What Now my friends

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Rod's World

Well, I did the inspirational work shop Now- The art of Having It All Incredible Workshop led by my friends Jules and Clare on the weekend and how could I not write my blog about one aspect of it.

There are 4 premises to live an inspired life through –

Creating Safety
Telling the Truth
Be Organised
Live Passionately

I was going to write about number three but I need to do a little bit of work in that area, face the truth , a lot of work really. So I have chosen number four, to live passionately. Mention passion and the image of Tony Robbins and his fire walk resonate for some, others the quieter realm of Eckhart Tolle’s the Power of Now meditations.So what had people said about it over humankind’s journey. Here are the 15 quotes I have used to exemplify how we feel about it.

1. We can’t start on too serious a note, when you live a passionate life you will find that people are drawn to you because they are inspired by your actions.

2. I am reading Lissa Rankin’s amazing book The Fear Cure, Lissa’s FB PAGE. In it she highlights how fear causes up to 60% of the illness that occurs on the planet. What if we were to concentrate on conquering or accepting our fears, then how remarkable would our lives be.

3. Back to the 17th Century for this one. John was the founder of Methodism, a religious order based in England. He believed in preaching outside and was known for his passionate oratory.

4. Beauty, Passion and Completeness certainly go well with Living, Dreaming and Loving. I looked up Herbacin and low and behold they are a cosmetic company. Great quotes can come from anywhere.

5. When you are living passionately you may find the desire to share it could have you ending up speaking to large groups of people as more and more of them want to hear about what you are up to. I recommend that you get some training in this so it is more effective.

6. It was recommended during the course to focus on one thing and surprisingly it will affect all the other areas as well. My friend Jeffrey Slayter says to Look where you are organised and that is where you will find your passion and purpose. Get organised and let your passion blossom.

7. In this time of advancing technology it is more and more possible to set up as an entrepreneur. Remember to choose passion not money as your driver.

8. Weapons of mass destruction, does this name scare you. Light your soul and petty items such as these do not stand a chance of overcoming the human spirit.

9. The Specials did a great song back in the day Free Nelson Mandela,The Specials. Thankfully they did and there are pages and pages of his eternal wisdom to be inspired by. He certainly didn’t settle for a life that was less. Are You?

10. Another way of saying passion is are you awake, the world needs people who are awake before we put the planet to sleep on a permanent basis.

11. I deliberately chose this image because it is hard to read the words the flower covers. They are beautifully and dream, powerful components in a life lived with passion.

12. In your face time, do not apologize for your life, passion is spelt and achieved very differently from being sorry for your life.

13. Affairs have a bad name. I did a retreat in 2013 where I married my self and took personal vows. I think this is one of the reasons so many marriages fail, because how can you keeps vows for another when you do not have any of your own. I have mine in my I phone and on my fridge door. Looking for someone to have an affair with, stop at the nearest mirror, there you go.

14. Passion on its own isn’t enough. Throw in some belief and faith, along with kick ass work and you have a chance to go all the way.

15. Over to Steve jobs for the final hurrah. Founder of Apple, one of the great innovators on the planet. What you do should be a matter of the heart, and you will know when you find it. here is a speech he made to the 2005 Stanford commencement class, Its inspirational Be Inspired.

Well, that’s my cut at living passionately, may you find it useful.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

The one Life we Know we Have

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Rod's World

I am doing a personal development course Sunday run by two of my friends called NOW – The Art of having it All. They start the event blurb with the following line – Do you sometimes feel like a 40, 000 year old sage in some areas…And a shit scared 4 year old in others?.

A fantastic question. How would it be to live life full out in all areas. Here’s an explanation of what living life full out means for one person, Nancy Solari, life coach , radio host and best selling author who happens to be legally blind. Here’s the link to her webpage Living Full Out

Living Full Out is a way of viewing your world – your circumstances, your goals, your life story – as a springboard to success. When you live life full out, you not only embrace change, but also look for opportunities to create change. You never settle for stuck, never run from a challenge, never rest on your laurels. People are access to reaching your goals, not obstacles to get around. “Making a difference” becomes a mantra not a slogan. You wake up each day excited to greet what will happen next – the good, the bad and the frustrating. No area of your life is too small to bring passion to.

I have been part of a group of runners who had the main street of Leningrad, Nevsky Prospekt interrupted on a Friday Afternoon for us to run down with the mayor of Leningrad and other dignitaries to support Ending World Hunger. I have also been hospitalized for major depression five times. Is this having it all. I couldn’t keep up the commitment that saw me run down that promenade and make a huge difference to world relations, I also ran the Moscow peace Marathon when I was there and after a few years my knees told me that they didn’t like me running 100 kilometres a week anymore.

here are the fifteen quotes I have chosen on the subject, some from the famous, others quite unknown.

1. We have an official retirement age, in out country it is 65. People live to their 80’s in retirement. Wayne Dyer tells a story where a passenger on an airplane asked him how long he had been retired when he was about 70 years old. Wayne replied why do you think I am retired. I will retire the day they put me in a box. He lived up to this touring Australia the week before he recently passed away.

2. Leonardo Da Vinci left many a great gift to the planet. One of his obsessions was flight, he created designs for helicopters and gliders centuries before they came into being. This quote has also survived from his time. This link is to some other amazing things he did Why the sky is blue.

3. I have found that I feel the most full and content when I am doing good deeds that assist people and the planet. Focusing on myself takes me down a path that is not a great place to be.

4. How often my mind has said to me that you can’t do that, or no one will listen to you is uncountable. When I have achieved my greatest triumphs is when I have said thank you for sharing and ignored it allowing for me to breakthrough and get it done.

5. The joy and imagination of youth where nothing is impossible. Oh but if we could bottle this and drink its essence when the naysayers said to behave ourselves as we got older.

6. The story we tell our-self about how we are travelling in life is what makes possible apathy or success. Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King had stories just like us. Change yours if you want to live life more fully.

7. Popes and dying. The Eastern philosophies teach that you cannot really live until you realize that you are going to die one day. Our whole society in the west is focused on denying this until the moment it happens.

8. I love these 4 things. The lines that you can barely read say like no one is watching you, like you have never been hurt, like no one can hear you and as though heaven was on earth. 4 prescriptions to live full out without excuses.

9. Postscript , you cannot change that which has gone before, write your dreams down and go at it full bore, the past won’t care.

10. Ever had those days were you laugh and smile uncontrollably. They are the special ones. Replicate them as often as possible and you will live a fantastic life.

11. My friend Emeli has a saying, Get real, Get it Done. It is a fantastic way to look at life, because living it through another’s ideals or wishes is fake as it can be, your heart will shatter into a million pieces eventually.

12. We actually are living our lives full out moment to moment. Just that a lot of the time we know we could do better. Seek out resources to help you break through when you become blocked in your creativity.

13. We all have this silly assumption that we will wake up tomorrow, some people don’t and really we never know when it will be our turn. Big dreams full out, action like we only have this moment to fulfill them

14. I had a friend at high school who I wrote The Boston Gobbler, a satirical look at our life in a rural Victorian town. it lasted three episodes because the thrusting horses in the letters to the editor offended our conservative Christian head master. I gave up having my words in print for 40 years because i let the opinion of someone else define who I became. I love writing with a passion.

15. Whoever and whatever you believe about being brought to this mortal plane, it was for a purpose or it would not be your turn. make it a brilliant one.

I am looking forward to Sunday, Jules and Clare are brilliant facilitators and live their lives full of purpose more than most.

until next time Namaste my dear friends.

Within these walls Freedom lies.

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Rod's World

I have been doing a lot of work on what lies within me the last few years . At times deep depression and anxiety has lived there, causing me to spend time in a psych ward to recover my senses. But now having done a lot of body and breath work my within has moved from my head to my heart, and life has become a much more blissful place..

What lies within the person you just interacted with, were they speaking their truth or do they fear what would happen if they did so because only they really understand what goes on behind those thoughts enclosed in their often murky mind.

There are many quotes and readings on the matter, by famous to unknown contributors, here are my favorite 15.

1. We often say that our ideal mate will have certain characteristics, On my list it said I like green eyes. My closest friends has dark brown eyes and does not partake in my favorite three passions. What attracted me to her is mystifying, one thing for sure is her inner beauty.

2. Marvin sang of wanting some fine Sexual Healing but he knew that peace did not lie within that. That it was a personal matter that granted you Peace in my Time.

3. Maya Angelou, subject of my previous blog Why have I never heard of her, states that however bad it gets a little bit of your inner flame will continue to flicker allowing you to rekindle the flame of life.

4. You may have movie star looks, but they change with age. Your true beauty shines through your actions of Loving in a compassionate way through your life.

5. before it got all to serious , These three wise Tibetan monks would like you to realize the importance of this Sacred Practice.

6. Your gut feeling often tells you to do things that don’t seem to match your existing reality. Intuition does that sort of thing and it definitely comes from within, no external factors here my friend.

7. The art of self love allows us to recognize the love that others are offering to us in this awakening world. Practice an act of self love daily, it will keep the doom merchant away.

8. We were all sent to see Career counselors at the end of our schooling. They probably had less of an idea than we had what we would do with our lives. Society tries to fit us into little boxes. Get your happy on and listen to your body and heart as to what your glorious life is meant to be.

9. I have lived in many places in my 61 years. As a child and being the son of a school teacher, we moved every few years as you did back then. I have kept the habit up most of my life. Some places were intensely happy and others not so hot. The reason for this was that I was there wherever I moved to.

10. A French general during WW1, Ferdinand knew that it was not superior troop numbers that made the difference. It was igniting the passion within his troops that led to successful campaigns.

11. Perhaps the most famous purveyor of what comes from within. Gautama Buddha advised his millions of followers not to idolize him but to seek what they were looking for within themselves.

12. This beautiful image from Africa points to how you can lessen the fear you travel the world experiencing. By ramping up the self love you cannot be affected by others interactions with you, vindictive or otherwise.

13. The big O, loves the song that made this her catch-cry, here is the YouTube link This little light of Mine. Remember it all comes from within, shine there and the world will shine along with you.

14. Elizabeth Kubler Ross was one of the pioneers in the study of the dying. Her work empowered many people to die gracefully by sparking their beauty within.

15. For our last insight we return to Love. We must spend the time needed to have self love located within ourselves. It is not up to the world to provide us with the feeling, most times if we are looking externally for it, we have not reached a level of self love sufficient to be a fine example that is accepted and loved by others.

I will keep , as Byron Katie says doing the work that allows me to walk this earth with no or very few expectations. it is a life journey that will complete the day of my passing.

Namaste my dear friends until next time.

No Expectations, Can we live without them.

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Rod's World

I recently completed two courses , Creative Mastery via the Activation School, here’s the link for some more info – Creative Mastery Program and Sex and the Soul, here’s the link – Sex and the Soul. I was taken to many unfamiliar places but they have asked me to write a testimonial as to what I got out of it.

The major thing that I have got out of it is a seemingly total lack of expectation. We seem to walk through life expecting that it will turn out a certain way and often become disappointed when it does not. The definition of what an expectation is

a strong belief that something will happen or be the case. – “reality had not lived up to expectations”

So what do we have to say about that belief that often can leave us ecstatic or disappointed. Here are 15 quotes that ponder what society has made it mean

1. Sri Chinmoy, one of the original masters who brought meditation to the west stated that in giving up expectation one achieved the blissful state of peace.

2. I had to think about this one, do I see a difference. I define hope as helping other people evolve. I think that action is involved for both because without it, hope or expectation are not going to happen.

3. The Bard – Sir Willy wrote many a classic play. He covered all the areas of life but saw that expectation was a tortured route to having our hearts suffer pain.

4. These four statements point to the fact that if you could live your life under them a state of genuine bliss would surround you on a day to day basis.

5. Do you live your life worrying about what other people think about you. Its not your job nor is it theirs to expect you to live by theirs.

6. My logical mind traps me in this quite regularly. When you are told you are intelligent you often put on a front that you know when you really don’t. Actually all there is is questions and answers.

7. This instant gratification society we live in seems to be getting faster and faster, expecting more and more to satisfy our ever growing needs. The rate of mental health issues this creates is growing on a disproportionate scale and simplicity is seen as the way to reduce it.

8. It’s not my fault, my parents didn’t love me enough, my husband was never home, fill in the blanks ……. Your quality of life is your responsibility, even to the point of 100%. but that is too confronting for most of us.

9. Diana, The Princess of Wales fought against the staidness of the royal family to be involved in many charitable projects with no expectation of receiving anything in return. She did it out of the kindness of her heart.

10. Be aware of what is, this is a practice that has to be done moment to moment. You can create an ideal life through action but one must always be aware of what is so.

11. How often when someone does something for you do you immediately offer to something back for them. Just being in the moment of receiving is the true gift you have been given. The pure joy that it allows to ripple through your heart is priceless.

12. One must have a cat or dog quote. How long do we spend trying to get that exact shot of our loved ones we want when life is a natural process not a posed one.

13. People will respond in the way they see fit at that moment in time in their lives. They may be angry, loving or questioning of what you were intending. You can not control their response, only your reaction to it by being gracious in the giving of it.

14. Horace was a Roman poet born in 65 BC, a long, long time ago in human history. What would the world be like if we had listened to his sage advice back then.

15. And finally a reminder. I remember when I used to think 30 was old, I am twice that age now. This beautiful quote guides us to the power that acceptance and gratitude for what is will lead us to having a fulfilled if not long life.

Well it will be an experience and take some effort to remain in this state of no expectation, wish me luck.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

How to Kill a Cat, Not really!

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Rod's World

Curiosity starts with the itch to explore, the greatest explorers are the newborn. A 1964 study showed that babies as young as two months old, when presented with different patterns , will show a marked preference for the unfamiliar ones This attraction to everything knew and novel is known as diversive curiosity.

In adults diversive curiosity manifests itself as a restless desire for the new and the next. The modern world seems designed to fulfill our desire for this type of curiosity. Diversive curiosity is essential to an exploring mind; it opens our eyes to the new and the undiscovered, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and meet new people. But unless it’s allowed to deepen it can become a futile waste of time Unfettered curiosity is wonderful, unchannelled curiosity is not. When diversive curiosity is entrained – when it is transformed into a quest for knowledge and understanding – it nourishes us. This deeper, more disciplined and effortful type of curiosity is called epistemic curiosity.

Which type of curiosity do you mainly dwell in. Here are the 15 quotes I have chosen to have a look at this area of life which creates interest for us.

1. I have hair similar to Albert at the moment , slightly wild and woolly. No specialtalents that I have a piece of paper for, although people say I am a great wordsmith. I am definitely passionately curious about all areas of life as I hope you are too.

2. Walt Disney, creator of the iconic Mickey Mouse series of cartoons came up with this slice of wisdom when asked how did he keep on coming up with such new and exciting concepts. He did not accept that it could not be done in an era before the Internet, Facebook and PC graphic software.

3. My friend Michele’s company is called Within Without. She is a curious creator who inspires people to live the life they love. This quote reminds me of her passion for breaking through that which is accepted to be the norm, here is a link to her webpage : Within Without

4. Curiosity, the incurable dis ease that we receive when we enter this journey called life. That is slowly treated as an illness that much be put in its place so that you can grow up. I shout out to it being incurable just squashed by a mundane education system.

5. I went to The U.S.S.R. the year before the Berlin Wall came down to run the Moscow Peace Marathon. We also went to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. We did not know that the sun fell from the sky and darkness prevailed immediately at 5 p.m. We were stuck on the other side of the city from where we were staying so we could have panicked. Instead our curiosity took us into the place we recognized, Bar – it sold coffee and Ice-cream as there were not establishments for locals to go and have a drink. We meet two students home on holidays from Uni and they became life long friends and showed us the underground club scene which was thriving.

6. Modern day best selling Author Nancy B. Brewer remindsus that curiosity can take us to places that we need to be careful in. There are rumors of dead cats in some locations.

7. Good to Great, how does one get there. Unleashing your curiosity is one way James C. Collins, the American business analyst and lecturer suggests that control won’t cut it.

8. More and more people are catching in on the Secret, someone even wrote a book about it that being curious has to offer. Your creativity will blossom the more you let your curiosity out to play.

9. What do we put on our gravestones, I like this cut at it. A bit more inspiring than love from the children.

10. How we live our lives is what people remember about us not what we owned or what we did, but how we made them feel. A noble death is said to have been had when people only have good things to say.

11. Thomas Stearns Eliott, or T.S. to his friends and the rest of the world, died in the swinging 60’s. he penned two of my favourite quotes, the one above and You are the Music while the Music lasts. its never to far and keep the music playing is my motto.

12. Author of a Top ten business blog Edgy Conversations Dan Waldschmidt is pursued widely for his outlook on running businesses , he said the above about what part curiosity plays in being successful.

13. Back to the dead cats, it isn’t always Roses and Champagne when you let your curiosity run free. There may be a modicum of trouble as well, but what sort of life is a life without a little of it now and then.

14. The 1982 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry also said some pretty cool things about how we relate to nature. That we should not think it is our playground to do what we want with it without thinking about the consequences was one of them, to always remain curious as to the effect we were having on it.

15. Eleanor Roosevelt does not hold her role as First lady to be her greatest achievement. This lies with helping write the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights when she was appointed chair of the Human Rights Commission after her husbands death. Eleanor was a fine example of some one who lived a life of curiosity and achieved much from doing this.

Here’s to the curious and the discoveries they have given us that have improved our lives.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

There’s Serendipity in Every step if you wish there to be.

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Rod's World

Serendipity is a word that is not used that often in our society but to me, it is a powerul force in our psyches. Wikipedia defines it the following way :

Serendipity means a “fortunate happenstance” or pleasant surprise“. It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming‘s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer in 1945, and the invention of the Post-it note by Spencer Silver in 1968.

The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company.^[1] However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.^[2]

I recently made a very dear and special friend without there being any intention to do so on the day I met her. It has been a pleasant surprise that has transformed a part of my life that had been dormant for many a year.

Here are the 15 quotes I have chosen on the matter with my insights into them.

1. I met my first real serious relationship when my friends younger sister sang you made me love you, I didn’t want to do it to me at her 18th Birthday. This was not an older man trying to hit on a younger women. It was pure serendipity at work.

2. At times it feels like you fall into things that matter most in your life. I became part of a running team that had the main street of Leningrad shut down on a Friday Afternoon in the name of Ending Hunger with the mayor and other dignities because we were sent to see the wrong person because of a language misunderstanding.

3. I chose this one because I do not know what it really means. Something like the classic song Pleasure and Pain by seminal Aussie The Divinyls : Lover, Lover.

4. Ser-uh n-dip-i-tee, they say English is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn because it is said differently from how it is written, this would support that premise.

5. Do you have an aptitude for serendipity, are you one of the lucky ones. I think it is your positive attitude to life that increases the opportunities of it occurring.

6. Here we are, chugging along in life, going to work, coming home to eat and watch T.V., going out with our friends and then we meet a person who will transform that. My friend Barry met his wife on a debauched cricket trip to Sydney, which was 870 Kilometers from where we lived. Three $500 phone bills later at the demand of his housemates, me and her brother they reunited in Sydney and the rest is History.

7. The and and threw me a little. But listen to the message, you can’t plan your whole life, that reeks of perfectionism. Perfectionism is the booby prize in my eyes, stops you from starting many things in your life.

8. How often has you said to yourself: Self , now how did that happen but I am so glad it did. We do not always know that what we are looking for is the best thing for us.

9. The more awake you are to the planet more and more times Serendipity will magically happen for you, I know this as my Truth.

10. I recently read a book by my friend Tanishka which distinguishes between Soulmates, Twin Flames and Your Beloved. The first two you meet to learn from, the third is your destiny presenting itself. You don’t logically choose, your heart does it for you.

11. What does Serendipity taste and smell like? for me is is the scent of Spring, when all is awakening and the beautiful smell of fresh flowers and blossoms fill the air.

12. Often when Serendipity enters our life, our logical mind will reject it as a fearful path to travel down, Eleanor Roosevelt was considered a rebellious women, as she says do the thing you mind says you cannot do, that’s where the treasure lies.

13. Rule number 5 is where Serendipity lives. I had spent years trying to know more to fix myself up. I recently starting doing Body and Breath work and my life transformed. Don’t wait 60 years like I did.

14. Serendipity does not live in the world of the Possible, that is the Arena of the logical mind. My friend Emeli did not meet Oprah Winfrey, The Dalai Lama and Sir Richard Branson by listening to the voice in her head that often says Who do you Think you are. Set yourself Impossible dreams, they are the only ones that make a difference.

15. Serendipity can have you make new deep friendships in the most unexpected places. We know when they are a Special One, these are the people to focus your time on , as the quote says Quality always trumps quality.

I am getting quicker and quicker at writing these blogs, my sister Jann , a research scientist spends hours on the information she uses in her blog Fire Up Water Down, which is about the elements and the profound influence they have on our lives. I’m a start typing and do the research via Google as I go type of guy.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Whatever gets you through the Night.

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Rod's World

Tonight my friend Emeli Paulo is leading a RAW session on Addiction : What’s Yours. I have been thinking about this and I think my friends may feel it is posting positivity on my Facebook page Positivity HQ, but I believe this to be a sacred calling to counter the evil mainstream media is spreading across the planet.

So I thought long and hard, not Sex, not Alcohol , I gave up drinking on my 40th Anniversary of doing that, not gambling, I see that as a waste and came across Music. I have 23,000 songs and lectures on my Itunes library, I am subscribed to both My Music and Spotify and have Mixcloud, Souncloud and Bandcamp accounts. 23,000 songs is 77.6 days of music to put it in perspective.

So what do we get from our love of Music. Here are the 15 thoughts I have put together that our sages, musicians and people of note have contributed to the matter.

1. What does this truly mean. To me it is in those moments when a chill goes up your spine. Years ago I worked on the door for my friend Kerri Simpson and I knew when she was on, She always sang Summertime and when it sent chills up my spine the effect would last for hours.

2. When first contact is made they will bring many new and exciting things with them. But one thing they will certainly bring is their music. Even Klingon’s had music in Star trek, admittedly it was hard to appreciate but they loved it as we do our favourite style.

3. Billy Thorpe’s Somewhere over the Rainbow doesn’t make me think what a great song, there are many finer versions. But what it does make me remember is the night at the Myer Music Bowl that I and 200,000 other people sang it along with him.

4. Among my 23,000 tracks I have quite a bit of meditation music. I listen to it primarily when I am travelling on public transport. I lowered my Carbon Footprint to an Electric Bike, a pushbike and Public transport several years ago. It takes me to a place of genuine bliss while journeying through the chaos of a major cities thoroughfares.

5. There are so many styles of music that one can listen to, It seems there are new ones being developed every year. I am not a huge fan of Death metal, Pagan Rock and such genres. More for me tunes that have a positive message.

6. We Live on our own part of the World, so in the other parts of the world our indigenous music is captured by the title World Music. This gives you many opportunities to learn and listen to the magic of other cultures as these year Five students did.

7. Here’s an image you will find hard to get out of your head. A naked 61 year old man bopping around his apartment’s kitchen to GodsKitchen doof.

8. Back to ancient Greece. Plato and his mates sitting around listening to an inspired bouzouki performance. He turns to them and says …….

9. Another cute memory, A hot 40 degree Celsius day in St. Arnaud primary school. Our class is singing the Yellow Rose of Texas, half way through we hear the class next door joining in. The power of music is irrepressible.

10. It is often said by people that a particular song touches their heart. In doing so these words give you access to precious moments of healing that enliven your human experience.

11. Nature plays music to us all the time, sometimes it is powerful in the form of destructive winds, sometimes almost silent like an early morning sunrise over the mountains. We cannot write such superb songs, just give it our best shot.

12. Eckhart Tolle speak of the inner stillness that music can conquer. I have seen this many times in my music listening career. The most memorable being when I went to my friend Alicia’s Melancholia event two years ago. A young musician named Dan Parsons did one of his original songs and you could have heard a pin drop. It was outstanding music.

13. What came first, the horse or the cart. Darwin one of the great naturalists discovered that music came before speech. I believe this to be true because Nature has always provided it from the beginning of time.

14. I had to get the comment of one musician in the list. Levon Helm from The Band points to the healing side of music. It has been used in shamanic ceremonies for thousands of years, It has never been seen to fail.

15. And for our last insight, we cross to one of history’s greatest minds. The best way to crack a case of the Sad’s is to go inner and drench it with the music that inspires you.

I am including links to some of my favourite inspiring music so that you can appreciate them as well The Voice of an Angel, Goddess Songs, Indigenous Bliss, Ben sings of Love, Australia’s Heart and Soul, The Outlaw Women from Down Under, Lilith – Wild and Alive

Here’s to our love of music, Namaste until next time my dear friends

The Kindness of Strangers.

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Rod's World

I just watched an inspiring TED talk by Kon Karapanagiotidus from the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre in Melbourne on what would be possible if we were kind to the people seeking refuge instead of locking families up in gulag like facilities on remote islands. here is the link : A Kind Alternative.

My friend Kavisha Mazzella has written a beautiful song about Kindness to Strangers, here is the link Kavisha’s beautiful Anthem. Both this and Kon’s talk point to another way besides the hate mongering that seems to be driving mainstream media these days.

So once again I have resourced 15 powerful quotes on what a difference kindness can make. here we go:

1. I used to work in a federal agency who paid the unemployed. I was walking through the main mall of Melbourne one day when a young man came up to me and hugged me. He said you probably don’t remember me but you saved my life. We started a weekly payment scheme in our office ILO fortnightly payment and doing this allowed this person to stop committing crime to feed his then drug habit. He was happily married with two children and meant what he said to me.

2. I watched Wayne Dyer’s film The Shift last night, in it there is a scene where a homeless man and a millionaire are speaking. The millionaire has lost his wallet and is stuck. The homeless man offers him his last coins and transforms the millionaires life through his act of kindness.

3. How much kindness should you offer. There is no official measure for how much you should put in your Loving cup. But the recipe works better if you add just a little bit more.

4. His Holiness AKA Tenzin Gyatso, the person on our planet that is most known for his kindness doesn’t want temples, mosques or churches to worship in. He wants humanity to show each other Kindness.

5. We often see righteousness being displayed as news on our TV screens and in the print media. What people who are finding it hard is the beating of another’s heart that is saying it will be O.K.

6. The speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. inspired millions. A simple man who committed himself to create a kinder world for his people. He never let the hatred that was poured upon his goods works lower his stand that human beings were by nature full of kindness.

7. Its also quite advantageous for your health to have boundaries, one of the people who needs kindness hangs out in your body.

8. My koan in life is Love and Respect for all : Everyone Included. I am a blogger and I hope my words give people confidence. I always come from what would fulfill it and I have declared this my Year of Love.

9 . The Buddha passed on many suggestions for how to live an enlightened life, here is his offering on kindness.

10. As i mentioned above we never know the difference our simple acts such as smiling at someone, offering a ride or home to a friend for the night can make. Don’t underestimate the difference, they can transform a life.

11. As a teenager I used to battle my mum and dad about this, after all we were rebellious teenagers, you did not do what your parents suggested. Luckily they had taught me well enough before this that when I came out of my cranky phase I saw the value of it.

12. The gift of saying thank you and excuse me take a millisecond. But in the heart of the person you say them to, they resonate for eons.

13. So what are acts of Kindness, this list contains many things we can do for ourselves and others to make the world a better place.

14. Never regret any act of Kindness that you take part in, be it by yourself or with others. They are treasures that empower our planet as well as our own hearts.

15. For the last one , I will let Charlie Brown have the final word. Yes everyone understands Kindness, even if they seem incredibly distant from it at the moment.

Well, I am so thankful my friends Kavisha and Kon contributed to me and inspired me to write this blog through their words and song. Namaste until we meet again my friends.

Time for an Overhaul, Renewal is Needed.

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Rod's World

I have been feeling the desire to transform what I do for a living. I was retired 4 and a half years ago by a federal agency Unfit to work ever again and placed on a life time pension. I believed this for two and a half years and did nothing eventually starting to do voluntary work as this did not necessarily mean that I was doing anything that I would receive value for my work.

Since I began writing my blog I have discovered that I also have great proof reading, marketing, editing and copy-writing skills I picked up in the seventies when I became joint Editor of a national Community Development journal by default. The editors left to drive around Australia and gifted the journal to the volunteers. It was pre-Internet, the early days of email so everything was basically a manual process. I did not use them for years except proof reading every sign and chalk board as I walked the streets of Melbourne. When I moved into a voluntary Social media role I discovered I still had the skills, they just had been dormant.

So what does it take to renew oneself? Here are my Fifteen favorite quotes and thoughts on the matter from over the pages of history.

1. I know that I will not be able to earn a living from these skills doing what I do or thinking that I’m to old and my skills are out of date, so I will have to open myself up to a new way of being about these matters.

2. If you think you know it all, there is a famous Gandhi quote

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Being frozen with your thoughts and ideas points to the fact that you have settled into the cement of rigidity.

3. Henri Amiel born in 1821 had great insight into the matter, stating that as long as you had the capability, you could renew.

4. Shamans who visit the West are often saddened by the way people with mental issues are treated. Breakdowns are seen in their communities as a stepping through to the next stage of a persons journey not a disease. Often to renew we have to go through the process of our situation being in breakdown.

5. Nature has been around a lot longer than we mortal humans, our time on earth is equivalent to a few minutes of natures history. It keeps regenerating again and again. Do we see our lives as regenerating moment to moment, not as much as we should if we wish to transform our lives.

6. We drive to work the same way, eat the same meals watch the same TV programs, then we walk into a cafe and the person who serves us changes our life for ever. Her or his fairy wings flutter and say come and play. Renewal at it’s most beautiful.

7. Socrates, one of our great ancient philosophers points out the importance of no regrets, don’t spend our time focusing on righting the wrongs of our past but to look forward and spend our time renewing our identity.

8. Jean Racine, one of France’s great playwrights from the 17th Century, doesn’t see quarrels as the impending end of a relationship , but the strengthening of people’s love through speaking up for what they required in the relationship.

9.Why is renewal important, because it allows freshness in our lives, the joy of stopping and smelling the roses on a daily basis. As the founder of Buddhism was heard to comment, the root of all suffering is attachment.

10. This one is just too cute to not put in. What came first the egg or the chicken. Who cares.

11. There are so many beliefs about death and what happens. the ease with which we go to it often affects how peaceful and pain-free our final years occur before we begin it all again, The ultimate renewal, or do we?

12. Wendell Berry, Author, Poet and Environmental Activist points out that some renewal is more important than others. We can renew our life and commitments but if we don’t renew our love of the planet it won’t matter much.

13. Our family and friends within our community are who we turn to when we have a down time in our lives. This makes it extremely important to look after these relationships om a daily basis, the non renewal of them could be very costly.

14. Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell, better known as Anais Nin points out that the act of renewal in relationships is one of the sparks that brightens them moment to moment. Renewal prevents stagnation in whatever you bring it to.

15. Finally, life’s greatest renewal, our beloved children. The reason we go to the well time and time again. Who remind us that their is a simpler life and in a lot of cases, that we just gave up.

I still have to deal with those thoughts and feeling that will allow me to renew my position in Life. Luckily I am off to my Creative Mastery course tonight run by my friend Arion whose fabulous work enables you to work through this quite quickly. Here’s a link to find out more – Activation School home page.

Well it’s time to say Namaste again, enjoy the read and share it on Facebook if you like it.

Who helps make your Life Story special?

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Rod's World

I recently went to an introduction to an event called Sex and the Soul, it contained Tantric practices so I was hesitant as always when that word is bandied around. As the people running it are my two main teachers in life My heart trusted them but my circumstantial driven mind still had the thoughts that some of it would be unsafe.

It was a beautifully joyous sacred occasion, honoring Men and Women on an equal level and opening up the possibility of huge expansion of your sexuality and all areas of your life really. I didn’t get better at the practice of the bump and grind of sex, that isn’t what its about. But riding home on the tram a few days later it hit me the main thing I had got was that I was so much more accessible to myself and other people to share my life story with and that it could be juicy.

So what does life have to say about our Life stories and how has society related to it over time. Here they are, my favorite 15 sayings on the matter and a few of my thoughts on them.

1. This is what I and I’m sure quite a few other people travelling on the Love realm dream of, How sexy would this be in your life.

2. What kind of people are we? Often flawed at time, we all do our best to be the best person we can be for another. Find the one’s who will give their all for you, even if it doesn’t fit your list.

3. Songs tell us the stories of our lives year to year. What were the melancholy songs that you used to stand and shout out next to your friends in those,imy case smoke filled rooms that now move you to tears as you remember the good and bad times of your ill spent youth.

4. I have to agree with this one, how did I get to be 60 with my own Seniors card. You can still, and I do dance like you are a third of that age, its your choice to listen to the conversation that there are things you can no longer do.

5. Our stories contain everything, the highs and the lows, the love and the pain. When it becomes just reminiscing the events and feelings that took place and you don’t become crippled by the memories, the pain has miraculously gone.

6. There’s the past, the present and the future. Those times we believe that we think we can control the third of these is when we are most disappointed. The joy in life is those unexpected meetings that transform what we can accept in our lives.

7. All those things we are told and boxed into become our Life. We often forget they are just a story and that stories can be scrunched up and re written in a new magnificent version.

8. Do you make a difference with your life story, do you give to others of your wisdom, time and spirit. The bettering of humanity is not in focusing on yourself all the time. Yes we need to get better, but it is in the grand purpose of taking others with us that will transform our wounded planet.

9. How often do we say or think, It’s their fault, not mine. Turn around , go back and begin again. You are letting others write your story, that beautiful eulogy to your magnificent life.

10. Are you an introvert or an extrovert , a whisperer or a yelling full out type. All stories are there to be told. Nothing wrong in how you tell it, just live it full out.

11. Do our stories get heavier as we grow older. This humorous take on our stories by Garfield is my favorite excuse why I have an expanded tummy.

12. Imagination is what makes our stories great to listen to. Today in our schools they are focusing on Knowledge, memorizing by rort. This saddens me that they are building clones not unique individuals who will live their amazing stories.

13. I don’t think I will ever be able to explain why one drunken night I said to the people I had just met, see you in 4 weeks. Yes I did the Melbourne Stair Climb and came fourth last, I smoked 40 cigarettes a day when I did this. Funny thing is they gave you a beer at the end.

14. Virginia Woolf, one of the great women of history, has us looks at those could have been, would have been ghosts that permeate our past when we decide no instead of going for it full out.

15. And finally for a little bit of light entertainment, what song describes you blessed , sacred life story. I have chosen Give Peace a chance by John Lennon. What will you choose

My theme song.

Well another 15 ways to look at how we can live our Life story well. Thank you for taking the time to have a look at your Life Story and Namaste until next time.