What the Fuck is Intimacy, anyway?

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Rod's World

I spent the day with the remarkable woman who has come into my life. In new relationships often the sexual side of it is what is most relevant, as the lust factor is high. The question I asked her before I went there last night was would she read me the bible, as she is a woman of faith. She agreed, and it didn’t happen as many other wonderful things did.

What is intimacy, anyway? Here is a shot at four different types:

Experiential Intimacy: When people bond during leisure activities. People may “sync up” their actions in teamwork or find themselves acting in unison.
- Example: A father and son work together to build a model train, developing a rhythm to their teamwork.
Emotional Intimacy: When people feel safe sharing their feelings with each other, even uncomfortable ones.
- Example: A woman confides in her sister about her body image issues. She trusts her sibling to offer comfort rather than using her insecurities against her.
Intellectual Intimacy: When people feel comfortable sharing ideas and opinions, even when they disagree.
- Example: Two friends debate the meaning of life. They enjoy hearing each other’s opinions and don’t feel the need to “win” the argument.
Sexual Intimacy: When people engage in sensual or sexual activities. When people use the word “intimacy,” they are often referring to this type.
- Example: Two lovers engage in foreplay, knowing how each other prefers to be touched.

So can you guess what we did? We did the dishes, set up a piece of furniture, discussed how we were feeling and why was, mainly me resisting being present to it, massaged each other, cleaned the stovetop and went for an hours walk. It was serene and magnificent in its intimacy.

How does the world relate to intimacy, lets walk down that road together:

1. I met you six years ago. It was definitely worth the wait.

2. When I reach this plateau, my body tingles all over: Soul Kind of Feeling.

3. A writer of words, a poetic soul, an emotive expressionist, Ranata Suzuki is a poet and quote writer whose eloquent words form with painful clarity the sad yet beautiful world of the broken heart. An anonymous writer based in Sydney, Australia, Ranata is known only by her avatar of a bird carrying a book.

4. How does the end of someone’s hair, become erotic. It’s easy in the land of intimacy: What Am I?

5. I confess I have made those 3am texts.

6. Especially now in lockdown in Melbourne, Australia we have to wear a mask when we leave the house: Bette Davis Eyes.

7. When you get into this kind of intimacy sex feels redundant at times.

8. Be weird with me, baby: Love is a Battlefield.

9. We did this for part of our walk today.

10. At times, I caught myself falling into hers when she looked back at me: Soul Man.

11. And then there is the ultimate love, love of self.

12. I am actually feeling the I Love You’ in my heart, Yum: I Love You.

13. And it takes work to achieve this state, AS Katie Byron says, time to do Te Work.

14. Snap: Hurt.

15. I took trust out of the picture, she told me to fuck off until I had got the cost of this in our relationship, lucky for me she has an awesome heart.

So I am on a journey of intimacy, perhaps for the first time truly in my 66-year-old life, it feels magnificent.

Today’s playlist begins with an Australian classic from the Dynamic Hepnotics, followed by Edie Bricknell and the New Bohemians. Two classic female rockers from last century are next, Kim Carnes and Pat Benetar. Sam and Dave then lay some funky R and B on us. We move back into the present with Billy Ellish and complete with the Man in Black, Johny Cash: What the Fuck is Intimacy, Anyway?

So the purpose of my ethos for the world: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included is to have more intimacy available in the world. Until we meet again my dear friends.

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart!!!

Posted on August 2, 2020 by Rod's World

You may have noticed my past 5 blogs have been about growing friendship with my friend Amy. It moved quickly and then spectacularly into becoming lovers against all the reasons the world tells you that a friendship between two people 28 years apart in age should. Being used to a single life, where you domestic actions didn’t have a lot of repercussions to being in a partnership saw me totally do some things that have unfortunately taken it from you are the greatest lover I have ever had and talk about moving in together to stop treating me like I am your mother in a period just greater than 24 hours.

Did we really love each other, yes we did, but I allowed my actions to move our relationship from our hearts to her head. I sit here writing this close to tears and I have cried about ten times in my 66 years, my parents once sent me to a phycologist to see why I couldn’t during my teenage years, it didn’t resolve anything and I am still a non-crier basically. The only thing that shifted it was the joy I felt in my love for Amy, I would be sitting on a railway station and feel tears of joy welling up, very un Rod Williams like.

My relationship consultant friend who is also a phycologist advised that we should not contact each other for 30 days as to go from the passion of a ten to the lesser feelings of friendship, say a three to a five we had to journey through our grief and sadness at to what we had lost, as moments this sacred are rare in people’s lives. I fight with the urge daily to break this especially when Amy contacted me. I wanted to write platitudes how I would do anything to get back together, but this is the act of 17-year-old first love. I must admit after 12 years it did feel a bit like this for me.

I realise I could write 1,000s of words what this woman means to me, I will journal them later, so what has the world said about relationship breakdowns and broken hearts over the years. Let’s have a look:

1. Oh, how I wished I could have stopped this occurring.

2. Oh, how my heart yearns for this: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

3. I love His Holiness quotes, but my heart does not want to agree with this one at all.

4. Crossed fingers, but it fucking hurts so much at the moment: Don’t Judge Me.

5. One of the things I did not do was break glass but forgetting to thank her most of the time was just as devastating.

6. And to me, it is you: My Immortal.

7. I am feeling this more and more as the pain slides away.

8. I am not ready for Amy to do that yet, I may not be responsible for my reaction in the emotional state I am in at the present: Run Through The Jungle.

9. This hurts in the I still love her zone.

10. I was the storm: Riders On The Storm.

11. I didn’t really do the second thing or did I, she has gone.

12. I lost in the first round: Street Fighting Man.

13. Ken oath.

14. We talked about our families a lot: We are Family.

15 And for our final lesson, well said Trent.

I spoke to a friend halfway through writing this for half an hour because I believe she has wisdom in this area. She advised me three things: 1. Take ownership for your part of the breakdown and look for the red flags that were there for it to happen. 2. Make agreements, keep them. If you are going to break them, communicate, communicate, communicate. 3. Take time to heal before you think about going back there, and do this day by day.

I am just doing these things now.

The playlist today is funk and rock and roll, we begin with the title track by The Bee Gees, then Chris Brown. Evanescence sneaks in this century’s rock track, then we go back in time to CCR, The Doors and the Rolling Stones. We complete with a ten minute epic by Chic and Sister Sledge, enjoy, it rocks: How can you mend a Broken Heart!!!

In my heartbreak, I have started a new tribe around my ethos Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. It is called Thriving People – People who wish to make a difference to Humanity, my intention is a 1,000,000 people take up the challenge, here is the link to join, I would love you too: Thriving People.

Until we meet again my dear friends.

You Know, It’s Never to Late!!!

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Rod's World

Twelve years ago, after an emotionally abusive long term relationship I decided subconsciously I would never put myself through that again and chose the Life of Being single. I started doing personal development stuff and looked at different issues over the years, this one seemed to slip through to the keeper. Then I met a woman at Mojo. The first time we eye gazed for twenty minutes, the second time we screamed at each other for ten.

I didn’t know what to do, as a single man she could have asked me to fuck her on the dance floor and I probably would have said no. So I spoke to my mentor, who unpacked my single man decision. We then went through an exercise imagining her walk through the door and to see how close she could get to me. Not really close at all at first, just a few steps into the room. Many sessions later, it allowed me to be standing next to her with her in my arms. Nothing happened with this woman, because I was ages away from breaking the single man mould.

Two years later and several failed attempts by women, I have the honour to be in a relationship with a woman I had known six years. She is brave, confronting, loving and willing to go the whole nine yards to make it work. At times I am shit scared that it will not work out again and at other times there is so much ecstasy surging through my body I feel that I will implode.

So what has the human race said about love relationships, lets have a look:

1. Everything, my beauty. Not some of it, the fear, the scared little girl, the raging anger, the hurt, all of it.

2. What is the name of your street? Mine is Ecstacy Street: Love Street.

3. Was I in love before that totally unexpected phone call, maybe?

4. This is the final destination I seek: That’s What Friends Are For.

5. I cannot put this into actual words, its a feeling.

6. No words and I am a wordsmith: Your Smile.

7. And see you and have you grow side by side.

8. I love it that you love God, Beauty: Love Of My Life.

9. Sound familiar?

10. I hand these to you willingly, beauty: Somebody to Love.

11. Even when my scared little boy identity fucks up and makes your heart ache, I remember your orgasmic smile.

12. Helen Keller, blind and deaf: Insightfully speaking the truth: You’re Beautiful.

13. What exactly is need?

14. Truth 101: I Love You.

15. And in the final lesson for this blog, I plead guilty as charged.

The title of this blog was meant to contain the word’s, Lost Life Opportunities as well. Why is this relevant? I reached Age Pension age, 66, one week ago. It is never ever too late. I must mention my life ethos of Love and Respect, Everyone Included. But I will finish with a question, what is going on that humanity trains our hearts to not trust they can be totally loved?

The playlist of love songs starts with The Doors, then the soulful Dionne Warwick and friends, also Rene and Angela.. next, Queen by two. The penultimate song is by James Blunt and we complete with the one-hit wonders from the sixties, The Volumes: You Know, It’s Never to Late!!!

Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Let Go, Let God!!!

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Rod's World

I went to Zoom church today, they certainly sing groovier songs than they used to in the days my parents forced me to Sunday school all those years ago. An aside, when I was sixteen I told my mum is she kept making me go I would run away and never come back. She reminded me twenty years later I had said that to her, I had forgotten but it obviously meant a lot and hurt my deeply religious mum.

I personally don’t believe in the God that is presented by the standard Christian church, hell and brimstone etc. etc. but it was interesting viewing, my friend has asked me would I watch it with her as God means a lot to her. The distinctions they used were a lot different from what I expected and I found myself agreeing with quite a bit of the sermon. I am more of a humanist than a Christian, believing in that there are more good people than evil people on the planet and that good, will overcome in the end.

So what have people said about God, even the Gods over Millenium, lets have a look:

1. Not famous enough for a Wikipedia entry, Michelle makes a simple point.

2. Satisfaction guaranteed: I Surrender.

3. From little things big faith grows.

4. God is not all love and light, stop thinking he is: Yes, I Know.

5. Interesting quote by an F1 racing world champion.

6. Remember its his/her process. You are just along for the ride: Waymaker.

7. We are just walking home together.

8. Grammar alert: Your Spirit.

9. How do you live in the space of faith?

10. And you may never understand it: “Babusisiwe Labo Abemukela Umsebenzi KaNkulunkulu Omusha”

11. The cute quote of the blog.

12. The purpose of faith is to lift you up: My Life is in your Hands.

13. Nobody will open it for you, Nobody…

14. I love that saying, It sounds like a plan: You Say.

15. Thank you God for putting Amy in my life.

I thought I would end this blog with a poem by Rilke, it is magnificent:

God speaks to each of us

Rainer Maria Rilke

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,

go to the limits of your longing.

Embody me.

Flare up like flame

and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.

You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

From Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

If you had told me I would include a Hillsong Church song in one of my playlists I may have chortled loudly, but I have changed in the last month. We begin with Hillsong Worship, then the Gaither Vocal Band. Two fine female singers next in Sinak and Tasha Cobbs Leonard. Then we travel to South Africa for some Zulu Gospel. Kirk Franklin is the penultimate song and we finish with Lauren Daigle: Let Go, Let God.

You will love this playlist, Amy. I feel so much closer to my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included since I have been around a person of faith. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

Who Really, Really knows you?

Posted on June 28, 2020 by Rod's World

I was asked this question by a friend today when I looked I said my sisters Ruth and Jann. Amy then asked me what about your friends, I have 5000 Facebook friends and I would say one of them, my long time friend Clare who helped me through my recent mental health breakdown would be the closest. What is it that stops the human race letting people get close to them? I have an idea, I believe we stop telling each other what I call our Sacred Love Stories at an early age for fear of being hurt. These are the negative and positive stories about ourselves that go like this: If you knew this about me I would have to kill you and I am not boasting, I really went through or did this. I designed a workshop around the chakras using that technology but my if you knew this about me I would have to kill you got in the way of me ever running it.

What does it take to totally trust someone to be authentic and not withhold anything? I am learning how to do this and acknowledge Amy, who is allowing me to go on this journey with her. So what has society said about knowing the real you, lets have a look:

1. Dale Evans Rogers (born Lucille Wood Smith; October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.

2. I have been being taught this powerfully over the last week: You Really Got Me.

3. Very relatable.

4. And that the stories you make up in your head about the people in your life are not true until you get to deeply know them: Say It Right.

5. Boom!!!

6. Prayer is such a powerful healing tool: Praying.

7. Warts and All comes to mind.

8. And in front of the L-word do not forget to put the Self word: Rainbow.

9. I think she is.

10.. The whole kit and caboodle, that’s true love: Who You Are.

11. I have found out lately I do this most of my waking moments.

12. Another form of insomnia: You are the Reason.

13. My new life contract.

14. From one of civilisation’s great thinkers, This: Love Myself.

15. And for our final lesson, we cross to Socrates best buddy, Plato.

No list as promised, Amy, just a deep sense of gratitude for your listening for me.

The playlist begins with a 60’s classic from The Kinks. Then we delve into pop diva land for the next four tracks: Nelly Furtado, Kesha twice and Jessie J. Over to C & W for the next track from Callum Scott and we complete with my most played song by Hailee Steinfeld: Who Really Really Knows You.

Another recent question has come to mind writing this, what would you say if you could say one thing to the world leaders, of course, Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Are you Enough?

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Rod's World

How often have you asked yourself this question? They say that you make your prime decision about your life by the age of seven years old, then spend the rest of your life surviving it via therapy or being in the winner’s circle.

Over to my friend Marc Chernoff to provide a list that will support us in this area. It is called 12 choices your future self will thank you for:

When life pushes you over, stand up and push back even harder, when there is a fork in the road and choices to make, make the ones your future self will thank you for:

1. Choosing you – The most exhausting activity is pretending to be who you know you aren’t.

2. Appreciating what you have – Sometimes, when you make the most out of what you have, it turns out to be a lot more than you ever imagined.

3. Believing in yourself and your dreams – Believe in you. Listen to your soul.

4, Being positive – You can’t live a positive life with a negative attitude.

5. Taking action – The happiest and most successful people are usually those who have broken the chains of procrastination.

6. Letting Go – The biggest step in changing the world around you is to change the world within you.

7. Picking yourself back up – Sometimes when things go wrong it’s because they would have turned out worse if they had gone right.

8. Ignoring negative people – You are not a rug; some people may try to walk all over you, but you don’t have to lie there and take it.

9. Staying in touch with close friends and family – There comes a time in life you’ll have to leave everything behind for a while and start something new, but never forget the people who stood by your side.

10. Making time for fun – Fun is way underrated.

11. Spreading Love and Kindness – The happiness surrounding you is greatly affected by the choices you make every day.

12. Being the change you want to see in the world – Don’t tell others how to live; live and let them watch you.

So what has the human race said about being enough, let’s have a look

1. Three powerful statements on self love there.

2. Love the last line: Never Stop.

3. Time to break down the walls.

4. And to stop pretending: Worth It.

5. Read the handwriting.

6. Having these in your heart definitely brings out the strength in you: You Say.

7. What a great name: Badass Warrior Queen.

8. I love memes with hearts in them: Fight Song.

9. Some powerful I statements here.

10. Some great words from our curly-haired genius: Somewhere over the Rainbow.

11. What are your personal avatars?

12. All hail Brene: Love Myself.

13. That why all the good books say self-love first and foremost.

14. These boots are made for walking: Boots.

15. And the last offering comes from the cardigan-wearing one, Eckhart Tolle reminding us of the treasure we all have within:

So choose to spread love to one person a day, beginning with yourself would be a grand idea. Imagine the amount of happiness you can spread in a lifetime, day by day.

Today on the playlist we have an all-women lineup. We have something for the young and not so young. Two bands unknown to me start us off. The Brand New Heavies and Fifth Harmony, both have millions of followers. Lauren Daigle and Rachel Platten belt out a couple of anthems next. Then back in time to Judy Garland, the penultimate number is from Hailee Steinfeld and we finish with Nancy Sinatra: Are You Enough?

This actually is take two of this blog, I got one quote from the end and poof, it disappeared. But I had to mention my ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included and my ever-growing Facebook group calledInterculturalism. We would love you to join us to spread love and respect around the planet.

Until we meet again, my dear friends.

It is hard to heal when you are lying to the world.

Posted on May 22, 2020 by Rod's World

Hello, dear friends and readers: this is my first blog since the first week of February, you are still reading them, even in bigger numbers, thanks for that. Where have I been, I have been hanging out in the mental health universe, from deep in it to the recovery stage. At different stages, I lied to many professionals, my family and friends in the hope that would work in me recovering quicker. Strangely this did not work, perhaps the only thing was that I was released too early from the Melbourne Clinic and had to survive on my own for many hours at home when I was not truly ready.

So its times for my friend Marc Chernoff’s list of empowerment, no surprise I opened his book to this particular list:

12 Things You Should Be Able to Say to Yourself:

I am following my heart and. intuition.
I am proud of myself.
I am making a difference.
I am happy and grateful.
I am growing into the best version of myself.
I am making my time count.
I am honest with myself.
I am good to those I care about.
I know what unconditional love feels like.
I have forgiven those who once hurt me.
I take full accountability for my life.
I have no regrets.

There was a great deal of cringe factor in writing these as I am about 1 out of 10 for a lot of them.

So what should the quotes be about today, mental health or empowerment, I vote for mental health as not enough is written about that:

1. Declaring you are in this process is a very important step, stop lying to yourself.

2. One of my party tricks when I get struck down, cut everybody off, I would not recommend this as a powerful healing process: It’s My Party.

3. How good is our society with it, they lock you up so you are out of the way, I don’t know whether I vote Yae or Nae to this.

4. Some of this you forget in the depths of it: Love Myself

5. You and your medication, I am a lifer, when I stop taking it, the dark times reappear.

6. Remember to ask when its difficult RUOK: Feels.

7. The amount of anxiety and handshaking I went through I do have to agree with this.

8. Another way of saying the title of this blog: Change

9. This would have made my list of 12 things.

10. This would be a point of healing I could relate to: Both Sides Now.

11. But there certainly are times you do not agree with this.

12: Guilty as charged: Man Up.

13. Great words from a previous POTUS.

14. When you feel like you have a brick on your tongue, the third one is not that easy: I’m Walking on Sunshine.

15. And our final quote is from someone the system missed.

I have not written my ethos in three months, so here I go: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. My Psychiatrist thought this was far too a large step, I will take little steps, writing this blog is one of them. Until my net blog, my dear friends.

The playlist contains some great pop divas and a certified legend. We begin with Jessie J and Hailee Steinfeld. Calvin Harris is next, then Christine Aguilera. The legendary Joni Mitchell follows. Then a doco about men’s silence in this area. We finish on a bright note with Katrina and the Waves: It is hard to heal when you are lying to the world.

Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do!!!

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Rod's World

So, I promised a friend I would write this blog about how I was feeling, my identity is resisting it because I am not feeling full of possibility, I spoke to my mentor about it and he pointed out that the only way out of it was in. So here goes.

I feel stuck as I am basically doing what I was two to three years ago and my soul feels there is meant to be more to life than that. I went to one of my sources of inspiration, my friend Marc Chernoff and found an article 16 Harsh Truths That Make You Stronger. This is the shortened version of how it goes:

It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than dominate them, more manhood or womanhood to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind -Alex Karras.

1. Life is not easy. Hard work makes people lucky – It’s the stuff that brings dreams to reality.

2. You will fail sometimes – The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being brilliant.

3. Right now, there’s a lot you don’t know – the day you stop learning is the day you stop living.

4. There may not be a tomorrow – Not for everyone.

5. There’s a lot you can’t control – You can’t control everything in your life no matter how many safeguards you put into place.

6. Information is not true knowledge – Knowledge comes from experience.

7. You can’t be successful without providing value -Don’t waste your time trying to be successful, spend your time creating value.

8. Someone else will always have more than you – Whether it’s money, friends or magic beans that you’re collecting, there will always be somebody who has more than you.

9. You can’t change the past – You can’t change what happened, but you can change how you react to it.

10. The only person who can make you happy is you – The root of your happiness comes from your relationship with yourself.

11. There will always be people who don’t like you – You can’t be everything to everyone.

12. You won’t always get what you want – Appreciate the things you have right now. Many people aren’t so lucky.

13. In life, you get what you put in – If you want love, friends, give love, be friendly.

14. Good friends will come and go – Most of your high school friends won’t be part of your Uni life.

15. Doing the same exact thing every day hinders self-growth – If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

16. You will never feel 100% ready for something new – Nobody ever feels 00% ready when an opportunity arises.

Typing number 15 made me shudder, I have been in this rut for at least a week and keep telling my self I do not know the way out, which I know not to be true. So what does the world say about being in a rut and its effect on one, lets have a look:

1. I recommenced my daily walks today and am attended a Warrior Code session tonight, they are designed to shake you up.

2. I’ve set up a dinner with my siblings, they definitely do this: Glad To Be Alive.

3. Much to much comfort, why do I feel so bad then?

4. Take a dose, and the medicine goes down: A Spoonful of Sugar.

5. It’s how you relate to it that gives it the wonder.

6. It’s not always a win/win situation, how would we learn if it was: Seven Years.

7. It’s difficult to be what you are not.

8. At the top of my list at the moment: Rut.

9. Enoch Arnold Bennett was an English writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known as a novelist, but he also worked in other fields such as the theatre, journalism, propaganda and films.

10. I’m taking up the invitation: Grow As We Go.

11. Time for some explanation.

12. Time to stop waiting to be rescued and found: Who You Are.

13. Shayne’s Pinterest bio reads Author and Always the Good Girl. A firm believer in happy endings. Refuse to let your past define you. Be strong, take control, change your life.

14. Including yourself: Rise Up.

15. And our final lesson comes from running coach Ben Rosario, that it is the journey to your goals and dreams that got you there, so remember to have fun.

To me, the only difference between an opportunity and an obstacle is attitude. Getting a second chance in life is about giving myself the opportunity to grow beyond my past failures, It’s time to positively adjust my attitude toward future possibilities.

The playlist starts with some healing medicine from Teddy Prendergast and Marry Poppins. Then there are three pensive tracks from Lukas Graham, The Killers and Ben Platt. The penultimate track is Jessie J and we complete with some soul from Andra Day: Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do.

So being in touch with my ethos for the world: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included on a daily basis is the practice I will choose to climb out of this rut. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Springtime for Hitler and Germany!!!

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Rod's World

Why am I using a line from Zero Mostel’s iconic film the Producers as the title of my latest blog? I went to this inspirational event called Get Mic’d yesterday at which there was an opportunity for ten, which became 11 people because the presenter pulled out two names, not one for the final person to do a three-minute presentation and one of them tied the Fuhrer into their presentation on his love life. I cannot reveal any more due to privacy guidelines but it was epic.

What is speaking your truth? What do you have to give up to be able to do it? If you want to fly and move on to better things, you have yo give up the things that weigh you down – which is not always as obvious and easy as it sounds. My friend Marc Chernoff, author of 1,000+ little things Happy Successful People do differently makes this offering towards achieving the ability to do so:

1. Letting the opinions of others control your life – They know your name, not your story.

2. The shame of past failures – You will fail sometimes, and that’s okay.

3. Being indecisive about what you want – You will never leave where you are until you decide where you would rather be.

4. Procrastinating on the goals that matter to you – There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

5. Choosing to do nothing – You don’t choose how you are going to die, or when.

6. Your need to be right – If you keep on saying you’re right, even if you are right now, eventually you will be wrong.

7. Running from problems that should be fixed – We make life harder than it has to be.

8. Making excuses rather than decisions – Life is a continuous exercise in creative problem-solving.

9. Overlooking the positive points in your life – What you see often depends on what you are looking for.

10. Not appreciating the present moment – We do not remember days, we remember moments.

So what has society made of speaking your truth over time, let’s have a look:

1. We begin with one of the most recognised purveyors of the art alive on the planet today, Oprah Winfrey.

2. You know its close to your truth when you can make the energy in the room shift: You’re the Voice.

3. Self Love 101.

4. When you speak the truth some won’t like it: They Don’t Like Me.

5. Boom!!!

6. Liar, Liar, pants on fire: Beautiful Liar.

7. It is your life and your truth you have to live day to day.

8. Time for the title song: Springtime for Hitler and Germany.

9. With this attitude, he freed a country from servitude.

10. No void here: Not Afraid.

11. From the creator of two of the most well-known books ever, 1984 and Animal Farm, George Orwell calls out what speaking your truth really is.

12. Yes, you, the beautiful unique human being you really are: Human.

13. Naomi Wolf is a feminist author and journalist. Her career in journalism began in 1995 and has included topics such as abortion, the Occupy Wall Street movement, Edward Snowden and ISIS. She has written for media outlets such as The Nation, The New Republic, The Guardian and The Huffington Post.

14. From the 18th Century comes insight into how difficult it is to speak your truth in today’s society given the instant gratification society we exist in today: It Wasn’t Easy to Be Happy For You.

15. And from the worlds most famous philosopher, Ms Unknown comes to our final lesson and the reason you should always speak your truth.

Live authentically and cherish each precious moment of your journey, Because when you finally arrive at your desired destination, I guarantee you, another journey will begin. At least that is what I have found on my journey of spreading my ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included across the planet.

The playlist today has some of the biggies in it. In Australia, there is no one bigger than John Farnham. My unknown artist for this list is Cryptic Wisdom. Then possibly the two biggest pop diva’s combine, Beyonce and Shakira. The title song is next, Then across to America for our final songs from Eminem, Rag “N Bone Man and the Lumineers: Springtime for Hitler and Germany

Remember you can sign up to receive these blogs on my home page: until we meet again, my dear friends.

She Births New Beginnings!!!

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Rod's World

Crewed on an event called Embody your Full Power as a Man last night. It’s an introduction to a body of work called Dancing Eros for Men. Surprisingly you do not journey with your male archetypes but with those of the sacred feminine: The archetypes are the Maiden, the Wild Woman, the Priestess, the Erotic Mother and the Slut and they live in all of us in their own unique way: Dancing Eros.

I began the journey in June 2018 with some trepidation as I looked out over the group of men gathered in the room the first night as to what a slightly over the hill 63-year-old would get out of such a program and would I have to dance like a slut in front of 20 other men, not really my bag. This what I wrote when requested to do a testimonial for the intro last night: The intimacy I created with the group of men I journeyed with transmuted to everyone in my life: Lovers, Brothers, Sisters, Parents, Workmates, Strangers in the Streets, see you at the intro. It was like the spirit of humanity sat in that room with me over the eight nights and days we spent together.

My friend Marc Chernoff has created a list which sums up pretty well what I got out of it:

A Silhouette of a human being stands before you. Perhaps a friend. Perhaps a lover. Perhaps a perfect stranger. They need you to connect with them. They need you to share this moment.

They need you to:

1. They need you to smile without hesitation.

2. Give without expectation.

3. Comfort without lying.

4. Guide without misleading.

5. Forgive without resentment.

6. Rest without judgement.

7. Notice without critiquing.

8. Appreciate without comparing.

9. Listen without interruption.

10. Question without objection.

11. Challenge without mocking.

12. Consider without doubting.

13. Discuss without criticizing.

So what have we said about our sacred feminine spirit over the centuries, here are some of the ways we expressed it:

1. As children, we rely on what our heart says to us to be in the world, as our brain kicks in, we forget the purity of this.

2. Just Man up is such a demeaning tool to dissect our full personality: On a Roll.

3. You need to do the work.

4. CARLOS ANDRÉS GÓMEZ is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and author of Hijito, selected by Eduardo C. Corral as the winner of the 2018 Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House: We’ve Only Just Begun.

5. To take on a transformational shift like Dancing Eros, you need a fair bit of this.

6. We need to have them in a healthy balance: Both Sides Now.

7. From the 18th Century. Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.

8. Values can be buried with you and remembered, Ferrari’s can’t: I Gotta Feeling.

9. French-born fashionista Rykiel was also a writer. She wrote several books about fashion, a collection of children’s stories, magazine columns and an epistolary novel with Régine Desforges. Her first book Et Je La Voudrais Nue (I Would Like Her Naked) was published in 1979. In 2012, she co-authored N’oubliez pas que je joue (Don’t forget it’s a game) with journalist Judith Perrignon.

10. This is why it was an honour to be part of the crew who gave the opportunity to 50 men to transform their lives: The Power of Love.

11. Time to walk the Inner path.

12. You can dance if you want to, It’s time: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.

13. Or that suffering may take you to a Dancing Eros for Men intro in Collingwood.

14. Listening deeply is part of the deal: Listen to The Earth.

15. What others would you add?

In the end, what all people want deep down is the need for you to be uniquely you – just the way you are, and they need you to respect them – just the way they are. This so fits in with my world ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

The playlist contains some of the classic female voices of all time: Unknown pop diva Ashley O begins the journey. Karen Carpenter and Joni Mitchell are the first of our female vocal legends. We return to this century with The Black Eyed Peas before being entranced by Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. We finish with some beats from Listen to the Earth: She Births New Beginnings.

Remember to sign up to receive these blogs in your inbox on the righthand side of my homepage at http://www.rodwill1707.com. Until we meet again, my dear friends.