Where is your Heart?

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Rod's World

I recently did a Sex and the Soul Retreat that really confronted me. After it I felt as high as a kite for a few days and then a feeling of WTF was that took me over which has now become a deep sense of self love and coming home to myself.

It has made me contemplate what is a sense of home for people, our indigenous culture talks about it being the land they were born on, western culture labels it as the home you buy and the conscious movement that it is where you are at any moment.

So what does society hold it to be, there were many choices to make and the 15 I have picked cover many aspects, here we go:

1. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist, whom the United States Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested for refusing to give her seat up to a white passenger, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in California and Missouri (February 4), and Ohio and Oregon (December 1). The above statement shows how something as simple as going home can become much more.

2. What is more enjoyable on a cold winters day than being curled up in front of an open fire with your favourite book of the moment.

3. Since discovering more self love I have been spending more time alone, it reminds me of the saying in reference to the social media generation, if we do not train our children to be alone, all they will know is how to be lonely.

4. Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. After having his breakthrough as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, he rose to fame by further appearing in epic fantasy, historical epic, and fantasy adventure films. In In 2009, Bloom was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

5. I have spent a long time finding a sense of home, becoming a Buddhist , being a marathon runner , doing landmark education work only to find after many years that is was in the company of my siblings I felt most at home.

6. Picture this, Tracky dacks and the unshaven look pigging out on chocolate and Netflix, enough said.

7. First lady of the United States Jackie Kennedy got to see many different lands which had different customs on how people were treated making her realise that the United States was not the centre of the Universe.

8. I asked my friend Mary did she feel a loss when she first became mother of her four boys. She looked at me and smiled, saying it is the greatest thing that happens to you in your life even though you don’t have a moment alone.

9. This flies in the face of home being physical,Lets Get Physical. it is spending time with those people that you discover your emotions and best parts of life come to fruition.

10. Life took me to be running down the main street of Leningrad with the Sports Minister and Major at 5 o’clock on a Friday afternoon having thousands of citizens waving Soviet and American flags. Love had my friends younger sister sing You made me love you, I didn’t want to do it to me at her 21st.

11. There is a women’s refuge in the street I live in. I found this out from meeting a young indigenous woman in the street who told me of the two years of horrific abuse she had put up with, she was 18.

12. George Augustus Moore (24 February 1852 – 21 January 1933) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore’s work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist. His home remained at County Mayo.

13. As my friend Mary said, its the best thing that happened to her, the best thing that happens to us is that our mums birth us, sometimes we forget. Tupac loved his mum too, Dear Mama.

14. The title of this Blog is half of the saying home is where the heart is, I have lived in many places that were just the address where I live, my home at the time being groups and friends i was connected to.

15. And the access to the feeling of home is to let others in and share your heart space.

I have come to the belief that home is not a physical phenomenon but more of an emotional feeling. I have a home address that is more and more becoming ensconced in my heart but there are several other places where I would say home is where the heart is.

Namaste until Thursday , my dear friends.

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.

What is Yours?

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Rod's World

I volunteer at an organisation called the Darebin Intercultural Centre where we hold programs that allow different culture to educate others on what inspires people about their cultures. We believe that this is the best way of integrating people in our multicultural municipality, there are over 150 different nationalities in Darebin.

What does culture mean, here is the Oxford dictionaries definition :definition of culture – the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively:

“20th century popular culture”

synonyms: the arts · the humanities · intellectual achievement(s) ·

intellectual activity · literature · music · painting · philosophy

a refined understanding or appreciation of culture:

“men of culture”

synonyms: intellectual/artistic awareness · education ·

cultivation · enlightenment · discernment · discrimination · good taste · taste · refinement · polish · sophistication · urbanity · urbaneness · erudition · learning · letters · belles-lettres

the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society:

“Afro-Caribbean culture” ·

“people from many different cultures”

synonyms: civilization · society · way of life · lifestyle · customs ·

traditions · heritage · habits · ways · mores · values

the attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group:

“the emerging drug culture”

biology

the cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc.. in an artificial medium containing nutrients:

“the cells proliferate readily in culture”

a preparation of cells obtained by culture:

“the bacterium was isolated in two blood cultures”

the cultivation of plants:

“this variety of lettuce is popular for its ease of culture”

synonyms:cultivation · growing · farming · agriculture · husbandry ·

agronomy.

This gives me a wide access to what I could choose as the 15 quotes for today’s interaction, I hope I do it justice, here we go:

1. In my country Australia when they arrived in 1788 the British declared Terra Nullus – vacant land and went on a genocidal attack on the native population who had resided here 60,000 years. Luckily for us they failed and we have a growing culture to look back on and learn from the first Australians.

2. The first thing conquerors do when they take over another is attempt to destroy their languages, music and knowledge of their past. In Tibet speaking their native tongue is banned by the Chinese.

3. Wade Davis CM is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author, and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants.

4. I am a language tutor for 4 people and find I am learning as much as I am supposedly teaching. I have taught 2 doctors. a Council member of a city three times as large as the one I live in and a structural engineer who was responsible for constructing the largest projects in his country until he was blacklisted by the Taliban.

5. I have visited several countries in my 60 years and one of my unique experiences was visiting a housing museum in Tbilisi, Georgia. The building went back 1,300 years and were a fascinating way to learn about the culture of the region.

6. I just had to include this one, as an editing professional I don’t know if the spelling mistake is a deliberate part of the message they are trying to expound or not.

7. And in my very core is one of the main cultural paths, music of many nations. Here is one of my favourite tracks: Culture – Wings of a Dove.

8. What has the world become where the basics of our life have become unaffordable for some, it is hurting the heart of our planet.

9. I believe mainstream’s media portrait of Iran to be a classic example of creating what is meant to be the culture of a country. In my work I have meant a lot of Iranian asylum seekers and become friends with an Iranian musician Studying here. Gelerah’s music is magnificent: Magnificent Tones.

10. Raymond Douglas Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction author. Widely known for his dystopia novel Fahrenheit 451 as well as his science fiction and horror story collections The Martian Chronicles The Illustrated Man, and There Will Come Soft Rains. Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American genre writers. Hitler tried to destroy German Intellectualism by doing this prior to WW2.

11. When Governments forget that cultures are not to dominate but strengthen the hearts and souls of their citizens quotes like this appear, unfortunately they are occurring at a growing rate.

12. Credited with creating modern Finnish culture Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer, as well as a sculptor and painter. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware.

13. Gaining insight into 4 different cultures at the same time can be quite invigorating, I spend some hours investigating what they tell me about each of their unique upbringing, one spent 25 years in a refugee camp, being born there.

14. Pretty unique way to teach multiculturalism to your citizens, build different countries into your infrastructure, wonder what effect it will have on the inhabitants of each suburb.

15. Sound familiar with what is happening in the current era, Herman Hesse wrote this back in the 1940’s prior to the war to end ll wars, they got that wrong too . He was a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

I believe the best of each culture will overcome the evil that is being used at the moment to corrupt the world. That is why I have created a Facebook public group: Interculturalism to have a space where people of all cultures can sing the praises and what they love about their life.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Is it a Reality?

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Rod's World

Thinking of what to write about today the word fantasy came to mind. We all have them and each of them is different, imagine if 7,000,000,000 people fulfilled theirs, what a different place the world would be. Mine is to have the ethos Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included be the prominent discussion on the planet.

To get this to happen I have created a Facebook group called Interculturalism. It is a place for all peoples of the world to spread great stories of different cultures learning about what they have in common. Join in, I have 4 countries at the moment and the more the merrier.

What do people sat about having a fantasy out there. I have chosen 15 random quotes that cover several ways of looking at it. Lets begin our journey.

1. Remember back to the time you were excited by adventures of the imaginary such as Alice in Wonderland. These are two of my favourite lines from that delightful jaunt.

2. Lady Gaga is someone who definitely has led a fantasy life. From wearing a meat dress to singing at the Oscars she is one of the great fantasy survivors. Here’s my favourite Lady Gaga song: Born This Way.

3. Considered the worlds most eminent scientist by some, Albert confesses that it was the gift of fantasy that was his key driver.

4. The fantasy relationship lives in the heart not the physical presence of each person. That feeling of only being apart one minute when you see each other.

5. And we do, we are just not very good at telling each other what they are. In this time of privacy the art of telling each other our sacred stories such as our fantasies seems to have disappeared.

6. It is always good to remember that fantasy is not always a positive thing, you can have a fantasy, but if you don’t do anything about it happening don’t expect it to happen.

7. Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children’s books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes several of the most popular children’s books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. That’s a lot of fantasies for the children of the world fulfilled.

8. This is a great space to live in so that the negativity of the mainstream media doesn’t not influence you.

9. Iris Murdoch was an Irish-English author and philosopher, best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. She wrote about the subjects of the human fantasy world, not the humdrum of reality.

10. Norma Jean AKA Marilyn Monroe was considered the sex goddess of her time. She was every red blooded male’s fantasy. They were not thinking about coming home to her after work. Marilyn was a singer too: One of her Fantasies.

11. Itzah C. Kret author of My Nutty Neighbours is world famous for the above quote, pointing out that if you see what you want to, the world can be a fascinating place.

12. On Google there are 3,000,000 hits for books about falling in Love adding strength to the above premise.

13. I chose the title for this blog Is this a Reality for a reason. Always remember your fantasies exist in reality, all you need to do is take action towards them on a daily basis.

14. What are the ingredients that make up your fantasy. I include star seed and maybe I’ll throw in some Pixie Dust.

15. Don’t you love those Keep Calm quotes for every little circumstance on the planet. Here is my great secret I know to be true, Unicorns are real. I belong to a group of friends who shares every Unicorn picture and quote they come across on Facebook.

Lets all stand for fulfilling all our fantasies, it would be such a much better world to ride our unicorns on.

Namaste until next Monday, my dear friends.

Can You Hear It?

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Rod's World

I have recently been reading Lissa Rankin’s third book the Anatomy of a Calling, you can check it out at Lissarankin.com. Her premise is that every single one of us are heroes. We are all on what Joseph Campbell calls “a heroes journey”, we are all on a mission to step into our true nature and fulfill the assignment our souls were sent to earth to fulfill. Navigating the heroes journey is one of the cornerstones of living a meaningful, authentic healthy life.

There are times on this journey we wish we were on another persons, I know for myself that I could have done with the five Pysch unit admissions that took six months out of my life but now realise that I needed to go through this to get to the point I am at now with my own business and being the most relaxed I have ever been in my life.

Often we receives phone calls towards our true calling that we are not ready for as we have not travelled or completed our heroes journey as yet, how do we find our true calling and what has society said about people who confess to being on theirs. Here are 15 cuts at it:

1. Remember that first time you fell in love, the ecstatic humming and ability for anything to feel good. Don’t give that feeling up when the earth states to shake.

2. Yes as you expect, Oprah has commented on this. Its like having a Spirit Bird.

3. Many people receive their calling as a spiritual adventure, exploring all the possible paths available to achieve the outcome. Steve Vai, the legendary guitarist does it through his instrument: Tender Surrender

4. At times on the journey you will need faith because it certainly won’t be looking like you have imagined it would.

5. Melanie Moushigan Koulouris has a Youtube channel dedicated to her beautifully uplifting quotes, this is one of many that could get you closer to your calling : Melanie’s Quotes to Your Calling.

6. One of the actions Lissa took on her journey was to ask herself the question, what would Love Do, what’s your answer?

7. Time to open your heart and soul and hear the call.

8. They say it is good to get away from the bustle and bustle of the city to the serenity and call of the ocean which covers the majority of the planet. Its helps you hear what is truly in your heart.

9. George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman, Pygmalion and Saint Joan. With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

10. At times you will think your journey has gone astray and the above is happening: Van’s excellent Wild Night

11. I have recently spent quite a bit of training doing breath and body work, it is remarkable how much it wakes you up to what your calling is.

12. Here is a man who found his calling, John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130 mile long distance route, was named in honor of him.

13. You will meet people on your Heroes journey that before they speak you will both know that you have been calling each other for lifetimes. I have several of these in my life.

14. to cultivate relationship with your calling, practice becoming the consciousness that witnesses the dialogues in your mind. You can then chose the above.

15. What’s that ringing sound of worry and anxiety, mark it down as a spam call. Move forward towards that irresistible calling that you have wished for your whole life.

Lissa also talks about the greatest tool we all have on our journey, our Inner Pilot Light. I love the ones she sends to me and write some of my one now.

Namaste until Thursday my dear friends.

Purpose, do we have One?

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Rod's World

On the 6th May I will be part of the crew for RAW: Purpose and Meaning, a deep conversation that will make a difference for about 100 people. My friend Emeli will lead us through a process which will move people closer to seeing what they are on the planet for.

I have spent a lot of my life seeking mine, thinking I have found it at different times, doing some extraordinary things on the way. I have run the Moscow Peace Marathon the year before the Berlin Wall came down in the name of ending world hunger during one of these times. I have done an 8 week silent Calm Abiding meditation retreat during another and been the editor of a national Community Development journal for two years which also gave me purpose in my life at the time.

What does the world have to say about finding your purpose. There are quotes from some well known individuals to that most well known philosopher Anonymous, lets take a journey through 15 of them.

1. As a child new from the womb we are pure unbridled potential, we all could be president of the United States, the most powerful position on the planet. As we journey through life it takes something to remember this.

2. It’s wiser to look out there for your purpose because without others involved its hard to make a difference that has much affect.

3. Sometimes it gets dark along the path of our purpose, luckily you will have your trusty companion passion to light your journey for you.

4. In her songs Diana Ross sang about this, such a one is Ain’t no Mountain High Enough

5. All the great people who are remembered for their grand purposes used this simple formulae in their day to day progression towards them.

6. Purpose makes you jump out of bed, especially when they are fulfilling that dream you were having. I must include the classic number by Lou Reed and his friends: Perfect Song for a Perfect Day.

7. Did Mark Twain realise he would be one of the early pioneers of a self development movement that would have millions of people seeking their Why, their purpose. I don’t think so.

8. Love this one, just make you absence felt, perhaps you will have a day named after your purpose if you do it well enough.

9. Are we commissioned by the creator if there is such a being? A lot of people have purpose in their life without believing this.

10. Howard Washington Thurman 1899 – 1981 was an influential African American author, philosopher, theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. He played a leading role in many social justice movements and organisations of the twentieth century. He definitely spent his time on the planet alive.

11. Purpose makes many friends on her journey, travelling with one or two of them and at sometimes all of them to achieve the result she is seeking.

12. An essential part of the recipe in fulfilling your purpose is to locate the Self Love within you because this allows you to give it away and receive it in buckets. You cannot imagine how much easier this will make your journey.

13. “Buechner uses words with such transformative power that any comment on them is like the moon palely reflecting the sun.”

14. Don’t just find your purpose, give it away to as many people as you can.

15. As the three examples I gave at the beginning show you your purpose will change throughout your life, never give up looking for them. Remember there is always climbing after all.

I am looking forward to the 6th May, I love conversations that make a difference.

Namaste until 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.

Love, I spell it Nature.

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Rod's World

I live in a city of 4 million people and had not been out of it for 6 months and recently went up the Bush to my friends art exhibition last week. I had forgotten what nature has to offer, the lack of mobile phone coverage meaning the only form of communication is aural, the beauty of the stands of trees, the rivers as they meander through the landscape and the noise of the birds, the beauty is life altering.

What have the bards and the ordinary folk said over the centuries about the healing power of Nature, we will travel down the path of enchantment with these 15 choice quotes:

1. This is one of my favorite poems about Nature, the Stars are always there.

The luminosity of their sparkle
Blind with devotion, conceal with adoration.
The innocence of their angelic light,
Shine with the boundless uncertainty
Of where they are to glisten next.

The purity of their bleached glow
Fill with the endless possibilities of beauty beyond our belief.
The simplicity of their navigation
Guide us through anguish we often begin to feel.

The delicacy of their gentle awakening
Enliven our sky with slight promises and the fascination of confusion.
The aspiration the beam lets off
Shows us the path to our capacious imagination full of desires.

The gleam of their twinkle
Darken with perfection, align
With daydream, and are matched flawlessly
With the unreality of our everlasting fantasies.

2. Nature was here long before the human race, and if we are nor careful, will be long here after us, We need to take the words of Frank LLoyd Wright seriously, can’t read his name without thinking of this song: So Long Frank LLoyd Wright.

3. St. Bernard was a prolific author in the 11th century. He believed that travelling to the woods would offer you much more than sitting in a lecture hall.

4. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 was awarded to Rabindranath Tagore “because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West”. His beautiful words above re the non business of the butterfly relate to us the timelessness of nature.

5. One of the preeminent scientists of the 20th Century Einstein is best known in popular culture for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc² . Albert was just as attached to the power of Nature as to the beaker.

6. The forest, the woods are magnificent reminders of the awesomeness of Nature, they take away your frustrations that arise in daily life.

7. I Admit to being a treehugger, the energy held in a 200 year old tree cannot be duplicated by science.

8. Author Anthony D. Williams writes of the spiritual nature of our planet, the profound effect on Mother Nature being one of the prime influences.

9. William Boyd “Bill” Watterson II is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Calvin and Hobbes is joyful and soulful, much like this comment.

10. People keep posting unique examples of nature on my News feed, it seems there are so many examples of what nature has painted that is extraordinary.

11. The busyness of today’s world means that we do not often stops to smell the Roses, everything is still accomplished by nature without hurry.

12. The weather is indifferent to the human race, it rains too much, it’s too hot for too long. It doesn’t take much notice of what’s going on for us.

13. Heart medicine , nature is definitely part of the mixture that gives us peace, calmness and stillness.

14. William Wordsworth is one of the World’s most famous romantic poets, his 1804 poem ” I wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Is his most remembered tones and my mums favorite poem

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed–and gazed–but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

15. I love this quote, it gives ownership to Nature being a living entity too.

Writing this has made me feel like taking more trips to the bush, as we call the forest or the woods in Australia, they are magical in their healing potential.

Namaste until Monday my dear friends.