Passion, Power or Fruit?

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your contribution is a gift to the Community

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Rod's World

The news that has been being reported in my country is tragic at the moment, multiple deaths that are unexpalinable to anyone with a humane heart. it has made me think how does the community recover from such events when they become permeated in our history, Soon after the event an unknown person placed a bunch of flowers in Martin Place as a sign of the deep loss they felt for the people involved, they probably did not know them but they wanted to say i feel for you in some way.

In an amazing outpouring of compassion, thousands upon thousands of people have followed suit and it has simply become to be known as the martin Place Flowers Shrine.

This has brought me to think what options are available to you to mend a broken heart when something unimaginable happens that renders it asunder.

1. Seek professional help.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote sums up succintly the power of what we are thinking about something has over us. When your thoughts start getting dark and are making it difficult to face the day its time to talk to someone who has been trained in releasing the grip those thoughts have on you.

2. Write about It.

They say it is better in than out and if you find it difficult to talk to someone about it then the option of writing how you feel gets it out of your head and on the page. As they say you can’t start the next chapter if you keep on reading the last in your head.

3. Physical Touch.

I find this one difficult when in the depths of thinking life is not great but in following this koan: Physical touch makes you healthier. Hugs, Massages and holding hands reduces stress while boosting your immune system I have allowed my friends and family to help get me back on the path to wellness.

4. Do what makes you Happy.

Be it spending times with friends and family, physical exercise, watching a film that cheers you up, making something, just do a little bit a day if that is all you can do now, and build it up gradually as this will improve your general demeanour.

5. Meditation.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look in your own heart, who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes. Carl Jung expresses very well what the benefits of a daily meditation practice are, meditation is just not for relaxation, its primary purpose is to respond skilfully and gracefully to life’s difficulties as well as its joy. There are many forms of meditation available, from calm abiding to chakra focus. Try one on until you find the type that suits you.

6. Spirituality.

Nothing goes away until it has taught us what we need to know – Pema Chodron, A Buddhist nun and profound thought leader of our generation covers it pretty well, if we think we know the answer there is no opportunity to advance by learning the lesson our circumstances are trying to teach us. Spending a few hours a week reading your favourite spiritual teacher can only enhance your understanding of the world.

7. Shake, Rattle and Roll.

Walking is the worlds oldest exercise and today modern medicine. In the days of driving to work and back home again simple exercise like an half an hour walk can transform your life. I started with this and have built up to cycling every where and three sessions in the gym a week.

8. Dancing.

Dancing with the feet is one thing, Dancing with the heart is Another. We all have our favourite music that touches our heart. Put some on and dance to it. As children this was one of our main pastimes, we have just forgotten the enjoyment we get out of it.

Sorry about the break in blogs, busy over the festive season, Namaste till next times my friends.

Finding the Now!!

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Rod's World

There are so many schools of thought how to be in the Now emanating across the airwaves these days one does not really know who to believe or where to begin to find the most useful amongst them. I have tried many of them over my sixty years so I thought I would pass on a few I have found useful.

1. Calm Abiding Meditation

“There are many stages in mental development, but as soon as we are able to maintain the mind in a calm state, at that very moment there is joy and peace. This is reflected in the body becoming relaxed, and then the mind becomes more relaxed. As the mind calms down, the hidden enlightened qualities emerge more and more.”

—Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche

This statement sums up pretty much what you can achieve in the daily practice of Calm Abiding meditation, a practice I did for 7 years, and which I have recently taken up again after a break of 5 years. I trained to become a meditation Teacher during those 7 years and look forward to using those skills again after my practice is established again.

2. Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga describes the physical practice of yoga. In fact, sometimes the name Hatha is used interchangeably with “yoga.” The slow pace and simple breathing exercises make it a great place to learn basic poses and become comfortable on the mat. My breath cycle improved from 9 seconds to 44 while I was doing Yoga and only gave it up when I discovered the beauty of Tai Chi.

3. Tai Chi

Developed originally in China as a self-defense strategy, or martial art, tai chi—the “supreme ultimate fist”—is practiced in modern times primarily as a gentle exercise technique. Described as “meditation in motion,” tai chi consists of a standing person performing a series of postures or bodily movements in a slow and graceful manner, with each movement flowing without pause to the next. According to Chinese legend, the technique was created by a Taoist monk who was inspired as he watched a crane and a snake do battle. Impressed by the ‘snake’s ability to subtly and swiftly avoid the bird’s thrusts, he devised a series of self-defense techniques that do not involve meeting the opponent’s force with force, but rather stress evading the blow; causing the opponent’s own momentum to work against him. I do the Beijing 24 practice daily and am learning he Bamboo practice. I Also do a warm up called Qigong

4. Qigong

Qigong, literally: “Life Energy Cultivation” is a practice of aligning body, breath, and mind for health, meditation, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine and Philosophy and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi (chi) or what has been translated as “life energy”.^[1]

According to Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian philosophy, respectively, qigong allows access to higher realms of awareness, awakens one’s “true nature”, and helps develop human potential. This noble practice has helped me regain my well being and is my current practice.

5. 5 Rhythms Dance

5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s. It draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms.

Gabrielle describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential.

Getting back to this has allowed me to free my body and be much more present in the Now of my body.

6. Philosophers Notes

Brian Johnson made mega dollars in the I.T. industry then went to Bali and read all the great books. His gift to the world is he can summarise them beautifully.

PhilosophersNotes are like healthy, energizing snacks for the mind, heart and soul! This is such a superb idea, and Brian has such a natural, infectiously appealing way of making it relevant to just about everybody. For avid personal-development aficionados, Philosophers Notes serve as a sampler plate of the very best reads out there, making it easier to decide which new books to crack open next, and which classics deserve a fresh look.

I did one of these for about 60 days in a row then read the books that really touched my heart. They say the day you die is the day you stop learning, in our busy world this is an excellent way to get to access the best quickly. Here’s a link if you are interested https://www.entheos.com/philosophersnotes

7. Communing with Nature

We forget that Gaia has been gifted to remind us that we are all part of the greater plan. A weekend away from the chaos of the city in a forest , or near a beach or river restores our sense of Now. Leaving your phone, computer and work behind for this period has us focus on things like trees, animals and the fresh air that these places are filled with.

8. Growing and Cooking my own Food

Supermarkets are not even 100 years old, how did humans get their food prior to the existence of what is now the major supplier of Food for the human race. We grew our own and prepared and cooked it ourselves or brought it from our local producers. The joy of planting you own vegetables and having your own chickens is immeasurable and making your own meals from fresh, non toxic produce bought from a local farmers market is so good for your health.

Well, I hope this has helped you a little, 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

Do you make enough requests?

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Rod's World

I have a promise to myself to write a blog every two days but missed out on it as I attended the Free Humanity weekend seminar led by Jeffrey Slayter http://www.jeffreyslayter.com on the recommendation of my friends Miroslav, Belinda, Paras and Mari who had spent the last few months travelling up to Byron Bay to do his courses. Free Humanity was coincidentally free so I instantly had concerns about background selling as I has spent 10 years attending Landmark Forum introductions that were also free.

I hopped on my Electric bike and rode down to Carlton and was surprised by the fact that I knew about a quarter of the crowd, friends from previous events Miroslav and co. had run, showing the faith we have in them, they are such beautiful people after all. After milling around and catching up with some of them we entered the room. Jeff spent an hour or so creating the space for him to led the weekend speaking of his background and his desire for the world to be free for humanity.

Having done this Jeff then moved on to the purpose of the weekend, to free each of us up to be the best we can be in every area of our lives. He made a statement that probably a lot of us had spent years working on our spiritual sides but had not spent a lot of time on learning how to value ourselves and make money from our knowledge. I know for me that this is true and for a lot of people I know in the spiritual field. How were we meant to shift this and be adept in all arenas? Well what occurred over the next two days was not what I expected.

Jeff had us look at areas in our lives where we are focussing on one thing which has put us out of balance with the other side of it, for me it was educating myself in the spiritual world and not focussing on my financial wellbeing. Each of us had our own version of it and Jeff was highly skilled at getting us see what yours was. We would meditate during each session to help clear our minds as health was one of the premises Jeff believes is important in living a vibrant life.

We also created our calling, This includes who you are going to be, what you are going to do, what you will have out of it and what emotion will it generate. Mine is –

I’m going to transform the world conversation to Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

I will do this via Social Media through the FaceBook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ and my blog I am an Interculturalist at http://www.Rodwill1707.com and having Intercultural Centres set up in every Local community in Australia for cultures to educate each other about the best they are.

I will travel to the six major energy points in the world, have a home in Australia and Costa Rica and I will have a soulmate to share my life with

The emotion this invokes in me is Bliss.

We also did breath work to release our fears from where they were entrapped in our bodies. The person I did this with laughed through the entire process so was obviously releasing something.

So to the final teaching and the reason behind the title of this blog. Requesting versus selling. Jeff intimated that requesting and asking are the two most powerful actions you can take, and that why a lot of us had little money was that we did not request closure for our services and did not value them highly enough. He requested that we learn to sell what we had to offer people and to build vehicles that expressed our talents and spiritual nature. That we not sell out and not do what we love doing. Working a full time job and part time dreams quickly becomes working your full-time dreams but you will never access this if you don’t give it a go. We all have plenty of experiences to teach others or we would not have been at the seminar so he implored us to get out there and start requesting.

Jeff has lots of other courses that cost money and yes he requested we enrol in them, I will when I get out of the financial situation my stories have kept me in.

Namaste till next time my friends.

Do you Mean to Kill Them?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Rod's World

My carbon footprint in getting around is fairly low, Walking , Pushbike and Public Transport. I used to ride a motor bike for a few years but had an accident whilst drunk driving and lost my license for two years and never got it back.

On my journey around our fair city of Melbourne I cannot but notice the laziness of the general public in disposing of rubbish. It is discarded everywhere but in the receptacles provided it would seem. Cigarette packets and cigarette butts , junk food containers and alcohol bottles seem to make up the majority of it pointing towards a certain kind of person being the main contributor to this malaise.

And what does this have to do with the cutie in the picture above, she is an albatross who lives on Midway Island. Fleetwood Mac in the 60’s wrote a magnificent instrumental about these birds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAefTj7GXwQ, they have survived happily on the Island for many years or have they. Where is Midway Island you ask, heres a map to give you an idea.

It s in the middle of the pacific island thousand and thousands of kilometres from the nearest land but this cute picture does not tell the harrowing tale of what is occurring on Midway Island these days. I attended the Sustainable Living Festival last year with my friend Kavisha and happened to be in BMW edge when there was a speaker by the name of Chris Jordan set down to speak. I forget the name of his talk but after being transfixed by the content not the subject matter. Chris is an American photographer with an interest in Environmental issues and had been producing a documentary about the albatrosses on Midway Island for the past few years.

Why he has been doing this is because we have been killing them with plastic. Adult albatrosses have been feeding their young with plastic gleaned from the ocean all those kilometres away and they are dying in their thousands. Here is a link to Chris sharing about the documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9t2fm__K0. The only way the plastic gets in the ocean is because we as a race are too lazy to carry our rubbish with us to the nearest bin or to our homes to dispose of it in our own bins and it is washed into the ocean. Next time you are tempted to throw something away because there is no where to put it think of this image.

On my way walking to work or the market I have begun picking up rubbish as I come to it on the footpath knowing it will always be there because we are unthinking when it comes to the costs of dropping rubbish. I hope this little rant makes a few of you think.

Namaste until next time, my friends

Surviving Earth

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Rod's World

Will the earth survive the human race? Of course it will, the earth is millions of years old and we have been here for nano seconds of that time. The question that is more relevant is will the human race survive earth? In the time since agriculture and capitalism joined and took over from growing your own food we have seen the need for four earths for humanity to survive in the amount of energy that it uses, I was not going crazy just showing you how many planets we need and its growing expediently, the world population has grown from 2 billion 120 years ago to 7.5 billion and is expected to grow to 10 billion by 2050.

We have the technology to end the use of Fossil fuels as our main energy suppliers but do not have the where with all to do it as the major energy companies spend millions of dollars to fight any reasonable campaigns that eschew this. 98% of scientific evidence points to the need to end the damage that fossil fuels are causing but the companies that make billions of dollars from its use drag out the 2% who are guns for sale and their cronies in the capitalist ideology driven governments around the world buy into it, an example is the extreme policies of the current Australian government in approving more and more coal mines in the name of job creation.

There is currently an argument going on in the city I live in Melbourne, Australia about building a 6.5 kilometre link road that will cost 5 billion dollars. Up to a third of space in cities around the world is taken up by roads and car parks and building more freeways has never resolved the issue of grid lock it has just added more localities for it to occur. I pass over a freeway on my way to work and cannot help be frustrated by the fact that most cars are single occupancy. I can remember the carpooling that went on amongst kids parents when taking them to various sporting events as they grew up, why can this not be legislated as compulsory if governments are serious about providing solutions for the traffic chaos on our roads. Its probably to much like community building for them and the afore mentioned oil companies would not want their profits cut. How much public transport infrastructure can you build for 5 billion dollars, quite a lot I would think.

A solution to the fossil fuel conundrum is the use of alternative fuelled vehicles that are becoming more prevalent with the electric driven vehicle being the most prevalent. The ones being released are top end of the market but a talk I was at last night there was mention of being able to convert for as little as $7,000. The emission from cars is only 7% of the total of emissions on the planet so this helps but I believe we must focus on solar power to generate household energy use which is up to 50% in western countries.

I cannot understand how new houses are allowed to be built without solar panels being a required part of the construction. Australia has gone from 30,000 to 1 million users with a 20 year period. I remember reading an article recently about a state in America who made it compulsory to be connected to the grid, obviously this is influence from the fossil fuel companies fighting their last desperate battles against the march towards alternative energy, which when is becoming cheaper, is clean, efficient and in the end after several years free.

I watched the excellent documentary Surviving Earth http://www.survivingearthmovie.com/ last night at CERES environmental park, a living example of what is possible if like minded people take action together http://www.ceres.org.au/ and what inspired me most about it was the use of Bindi Irwin as one of the spokes persons. Bindi stated that she had grown up knowing that her generation could make a difference , quite different to the time when children were not expected to have opinions, sit there and be quite and do what they were told to do. I believe this generation will take the actions that are required to save the planet. In the film it also talked about having a new generation of political leaders, I see this as a definite requirement.

Namaste to next time, my friends.

My Free Organic Tea Towel

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Rod's World

I get my food from a food co-op CERES fair food http://www.ceresfairfood.org.au/ and they gave me a free tea towel because I sent them a thank you message the other day.

They have a fabulous ethos, sourcing their goods based on miles traveled so that they have the least carbon footprint effect on the planet. They produce a lot of their own goods on the farm at CERES environment park http://www.ceres.org.au/ a not for profit educational site on 4 acres of land on the banks of the beautiful Merri Creek in Melbourne, Australia. You can buy boxes from $27.00 to $72.00 depending on the size of your household and they have specialist intolerant boxes as well. I buy a juicers box as I have a fresh juice every morning and a Mixed basic Box that costs just over $60 and they last me the week at least.

They also help create community by setting up a group of Food Hosts for people to pick up their boxes from, many a friendship has been made at these drop off spots. You can also have them delivered to your door for the measly amount of $6.75 anywhere in Melbourne, a city of nearly 4 million people.

The service now has over 800 customers but my history goes back to their foundation days when 20 to 30 CERES staff got together and created the idea of starting a food co-op to get organic goods at a cheaper cost, we used to volunteer on box filling duty and pick them up from the CERES stables. That was about 10 years ago and my, how it has grown. I dropped out when I lost contact with CERES about 5 years ago and rejoined, its free when I took up eating a healthy diet again about two years ago.

They also have a guarantee that food will be delivered which I was very grateful for because one week someone needed my delivery more than me and took it, it was replaced next day. They also donated food for a Christmas event we hold at the place I volunteer for disadvantaged people in the Darebin area on Christmas Day https://www.facebook.com/DarebinInterculturalCentre.

Chris, the manager and Elenore, the marketing person do a sterling job and focus on providing employment for refugees and that is why I write and acknowledge their great work on a regular basis. If you are thinking of supporting an organisation who cares about your health and providing produce at a reasonable price you cannot go past CERES fair food