Why Walk When You Can Dance!!!

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Rod's World

I made chai for Mojo, The Dance of Connection over the weekend. I have been chaistro for four different dances over the past month: Mojo, Dancing Freedom, Ecstatic Dance and Resonance Project. Here, in Melbourne Australia, we have a vibrant conscious dance scene which I love being part of. I hold that dance is one of the true forms of healing available on the planet. It has existed longer than language and takes us to states that words alone cannot.

Each dance is different: Mojo, to me, is the dance of healing where people get to be touched in a safe, loving manner during the forest and if they fulfil the request to dance with a different partner each track, they get to examine their relationship to connecting with others: How to contact Mojo. Dancing Freedom is more a personal shamanic transformational dance through the elements the earth is made from, you are a little bit different after each journey: How to contact Dancing Freedom. Ecstatic Dance each fortnight brings you diverse rhythms beats and melodies to attune your Body, Mind and Soul to: How to contact Ecstatic Dance. Resonance Project brings together an evening of 5Rhythms embodiment and sound medicine magic, a full sensory experience for you to journey deep and invite transformation of the highest frequency. It includes a guest musician as well: How to contact Resonance Project.

So there was dance before language, what have we said about it since we learned to speak, read and write, here are a few of my favourites:

1. The Hebrew Bible is not somewhere I would expect to find this quote praising dance.

2. Passion, turn to the left, hold on that’s: Fashion.

3. My Happy Place.

4. I just had to look up who Marilyn Ferguson was after reading this fantastic quote, A founding member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, Ferguson published and edited the well-regarded science newsletter Brain/Mind Bulletin from 1975 to 1996. Her acquaintances included Bucky Fuller, Ram Dass and Al Gore: Let’s Dance

5. Considered one of the most innovative dancers of the last century, Isadora Duncan began teaching dance in her teens, unfortunately, she suffered one of the most bizarre causes of death when her scarf went around her cars axle.

6. Transcend the limitations of our self – what a beautiful description of ecstatic dance: Desert Dwellers at Burning Man.

7. All hail the teachers of dance that exist on the planet.

8. They have them, they are just made out of gossamer: Fly.

9. We dance for all the things!!!

10. And for me, it is always an honour: Waiting for Love.

11. How true is this in a dancers world, very in mine.

12. I feel so sorry for the deaf ones, they do not know what they are missing out on: My friend Suebee Fae.

13. In all its forms: folk, ballet, conscious, line, rock and roll, swing, etc. etc. etc.\

14. Even the cardiganed one has something to say about it: Dance Monkey.

15. Our final lesson on the dance comes from an extraordinary source: Margaretha Geertruida “Margreet” MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France.

So as you may have guessed dancing is one of my passions, I have fallen in love with my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff’s lists again: Here are some questions on passion to make you think.

1. What will you never give up on?

2. What activities make you lose track of time?

3. What’s something you would do for every day if you could?

4. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?

5. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

6. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?

7. What is something you would hate to go without for a day?

8. Would you rather have less work to do or more work you actually enjoy doing?

9. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

I have tried to include some more obscure tracks beside the classic tracks about dance in the playlist today. We begin with David Bowie twice, yes, one of them is that track. From The Desert Dwellers next is a sunrise set then we fly with Marshmello. Avicii lays down the next track and then my friend from Byron Shire, Suebee Fae features. We end with a track from Ireland by the Tones and I: Why Walk When You Can Dance!!!

Remember to signup to receive these blogs in your email box if you enjoy them, we can dance our way to a new world ethos: Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Death takes no Bribes!!!

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Rod's World

I spent yesterday watching the ABC inspiring documentary Old People’s Home for 4-Year-olds, the premise is a group of 4 years old would visit an aged care facility and re-inspire a group of 70 and 80-year-olds to partake in life again. But what if you don’t make it to 70 or 80 like my friend who passed away at Burning Man this week in what would seem the most extraordinary circumstances. He is the third person I have known this year who has passed before their time. One of them gave me a download as follows: Get on with your passion and dreams, I am living evidence that you cannot guarantee you will be here tomorrow, so get on with it.

As the title of this blog says, Death takes no bribes, so how has society spoken about those that we lose earlier than we expect, here are some of my favourites:

1. For me, it was Fathers Day in our country yesterday, even though it has been over 9 years my dear dad passed away I still remember his quirky habits that I loved so dearly.

2. Because they are not here to answer it in the flesh: Too Young To Die.

3. The three people I knew said this in their own unique ways.

4. It is very rarely we assume that the goodbyes we say to our beloveds will be the last time we have the opportunity to: The Last Goodbye.

5. Charles Palahniuk (born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist and freelance journalist, who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He is the author of the award-winning novel Fight Club, which also was made into a popular film of the same name.

6. I think every human on earth has an unfinished story in their life: The Unfinished Story.

7. One of my favourite stories relating to this is when a butterfly magically appeared when he was selling his dearly departed’s car.

8. Lest we forget: Never Forget You.

9. Time to go out bush and look at the Milky Way again.

10. What is it that reminds you of your departed? For me, it is the meditation stool my parents brought me as a surprise birthday present: There You’ll Be.

11. Loving memories cannot be taken from us.

12. At what age the person is this doesn’t matter, I missed with my mum, I was on the way to see her when she passed. And all the younger souls, who would have thought you would not get the chance again.: How Long Will I Love You.

13. A positive way to remember those who have passed.

14. It may be one year, thirty or ninety years, remember how lucky you were to receive the blessing of their life: Sunbeams.

15. And for our final lesson, remember they always remain in your heart if they may no longer be here physically.

So taking my friends download to heart, lets get out there and live our lives to the fullest.

The playlist begins with the man and finishes with the women. First, we have Jamiroquai, then Jeff Buckley. Our unknown entry is from South Africa, their name is Stimela. Zara Larsson starts the women, followed by Faith Hill. The penultimate song is Elliot Goulding and we finish with Lil Bo Weep and Zheani: Death Takes NO Bribes.

So given that we rarely know when our loved ones will pass, remember to live from Love and Respect from All, Everyone Included. Also if you wish to receive my blogs on a regular basis remember to sign up on the email list. Until we meet again, dear friends.

Thoughts Give Joy When They Speak!!

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Rod's World

Do you ever spend time with those thoughts that debilitate you or hope that they will go away? My thoughts like this that keep hanging around is that I am unworthy of love. Even if my life is totally in disagreement with this underlying it somewhere in my body that thought lingers. I have recently been working with my mentor to actually accept the idea as being part of my life. Fuck, it’s hard, as I have put 60 plus years into hoping it will go away or ignoring it. So how have you and life dealt with shadow thoughts, lets have a look:

1. We go back to the 13th century and Persia for the first comment, unbelievable that these words are still current today.

2. Nietzsche became the youngest ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24. At 24, I was listening to my shadows, full-on: Be Yourself.

3. I am doing the opposite at the moment, we shall see.

4. Zen originated in China during the period 200 to 500 A.D. It was said to be a combination of Buddhism and Taoism and is most prevalent in Japan these days: Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadows.

5. Because it is so cute.

6. As I delve more in accepting these thoughts as part of me, this statement makes more sense: Blinded by the Light.

7. Past, Present, Future.

8. Buddha said some ace things, didn’t he: Joy.

9. What nationality is that name, great quote…

10. That thought often leaves me not acknowledging when I am shown love, it’s a constant fight to express it: A Whole New World.

11. Those thoughts keep on whispering their message, that’s why we say they are in the shadows.

12. This doesn’t need words to explain what it depicts: Bette Davis Eyes.

13. I could never bring myself to watch slasher movies, but even I remember the name Chucky from the Childs Play franchise.

14. Ingrid E. Newkirk is a British animal rights activist and the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the world’s largest animal rights organisation. There are all types of shadows created on our planet: Choose Me.

15. For the final lesson, Rumi points out that if there is the blessing of love, that included your shadows.

So acceptance of your shadows is one step to fulfilment in your life., I have fallen in love with my friend Marc’s lists again – here are his 30 things to start doing for Yourself:

Start spending time with the right people.
Start facing your problems head-on.
Start being honest with yourself about everything.
Start making your own happiness a priority.
Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly.
Start noticing and living in the present.
Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you.
Start being polite to yourself.
Start Enjoying the things you already have.
Start creating your own happiness.
Start giving your ideas and dreams a chance.
Start believing that you’re ready for the next step.
Start entering new relationships for the right reasons.
Start giving new people you meet a chance.
Start competing against an earlier version of yourself.
Start cheering for other people’s victories.
Start looking for the silver lining in tough situations.
Start forgiving yourself and others.
Start helping those around you.
Start listening to your own inner voice.
Start being attentive to your stress level and take short breaks.
Start noticing the beauty of small moments.
Start accepting things when they are less than perfect.
Start working towards your goals every single day.
Start being more open about how you feel.
Start taking full accountability for your own life.
Start actively nurturing your most important relationships.
Start concentrating on the things you can control.
Start focusing on the possibility of positive outcomes.
Start noticing how wealthy you are right now.

If you’re hurting, give yourself the necessary space and time to hurt, but be open about it. Talk to those closest to you. Tell them the truth about how you feel. Let them listen. The simple act of getting things off your chest and into the open is your first step towards feeling great again.

Today’s playlist is male-dominated again as we approach Father’s Day in my country, Australia. We begin the journey with Audioslave, then some classic Stones. Manfred Mann follows then the sultry tones of Isaac Hayes. We then cross to film with Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott. The penultimate tune is Kim Carnes and we close with our unknown number by Musicians for a Cause: Thoughts Give Joy When They Speak!!!

If you are accepting all of yourself this means all areas of Love and Respect for All, Everbody Included are covered. Until we meet again, my dear friends. Remember to sign up to the email list to receive all the blogs as they come down the production line.

From Where We Are, There Is Always a Pathway to Love!!!

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Rod's World

So, its the day after the Warriors of Love retreat and a feel many kilos of dross lighter. We looked at the power of choice in quite a rigorous and at time lighthearted way. I picked up a new nickname to go along with Tiny Tim and DF, I have to use the initials as the whole name and story behind it would not pass #Metoo guidelines these days. The latest addition is Naughty Boy. Here is some info about the Warriors of Love: Enter the Portal.

We worked with the distinctions The Loop and As it Is and What I Choose. I struggled with this for quite a time as the concept there are always consequences after making a choice got in the way. I got it in the end though.

So how has humanity worded choice over the centuries, let’s take that journey:

This quote is talking to you , not your circumstances.

2. This is an ongoing inquiry that ends when they throw the dirt on your coffin: The Path to Wisdom.

3. Two words, great list.

4. All hail Queen Oprah: Every Sperm Is Sacred.

5. Probably been replaced with the word journalling these days.

6. Trust the gut feeling and get the fuck out of there: Diamonds.

7. Luckily for me, my siblings are amongst my dearest friends, are yours?

8. What if you daily choices were that free: How Far I’ll Go.

9. Your awesomely wonderful life isn’t choosing, your heart-space is.

10. Blogger turned New York Times best-selling author and speaker Mandy Hale is the creator of the social media movement, “The Single Woman.” With a heart to inspire single women to live their best lives and to never, ever settle, Mandy cuts to the heart of the matter with her inspirational, straight-talking, witty, and often wildly humorous take on life and love. Mandy’s message reaches literally millions of women across the world every day through her blog, books, and social media platforms: I am Woman.

11. I found this one on consequences.

12. How many day and moments do you choose this: Can’t Stop The Feeling.

13. When was that again, Today?

14. Feeling life instead of just attending it, that would be novel: Freedom.

15. And for your final lesson, realise that where you choices take you is your own unique journey, the one meant for you.

We will finish with one of my friend Marc Chernoff’s lists, Ten Timeless Lessons/Choices from a Life Well Lived:

Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed.
Be a student of life every day.
Experience is the best teacher.
Your choices, your actions, your life.
No one is “too busy” It’s all about priorities.
Be patient and tough. Someday this pain will be useful to you.
It’s usually better to be kind than be right.
You can become a . magnet for good things by wishing everybody well.
Only you are in charge of your attitude.
Satisfaction is not always the fulfilment of what you want.

I have taken up the practice of including a relative unknown song on the playlist. Its begins todays and is by Mr. 48 Alec Verkuilen. The next track speaks to the light side of the weekend and is by the Monty Python crew. Then back to my beloved pop divas with a number by Rihanna. A track from a musical follows from Auli’i Cravalho. An ode to women from Jordin Sparks is before the penultimate track by Justin Timberlake and we finish with the iconic Beyonce: From Where We Are, There is Always a Pathway To Love.

Remember to sign up to the email miss so you don’t miss out on my latest blogs. Each is based in Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included:

Don’t Worry About Failure, You Only Have To Be Right Once!!

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Rod's World

We are having another Warriors of Love Retreat this weekend, and we have been asked to revisit our Life Vision. We are meant to score out of ten where each part of it lives. I realised I have not looked at it for over a year, and some of the areas clearly live around one and two out of ten. I was reading my friend Marc’s blog called 10 Ways to Write a Life Story Worth Living just before listening to the audio that made this request.

It begins as follows: When writing the story of your life, don’t let someone else hold the pen. Make conscious choices every day that align your actions with your values and your dreams, the way you live each day is a sentence in the story of your life. Each day, you choose whether the sentence ends with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point.

Marc then lists ten ideas for writing a life story worth living:

Find a Passion That Makes You Come Alive.
Work Hard On That Passion.
Live happily in your own way.
Change your path when you must, but keep moving forward.
When the going gets tough, keep fighting.
Let go of the past and live consciously in the present.
Embrace new ideas, lessons, and challenges.
Appreciate the little things in life that mean a lot.
Live honourably through kindness.
Spend quality time with people you love.

I don’t agree with all of them but can see how they would help me realign my vision. What has society said about creating visions over time? Here are some of my favourite takes at it.

1. With all these things in place, your vision will be well lit throughout your life.

2. Taking actions to meet the goals of your vision also needs to be added: Never Going to Give You Up.

3. The passion for your vision makes it so much more transparent.

4. Remember to include all the things: All The Things She Said.

5. Your vision adds your true colours to your life.

6. There are millions of possible paths one could take up the mountain of life. You get to choose which one you take, and you can jump from one track to another if you run into a roadblock. The only mistake you can make is standing still: Stay With Me.

7. And what decision we make regarding your life vision creates the map for our lives, moment to moment.

8. The right doors will begin to open as soon as you create your vision: Break On Through.

9. A man who created a whole new world of entertainment with his vision, Walt Disney indeed executed his vision.

10. Imagine there’s…: Imagine.

11. Your vision lives in your heartspace.

12. Burchard cites surviving a car accident at age 19 as the inspiration for his core teaching questions: “Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?” His video about his story became a viral hit, with over 27 million views: Step In The Name Of Love.

13. What a great question when creating your vision, How can I be me?

14. You never know what will get you across the line, it may even be lemons: Mrs. Robinson.

15. Peter Senge is an American systems scientist who is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute, and the founder of the Society for Organizational Learning. He is known as the author of the book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990, rev. 2006). He has had a regular meditation practice since 1996 and began meditating with a trip to Tassajara, a Zen Buddhist monastery, before attending Stanford. He recommends meditation or similar forms of contemplative practice.

Marc empowers his article with this statement: Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs, and what every great story has, are characters who have come alive in the pursuit of something that inspires them.

The playlist today is very masculine in nature with only one offering from a woman. We begin with Rick Astley, then T.A.T.U. breaks up the men. The lucid tones of Sam Smith follow, then we go back a century to The Doors and John Lennon. R. Kelly is the penultimate track and we finish with The Lemonheads: Don’t Worry About Failure, You Only Have To Be Right Once.

One area in my life vision that is gaining strength is my ethos: Love and Respect for All – Everybody Included. Remember to add your email if you enjoy reading these blogs so that you receive them automatically. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

F.L.Y. – First Love Yourself!!

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Rod's World

I have begun writing my blogs about how I feel about things in my life, I don’t want to write about having a cold or a dodgy knee so that leaves self-love. I went and saw my mentor Arion for my weekly session and as always he asked me what did I want to discuss. I said I would like to discuss why I am finding it hard to feel my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included throughout my body.

He replied, but that is who you are for your friends and family. We went through a list of people and places I am a part of, he asked me if I asked them was I an example of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included what would they say about me, I had to admit that they would probably say I was. So the next question was if 99 people were saying this about me that why was I not getting the message, this is when the old warhorse lack of self-love raised itself through my body.

It’s interesting the decisions we make as young children, I don’t remember coming to don’t allow yourself to be loved, because you will have to leave from moving a lot but at times it controls me. Loaded up with some breathwork exercises, I headed to the local library to sit in the rooftop garden and contemplate the session. It made me think what have the mystics and soothsayers said about self-love over the decades, here are some of them:

1. Lending his popular voice to various topics, Steve’s books, quotes, videos, and memes have become a social media sensation; being shared by millions across the globe in more than 25 languages.

2. I’m a step from this, I feel: Conceited.

3. I forgot the last line on my tattoo.

4. As is each of us: Irreplaceable.

5. Dodinsky’s home page has been hacked by a casino site, Love this quote.

6. Makes me think of that civil war statement, Rebel Yell: Rebel Yell.

7. Has to be some Brene in the mix.

8. Somewhere, Everywhere: Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

9. Marvel comics know this relates to both women and men.

10. Some of the really tough work, mirror work: I’m Still Standing.

11. Not surprisingly I became Community Manager of a company called Collective Potential.

12. This is because you actually have boundaries when you love yourself: Emotional Boundaries are Important.

13. Perfection, the ultimate booby prize.

14. Supposedly they are already there: Loving You.

15. The final lesson, don’t devalue yourself.

Writing this has made me feel a lot better, time to look at the evidence, not listen to identity.

There are two great yells in the playlist today, and we may double the views of the young woman who has been viewed a mere 35 times. We begin with rap diva Remy Ma, then four icons from totally different era follow. Beyonce, Billy Idol, Ariana Grande and Elton John make them up. Then the little known Nadia Nelson and we finish with a classic from the 1970s by Minnie Riperton: F.L.Y. – First Love Yourself

I’m learning to include myself in Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

midsection of woman making heart shape with hands

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Can Your Inner Child Come Out And Play?

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Rod's World

I came in contact with my five-year-old inner child in a session with my mentor on Wednesday, I was researching how to define the influence your inner child can have on you when I came across a beautiful article from LonerWolf, they define it as:

No matter how big or small, almost all of us experienced some kind of trauma as children. These traumas could vary from having your favourite stuffed toy thrown in the trash, to being abandoned by your best childhood friend, to being physically or emotionally abused by your parents.

Inner child work is a vital component of inner work because it reconnects us with a wounded element of ourselves: the child within. When we reconnect with this fragmented part of ourselves, we can begin to discover the root of many of our fears, phobias, insecurities and sabotaging life patterns. This is where true healing happens!

Inner child work is the process of contacting, understanding, embracing and healing your inner child. Your inner child represents your first original self that entered into this world; it contains your capacity to experience wonder, joy, innocence, sensitivity and playfulness.

Why this came up is I explained that after talking to a woman who I wish to speak to more than anyone in the known world at the moment for twenty minutes the dread and anxiety of What if she finds out what I’m really like took over and it became all too difficult, and it ceased rather quickly.

We had a conversation around who did I become, and it was the little 5-year-old who felt unworthy of being loved due to some decisions about the parenting he thought he had been offered by his maternal parents. Sixty years later, they are probably not true, so we did a process so that my internal parents took over my body.

So how has society discussed the inner child, When we deny and snuff out the voice of the child within we accumulate heavy psychological baggage. This unexplored and unresolved baggage causes us to experience problems such as mental illnesses, physical ailments and relationship dysfunction. Here are some ways:

1. From my fellow Aussie, Trudy: this is one powerful way my mentor suggested I help heal my five-year-old.

2. I also love the quote on her home page as being a powerful way to improve: “Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.” – Katrina Mayer: You Are Loved.

3. A combination of ‘Its time to grow up education from your parents and the rigidity of the school system, methinks’.

4. This ode is for the inner feminine child we all have in us, I’m sure there is one for the inner masculine as well: Into My Arms.

5. Especially between our adult self and our inner child.

6. That naff saying just let it go has never really worked for me: Changes.

7. Hard to read, but a profoundly beautiful ethos,

8. The 20-minute exercise in rewriting the parents of my inner child has had a profound effect on me, Who would believe so much change could occur in such a short time: Absolute Beginners.

9. The wire cage installation from Burning Man has become a worldwide interpretation of what our inner children seek, and that is a connection with others.

10. I just liked this image: MotherLove.

11. A powerful statement from Jung and an image that really displays how much our inner child influences us.

12. Wise words from one of my top ten philosophers, Thich Nhat Hahn: Peace Be With You.

13. Diane also states: We’re spiritual beings having a human experience and everything we need is inside. When you connect with that inner guidance, you can hear the whispers of your intuition — your Wise Self — guiding you to your best life. Often it is your inner child.

14. Carl Jung did quite a bit of work on our inner child, I think so should we: Over The Rainbow.

15. And for our final lesson, a message from your own inner child, I’m going to skip with mine this week.

Here are 4 of the most powerful ways to perform inner child work:

Speak to your Inner Child.
Look at Pictures of Yourself as a Child.
Recreate What You Loved to do as a Child.
Make an Inner Journey.

For a moment I thought I was doing an all-male playlist again, but the last two songs prevented this. We begin with a newbie for me, Matthew Mole, then the most brilliant of songs by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Two Bowie numbers follow, and Queen ends our male contribution. The penultimate number is by Shaina Noll, and we finish with a superb version of a classic song by Eva Cassidy: Can Your Inner Child Come Out and Play?

Through inner child work, you can learn to grieve, heal and resolve any sources of trauma you’ve been unconsciously holding on to for years. This can liberate you and allow you to live a life of real adulthood, emotional balance and wellbeing. Doing this has definitely got me closer to Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included because it includes me. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Someone Asked If I Knew You?

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Rod's World

As I said in my last blog I turned 65 last week, on Sunday I attended a memorial service for a friend who will not. He was just 42 and one of the most vibrant people on the planet. He was a DJ, an environmentalist, a teacher and a beautiful man. He was taken by the big C, a condition that does not listen to reason.

In the weeks before his passing rumours spread of him passing and people began to write eulogies. He had not, so I began listening to his MixCloud sets. I was listening to one of these when posts began appearing from his nearest and dearest that he had actually passed. At this moment I received a download from him. It was just four words: Get On With It. You cannot assume you will be here to fulfil your passions and dreams next year, Get on with It.

Today an article from my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff titled 25 Things You Should Never Stop Doing for Yourself came through my news feed, I thought they were relevant:

Never stop stretching and improving yourself.
Never stop listening to your own inner voice.
Never stop walking comfortably in your own shoes.
Never stop working through your fears.
Never stop being a little unrealistic.
Never stop doing what needs to be done.
Never stop embracing your struggles.
Never stop being willing to make mistakes.
Never stop getting back up.
Never stop making the best of it.
Never stop ignoring the naysayers.
Never stop taking small steps forward.
Never stop giving yourself a chance to soar to new heights.
Never stop smiling.
Never stop thinking positive.
Never stop laughing at yourself and your life situations.
Never stop appreciating the life you’re living right now.
Never stop indulging in life’s little daily joys.
Never stop spreading your kindness.
Never stop giving what you can.
Never stop giving your important relationships a fair chance.
Never stop doing little things for your own happiness.
Never stop opening your mind to new perspectives.
Never stop evolving.
Never stop writing your own story, your own way.

My friend did most of these, especially number 21, never stop giving your important relationships a chance. So how does society give friendships a chance, here are a selection of that is said about them:

Several hundred people attended the memorial for my friend. quite a few travelled from interstate, I think this supports the above statement.

2. Through a lengthy friendship, all these and more situations arise: Black Coffee.

3. When the physical sails off, we have the memories in our heart.

4. As you get older and they pull down the structures of your past, it is the people that you remember who were there with you: That’s What Friends Are For.

5. I met one of my dearest friends pretending to be a tree at a party in a flat in Carlton in the ’70s when we swayed into each other too vigorously.

6. The people who you can sit with next to a river for hours and not a word needs to be spoken, Fuck Yes: Down by the River.

7. They’re the ones wearing the I’m with them tee shirts.

8. Ama Ata Aidoo, née Christina Ama Aidoo (born 23 March 1942) is a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic. She was the Minister of Education under the Jerry Rawlings administration. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation to promote and support the work of African women writers because she realised it was important that all people received an education, not just the elite, She has portrayed the role of African women in contemporary society. She has opined that the idea of nationalism has been deployed by recent leaders as a means of keeping people oppressed. She has criticized those literate Africans who profess to love their country but are seduced away by the benefits of the developed world. She believes in a distinctly African identity, which she views from a female perspective: I am Woman.

9. I think we are best at this as children.

10. What does the F stand for: It Ain’t What You Do.

11. There are 51 meanings for the acronym BFF, this could be for two of them: Best Friends Forever or Best Fan Forever.

12. My friend was so good at this. Written in the 1930s or 1940s, still so relevant today: Humble and Kind.

13. Until they are not if you have the thought I wonder how they are, time to reach out.

14. From her Matched Trilogy of teenage novels comes this beautiful quote by author Ally Condie: Tangled Up In You.

15. And we finish our lesson for today with the eating of buns.

We ended the ceremony with a drumming ceremony in a circle, as it lifted in energy, I could imagine our friend saying fuck this, and jumping into the middle and dancing his heart out. Farewell from the physical world, our dear friend, the eternal will hold you well as will our hearts.

The playlist for today is not really representative of the music our friend loved, but maybe it is as he loved all music. It begins with All Saints. Then drops back a century to Dionne Warwick, a long guitar solo by Neil Young, Helen Reddy and Bananarama. The penultimate track goes country by Tim Mcgraw as does the final number from Aaron Lewis: Someone Asked If I Knew You.

It took me two days to write this, it normally takes two hours. My friend lived Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. We will miss you, dear friend.

Until we meet again my dear friends, I love you.

People Think About What They Don’t Want!!

Posted on July 20, 2019 by Rod's World

It’s a bit of a celebration today, on Wednesday I reached the old official retirement/pension age of 65 in Australia. Our right-wing government wanted to make it seventy before the backlash became too much when it reached 68. This is also my 450th blog. What did I do on my retirement day, I went to an event called Awakening Attraction, this is the blurb for it:

There is nothing that enlivens relationships more than the potency of ‘chemistry’ – the charge, the tension and the excitement of impassioned desire.

It is this magnetism, this enchantment, this allure that is the elixir of relating and it weaves certain magic through our romantic interactions.

Without it, we may still have great ‘friendships’ or ‘partnerships’ but we will be missing out on the ‘juice’!!

Attraction has often been considered as an elusive ‘Je ne se quo’, but what if attraction was not a mystery but rather something you could understand, cultivate and play within a healthy way to bring out the best in those around you? What if you could ignite the spark of attraction and keep the flame alive in relationships?

During this interactive special evening event for men and women where we will be navigating all things ATTRACTION.

The topic we will be exploring on the night…
– When it comes to intimate relationship what is your ATTRACTION STYLE?
– Understanding the effect you have (or don’t have) on others.
– What do you WANT to attract and what are you actually attracting?
– How you ignite the spark of attraction
– How you keep the flame burning deeper in a long term relationship.

I have done the feeder program for this night called Awakening Women for Men, a transformational experience that alters how you listen to your own inner feminine, your mother, mine has passed, your sisters if you have them, your lovers and your female friends and the sister program is Awakening Men for Woman. The ethos of these programs is

We believe that at our human core our greatest longing is to be seen, felt and heard by those we love.

Awakening Connections is a new paradigm of relating that empowers people to come into deeper wholeness, love and truth.

We know a world exists where humans feel enlivened within themselves which in turn creates an opening for healthy, sexy and inspired relationships.

Relationships with self and others are the most challenging emotional experiences we face, asking us to continually evolve and grow.

We give people the ability to really step into and navigate the challenges we face and turn them into gold.

Awakening Connections celebrates the journey of relationship through embracing both its ecstatic potential as well as the gritty, real and raw nature of the human experience.

It’s time to create extraordinary relationships, are you ready?

So how has society looked at attraction over the years, here are some of my favourite ways!!!

1. This calls out to my heartspace.

2. In the real field of attractiveness, you do not have to live by the rules that there are only certain desires that are OK: I Feel Good.

3. But only with consent, we do not read it right every time.

4. Are you great at receiving your desires, it is something I am working on after years of listening to the reasons why I couldn’t in my head: Waiting for Love.

5. Body Butter, not something taught in standard high school sex education classes.

6. Talking about what is present in the actual moment, not saying what you think they want to hear, now that is expansive: Titanium.

7. Do you match your desires, I am about a 5 out of 10, always working on becoming stronger at it.

8. And once you begin to awaken your conscious self, your lifeforce does not allow you to go back: Set Fire To The Rain.

9. Magnets are built to attract to and stick to what are the right frequencies, listen to your magnetic power.

10. Fear prevents you from approaching what you desire and what you are attracted to, there is that classic saying have your fear and do it anyway. Over to You: Anyway.

11. Fuck Yes!!

12. Awakening occurs at the moment, you can do it millions of time in your life, especially around attraction: Changes.

13. Red or Blue, which are you attracted too?

14. Remember in this attraction game that you have unique strengths and skills, may you find the one, or even two or three that honours them: The Way.

15. And from the most famous of philosophers Ms Unknown comes the final lesson when awakening attraction.

A week or so after doing Awakening Women for Men a dear friend of mine asked me what did I learn about women from the course, it felt like she was checking to see what secrets Alley, Shaney and Jarrod had given away. Here is my answer: I said there was too much, it will take a lifetime to take it all in, but imagine I had never met you and I walked into the room and saw you and went: we must end up as lovers. I ask you out informing you that I broke up with Janice three months ago. I would know when I am placing my projections of being with Janice on our relationship, allowing it to be new and fresh and full of love and curiosity. She smiled and said that is beautiful.

The playlist for today speaks to the awakening of attraction. We begin with the Sex Machine James Brown. then we move forward to this century with Avicii. David Guetta duets with Sia next. Adele and Martina McBride follow. @Pac does the penultimate number, finishing with Ariana Grande.

Honouring your attractions is needed if we are to live from Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. I sincerely believe that there is at least one awakened soul out there for us. Until next time, my dear friends.

A Strong Soul Shines After Every Storm!!

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Rod's World

I enjoyed the shamanic power of Kailash Kokopelli twice over the weekend. Kailash has been running Sound Healings and Cacao ceremonies around the world since the 1990s. The Link to Kalaish’s World. the first event was a short healing at an Ecstatic Dance experience and the second one at this joyous event called The Alchemy of Joy which was a full-blown experience. The event was organised by a true lover of community spirit named Ivanna. I arrived with my pillow and lay down on the ground and was instantly offered a yoga mat so I didn’t get cold from the floor and the cherubic soul who offered it to me said to make sure I did not miss out on the free springwater, chai and soup.

Kailash offered us all his knowledge and experience about cacao ceremonies and how important it is to bless all the directions before consuming it. We then sang heart songs for about an hour to open our heart for the Sound Healing, they were beautiful and definitely opened my heartspace prior to the main ceremony.

I am a known snorer and have been woken up many a time for the said crime of disturbing others during Sound Healings, Kailash set up the intention so powerfully that there was no way I felt like entering the snoring state but went on a profound journey with my soul.

This has made me ask how does humanity relate to the soul across our different cultures, here are some of the ways:

1. I love Mandi’s about details on her webpage:

HI.

I’m Mandi.

I used to be a U.S. Naval Officer. Now I am a hippy artist and body positive activist living in New Zealand.

This website is where I house my personal work. The work that bubbles up from the muse and me kind of just have to make it. I make it for myself. and as a way of looking deeper at something that has caught my eye or tripped up my imagination. I make it for the people of the world as a way of begging us to see past the superficial and to get down to the real meaty raw good stuff of our soul.

2. How does one turn off that ever-consistent chatterbox: The Instrument to Heal Is The Soul.

3. The beautiful sounds of the dual didgeridoos, the oldest wind instrument in the world sent healing vibes throughout the hall.

4. Sha has an M.D. and a degree in traditional Chinese medicine. He is also a grandmaster of Tai Chi, was the lead acupuncturist for the World Health Organization, has been named Qigong Master of the Year and in 2006 was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Award for his humanitarian efforts. He teaches his patients that chanting mantras in Mandarin Chinese can heal their ailments. He has also claimed to be able to replace organs using a technique he describes as a “soul software download”, and practices what he refers to as “soul healings”.

Sha’s practices have been deemed controversial in the west and their effectiveness has been called into question. An ophthalmologist who examined patients treated by Sha reported that none of their conditions was helped by his methods. He claims to treat cancer with “downloads”. A clear case of Eastern versus Western spiritual philosophies: The Voice Within.

5. From Little Things/Steps, big things grow.

6. On your tippy toes: Beautiful.

7. And what would a discussion of healing the soul be without some Rumi?

8. Each time I leave my city limits I am reminded of the power of nature: Colour of The Wind.

9. Forgiveness is the ultimate form of healing and release.

10. Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, he made no writings and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers writing after his lifetime: The Philosophy of Socrates.

11. Indigenous wisdom is barely understood these days.

12. All beautiful side effects: I’ve Got the Music In Me.

13. Don’t forget that the inner work is the important type required.

14. It seems that being your true self is magical and stuff these days: You Can Do Magic.

15. And a final message from your soul after it has been healed.

So keep listening and singing those heart songs, your soul is listening.

The playlist today has two spoken word pieces, the first is from Carolyn Myss, the next two tunes are from Christine Aguilera, then some indigenous wisdom from Pocahontas. Socrates is next. Kiki dee does the penultimate tune and we finish with America: A Strong Soul Shines After Every Storm

I think the more we have of these events across the planet the sooner the ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included will be able to rise. Until next we meet. my dear friends: