Love Hurts!!!

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Rod's World

Did you know love is not enough? I found that out in a sudden, dramatic way yesterday. I was travelling in our lockdown city of Melbourne to visit my supposed partner outside the 5-kilometre allowable zone when I rang her because she had written to me that she felt a bit down about her zoom visit to her psychologist. I rang her to find out what could I do for her, two hours later I was heading home and it was all over.

It was because I had agreed with her and allowed her space the night before and it seems I should not have listened to her and gone against her will and taken care of her. We had discussed this for an hour after I was halfway there and she told me she felt the most empowered she had ever felt. It seems that I am not enough to meet her needs. A day later I realise that I cannot be different from where I am at the moment. I can grow but cannot miraculously be different from where I am at the moment, so yes, Love hurts.

What does society say about the pain of unrequited love, lets have a look:

1. I hope it finds this place soon.

2. I forgot: Stronger.

3. I found out the embrace of love is not enough.

4. How will I get her out of my heart, it seems impossible at the moment, only time will tell: Love Hurts.

5. Being in the same city doesn’t seem far enough, I cannot stop thinking of her.

6. I’m crying typing this: When I Look at You.

7. I wish you the best life.

8. No words needed: Disappear.

9. It’s storming in my heart.

10. I mistakenly thought this was not us: Almost in Love.

11. It seems this was not us.

12. And not just of a sexual nature: Dreaming of You.

13. I fear this.

14. Thank you karma, you hurt: Instant Karma.

15. and our final lesson comes from the Twitter personality Bauvard – A work of art should stand on its own, divorced from the personality of the creator. That is the only way the creator can be a work of art in himself.

So what am I learning? Embrace that individual inside you who has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else. Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms. And above all, be true to you – if you cannot put your heart into it, take yourself out of it. Starting today…

1. Get your priorities right.

2. Take full responsibilities for your goals.

3. Know your worth.

4. Choose the right perspective.

5. Don’t let your old problems punish your dreams

6. Choose the things that truly matter.

7. Love You.

8. Accept your strengths and Weaknesses.

9. Stand up for You.

10. Learn from others, and move on when you must.

11. Be honest in your relationships.

12. get comfortable with being UNcomfortable.

13. Be who you were born to be.

14. Never give up on You.

The playlist today is a bit maudlin, we begin with Kayne West, go back to the 1970s to hear that song by Nazareth. The four pop divas: Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Olivia O’Brien and Selena. We finish off with John Lennon: Love Hurts!!!

This will not stop me from spreading the ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. I have extended it to a million people in my new tribe: Thriving People.

Join if you wish. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

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.

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.

Your job is not to be Perfect!!!

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Rod's World

I went to my friends’ Australian citizenship ceremony on Australia day on Sunday. It a nice thing to do but it may me ponder as to why you have to say out loud I will uphold and obey the laws of the land. My friend said she crossed her fingers at this line. Why I pondered it is what if the laws of the land go against what is in your heart and soul and how boring would it be if every person in a country held the same value?

What should we care about as a human resident of our planet? Here is a list of some worthwhile things:

1. Start caring about your own happiness – It’s important to make people happy, but you have to start with yourself.

2. Start caring about your goals and dreams – If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders.

3. Start caring about how you invest your time every day – There might not be a tomorrow, not for everyone.

4. Start caring about how you think and what you think about – In your quiet moments, what do you think about?

5. Start caring about how you treat yourself – Your relationship with yourself is the closest and most important relationship you will ever have.

6. Start caring about how you treat others – Live so that when the people around you think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.

7. Start caring about how others treat you – Choose your relationships wisely.

8. Start caring about your health – Exercise to be fit, not skinny.

9. Start caring about your education and personal growth – Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to personal growth.

10. Start caring about doing the BEST you can – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.

11. Start caring about all the wonderful things you have right now – Learn to appreciate the things you have before time forces you to appreciate the things you once had.

12. Start caring about this moment we call ‘life’ – Our whole life leads up to each new moment. Each moment is priceless.

So what have we said about being a human being residing on this planet of ours over time, here are a few of my favourite things:

1. This arises when we start listening to and believing that other peoples opinions are more important than our own.

2. To me, George Orwell wrote one of the great odes to the danger of perfection, 1984: I’m Not Perfect, But I’m Perfect for You.

3. Anthony Robbins is an American author, life coach, and philanthropist. Robbins has worked on an individual basis with Bill Clinton, Justin Tuck, Wayne Gretzky, Serena Williams, Hugh Jackman, and Pitbull, quite a diverse group of individual human beings.

4. The whole spiel from Tony: I Learnt from the Best.

5. Humane: A humane person is one who shows great compassion and caring for others, including animals, and who tries whenever possible to alleviate another’s suffering. The idea of being humane is linked to a higher level of a person’s character:

6. Shruti is either a data scientist or a Bollywood actress, which one do you think said this: Ego.

7. Seven billion of us and counting.

8. Artist Alex has come up with some sage wisdom here: Sincerity is Scary.

9. An American stand up comic, Amy was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Comedy Album for Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo and Best Spoken Word Album for The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo.

10. And then sometimes we need a break, so just be an owl: Night Owl.

11. And your task for your life is…

12. Raised in small-town America, Wright’s mother died when he was six days old. His father later married a much younger woman, Gertrude: “Gertrude was closer to my age than to my father’s”. Gertrude hated small-town life, but got along famously with Wright, as they shared many of the same childish tastes (both loved games, movies, and ice cream): Pure Imagination.

13. Interesting website page name: Stop the Pain now, an interesting take on humanness.

14. J. R. Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter empire stated she chose the name Dumbledore, which is a dialectal word for “bumblebee”, because of Dumbledore’s love of music: she imagined him walking around “humming to himself a lot”: The Humming.

15. And for our final lesson, we hear from Brene Brown, who, before her fame researched shame for several decades.

Life is about taking chances. It’s about doing something you initially thought you could never do. It’s about being a little bit crazy, following your heart, being human and not worrying about every detail of what everyone else thinks. And above all. it’s about learning to love who you are and what you have, all of your humanness.

The playlist bounces all over the place today, from Beyonce to Gene Wilder. We begin with three divas: Grace Jones, Whitney Houston and Beyonce. My unknown offering is next, The 1975. Then across to England with Gerry Rafferty, dropping into Hollywood next with Gene Wilder before completing with Enya: Your Job is Not to Be Perfect!!!

If we had to wait until everyone was perfect my dream and goal of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included being the world paradigm would seem a long way off in our humanistic world.

Remember you can get these blogs in your inbox by signing up on the right-hand side of my main page at I am an Interculturalist. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Every Person’s Map of the World is Unique as Their Thumbprint!!

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Rod's World

This quote finishes with the following – ” There are no two people alike. No two people who understand the same sentence the same way…So in dealing with people, you try not to fit them in with your concept of what they should be.”

I relate this to the fact we are all born with a Superpower to gift to the planet but over time we are trained out of them to fit into society. Remember as a child when you ran around enacting them, what happened? I think we go through a period where we forget it, and at some stage in our lives many of us take the actions to recover them, this may not be an easy path but it is truly worthwhile.

My superpower is to have Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included to be present in interactions, on the person to person level to a world scale. I was at an event on the weekend helping set up when a woman asked me to help unpack her car. I was called to ask her what was her superpower, she replied she hadn’t really thought about it. This woman helps create the largest women’s gathering in my home state of Victoria if not Australia. So it sort of shocked me that she did not see this as a superpower as I imagine the 3,000 plus women who attend the event certainly would.

I have found my friend Marc Chernoff’s list 12 Things you should be able to say about Yourself useful in having mine present on a daily basis, here it is:

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 me.
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.

So what does society say about our superpowers, let’s have a look:

2. Lena overcame the colour and sex barrier that has existed in the comedy industry in America for eons to win an Emmy for her writing.

2. It is said that the minute you become a parent, your superpowers multiply tenfold, the above quote supports that: Baby Bielanko.

3. This is what Sylvester wrote about the journey: After being ejected as collateral via my parent’s breakup; After being lied to, cheated on and subtracted from all equations of love; I determined that things were not adding up any more. I knew that I deserved to be loved every day, not only with words but with actions. I found a great deal of power in learning about love. I had been confused this whole time as I believed what we were all taught to believe as children – that love was something you find inside of another person. This journey allowed me to heal, forgive and accelerate my life towards love. Our journeys have different titles but we are all out here walking together toward the same goal. People with different skin tones, speech variations and socio-economic status all deserve love. This is The Dear Queen Journey: A Path To Self Love.

4. How could I write on Superpowers without using a Stan Lee quote: Stan.

5. And this is when your superpowers are most powerful.

6. The superpower of true Love: Unconditional Love.

7. This is very rarely thought of being a superpower that is needed but is incredibly powerful for the kids involved.

8. Pharrell did it with this amazing song he wrote: Happy.

9. It’s not in the wearing of a cape.

10. Mahatma points out why we need our superpower at times: I Stand Alone.

11. As I said my superpower is Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included, What’s Yours?

12. From one of the people using her superpower for the good of the planet at the moment: Thinking Outside The Box.

13. For your superpower, you get to write the manual.

14. Stan reveals the answer to what is the greatest superpower: Get Lucky.

15. And for the final lesson, is who give our superpower purpose, look in the mirror!!!

Life is not complicated, We are complicated. When we stop doing the wrong things and start using our superpower to do the right things, life becomes simple.

The playlist begins with today’s unknown artist Monica BieLanko then some Eminem. Donna Summer and Pharrell Williams lift the mood in the next two numbers. Godsmack squeezes out some hard rock before the penultimate number by Ben Lee, finishing with the funk of Daft Punk: Every Person’s Map of the World is Unique as Their Thumbprint!!

So, I have revealed my superpower to you. In having you ponder yours I am sure that mine: Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included will make a huge difference on the planet with the support of whatever you reveal for yourselves. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

God Gave You a Gift of $6400 Seconds Today!!!

Posted on November 29, 2019 by Rod's World

I went to a Campfire Stories by the African Community of Darebin at the Preston Library last night. Inevitably someone asked the big R question, what about racism. Both panellists say, yes it did exist, but it was worthwhile putting up with as the gratitude they had for our country in basically saving their lives made it inconsequential. That’s what I have chosen to write about today, Gratitude.

My friends Debbie and Shanti set up a Facebook group a few years ago called Daily Gratitude Space, it has grown to close to 1,500 members. As the name suggests, it is a space where you can express what you are grateful for on a daily basis. You don’t have to do it every day, just when it supports you to do it. Join Us.

I have used it in moments of both despair and joy, but I know every time I do it I feel closer to my soul.

So what does our human race, with all of its foibles, have to say about gratitude? Here are a few of my favourite things:

1. “Zig” Ziglar was born in Coffee County in southeastern Alabama, to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. He was the tenth of 12 children. He went on to become one of the world’s most prominent motivational speakers.

2. What acts of gratitude have you done today: Love Is Action.

3. A wonderful insight from one of my Sheroes, Alice Walker.

4. I have been guilty of this many a time, getting better at it: Kind and Generous.

5. Back to the 18th Century, when quotes did not include women for this fine practice.

6. This quote could be directly from God: Hero.

7. Aesop c. 620 – 564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop’s Fables. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems and generally have human characteristics.

8. I love the heart space: There is so Much Magnificence.

9. I love the name of the creator of this, Live purposefully now.

10. The first half marathon I ran in my long distant marathoning career was organised by the Shri Chinmoy organisation, they fully believe in health: I’ll Never Find Another You.

11. It’s the Black Friday Sale today, your job is to buy nothing, just appreciate what you already have.

12. Gratitude, the new vision board: High Hopes.

13. A quiet Joy, Yummy!!!

14. How else could you, really: I Want It All.

15. For our final lesson, the expression Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs came up, google it.

Gratitude versus judgement, choose!!!

Today’s playlist is tres positive, as you would expect. A new to me Tauren Wells leads off, Two fine songstresses follow in the form of Natalie Merchant and Mariah Carey. Deva and Miten deliver a lengthy version of one of their classics which will have you singing along by the end. The Australian section of the list is from The Seekers. Something more modern with Panic at the Disco before we finish with Queen, I recently read Freddie died 29 years ago, OMG: God Gave You a Gift of $6400 Seconds Today!!!

My ethos for the world of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included counts on more and more gratitude happening across the planet. Remember you can get the blog in your inbox by signing up on the right-hand side of the main page, until we meet again, my dear friends.

You Can Never Go Back!!!

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Rod's World

After doing 9 transformational workshops in 2018 it has been a bit quiet on that front this year. Just my first stop year-long training Warriors of Love with the Essence School: For your edification up until now. I have completed a one-day vulnerability workshop and the amazing Awakening Connections. Level Two in the past two weeks. Both provided a new level of being alive. Here is the mission of Awakening Connections:

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?

Did they deliver on this, I would have to say FUCK YES in spades. For privacy reasons, even though as adults we did not have this agreement to reveal the contents of the course I will reveal the last practice at the end of this blog. But lets have a look at what society has said about the values of transformational experiences over time:

1. Yes, he is a chef, a quite famous one, but this so relates to our lives.

2. Have you seen that meme of the guy on the bike riding what we think life is like and the one below with the entangled ball of string that represents what life is truly like, this is saying the same thing, be courageous: Live Your Life.

3. Sir Richard’s take on it.

4. This was written quite a while ago, to me he is still speaking the truth: Free.

5. From the world’s best-known cardigan wearer comes this powerful statement on transformation.

6. I think it says Patti Smith, not sure: Because The Night.

7. My man Thich Nhat Hanh, you rock.

8. We discussed trust and safety quite a bit over the four days of the journey: Surrender.

9. Lot’s of Heart opening too.

10. I had the privilege of seeing one of the other participant’s souls, it was an ecstatic experience: Soul Sacrifice.

11. What is wonderful about this type of workshop is you can go the whole gamut of life from rage to silence and this is what is provided.

12. From ancient China is the offering of the whole world when it lands in your soul: We are the Champions.

13. Welcome to your new career, my fellow participants.

14. So here is a song that was played towards the end, not nearly loud enough. This song is meant to be so loud it rocks your soul: Lust for Life.

15. And for the final lesson, this is what transformational experiences do. It turns the numbness and the noise down. And you get to hear your soul’s passion.

On the final day, we gave up our old lives, asked our partner to hold our old fears, mine was: Will you hold my Neediness of and total mistrust of women, she accepted. We walked down the aisle and my new vows are:

I vow to stand in my power, I vow to be a legendary lover, I vow to do what it takes to get the job done, I vow to have an open heart at all times, I vow to let love in and I vow to be part of healing the planets pain schisms through spreading Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included across the Globe.

The playlist today begins in the now and then goes back to the past to some of the classic transformational anthems: We begin with T.I. and Rhianna, moving on to Rudimental and Emeli Sande. Patti Smith then rocks your world, back further to the king Elvis. Then we complete with two out of the final three tracks being my all-time favourites. Santana from Woodstock, Google it if you don’t know what Woodstock was, followed by Queen telling you who you are, then completing with Iggy Pop as we did on the final day, remember as loud as possible: You Can’t Go Back.

So if you get to create your vows in such a supportive bubble your life with be different from the moment you take them. Thank you so much, Alley, Shaney and Jared, we owe you big time. Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included.

There Is No House Like The House Of Belonging!!!

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Rod's World

We had a training day for my Warriors of Love yeat long training program yesterday, that’s Sunday for the rest of my readers who don’t live in Australia. Embarrassingly due to lack of sleep, I fell asleep twice in the theoretical section of the day. But towards the end of the day, we did an amazing exercise on Belonging – as in what was our belief’s that had us not fully belong in a group of over 30 people and what did we think was the core belief of the group that prevented it.

There was an amazing range of reasons offered, some people spoke easily, others did not comment at all. For myself, my bugbear “If they truly knew how unlovable I was they would hate me” was my offering. Others covered I am afraid to shine because I will be cut off at the knees too, I can’t bring all part of my life here. They were as many and varied and unique as the diverse individuals in the group.

When we moved on to the group ethos it tied into fear of what would our lives be like if we actually achieved this. The thought crossed my mind that my worrisome and sometimes anxious identity would have to die. So what has the world said about belonging, what stops or creates a sense of community, let’s have a look:

1. Who else could we start this with but a classic Brene Brown quote?

2. As children, we will try anything because everything is a new experience, and we belong to them all: Adventure of a Lifetime.

3. British film director Anthony Minghella powerfully states the control these thoughts have over us.

4. I totally get where actor James Caan is coming with this statement: Hey Ho.

5. Not just students: children, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, girlfriends, boyfriends, lovers, ex-lovers, etc. etc.

6. I think William should have called them the superpowers: Superpower.

7. Wonder (curiosity), self-discovery, problem-solving, interaction, exploration, and play—that’s what Bev Bos taught me. Reading and writing come after these approaches to learning are established. Children learn best when they can make their own choices and set their own goals.

8. The entertainment industry is featuring heavily in this blog, musician Tom Petty directs us towards our freedom spot: Freedom.

9. That’s how powerful your story is – speak kindly to yourself.

10. More Brene, Self Love 101: Love Myself.

11. And from outside Western civilization comes proof this is a worldwide search.

12. Being the daughter of famous parents may have something to do with this quote, Gail’s mother was Lena Horne: Stormy Weather.

13. Belonging has many different meanings.

14. Being the best or most extreme example of its kind. “the ultimate accolade”: Ultimate.

15. The final lesson for today is this image because I loved it so much.

I like adding one of my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff, who wrote 1000+ Little Things Happy Successful People Do Differently lists at the end of my blogs, I have found them extremely useful on my healing journey. Todays is entitled 10 TIMELESS lessons 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 Choice, 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 right.
You can become a magnet for good things by wishing everyone well.
Only you are in charge of your attitude.
Satisfaction is not always the fulfilment of what you want.

Today’s playlist features Rock, Rap and Pop Diva’s. We begin with the rock of Coldplay and the Lumineers. Beyonce and Hailee Steinfeld are split by a classic Woodstock anthem from Richie Havens. The penultimate song returns to the time of World War Two from Lena Horne and we finish with a grungey rap number from Denzel Curry: There Is No House Like the House of Belonging!!!

I was thinking as we were standing in the completion circle of our Belonging process that if we achieve this it would be possible for the whole planet to come from Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included, my heart shuddered. Remember if you enjoy reading my musings you can sign up to receive them on the right-hand side of my home page. Until we meet again on the airwaves, my dear friends.