You don’t stand the chance of a cinder in snow
Vince said if we fall others are rising

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Then Vincent Lingiarri boarded an aeroplane
Landed in Sydney, big city of lights
And daily he went round softly speaking his story
To all kinds of men from all walks of life

And Vincent sat down with big politicians
This affair they told him is a matter of state
Let us sort it out, your people are hungry
Vincent said no thanks, we know how to wait

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

Then Vincent Lingiarri returned in an aeroplane
Back to his country once more to sit down
And he told his people let the stars keep on turning
We have friends in the south, in the cities and towns

Eight years went by, eight long years of waiting
Till one day a tall stranger appeared in the land
And he came with lawyers and he came with great ceremony
And through Vincent’s fingers poured a handful of sand

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

That was the story of Vincent Lingairri
But this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law

From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow
From little things big things grow

8. There are many quotes like this, pointing to the fact that how we treat the earth is how we are treating ourselves and future generations. Mahatma Gandhi said it in the 1940’s, we do not appear to have learnt much: I am that I Am.

9. Ralph Marston (February 16, 1907 – December 7, 1967) was a professional football player who spent a season in the National Football League with the Boston Bulldogs in 1929.

10. Indigenous wisdom from people who lived on lands for thousands of centuries is often ignored these days as primitive, I think thats a damn shame: Elders Wisdom.

11. We hold ourselves superior to all other creatures on the planet, and wipe countless species out each year, when will they turn on us?

12. Arnie, the terminator in the good guy movies about coming back to protect the leader of humanity from the machines knows how the planet will survive, unfortunately the Australian government does not. The Terminator.

13. William Andrews McDonough is an American designer, advisor, author, and thought leader. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) with German chemist Michael Braungart as well as co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things and The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability—Designing for Abundance, also with Braungart. McDonough’s career is focused on creating a beneficial footprint. He espouses a message that we can design materials, systems, companies, products, buildings, and communities that continuously improve over time.

14. The profit mongers of the world seem to think they can do anything to our planet. What they fail to realise that the earth will still be here long after the human race disappear from its surface as many other dominant species have: Earth Song.

15. Zinn described himself as “something of an anarchist, something of a socialist. Maybe a democratic socialist.” He wrote extensively about the civil rights and anti-war movements, and labor history of the United States. His memoir, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, was also the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn’s life and work. Zinn died of a heart attack in 2010, aged 87.

How do we sustain the world if we continue with tribalism and fighting wars over it. Sustainability must include all things on the planet being equal.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Not all Superheroes wear Capes!!

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Rod's World

My sister and I take my 89 year old mum op shopping every Tuesday, for those across the seas think Thrift shop shopping. Recently I realised that I have many friends who are motherless who are much younger than me. My birth-name is Rodney Paul Williams and my mum is one of two people who call me Rodney, the other being a friend I have come back in contact with after 30 years when I used to call myself that name.

When you are 89 you sometimes forget what you have said and when reading our families reunion book mum takes pleasure in reminding me I was a very shy child, about every five minutes. I used to get frustrated but realise that she is showing her love as best she can. So what do we write about our dear Mums that make it into the quotes section of Google Images, lets begin the journey.

1. They are the people who carry us in their womb for 9 months, harbouring us until we are ready to enter the world and begin our journey, and yes, they are everywhere.

2. During one of my mental health issues, I argued with my mother that people didn’t care and that I was going to go away. She wouldn’t let me leave and rang the local mental health team so that I received the treatment I needed at the time. They are our Guardian Angels

3. I’m sure at times with the issues that children go through in their lives, their mothers may feel this. But whose name do people call out in periods of extreme fear.

4. It used to make me wonder how women felt about giving their career up to become a mother. My friend Mary says it was the most beautiful period of her life. A Mother’s Prayer.

5. Abraham Lincoln ; (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis.In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernised the economy. Even presidents of the most powerful nation on the planet love their mothers.

6. During my years of health issues, I could always go home and my mum would heal me with her love. Mother Knows Best.

7. I was lucky enough to experience the joy of watching my sisters children fall asleep in her arms. They are now 30 and 25. My time fly’s by quickly

8. There are periods in our life where we rely entirely on them, then the period we wish they would leave us alone, and then we return to the love as we begin to fear that we will lose them for ever. This happens all across the World : Elderly Mother- Chinese.

9. In that period we do not see eye to eye with our parents, Our heart is what began beating in the womb: our heart knows best.

10 Terri Guillemets is a quotation anthologist from Phoenix, Arizona who has collected quotes since age thirteen. Her passion is sharing literary, inspirational, thought-provoking, and humorous quotations with a worldwide audience via her website The Quote Garden at http://www.quotegarden.com, one of the most long-standing online quotation collections and the first to offer a wide variety of special occasion topics. With a speciality in reviving vintage writings from the 1800s, she shares her love of old books, the art of writing, and the beauty of words with a personal, heartfelt approach — “spreading quotations joy” as she calls it. A curmudgeonesque optimist whose inner child will never grow up, she also enjoys nature, photography, cloud gazing, and family. Another one from across the planet A Mother’s Love

11. And then there are times one must have a laugh at the relationship.

12. Rumi is the most famous Persian poet so we must Have a Persian Mothers Love song: Mother.

13. We come out of the womb with wonder for the whole world. No racism, no sexism, no homophobia. It is the guidelines our mother and father give us that help us show up in life.

14. I remember the times we would get home from school and there would be gifts waiting when we least expected it. So each year I thank Gaia that my dear old mum has reached another : Happy Mothers Day.

15. Did you know mother was an acronym.

I’m sure there are times we have not felt this about our dear mothers, but our heart holds the memory of the womb and still having my mother at 62 years of age as an 89 year old shaman I regret those times.

Namaste until nest time, my dear friends.

I will Play while Unleashing!!

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Rod's World

Missed last Thursday, I was getting ready for a retreat I attended on the weekend called Unleashing the Dragon. It was with my mentor Arion Light through his Activation School. The school’s motto is What you Embody, You Create. It is body work that revolutionises how you come alive, heal & create. Dropping mental force creating and instead taps into the power of creating from an awakened body and your inner essence.

The definition of unleashing has two meaning in the dictionary:

unleash –

release (a dog) from a leash.

“they dig up badger setts and unleash terriers into them”

synonyms: let loose, release, free, set free, loose, unloose, unbridle, untie, untether, unchain,unbind, unshackle, unmanacle; More

2. cause force to be released or become unrestrained.

The latter was more what we were dealing with on the weekend although at times it felt like the former and my body is quite sore today.

So what does the world have to say about the noble art of unleashing, there are many derivatives so lets have a look at a few:

unleashing 1

1. For more than 40 years, Jim Rohn honed his craft like a skilled artist-helping people the world over sculpt life strategies that have expanded their imagination of what is possible. Those who had the privilege of hearing him speak can attest to the elegance and common sense of his material. It is no coincidence, then, that he is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of our time, and thought of by many as a national treasure. He is famous for down to earth quotes as well.

unleashed1

2. Deep Inside You, many people got to discover this as they unleashed the dragon hiding in their caves. for some it was power, others rage, for some their sexuality and others their tenderness. Try a little Tenderness.

unleashed2

3. We actually saw people break through those fears that had been holding them back, an act of pure courage.

unleashed4

4. Things we do not confront build up pain in our bodies, it takes up more and more space unless you unleash it. Time to Start Over Again.

unleashed5

5. Sai Marie Johnson is a creative concept designer, graphics artist, activist writer, and author of several series. A mother of four children, and the proud wife of a US Army Veteran Sai enjoys many different activities. The owner of a dachshund, and two lovely cats Sai is an animal lover, and a woman who simply calls herself, “A woman with a dream, and a pen.” Here she is writing about to be careful about what you allow to unleashed by our governments.

unleashed6

6. Another way of saying unleash is to liberate, remember you are Awesome. It’s For the Good Times.

unleashed7

7. What we each unleashed on the weekend was a mystery to us, even though we were called to have an intention.

unleashed8

8. Another reason to be unleashed, actually 12 of them. Helps with the Communication in your life.

unleashed9

9. We went deep into the pockets of our fears and as this quote say, all that now remains is us. There are always fears to work on.

Unleashed10

10. My mind knows a lot, and then there is a saying You don’t know what you don’t know, go there: Who You Are.

unleashed11

11. OMG, I love lists, here is a great one.

Unleashed12

12. People had some sexy names on the weekend, here’s another, Ricardo Housham has his own quote page : Make your Move.

unleashed13

13. The greatest Love I have got from fairy tales is to believe in Unicorns, I have friends that I swap Unicorn pictures with.

unleashed14

14. Besides being a magnificent facilitator Arion is an awesome poet, here is one of his offerings:

Precious love, you are beautiful. I know that you cling to that steering wheel because you think all manner of bad things will happen if you let go, but I want to let you know its ok, that controlling everything is not much of a life for me or you.
Yes life can be harsh and brutal, but control doesn’t protect from that anyway, and here is the most beautiful thing….. Even though it feels like death to move to the back seat, it is so much more than that. Yes a certain rigidity dies, but you precious mind, can’t die, you are luminous brilliance and when you can let go of that steering wheel, in time your shell will crack away and your true nature of genius and light will be revealed.
So my love, let go, come and rest in the back of the bus, I have installed a jacuzzi and all you have to do is relax. I love you so much.

It’s Poetry in Motion.

unleashed15

15. Three words, YOU ARE ALLOWED, Unleash that dragon. This saying I acknowledge my other mentor and my Anam Cara, Emili Paulo. Here is a link to her work: Collective Potential

As I said in the beginning there are many cuts at Unleashing, be mindful about which ones you do or just go for it, both of these types of advise where given at the end of the weekend.

Namaste until next Thursday, I promise, my dear friends.

Namaste2