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.