Can you Feel the Noise?

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Rod's World

Ever since I took on the life-purpose of radiating Love my feelings have been going haywire.Its like their noise level has increased and that I am meant to deal with them, one thing I was very good at not doing for a long , long time.

I had an experience on a tram the other day where a woman told me I belonged in a psychiatric ward for tapping my feet to the music I was listening to. I felt it was my right to get angry and told her to Fuck off and that I would give her my psychiatrists number is she was disturbed by such minor things and to avoid school closure times when travelling.

So how do we relate and react to our feelings? Do we subdue them or let loose and lessen the hold they have over us. The world has many quotes on the subject of feelings and I like the 15 we are going to journey with todays: Lets begin.

1. I’ve been having these feeling again after a very, very long time of not allowing myself to. I’m still an amateur at it even though I am in my eldership years.

2. Those feelings you don’t want to have and wished they would go away, you had them for a reason. Breathe in, accept them and learn the lesson. Show The Tracks of My Tears.

3. I have been guilty of this for most of my life, as I suspect many of you reading this have been as well. They won’t go away unless they are accepted and expressed. So it’s not Silence is Golden.

4. The good old silent treatment, where you get to make up what is going on. Most times I go it wrong proving that this way of dealing with feelings is utter crap.

5. Out damn spot, denying it and trying to make them go away is the booby prize arena in the feelings stakes.

6. My friend Lissa Rankin talks about True fears and False fears, 90% of what we fear is never going to happen, its just our mind on full volume. Here’s a link to her page : The Fear Cure.

7. I have lost a few people in my life by not expressing my feelings. The latter statement os the result of not doing this.

8. Recently went through this, don’t know if she has forgotten me. gave her the choice to stay in contact, she declined. Feeling like this makes me think of Scary Monsters.

9. Moving on down the line, not really because those dang feeling are still somewhere lurking in my body and mind waiting for more playtime.

10. There is only one song that can go with this quote: Walk a Mile in my Shoes.

11. Declaration of this can have dire or gorgeous consequences dependant on what the other person’s reaction is.

12. Mind reading by any other name: If you could read my mind Love.

13. When people become media stars it is often forgotten that they have feelings to. Marilyn Monroe was hounded to her death as the sex symbol of her time.

14. How often have we thought or said, I thought I had dealt with that Feeling or Issue, yet her it is again raising its ugly head. Take it in your arms, my love. Feelings.

15. The flip flopping world of dealing with our feelings on a day to day basis. Will we ever make our mind up?

The things that make us distinct from each other, unique in our own right. Are we anything else but our feelings, I say that actions are also part of our makeup, but these are predicated by the former.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Where we Wrong?

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Rod's World

Today I wrote on reconciliation. In our country there is a call for reconciliation to recognise the indigenous people who are not recognised in our constitution. There is one slight problem, most of the indigenous people don’t want reconciliation they want a treaty that recognises the fact the land was stolen off them.

This has caused much division, in the area where I live there is a call to change the name of the local electorate from Batman, named after explorer John Batman to recognising our indigenous people, the Wurrundjeri.

Batman is a controversial figure due to his dealings with Aboriginal peoples in Van Diemen’s Land/ AKA Tasmania and Victoria. The artist John Glover, Batman’s neighbour in Van Diemens Land, said Batman was “a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known”.

The treaty Batman negotiated with local Aboriginal peoples in 1835, to acquire land in the Port Phillip area, was a matter of controversy in his day, and has remained an event of great historical interest and debate.

So what does the world say about reconciliation and is it essential that it occurs for the soul of the earth to be restored. Lets begin out journey:

1. Actually Thich Nhat Hanh, this beautiful man has been a peace and reconciliation activist since the days of the Vietnam War. He was interviewed by Oprah, a bit long but worthwhile: The Interview.

2. Recognised as one of the greatest peace activists on his release, he was originally jailed for being a guerrilla, he set up the famous truth and reconciliation commission after the end of apartheid so that chaos did not break out and that a new future could be created in South Africa.

3. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in that language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. What do you think he means by this statement?

4. It is said that we outgrow people but what about those times we made somebody wrong for what they said or did. I recently made up with a person who had been one of my dearest friends. My heart sung after I did it.

5. What if we could restore all the broken hearts we suffered in our life, would the world occur differently, fuck yeah!!

6. Nelson again, putting it in our faces. South African Songs

7. Practical action, Fraser was the last Liberal Party Prime Minister to practise Keynesian economics. In retirement, Fraser became involved in international relief and humanitarian aid issues and, domestically, as a forthright liberal voice for human rights. Shortly after Tony Abbott won the 2009 Liberal Party leadership spill, Fraser ended his Liberal Party membership, stating the party was “no longer a liberal party but a conservative party”.

8. In Victory someone usually loses, Reconciliation tends to be the opposite where both parties obtain what they desire.

9. García Márquez started as a journalist, and wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularising a literary style labelled as magic realism, which uses magical elements and events in otherwise ordinary and realistic situations. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo (the town mainly inspired by his birthplace Aracataca), and most of them explore the theme of solitude. This powerful statement speaks to the gift of reconciliation.

10. The Fonz from the sitcom Happy Days could not say these words. How much pain has our inability to say them caused us? In my case quite a bit.

11. Have you ever met someone you keep running into in the most unusual situations. I saw one of these people on a TV program the other day.

12. Brother Roger was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 1988 and wrote many books on prayer and reflection, asking young people to be confident in God and committed to their local church community and to humanity. He also wrote books about Christian spirituality and prayer, some together with Mother Teresa with whom he shared a cordial friendship. A springtime to the Soul sounds like a wonderful place to hang out in. Leonard Cohen has a wistful song about reconciliation : Amen.

13. South Africa’s other great peace activist, Desmond Tutu calls us out that forgiveness and reconciliation are real things we need to take action on. Tutu’s admirers see him as a great man who, since the demise of apartheid, has been active in the defence of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS,tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings.

14. The great Chinese philosopher Unknown asks us to walk powerfully on the earth, so do I.

15. And we must never forget the magical powers of the Unicorn of Reconciliation, they can help heal the world.

I believe that we can heal the planet through reconciliation, not with just fellow human beings, but the other animals and the plants as well.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

Good Morning, or is that Energy?

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Rod's World

What do we base the saying good morning on, is it something we say because it is expected in our culture or is it an authentic statement on how our energy is flowing at the time? I think it is a mixture of the two and an area in our lives that we should consider moving to the latter.

As Nikola Tesla says “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”. This relates as much to our own secrets as we are just one small part of the whole universe who normally holds ourselves separate from the rest.

Energy is important, we perform best when it is at its peak and when we are demotivated it tends to drop off. There were many different aspects to look at when selecting 15 quotes, I hope you enjoy them, lets go :

1. The most powerful form of energy is Love to me, it underlies all others and can over ride them much further than that which was underlying.

2. In the last week I lost my house keys, drowned my phone, got banned by Facebook and had my push-bike locked to a bike stand by another persons lock as well as my own, I could have interpreted these as negative problems which I did not do but instead solved them with positive solutions.

3. You’re Awesome, Yes you.

4. This is referred to as your Essence by my friend and mentor Arion Light at his Activation School.

5. Does on have to always be on Hi Energy mode, at times we need to back off even though AC/DC might disagree – High Voltage.

6. Albert is a wise man, time is a made up notion of energy as well.

7. I have been told by one of my mentors to contain my energy when I day, to stay in my body more as giving energy away cheaply has it repercussions. I think this is what this quote is addressing.

8. Energy can be chosen as to how you direct it. It may feel automatic in nature, but breath in before you respond.

9. This quote made me immediately think of this song of my music journey in the 70’s : Bob Marley’s Positive Vibration.

10. There is a lot written about and workshops run on the effect of energy on each of us. Learning this goes much deeper than the words someone speaks.

11. I just had to include this one, Its so cute.

12. Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the “Queen of All Media”, she has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and is currently North America’s first and only multi-billionaire black person. Several assessments regard her as the most influential woman in the world. In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama^[and honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard. She transmits hers very well.

13. Does your energy have you leap out of bed or hit the snooze button, how satisfied do you go to bed?

14. Let it go, Let it Out. Let it all Unravel. Let it Free and it can be a path on which to travel – Michael Leunig, Australia’s greatest philosopher.

15. Every school should have one of these in their playground, the world would be a very different place.

Has reading this lifted your energy level, I hope so as this is what the world is crying out for Positive Energy Angels on Positive Energy trampolines.

Namaste until next time, dear friends.

Is anyone Watching?

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Rod's World

I receive hundreds of different things through my News Feed from my 4,500 Facebook friends. I have a policy if we have 100 mutual friends we are friends who just haven’t met yet. Doing this you end up with a lot of musicians, American female life coaches and people you actually know on your list. As a gratitude exercise I have started sending all of them a Facebook Birthday Card as I believe everybody should receive a birthday card on their special day.

A couple of days ago I received a quote on Integrity that went something like this. Integrity is doing it even when no one is looking. What do you hold Integrity to be: Is it your actions, who you hold yourself to be or a mixture of both.

Choosing my 15 quotes to comment on was interesting, there are a few that dominate but I found quotes that will fascinate and please. Let us begin :

1. I have kept my integrity with my Facebook Birthday cards even one day I was not going to be at home and having left my phone there I went to an Internet Cafe to send them.

2. Many people say they are going to one day. My friend Catherine Deveny calls her writing class Gunnas Master Class, can you guess why. I googled saying vs. doing and it brought up this interesting blog: The Big Difference.

3. Zig Ziglar, most famous for the quote “You can have everything in Life, If you will just help enough other people get what they want” which features on his website passed in 2012. His podcast still receives an average of 350,000 hits a month.

4. Integrity is partially in what you do and who you be. If you wish to keep it intact don’t do things that will challenge it.

5. I like the fact that they are highlighting the word Integrity with a yellow marker so it stands out from the rest. Because when it becomes as ordinary as all other words the battle is lost.

6. Born in Ghana, Israelmore wrote his first Quote on his palm in a toilet, he has come a long way since. He is an Inspirational Writer and a born-again Christian, so passionate about transformation individuals through information. He holds a strong belief that reformation and transformation of society can only become evident in the presence of information. However, it takes only positive and relevant information to bring real and intended transformation.

7. How does one obtain beauty? Does going to the gym or buying the latest perfumes or having plastic surgery or a tummy tuck. None of these things can attain it according to master coach Thomas Leonard, to him beauty is obtained through your inner qualities, Integrity being one of these.

8. How many times does that thought ” Do I really have to ” pass through. The answer is yes even if there is no congratulations and no recognition, remember you still know.

9. These are the gifts you receive from living your life from Integrity. Is there a song about it, of Course: Integrity Song.

10. I used to run Marathons back in the day, during training I would get to my integrity point at about the 8 kilometre mark when my mind would go is this worth it, moast times I said yes.

11. As we move down the journey of time our definition is what is integrity changes over time. The friends I had in my boozing days would definitely not fit into my version of it now.

12.

Integrity

A firm adherence to a code of values

The state of being complete, whole, or undivided

Total honesty and sincerity

The ability to “walk our talk”

Discipline

Activity that improves a skill

Controlling behavior to mold moral character

Habits and ways of acting developed through practice

13. I love these balanced stones images, these show the power of gravity and the reliance on each other. Integrity also comes with other traits like the list Zig Ziglar has put together.

14. This short film made by USC covers the above statement very well : USC Integrity Movie.

15. Do you have conditions for your Integrity, Is it different if no one is watching to being in a crowded room. As the above quote says it’s internally you look for integrity and the actions one takes from that place.

Whilst writing this it has brought up examples for me where I have lapsed my Integrity. I will put them back in place over the next few days.

Namaste my dear friends. Speak to you again next Monday.

Is Reality the X Factor?

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Rod's World

Looking for a subject today I notice The Green Guide: The best on Screen: Television, Streaming, Downloads & Radio was rating the reality TV judges. The Green Guide is the weekly entertainment section of our daily newspaper The Age, considered the more intelectual of the two papers that come out each day.

I cringed instantly that our society had sunk so low that this was considered news. What has become of mainstream society that this is what is considered entertainment for the masses. I checked out what people have quoted about reality over the years and have chosen a deft list to ponder. Here we go:

1. Each of us have our own reality, remember you are judging if you think your reality is more worthwhile than another persons.

2. Reality is that you will most likely end up with a partner at some stage in your life. I think that if you can achieve the above you are creating an awesome reality for the relationship.

3. Life is a game we all play at different levels, and we have our own unique devils. Meatloaf was one of mine: Bat out of Hell.

4. Growing up in rural country towns this above statements makes me relate to the time I went back to one of them as a Buddhist Calm Abiding meditation teacher. When I told people guess what they said?

5. From the first century A.D. Plutarch was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. He had several other quotes which survived from that time, a famous one being: I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

6. Lisa Prosen is a passionate Sensitivity Coach, Speaker, and Author. She works with her clients so they can courageously look at their lives in new ways and navigate changes with new found confidence. She helps them learn to balance between their sensitivity and the things they are committed to accomplishing, so they achieve the life they truly want to live. Founder of the popular Facebook group “Practical Solutions for The Highly Sensitive Soul”, Lisa is familiar with the shackles of perfectionism and how living life for other people, ultimately disappoints everybody.

7. Or as the bard would have put it, Out damn spot, reality doesn’t go away even though it is an illusion as all our life is according to the chaos theory.

8. I think they wrote this for mainstream media and what they present as the news. Control, mayhem and evil are not my reality and never will be.

9. Before enlightenment wash the dishes, after enlightenment wash the dishes, welcome to reality.

10. Robert J. Ringer is an American entrepreneur, motivational and political speaker, and author of several best-selling personal-development and political books. The best known of these is a semi quote to the Bard, To be or not to be Intimidated.

11. Our current reality keeps changing faster and faster. A quote I read recently made me shudder. If our children are not taught to be alone they will grow up only knowing how to be lonely. The above quotes lies in that arena for me.

12. Reality lives in the now according to Eckhart Tolle, but what does Beyonce have to say about it : Me, Myself and I.

13. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca or Seneca the Younger) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. While he was later forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, he may have been innocent. He clearly suffered more from imagination if he was innocent.

14. The ubiquitous to do list, how many of us are honest enough to write the one on the right when it is our reality.

15. This quote by Teal Scott supports my statement at the beginning of this blog. Society does now want to be aware, it would much rather remain in the illusory state that everything is OK as it is.

I have tried to drop judging society to much when writing this, Its just that I believe we were placed on this planet for more than what is churned out as mass entertainment these days.

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends.

Sex is a 3 Letter Word!!

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Rod's World

As my regular readers now I have a mentor, Arion Light. On the Weekend I did a Sex and the Soul Retreat that he and our friend Leyolah Antara lead with 20 courageous men and women.

As we went through the process it brought up a lot of stuff for me around sex and sexuality as the processes were to heal and empower different parts that you experienced over your lifetime and for each person it was different.

I got to experience my mistrust of women because of an incident early in my childhood and was able to clear it, I feel like a brand new person as the tender young age of 61. What does the world have to say about this often taboo subject. Let have a look at 15 powerful quotes on the subject.

1. When you get shamed in this area we often shut it down and it remains the age the incident occurred at. It takes an act of courage to rekindle the journey down to a mature sexuality.

2. Portia de Rossi is often best known for being Ellen De Generes partner but she is also a well known actress which she has been doing for nearly 30 years.

3. We come on to this planet with our sexuality in tow. Society tries and tell us that it should be one certain way, unfortunately it isn’t that simple.

4. Probably one of the areas in life that is judged the most. A lot of people get on their moral high horse if people’s sexuality is different to theirs in their preferences or choice of partner. As Janet Jackson wouldn’t it be great if as a race we didn’t do this.

5. One of the greatest spontaneous women in the world, Marilyn Monroe had no qualms in saying I want to be loved by You.

6. This is one area that should come under the category of fun and pleasure, does it for You?

7. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.

8. The women on the weekend got to do this , to be proud and steadfast and sexy in their power.

9. Graham Greene is one of my favourite wordsmiths, this quote says a lot about sexuality.

10. Thrust, thrust, thrust. This is not sexuality.

11. Maria Manakova is a Serbian Chessmaster, I agree with her, why not Chess.

12. If you find your sacred lover F. Scott says you will never recover, Who would want to.

13. Sent by his parents to become a priest, the founder of the gnostic movement soon disavowed the Catholic Church and started his own movement and journey.

14. I can’t read the name of the woman who said this but I agree wholeheartedly with her conviction.

15. Annie Lennox, sensual lead singer of the Eurythmics sang a powerful song back in 1984 : Sex Crimes. One of the great crimes to me is that sexuality is split between the sexes. That is what was so great about the weekend, both were included.

I look forward to what my life will include in the area of sexuality, its never to late. Namaste until Thursday my dear friends.

Standing In the Lovelight!!

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Rod's World

My friend Jo Jo posts a wish that people stand for Love each day, it’s because that’s who she is for life. The title of this blog comes from my favourite Jo Jo song: JO JO at her best.

What turns on your Love Light. There are 7 billion versions of this on the planet, I recommend that you find the people who have similar reasons as yourself, as my friend Jeffrey Slayter says , go and find the Others. Don’t look for those who will not understand yours.

I have crossed diverse areas of peoples Lovelights in the 15 quotes I have chosen to look at where society has gone with this. Let us begin our journey:

1. As Jo Jo sings we are standing in the Love Light all the time, must be the season for it if you choose it.

2. Unfortunately at times the Love Light gets shattered by the irresponsible actions of a greedy few and an event called war takes place. It is then up to our children to say enough, this is now what we were put on the planet for.

3. There was a slightly better known band that Jo Jo who did a song about this subject as well, here it is : Sweden’s go at it! I prefer the Australian one.

4. All the external lights: street light, candle light, and even the light from the moon and the stars does not come anywhere near the power of the inner light of love. It makes you tremble and shudder with vitality and joy.

5. If we could just provide the energy required from the love we have for each other when we first arrive on the planet. Because that is what we are, Pure Love, then the question of alternative energy would be solved out right.

6. Must have been dancing in the Lovelight when I chose this one. Beautiful image of the power of it.

7. People often say they fall in Love, I say they find it as it is ever present in the form of light. We just need to look harder for self love and sacred love.

8. Driving the car to the stressful job does not feel like love to many, but get the mind out of the way of the heart and the light shines through.

9. One of the strongest examples of this for me was in the ancient Russian city of Leningrad the year before the wall the day came down with a young submariner. We both could not speak each others language but found entering each others Lovelight irresistible.

10. David Oman McKay was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving from 1951 until his death. He believed in the LoveLight.

11. Gede Prama is a long student on peace. He began his childhood by communing with symbolical Guru in one of old village in north Bali. Later on when he learned from the life stories of many maha siddha (the enlightened), he began to understand his spiritual experience in childhood. This last experience then enriched by meditating, reading, researching and personal meeting with some of world wide spiritual Gurus like HH Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Karen Armstrong.

Scholarship enables Gede Prama to continue his postgraduate study to England and France. Hard work makes Gede Prama was appointed as CEO (chief executive officer) of a large corporation at the age of 38. And one year later he left behind all luxuries of corporate world then begin a journey of serving. To serve people on the path of peace.

12. Lighten the dark regions of your inner world. Denying them does not produce light but stress. Going on an acceptance journey allows for new Essences to grow in their place.

13. Sue Fitzmaurice is a coach, a very great one from New Zealand, here is her story

My purpose in life is to teach, research, coach and write about purpose. It’s what I love and it’s what I’m good at. It took a while to figure out that that was my thing – I spent a good few years chasing my tail, chasing money, achievements, status, and a few other things that had both negative and positive outcomes but all of which led me to here.

I hope in some small way I can inspire others to be all they can be and to reveal their own purpose in this world, with some nourishment for the heart, mind and soul.

Despite intolerance of all kinds around us I believe we are all One, that Love and Light underlie our humanity, and when we can understand and open to it, we will cease harming each other and our planet.

For most of us it takes most of our lives to figure it out, and each day is another step up the mountain.

14. When will we learn to light our Love Lights, they definitely don’t do it at school. In fact one could say they specialise in putting them out.

15. And as we do Jo Jo, the last one is send out as much Love Light as we can each day, because that is what will make the difference in the end. The work of the Natural Mystic.

So my purpose was to shine some Love Light on the lives of people who manage to read this and hope they pass it on to their beloved, family and friends

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends

There was No Peace!!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Rod's World

One of the things I do is tutor refugees who need to Improve their English. At the moment I have very two different students. One was born in a refugee camp in India 25 years ago, yes thats right, she had been in a refugee camp 25 years. Then she was put in three detention centres by our government before being released. She has lived in a free community 4 months of her young life. The other is a doctor who was on the council of the capital city of the nation she comes from , I asked her why she left. Her reply was poignant , there is no peace Teacher, she calls me teacher. I have a sense they will both be great citizens of our country given what they have been through.

I have been thinking about that statement , there is no peace since, what truly gives us peace, is our nation of Australia we live in relative peace from war but to a lot of people They do not feel so, ramping up the threat to our nation. So I have chosen 15 wide ranging statements about peace to comment on the subject.

1. That great philosopher Unknown comes up with on of the most powerful definitions to my mind, peace belongs in our heart not the physical surrounds that we are in.

2. Peace has a few allies in making the world a better place, I love the last one Everybody not just us, no hate, no war.

3. Maura is 9, with more people of her age thinking like that I give Peace a Chance, Join in with John and Yoko.

4. Be in the Now, that is where peace lives, I resist this a lot. Need to read The Power of Now again.

5. Robert Brault is a writer of forty years standing, he points to the fact where our peace really lives, within.

6. We have all seen those silly cartoons with aliens looking on as there are explosions all over our world. Silly or Not?

7. One of the world’s great peace activists, a man who lead a nation to freedom peacefully, hits the spot with this one. Makes me think of Cat’s Peace Train.

8. A disturbing image with a powerful message. Yes its up to you to be a Rider of the Storm

9. MLK, in my favourite top ten speakers, I listen to him regularly, his passion for peace was extraordinary.

10. To one of the young things who have replaced Martin Luther King, the youngest recipient and possibly the most deserving winner of the Nobel Peace prize. Malala speaks the words of peace for her generation.

11. Closer and closer, the world is becoming a smaller place, may we use the words above in our recipe.

12. I’m sure each parent wishes this for that bundle of joy they hold in their arms as they raise them with love. A question though, How does war replace this scene later in Life?

13. One of John Lennon’s more obscure Peace quotes, but a chance to listen to You’re not the only One.

14. Yes a cute dog photo peace quote, works for me. Who is Antsy McClain, watch this: Living in Aliminium.

15. And finally a Sacred Meditation to complete with, may there be peace in your life and the world.

Namaste until next Thursday my dear friends.

Migrant or Refugee?

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Rod's World

I went to my friend Kavisha Mazzella’s first solo art exhibition yesterday and she sang a song of her nonna’s story. Her grandmother was a refugee from Burma who had to flee when the Japanese started bombing and invading Burma and the Anglo Burmese had to flee the invasion. Here is the song: Fisherman’s Daughter.

It made me think how you become a refugee , the previous century had two world wars that saw many nationalities in the European sector become refugees and this century has seen more Asian, middle eastern and African countries due to civil wars and invasion by western countries.

What did the world do and what will it continue to do with these people who have suffered having to flee their own homeland because they have no other option.

The 15 quotes I have chosen cover statements about and people who have experienced being a refugee, let us begin the journey:

1. This pope has to keep reminding us that migrants and refugees are actually human beings as well , mothers fathers, sons , daughters , uncles and aunties as some nations have started to forget.

2. Each of us come on to the planet as a bouncing baby, some healthier than others, but none of us are illegal.

3. Communication between nations or Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included would solve many of the problems that occur when people are branded migrant or refugee. I have created a Facebook Page to assist this to happen : Interculturalism.

4. On the page I talk about above I posted a quote that says if you call your self a christian or a muslim or an Italian or English you are being violent. On of you do not say you are from a particular religion or country are you not because you are owning being a human being totally. These flags above represent what is one of the major problems migrants and refugees face.

5. We can never tell what our journey will contain, unfortunately for the migrant and refugee the struggle is much more difficult than those who live in the country they are fleeing to.

6. For many of the families in my country of Australia, this is how they arrived, with one suitcase each. They made a successful life for their families from this difficult beginning.

7. One of the difficulties forced on migrants and refugees is that they must become …….., the question to be asked of the nation saying that is would your citizens do it if the situation was reversed and you were the Other.

8. We have all seen pictures of refugees camps and people crossing dangerous oceans in boats. Why do we wonder then when these same people make such wonderful citizens after putting up with these treacherous journeys to get to a safer country to call home.

9. This is a very broad statement, we probably do it to our own family at times, so how do we do this to people from countries we know very little about. Take the time to get to know people, especially new arrivals to your country.

10. This is what mainstream media forget when they place labels on people fleeing danger in their own countries. It is normally a label that has caused them to leave.

11. Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy fled tribal conflict in 2005 from Nigeria. In 2012 she was a finalist in the NSW Young Australian of the Year and a member of the NSW Multicultural Youth Network. A commerce and communications degree student at Wollongong University, Gracia Ngoy is also a caseworker for refugee families, a youth motivational speaker and a member of the Illawarra Regional Advisory Council and the NSW Multicultural Youth Network. Gracia, who speaks five languages, arrived in Australia with her family in 2005 after fleeing tribal conflict in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo. After settling in Wollongong, she took up an offer of free homework tutoring, simultaneously signing up as a mentor for others. An accredited freelance journalist, Gracia recently published her first book entitled A Little Recipe for Success which aims to inspire young people to live successful, fulfilled and purposeful lives. She has also written numerous articles aimed at breaking down cultural barriers between her native Congo and Australia. Awarded the prestigious Australian Young People’s Human Rights Medal, Gracia was also named 2010 Wollongong Young Citizen of the Year. Drawing on the wisdom of personal experience, Gracia is determined to help the ‘many people living shattered lives who have been tied up by their past experiences and challenges.’

12. What you let your government get away with when dealing with members of their citizenship, especially their migrants and refugees build the future way you are treated as well.

13. This man is considered one of our greatest minds to have ever lived on the planet, he was a refugee.

14. António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, born 30 April 1949) is a former Portuguese politician who was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He also served for a time as President of the Socialist International. He served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. This is what he say about accusing refugees of being terrorists.

15. This has been forgotten in our country, in fact we call them illegal and take away their rights to live as a human being saying they do not have a right to live here and send them to gulags.

So my request is that you spend time getting to know the migrants and refugees in your country. Only then will we realise that they are fellow human beings not terrorists. Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Beauty Begins the Moment …..

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Rod's World

At the Intercultural Centre I volunteer at, we are having an art project called Brighten the Jade. We are getting local artists to collaborate to paint the walls of our new meeting room, the Jade Room. It brought me to think what brightens my life up? I would include singing, dancing, time with my family and friends and of course blogging and my new thing creating PDF’s from webinars and podcasts.

What do people say around the world and throughout history about what has brightened their life up, its an interesting recipe of 15 quotes. Let us begin our journey

1. The American Poet John Holmes was known for his uplifting quotes, this being the most famous of them. Being buff brightens your day up but your heart gets fitter the kinder you are.

2. It took me two lengthy periods of working in government service then severals years of mental health issues before I got the health and spiritual value of this statement. Have read Richard’s biography he is a man who did not do this in his life.

3. Time for what was the anthem of my generation: Don’t Worry about a Thing.

4. Do you get tunnel vision on your projects and visions in life. The work I am doing with my mentor Arion Light through his Activation School. points to the above, if you are not attached to where you get your result from, you can get your result from anywhere.

5. We have days we jump out of bed screaming YES, YES, YES, then something happens and the Yes’s fade. Though its great to set by whens if it doesn’t happen on that exact date your dream is still there in your heart and soul.

6. Probably the song that best covers this type of deep love is the one and only All You Need Is Love.

7. Lots of people give up on their plans for supposedly logical reasons, what were their names, but we all know Galileo, Martin Luther King, Oprah Winfrey. Don’t give up brightening up your life.

8. There are so many quotes that express the above sentiment, that the way to brightening up your life is through others, I agree wholeheartedly.

9. Three formulas for brightening up your day. A lot of people do this with their cups, so to remind them when the going gets mundane.

10. This quote is another by the prolific philosopher Unknown – Its not great to have people who demean the sunshine around, heal them or move on.

11. Abhisek Tiwari is an Indian TV actor, this could be a line from his series or a great insight he has come up with that brightens our lives.

12. Just love the cheeky humour of this one.

13. It seems Hafiz is Hafez, words of great Beauty , always.

Hafez
An artistic depiction of Hafez
spiritual poet, mystic
Born	1325/1326 CE Shiraz, Persia (now Iran)
Died	1389/1390 CE Shiraz, Persia (now Iran)
Major shrine	Tomb of Hafez, Shiraz, Iran
Influences	Ibn Arabi, Khwaju, Sanai, Anvari,Nizami, Sa’di, Khaqani, A
Influenced	Subsequent Persian lyric poets,Goethe
Tradition or genre	Mystic poetry (Ghazal, Irfan)
Major works	Divan-e-Hafez

Khwāja Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī (Persian: خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی‎‎), known by his pen name Hafez (حافظ Ḥāfeẓ; 1325/26–1389/90),^[1] was a Persian poet who “lauded the joys of love and wine [but] also targeted religious hypocrisy.” His collected works are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are to be found in the homes of most people in Iran, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings. His life and poems have been the subject of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-14th century Persian writing more than any other author.

14. Two of the greats, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred in this movies that was about brightening the last days of their lives: The Bucket List.