What does it take to truly Love?

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Rod's World

I have taken on creating a new essence in my life in one of the courses I am doing at the moment. It is to be Lovingly Courageous in my life. I looked up the definition of courage and love, here they are.

Lovingly

feeling or showing love; warmly affectionate; fond

Courageous

fearlessness, dauntlessness, intrepidity, pluck, spirit. Courage, bravery, valor, bravado refer to qualities of spirit and conduct. Courage permits one to face extreme dangers

and difficulties without fear: to take (or lose) courage. Bravery implies

true courage with daring and an intrepid boldness: bravery in a battle. Valor implies heroic courage: valor in fighting for the right. Bravado is now usually a boastful and ostentatious pretense of courage or bravery: empty bravado.

I was sure Lovers across the world would have written saying that describe this essence so I looked them up. Here are some of my favourites.

If you love somebody or something the greatest gift you can give the world is to speak up about it, how will they know if you do not.

The moments I have been the most courageous in my life was when I felt a deep love for a person or a cause. Courage comes from the heart.

My siblings Jann and Ruth fit into this beautiful quote about sisterhood. They are passionate, loving women and I am lucky to have them in my life.

In the sixties they often quoted the term Free Love, they were not referring to the type of love pointed to here, that of universal love without attachment.

What would you do to achieve your dreams, a dose of courage can help you out according to the creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, a man who certainly created his.

Lao Tzu is from the 6th century B.C. and is known as the Supreme Old Lord, his quotes on almost anything can transform your life. Love and being Loved are no exception.

Courage is the foundation of Integrity especially when it comes to an area as quirky as loving someone, if you have never lied in your relationship you do not have to remember what you said.

I fell in love recently and did not know what the outcome would be, it did not turn out the way I wanted it too. I don’t think I was coming from the place of without guarantee of the outcome.

There are times in our life when we are called on to be courageous and we cannot plan this. You may be walking down the street and the need to be appears, or you may meet the person you will love the rest of your life as you turn the corner.

Lovers build up the world and relationships. These are the actions of heroes and heroines, those who love their lives with a passion.

I’m not sure what this quote is pointing to, but these are all fine qualities to be in love with, keeping these present will take your best intentions and heart.

Beautiful that courage stems from the root word heart (coeur) They interlink and make the act of truly loving a thing of ultimate courage.

Do we honour our love with grace, the state that moves our heart and quiets our mind. One of the imperial states of consciousness

If they hang around after their hearts have been trampled on, this is a great sign that there is more to the relationship than meets the eye. give each other more time to decide the fate of it.

We all have heard and told fabulous stores during our lifetimes, they are the moments we remember for their sadness, hilarity but mostly moments of loving life.

We have to work on creating this essence for a 6 week period, doing daily meditations, creations and renewals, I expect to have a different relationship to it when it is finished.

Namaste till next time, my dear friends

Drop In and Live!!

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Rod's World

So its time to hit the keypad again. I have decided to write about doing my friend Arion Lights Creative Mastery Course over the past six weeks. Before doing it I had done several one on one sessions with him as I had won one in a Silent Auction at Menergy, a mens retreat I attended late last year. I had spoken to David who had done the previous course and he said that it added to the power of the one on one sessions so I enrolled on the payment plan.

I went along looking forward to the first night and this poem by Arion probably explains where I was going in:

Dear creator…I wanted to say Sorry
I have got life a little bit mixed up
I thought you gave me a purpose I had to fulfil
And I have been trying so hard to do it
But I got tired and Lost, In all my effort
Then finally I realised you were not asking me to do it
You were offering it to me as a gift
And all I had to do was empty myself for you
And now I offer my whole being as your canvas
So the beautiful purpose you whispered on the mountain
Can flow in every pore and melt the deepest marrow
And through me all who grace my dance
Sorry Again about that
It is much more fun this way…

The six weeks was a journey in facing the beauty and the crap of life and letting go and accepting it all.

First week we look at Essence – the sacred place within us all that remembers the truth, beauty and wisdom of who we really are. This place is not readily obtainable when you are a head merchant like myself and the thoughts are going through at thousands a second. So I spent a lot of time coming home to the Breath and fighting my monkey mind.

Second week Arion added the distinction of Embodiment – a process that takes you through what are the patterns that a situation creates in your Breath, Movement, feelings, Thought, Sight and Word. I had definitely not done this in all the other courses and seminars I had tried to fix myself with over the Years. I will put the six quotes here so I don’t give away too much as it is a experiential thing and Arion has an online program coming up so it will be available world wide.

Breath

If you want to master your world, master your breath. The breath is the gateway to the Soul.

Movement

Our body structure shapes the foundation of our reality

Feeling

Beyond our ever-changing surface emotions is an ocean of raw creative energy that can be awoken and ridden like a wild dragon

Thought

Beyond the fragile immature thought of our human mind is a vast and limitless intelligence that can be the wise and directive force in our lives

Sight

What we see is not fixed but a wild tapestry of possibility woven by the focus of our perception

Word

Beyond just describing reality our words are of the pure essence of creation, directing reality in each moment, inside and out

I did my first two on Joyous Belonging and I am enough as these are two issues I have constantly battled over my time on this planet.

Week three we looked at the Yin and Yang of Mother and Father and how to move from Action to get things done Essence to Essence expressing Action. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s quote on this sums it up pretty well

When I am….completely myself, entirely alone
then my ideas flow best and most abundantly
Whence and how these ideas come
I know not nor can I force them

Creating the essence of my visions through the six domains was fun sometimes and excruciating at other times. I did the ones I found easiest first and didn’t look at the one regarding my home for two weeks, no issue there, not.

By now you might be asking a question what does Arion Look like, so here he is.

By the time week four came around Life had been putting things in the way of completing the homework, yes you do have homework, its not that difficult, listening to some guided meditation and filling some sheets out, so I was looking forward to what we call Renewal. The distinction that Everything is a gift was freeing as with everyone else I have areas I do not like visiting. My deep down one is I am Revoltingly disgusting, a joyous space to hang out in.. I found in Visiting these areas it allowed me to be more in the world through simply accepting it and not fighting it. Doing this through the six domains took me places I had not been before in confronting this lock, an expression used in the course to name something that quells your freedom in areas in your life.

The focus of week five was Liberation, the possibility of living free from the confines of the Mind, Yay!! The deeper I am willing to do this work the more layers I will have courage to shed, the deeper the calling the more the practice will become sacred and the deeper the calling the simpler it will become. I by now knew with my core that when I am suffering it is because I have put the essence of whatever the situation is outside me, so this work is an ode to personal responsibility.

Celebration and sadness were in the air week six, we had a communal picnic on the lawn outside and then had a completion exercise inside where we held the course, its very cosy. Back to Arion for some words on what I got out of this course,

Everything is here now. Everything
You can create anything that you embody as essence and allow into action
The only thing that stands in your way is identification with thoughts and feelings
Thats All.

I battle with this on an hourly basis but I have the tools to transform it. Thank you from my heart space Arion for becoming my Facebook friend and being such a mad bastard at Menergy and offering your session in the silent auction. I will use this work for the rest of my life.

As I mentioned before he is taking it worldwide, here is the link https://www.facebook.com/events/1565828673697982/ get on board and transform the world.

Namaste my friends until next time

Blissipline

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Rod's World

Its funny what you find when you do a major cleanup of your apartment, I found these two rather interesting pieces of paper that I had written two lists on, One was entitled Blissipline , so thanks to Joseph Campbell for the title of this blog, its not even a word in the dictionary but I like it a lot.

I wrote Being in the state of flow at the top of the page, Thinking about this I sense this is what we are all seeking in our lives and have to work on the things that prevent us from living in this blissful place all of the time, I’m getting there.

Next was Happiness in the Present, this related to we spend a lot of time remembering the good old times and looking forward to future events but the only moment that true happiness can exist is right now so its up to us to choose that moment to moment.

Now we come to the list, 10 Tactics to attract Bliss into your life:

1. Daily Gratitude Log

I do this via the Desire Map Planner by the brilliant Danielle LaPorte, her Desire Map process is one of the most transformational things I have come across to transform your to do lists. Heres a link to her work,http://www.daniellelaporte.com/thedesiremap/, the book is cheap but you have to put a little time aside for the process

2. Awesomeness Report

I blind people with my Awesomeness, something to work on daily, owning our own greatness in the face of that voice in our head that maybe saying something else. A Powerful tool.

3. Share 10% of profit with employees

If you don’t have employees at the moment but are working towards it change this to Pay yourself 10% of your money before paying anyone else. The change is extraordinary in your relationships when everybody is on side.

4. Sweet Sugar Love Machine

Flourish on Praise, Praise each other. If you do this well you do not even to know the person to praise them as it becomes a skill and raises your empathatic ability.

5. 45/5

5 hours a week out of 50 doing work and stuff should be put aside to learn new things, the world does not stop changing and you need to keep up.

6. Weekly sharing and Training

You learn by teaching, all those new things that you are learning start giving classes on it to your friends or at a neighbourhood house, who knows where it will lead, the world is your oyster. Remember the greats all started small.

7. Group Meditation

Guided Visualisation, Have a vision for what you want in your life and spend some time imagining it in the quiet of stilling the mind.

8. Company sponsored fun

If you are a company of one go dancing, camping, ten pin bowling, trampolining. If not down tools and take all employees at least once a month on a fun adventure, You and they will return the love in spades.

9. Positive Stamina

Look past the wrong, look to the future. Create a Vision board, put the jungle retreat in the Amazon on there. Its a reminder of your dreams.

10. Experiences and Connections

You’re happy when you help others to be happy. As I mentioned above we choose to be happy or not, not always easy but if you are doing it with others the journey is much easier.

I send out thanks to who ever I made this list from listening to, I suspect it was Vishen Lakhiani, CEO of Mindvalley describing his company values, I would like to work for a company that had these values.

The other list will have to wait until next time, its titled Life’s Questions

Namaste until next time, my friends

The Year of Love

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Rod's World

I’m not a great one for New Years Resolutions since I took up Danielle LaPorts Cored Desired Feelings and having intentions. But I came across the practice of Naming your year from a friend who inspires me lately. She chose the Year of Being, I chose the Year of Love for 2015.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that I will fall deeply in Love with the One but that would be nice but more that each and every moment is appreciated from the heart space of Love. So I researched what we as a society have to say about Love, Here are my favourite 20 quotes and sayings on Love.

The majority of Quotes on Love are romantic in nature but I have collected romantic and inspiring love quotes over the years, Here we go.

1. In dreams and Love there are no impossibilities.

To get to know somebody at the deepest level ask them what their dreams are and support them in fulfilling them, they will love you with the intensity that it will take to assist them in reaching their life’s pinnacle.

2. Hatred paralyses Life, love releases it . Hatred confuses Life, Love harmonies it, Hatred darkens life, Love illuminates it.

What did the man who said this Martin Luther King have to give up in the area of hatred to inspire a national Civil Rights movement in the sixties. If you listen n to his speeches they are all from love of his fellow human being, be they white or black.

3. Love is a canvas furnished by Nature, and embroidered by imagination.

Gaia gave up beauty all around to inspire the love of this extraordinary planet, allowing us to have Aww moments at every moment in the day, We have only to stop and smell the Roses.

4. We are all Born for Love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.

People have been offering Inspiring quotes about love for centuries and Benjamin Disreali ( Earl of Beaconsfield ) offered this profound take at it back in the day. I love it for the way it states that it is the backbone of our very existence.

5. Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

I have been on the spiritual path for many a year and this sums up what as I see the message of this way of Life, Simply Love.

6. Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move: Doubt that the truth is a liar, but never doubt I Love.

The bard William Shakespeare had a way with words, here he writes in regard to the power of, and the power to love.

7. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars, I don’t wan’t gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want ….. a kind soul. I want to fall asleep and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love and be loved.

Wealth, possessions cannot give you what true love does. The kindness of a friendly soul and the joy of love and being loved back, thats what provided it.

8. There are only four questions of value in life What is Sacred?, of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is always the same: only love.

Don Juan De Marco said this, not known as a spiritual man but a supremo in the area of Love. Who do you live for and who would you die for?

9. I Love you because the entire Universe conspired to help me find you.

Haven’t we met our loved ones in unusual places, Like someone or something was conspiring to have it happen. Paulo Coelho’s quote sums it up nicely, remember we are all Starseed’s just waiting to find the right bit for us.

10. The heart has its reasons of which reason know nothing.

Love is a quality that overrules all logical thought, It has a fluidity all of its own. You may never know what draws you to certain people but are just glad that it did.

11. Who being loves, Is Poor

Bad boy Oscar Wilde penned this short vignette, not known for his holding back Oscar seems to be pointing to the only thing that truly satisfies the heart, being in Love with whom and whatever that inspires you.

12. Love is a fabric which never fades , no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief.

We will have things that happen in our lives that will test the power of our love, Deaths, unexpected breakups , financial disasters but underneath it Love will remain, beating away through the power of our heart.

13. Love is Life, and if you miss Love, You Miss Life.

This quote by Leo Buscaglia hits home for me. Last year I fell out of love with myself and spent three months fighting depression, only when I got back in touch with the love others had for me did I return to the sef love that got me out of it.

14. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only what you are expecting to give – which is everything.

When Love is reliant on What an I going to get out of this , you fail. It is what you are willing to give to a situation, without expectation where the beauty of love resided.

15. Falling in Love is like leaping off a really tall building. Your brain tells you it is not a good idea, but your heart tells you, you can fly.

I listen to my head far too often in these situations, time to leap of some tall building and let my heart run things for a while.

16. Can miles truly separate you from friends… If you want to be with someone you love , aren’t you already there.

They say you can sense that those you love are thinking about you or are in trouble. These people are the people who, no matter how long you have been apart it feels like one minute.

17. Now join your hands, and with your hands, your heart.

The bard again. Would make a great wedding vow, joining our hearts is the ultimate act of love.

18. Love is like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can feel it.

When Love comes to town, it feels like a mighty, mighty wind straight to your heart. Can be stormy weather but as the power of nature inspires us, so does love.

19. Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control.

This three step process simplifies that crazy little thing called Love. We hope we only need to take the final step one or two times in our life, but that is not becoming the norm these days.

20. Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included

This is my quote. it came to me when I was sitting at my desk at work. I saw the possibility of everyone returning to the possibility of Love. I spend my time having it happen on the planet.

This is what is behind me choosing the Year of Love for 2015, I would love you all to get on board. Namaste to next time my friends.

Small Changes, Big Results

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Rod's World

These are the beginning of 300 foot trees if they survive their journey. This is the same for human beings, we are destined to be the leaders of the world if we fulfil our dreams or failed seedling if we do not. As seedlings/children we imagine amazing futures for ourselves and our friends, real or imagined. Then comes something called the education system that is more and more becoming about normalising children, packing them into little boxes so they all come out the same prepared for their careers in our economic world.

Would we have lost the space program if all the astronauts of the world have stuck to their childhood declaration and sought to walk on the Moon or Mars for that matter. Would we have the politicians we have today if all the 4 year old presidents and prime ministers who wanted to make a difference to their friends and family had followed their dreams and transformed their communities.

Ritu Ghatourey,a writer from India said – Your life is made up of little moments, little efforts, little changes, big smiles, and all your hopes and dreams. Don’t think any problem in your life is any different. Don’t accept defeat. You were built to triumph through. I admit there are times where I have not lived up to these ideals.

Here are 7 things that can keep you on the straight and narrow when you feel that the results you desire are slipping away from you.

1. You are exactly where you need to be.

All those thoughts that keep saying I’m not going to make it , I have failed are not correct, you are where you need to be right now on your life journey, you cannot be anywhere else as a matter of fact.

2. Trust yourself Vs. the Doubting monster.

Love and Respect for all, Everyone included. If you go through life with this koan there will be no room to doubt what you are doing will succeed because you will have the majority of people onside. People who exude love have to push away people who are willing to support them because there are so many of them lined up.

3. Give up resisting what life does every moment of the day , Change!

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

4. Never stop learning.

There is a quote that goes “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning today is young. The greatest thing on the world today is to keep your mind young. I would add your heart and soul to this as well, the access to the knowledge of the elders is growing and refreshening our heart soul and mind is essential to keep our dreams and projects alive.

5.Develop a Gratitude practice.

We can be grateful for what we have in our lives, or complain and judge them, here are some reasons that being grateful works and makes us an all round better person.

Feeling more connected (less lonely)
Strengthened immune system
Improved emotional equilibrium
Better sleep
Increased energy
More confidence in ourselves
Deeper relaxation
Appear more attractive to others
Increased creativity
Easier bounce back from difficulty

I sure would like some of these!! Gratitude journal and the writing of Thank you notes are great practices to help manifest this.

6. Sun Gazing.

The practice of sungazing closely resembles its name. At sunrise and/or sunset, when the sun is closest to the earth, sungazers stand barefoot on the earth and look directly at the sun for 10 seconds. Every day, 10 seconds are added and some sungazers eventually reach a duration of 44 minutes. This is meant to increase your melatonin and serotonin levels, our feel good hormones which also increase our overall energy.

7. Care with no Reason, Love with no Expectation.

Life rarely turns out exactly the way you want it to, but you still have an opportunity to make it great. You have to do what you can, with what you have, exactly where you are. It wont always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end. Remember that there is no perfect life, just perfect moments. And its these moments you must cherish; its these moments that make the whole journey worthwhile.

Another Ritu Ghatourey quote to end on, no attachments make it easier to walk your path and have more and more great moments in your life, projects , relationship, pretty well all areas in your life.

Namaste until next time, my friends.

Don’t compromise their dignity!!

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Rod's World

Human beings enter the world all newborn, another soul waiting to thrive. The path they take is often chosen by the circumstance they are born in, yet there are exceptions to this rule in each and every land, what separates these individuals from the rest. You often find these people have the guiding light of service for others. This quote sums it up pretty well:

Self love is the inner path but the creation of a dignified person is in how we interact with the world. Can you relate to the homeless person as well as the multi billionaire. Each of these people may be parents, brothers, sisters who have had passions in their lives, they are just demonstrating them in different ways at this point in time. I work at the Darebin Intercultural Centre where our ethos is Love and Respect for All, Everyone included. We had a homeless person who used to sit on our garden out the front. We started taking him a cup of coffee and he now comes to our events because he feels at home and that people respect him there.

The world throws up extreme circumstances to test people’s dignity, Nelson Mandela is famous for retaining his dignity while in prison, he stated that his freedom could not be taken away from him as long as he retained his dignity, he did not surrender it and went on to become one of the worlds great princes of peace and freedom on the planet. The country of Rwanda went through a near genocide in 1994 and the country has set up leadership trainings to restore the dignity of the country http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/about/bgjustice.shtml

What do you take dignity to mean, there is a definition that is widely used.

Proclamations and conventions

Through much of the 20th century, dignity appeared in assorted writings as a reason for peacemaking and for promoting human rights.

“

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status

The declaration being the universal declaration of human rights:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The full text is published by the United Nations on its website.^[1]

The Declaration consists of thirty articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and other laws. The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols. In 1966, the General Assembly adopted the two detailed Covenants, which complete the International Bill of Human Rights. In 1976, after the Covenants had been ratified by a sufficient number of individual nations, the Bill took on the force of international law.^[2]

This is a difficult promise to live up to given the human condition, judgement, indifference, apathy, and selfishness often see it swept aside for the need for self gratification. Working on the inner path of self love places these things clearly in the background and allows for treatment of self and fellow human beings with dignity and respect on a daily basis.

The ethos of Interculturalism, Love and Respect for all, Everyone Included, join in spreading the word https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ and we will see a planet where dignity is one of the premises that people live by.

Namaste to all until next time my friends

Everyone’s Right of Place.

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Rod's World

Do you ever feel out of place? There is a fabulous quote that says we are all geniuses within but try to get a fish to climb a tree and it doesn’t get very far. Its points at that age old wisdom that one has to find our passion in life to truly discover the genius within. Albert Einstein liked lists as I do so I would like to feature one of his to back up that everyone has a right of place and what we can do to find ours.

1. Follow Your Curiosity.

The world has billions of things to learn, from different cultures to new scientific discoveries. As we grow older we are trained to settle down, fight this with every muscle in your mind, body and heart.

2. Perseverance is Priceless.

I posted a quote about that every one has the same 24 hours as Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela etc. etc. It drove my brother to distraction. Things get done by people who see roadblocks as opportunities not reasons to stop.

3. Focus on the Present.

Eckhart Tolle is visiting my city, Melbourne Australia on Tuesday. His book The Power of Now says it all about the power contained with in this statement. You can’t do anything about the past, The future is yet to happen and will be a past moment of the time that make a difference, the present is the instant in which it occurs.

4. The Imagination is Powerful.

I love the joy of children playing together, they don’t need computer games and video’s, all they need is their pure, uninhibited imaginations. They can create dragons, imaginary super heroes and countries. Education systems seem to try and crush this out of them as they grow up and become more “mature”, perhaps it should be called the clone system.

5. Make Mistakes

It is said Edison broke thousands of lightbulbs on his journey to discover the one that worked. Don’t wait to have everything perfect before you have a red hot go, you will not start. Mistakes can also be called new opportunities to expand.

6. Live In the Moment.

86,400 seconds in a day. We sleep a lot of them so that we can be alert in the others we are awake. If you are in a funk about something somebody did to you 10 years ago who is missing the opportunity to be the best you can possibly be in the moment. Answers itself. I used to do this but took action about it as I sensed it was costing me my vitality day to day.

7. Create Value.

I have lots of friends who are in the healing profession and face the dilemma of how to charge appropriately for their services. The price of what I am willing to pay for an item or service to me is determined by the answer to the question did I get value being Yes. So this is one time you do not look inwardly for the answer but focus on your audience, did they get value.

8. Don’t Expect Different Results.

How often do you think If Only? This is the booby prize in your life education. What happens happens for a purpose, it may not be nice but our job is to not repeat the dose and grow from the experience. Yes we will go through grief, anger, frustration but the premise is to get the coaching, It couldn’t have happened any other way than how it did.

9. Knowledge Comes From Experience.

As we age we have the opportunity to gain Knowledge. This is different from existing and repeating the same things over and over again. We experience an event in our lives and some times we get an aha moment from it and our knowledge grows which we can pass on t those following in our path. Aboriginal elders in Australia live by this premise “In our culture, decisions are made for the communal good and the community is considered above the individual need.”

10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better.

Each of our Societies are governed by a set of rules for each area of its existence. If we want to make great change its our job to know these rules and manipulate them and play the game better than the mediocre players such as many of the political parties that exist as our “rulers” these days.

We all have a right of place and it is our responsibility to discover what that purpose is for each of us individually. Albert has written a very powerful list that can help you access this for yourself. get out on the track and place one foot in front of each other and begin.

Namaste until next time , my friends.

May the Animals be Blessed.

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Rod's World

Today I remember the animals of the world, our cohabitants of this precious planet. I recognise their vulnerability, as well as the harm we sometimes do to them. May careless, even cruel behaviour towards animals be forever removed from the earth. May my heart be open to ways I can be of service to them. May the relationship between humans and animals be lifted to its highest place. Dear Gaia, Please bless the animals. Protect Them From the actions of those with cold hearts. May we be proper stewards Of these precious creations in our midst. Amen. I love this prayer by Marianne Williamson to the other inhabitants of our planet although I changed one word, I cannot bring myself to use the word God, it is far to damaged in my estimation to be used to represent the spirit that is mightier than the human race, I much prefer Gaia, the spirit of the planet that does not relate to any power seeking religion. I spent last weekend volunteering at World Vegan Day in Melbourne Australia, my friends call me the worlds greatest volunteer. I was highly impressed by the number of young people who have journeyed down the path to Veganism. What is Veganism, Wikipedia defines it as follows

Veganism /ˈviːɡənɪzəm/ is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, as well as following an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals. A follower of veganism is known as a vegan.

I used a picture of Beagles to begin this blog as there is a group in Victoria that specifically operates to rescue them from abandonment or cruelty http://www.beaglerescuevic.org/aboutus.html, and they are damn cute.

There were many other organisations that defended the rights of animals around the world and I was drawn to the Tiger Protection booth and was amazed to find out that there are only 3,200 tigers in the wild, as articles say it is ironical it is the Chinese Year of the tiger when mankind is rapidly removing this noble creature from the planet. The link to this article does not hold out much hope for them in 12 years when the next Year of the Tiger rolls around. http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/all-worlds-tigers-extinct-in-15-20-years-without-better-conservation-efforts.html.

I chose to become Vegan due to the fact I did not want the energy of a living creature in my body not due to animal cruelty but the talk I heard by Philip Wollen pointed to why we need to give up eating meat and fish, we are literally killing the planet for the sake of our daily steak. Philip is a philanthropist who used to be head of Citibank in Australia and who had a turn around in his life and now funds project worldwide to prevent animal cruelty and extinction. He has the ability to speak to people who can make a difference in a huge way. here is a link to a blog with one of his speeches http://livelearnloveeat.com/2012/12/16/philip-wollen-animals-should-be-off-the-menu/. He also funds Kindness House in Victoria where he allows groups dedicated to animals such as Vegetarian Victoria space for minimal rent so they can do their work to defend our fellow creatures.

It takes 25 times as much energy to produce one kilogram of beef as it does a kilogram of vegetables. If the developing nations keep changing their dietary habits to be carnivores we will need two planets at least to produce the energy required, we don’t have two planets, we have a profoundly wounded one. The children born today will not have fish to eat in the year 2050 according to an influential report released by scientists in the U.K. recently, this is sad but not as sad as the effect this will have on the oceans as fish are the life blood of the oceans. A friend of mine who is a solo ocean crossing sailor said the things he noticed in two journeys ten years apart was the silence of the seas, no fish no birds, he was profoundly worried for the future of our oceans and was speaking from experience.

There are people worldwide who do not mistreat animals, heres a list of some of them http://list25.com/25-animal-saviors-who-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity/ So are Vegans and vegetarians the saviours of the planet in the future, they are a growing number worldwide as the benefits of a meat free diets become apparent and it is recommended by more and more health professionals to battle the ever increasing battle with obesity and diabetes that has become an epidemic worldwide, here are some stats on vegetarians and vegans worldwide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country.

Namaste until next time my friends

Its like swimming back to the sinking ship because its Too Cold

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Rod's World

There are hundreds of images of freighters sinking on Google Images but its not the same as a fully rigged ship, the grand masters of the sea during our formative exploratory years entering the murky depths. This is like the statement above that was made at our last session of Raw, there are no limits. I googled it and it seems its an original so kudos to the member who came up with it.http://changemakersfestival.org/event/raw-there-are-no-limits/.

It was prominent during the night and has stuck in my mind ever since, how many times am I guilty of this seemingly foolish practice. If I did not do this ever I would have lived a life full of wonder with no hiccups. But there are many masters modern and ancient who point to the fact that this sort of life leaves you short of a life well lived. If we are always sailing on a flat ocean with no storms how do we know if we have risked our all.

Helen Keller reminds us that “Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing ” Do we remember those days in our lives where we just got up went to work for 10 hours, came home and fell asleep or do we remember those days we spent realising a new possibility that could transform our relationship to life.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in everydirection, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than youever dreamed yourself to be.”
~ Patanjali – the author of Yoga Sutra

It helps to have a purpose in your live, as Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutra intimates, the forces that will become available to you are immeasurable and what you will be able to achieve is unimaginable to your mind, it is more located in your heart. My purpose is the ethos of Interculturalism Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ It took me 59 years of journeying through addictions, mental illnesses, Buddhism, meditation and banal Government jobs to get there but it was well worth the journey, I intend to transform the world with your help.

Zig Ziglar is considered one of the greatest American Success coaches and his quote ” People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing – That’s why we recommend it daily ” hits home as to what it takes. Get up, do stuff that has your purpose move forward, don’t expect it to magically happen, being in action is what it takes, the law of Attraction does not leave action out of the picture.

I couldn’t wish to be an astronaut as a child because they didn’t exist, I wanted to be a Ships captain because we used to go down to our Aunty Ruby’s farm outside Leopold and you could see the ships in Corio Bay, I’m not a Ship’s captain, the closest I became to a man of the trades was an apprentice French Polisher, the rest of the time I spent behind a desk. As I said I have found a purpose and I’m sure the child back in Pakenham when it wasn’t on the Metro line would be proud of me.

“I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.”
~ Roy Croft

Roy Croft is a little known poet who wrote a poem called Love which begins with the above line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Croft, I believe that this line applies to both friendships, self friendship and other friendship, heck you could probably replace friendship with love if you wished to. You will keep going back to the sinking ship if you do not have both of these in your life, the water will get awfully cold very quickly with out them.

“I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is loved by millions of women worldwide for her earthy summation of day to day events and is a living example of the above statement. Willing to share it all she is also a disciple of Zig Ziglars statement “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” So if you do not wish to have to swim back to the Sinking ship take some of the advice that these modern and ancient thought leaders have to offer

Namaste until next time my friends

Fire In the Belly!!

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Rod's World

What do 105 men do at a weekend mens empowerment event for 3 and a half days. I went along after having attended a total of three mens empowerment circles with an attendance of 4 people at each. having created all the worst case scenario’s of woad wearing rituals and group screamings I enrolled because everything that frightened me about it were the reasons I should attend.

My friend from a previous retreat Michael also enrolled and we drove down together to Grantville Lodge http://uccamping.org.au/grantville-lodge/ to a magnificent view of Westernport Bay on the friday afternoon of the Cup long weekend. We found our sleeping places and settled in , Michael found out an old friend of his was in our cabin and I chatted to another of the participants who had had much more experience with men’s groups than I and his reassurances that it would cover all shades of grey helped me greatly.

We then had dinner and this was followed by the opening ceremony where an incredibly moving fire ceremony took place with the lighting of the event fire that would burn all weekend until the completion of the event. We then were split into our tribal groups, each named after a volcano, our’s was Corvo; http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/corvo-volcano.html , it seems this is in the Azores. I was with three of the presenters and a person who volunteered at Men events as a leader. Our group leader was a wild man who didn’t fancy wearing shoes. We had an hour to get to know each other so shared some of our stories at this first meeting.

They had announced the following days workshops at dinner and at 6.00 a.m. next day was Mandance and I am a dancer so I attended. The atmosphere was extraordinary with only male energy present and the presence of testerone was high, men have 4 times the testerone levels of women. I am frightened of barechested caveman like behaviour so this was confronting for me but as it went on I got to see it was all within the passion to dance as we were sacredly held through an ecstatic wave to reach a state of trance to gain inner peace.

Workshops during the day were to open the heart space through physical movement and groups that included quite a bit of role playing to allow this to happen. The first I attended was on a technique called Life Mechanics that allowed you to see where you spent time in the negative where it was just as easy to be positive.

followed by the life freeing talk on Procrastination and Distraction, Playing with our Power that had me see how easily I get distracted in life and what it costs me big time – http://www.davidnaylor.net.au/ . I finished the day with Non Voilent Communication a technique I had had a bit to do with several years ago, It all came back to me with the I statements taking responsibility and how you felt and making requests to resolve issues. http://www.nvcaustralia.com/index.php?action=trainer&id=68.

I forgot to mention that during this event I had a raging viral infection and slept through the Saturday night ceremony Heart Space. I asked my friend Michael on the drive home what it was like and he said it gave credibility to the statement from Avatar I See you and was one of the more special things he had been through.

Day two, I didn’t wake up until 6.40 so missed the 6.00 session and went to breakfast provided by the wonderful Sun Hyland and his team http://www.newearthcatering.com followed by a session on the dangers of porn by one of my Tribal group, it was confronting to see the role of it in our society, http://manenough.com.au/events/man-enough-november-workshop-2/ . There had also been drumming and juggling sessions during the day but my body was still not up to it. There was a session on the work of Byron Katie so I attended that, I love the work of Byron Katie and the four simple but empowering questions Is that true?, Can you absolutely know thats true, how do you feel when holding the story and Who would I be without this story can change your life if you stick to the script. http://www.thework.com/thework-4questions.php . The last workshop I did for the day was Financial Sabotage, an inquiry into how we sabotage ourselves and what would be possible if we stopped doing so .

We then moved to the cabaret, a celebration of men’s talent, lots of singer songwriters, comedians but the highlight was the interpretive dance by our 92 year old elder, he gave us a Ted talk of his wisdom at each break, if only we all could be so lithe at the age of 92. My friend Michael said to me this should end soon, its one o’clock. I didn’t believe him because it had been such great entertainment, but it was.

To the final day when we said goodbye to our Tribal group whom I had fallen deeply in Love and Respect with, we had an hour and a half to complete and team Corvo embraced each other and declared themselves inside a group hug, we were gifted a final breakthrough in this session by one team member it was humbling and empowering that we trusted each other that much in such a short time. We then had lunch and came to the closing ceremony where the group thanked the committee for organising it, the group leaders for being a stand for us all, Sun and his team for the great service and then a crazy hand slap to everybody chaos ruled but it was beautiful. About 20 inspired men stood forward to organise next years event including my friend Michael, i’m sure he will be great.

The main thing I got out of this event that it is OK to be a conscious man in 2014 in Melbourne Australia because there is plenty of other brothers out there and we will transform how men relate in society. Thank you Menergy 2014 http://www.menergy.org.au/wp/

Namaste until next time, my friends