First You Dream, Then You Do!!!

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Rod's World

Had a busy weekend, attended a potluck 40th Friday evening, a commitment ceremony Saturday, and a Warrior of Love training day Sunday. This gave me a lot to choose from to write about. I have chosen to write about the growth conversation I had with a vital young thing at the potluck. She seemed to just be reaching out to begin her growth adventure but was not sure what direction to take. I gave her some of my worldly advice and left her with that. I suggested that life was about taking chances and seeing what worked out for her.

My friend Marc says the following: 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, 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.

Here are his 12 things to start caring about on your journey:

Start caring about your own happiness – It’s important to make people happy, but you have to start with yourself.
Start caring about your goals and dreams – If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders.
Start caring about how you invest your time every day – There might not be a tomorrow, not for everyone.
Start caring about how you think and what you think about – In your quiet moments, what do you think about?
Start caring about how you treat yourself – Your relationship with yourself is the closest and most important relationship you will ever have.
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.
Start caring about how others treat you – Choose your relationships wisely.
Start caring about your health – Exercise to be fit, not skinny.
Start caring about your education and personal growth – Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to personal growth.
Start caring about doing the best YOU can – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.
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.
Start caring about this moment we call ‘life’ – This moment is your life, don’t miss it.

So what have people said about their growth paths over the centuries, lets have a look:

1. This is when fear is a positive in your life.

2. Boats are not built to stay in safe harbours, neither are you: Around The World.

3. Audrey was much more than just a great actress, In December 1992, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

4. Best known for his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow calls out for us to choose growth and overcoming fear by moving forward again and again: Ours.

5. The knot explains a lot.

6. Will people come on aboard your form of contagious?: Fight Song.

7. We go back to the 18th Century for this powerful insight from the third POTUS.

8. How is your journey unfolding, don’t give your dreams up: Don’t Stop Believing.

9. A great word that hangs out with I’m Possible.

10. There are several quotes that say this, Boom!: To Live And Die In LA.

11. Its an inner and outer journey.

12. You can’t stay there anymore: Time to Grow.

13. Breathwork is very supportive on the journey I have found.

14. Our second POTUS for today’s blog: Happy Birthday, Mr President.

15. And for our final lesson, we hear from one of the world’s most powerful women . Ginni Rometty’s tenure as IBM’s CEO has been marked by noteworthy awards, including by Bloomberg’s 50 Most Influential People in the World, Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business”, Time‘s 20 Most Important People in Tech and Forbes’ America’s Top 50 Women In Tech.

Unfortunately, sometimes, just before you take your first step on the journey to pursue your dreams, people around you, even the ones who deeply care for you, will give you awful advice. It’s not because they have evil intentions. It’s because they don’t understand the big picture – what your dreams, passions and life goals mean to you. They don’t understand that, to you, the reward is worth the risk. Enjoy the Journey.

So as Steve Jobs said ” Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living within the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Today’s playlist features rock bands, pop divas and rap stars. We begin with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, then Taylor Swift and her fellow pop diva Rachel Platten. Journey next then over to rap land with Tupac and Lemar. We finish with Marilyn Monroe: First You Dream, Then You Do.

I was checking my stats recently, I spread my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included across 128 countries last year. I’m on a strong growth pattern to having it being the world paradigm. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

If You Focus On Change, You Will Get Results!!!

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Rod's World

I chose todays subject from a list of productivity questions called Productivity questions to make you think. There are nine of them, here they are:

What could you AVOID to improve your productivity?
What is WORSE, failing or never trying?
When it’s all SAID and DONE, will you have said more than you’ve done?
If not NOW, then when?
So far, what has been the primary FOCUS of your recent life?
What do you do when you feel like giving up?
What are you one step CLOSER to today than you were yesterday?
What PEOPLE and ACTIVITIES energize you?
What are you GLAD to quit?

You could spend the next month focusing on just one of them and in the resolution of it would transform your life, the one that calls to me is number 5 – So far, what has been the primary FOCUS of your recent life? My answer would have to be resolving the issues in my life that prevent me from having a partner. A little bit of history, my last serious relationship was just over ten years ago and when it broke up in less than pleasant circumstances I unconsciously made a decision that I am not going through that again and I will be single the rest of my life.

I discovered this after quite a bit of work on myself and have decided to cancel the request. Some opportunity has shown up but I still have a ways to go. So how has the world chosen to write about the focused life, here are some good ones:

1. Netflix, Netflix, Netflix!!!

2. You just have to love a great acronym: I’m Gonna Be.

3. There will always be obstacles, that is a given. It is how you handle them that will get you the outcome.

4. I used to play golf. To be any good you need extreme focus which I didn’t have: The Greatest.

5. Refer to the title of this blog.

6. People, Debts, Actions, it seems miraculous but focusing is like that, a real cleansing balm: I’m Falling Away.

7. Even in Ancient Greek time, it was a subject discussed by the great philosophers.

8. Much too cute not to include: Rabbit Song.

9. We move on from rabbits to dogs, both quotes point to the same thing.

10. I once said in a very drunken stupor to a wise woman friend that I was looking for a girlfriend. She said the same as this using different words. Sometimes hard to do when you are alone: Can’t Fight This Feeling.

11. From the world’s most well-known philosopher Ms Anonymous comes this piece of pure wisdom.

12. And here are the gifts you receive from choosing to focus: Lose Yourself.

13. And the other great philosopher, Mr Unknown.

14. We all know the noise that this is referring to, don’t we, the noise that lives in our head: Little Talks.

15. And our final lesson for the days lies in the heavily underlined word, your wants not what others want for you.

My friend Marc Chernoff writes: It is said that highly productive people recognize that not all hours are created equal, and they strategically account for this when planning their day. For most of us, our minds operate at peak performance in the morning hours when we are well-rested. So obviously it would be foolish to use this for a trivial task like reading emails. These peak performance hours should be 100 per cent focused on the tasks that bring you closer to your goals.

Today’s Focus playlist begins with the Proclaimers with that karaoke song. Sia is next then I feature an ad from Sprite. Boy and Bear lead a trio of male voices followed by REO Speedwagon and Eminem. We finish with Of Monsters and Men: If You Focus on Change, You Will Get Results!!!

I also focus on Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. If we related to each other from this paradigm, the world would be a different place. Remember, if you wish to receive these blogs in your mail, sign up on the right-hand side of the blog. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

Thoughts Give Joy When They Speak!!

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

5. Because it is so cute.

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

7. Past, Present, Future.

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

9. What nationality is that name, great quote…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A few of my Favourite Things!!

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Rod's World

It seems I have reached the limit of Facebook pages I can like, it’s 5,000, the same as Facebook friends you can have, But I have built a collection of my top 10 or 20 over the journey that I offer to the Booker Looker universe because I believe their posts make a difference. Some of them I have no idea how we connected and others were recommendations from friends. So I thought I would list them for you so that you have the opportunity to gain the knowledge they share across the airwaves:

Nicky Hamid: Spiritual dude from New Zealand. His words are full of the most love for the planet and its occupants I have found: Link to Nicky.
Luminita Savic, AKA Purpose Fairy: Her blog on 15 Things You Should Give Up to Be Happy went viral and she now appears on stages all around the world giving her worldly advice, one of the great list makers on the net: Link to Luminita.
Marc and Angel Hack Life – Practical Tips for Productive Living: After losing two very close people at an early age, Marc and Angel Chernoff began to write about the experience in a blog which has turned into their latest book becoming a New York Times bestseller, to me the most useful meme and list makers on the net.: Hack Life.
Brian Johnston at Optimize: made millions in the IT industry then went to Bali to read every book worth reading. Does a six-page PDF and 20 minute audio on the big ideas from each book, For those who are time poor but love new knowledge for $10 a month you get 5 new books, best ten bucks I spend: The Books.
Katherine Woodward Thomas: Katherine writes a daily mini blog on relationships and life. They are incredibly insightful, they are called Love out Loud Daily: Katherine’s link.
Dane Tomas: Creator of a revolutionary clearing method called the Spiral, Dane is my go-to man on all things in regards to sexuality, you may find some of his stuff abrasive but its worth the journey: Dane Live.
Amrit Sandhu: This is actually a blog called Inspired Revolution. You will not meet a man more enthusiastic about life than my friend Amrit. He interviews inspiring people who give you a lift everytime you listen. Here’s Amrit.
Mastin Kipp: My version of Tony Robbins. I first came across Mastin when he had a blog called The Daily Love which used to have the best quotes and guests. He had 700,000 followers but shut it down when he realised that coaching was his true destiny: Live Your Purpose.
Elephant Journal: Numerous pages on Health, humour sustainability. It costs $108 for life but is worth the investment: Elephants Pages.
Ari Amala: Another friend, her poetry is so beautiful and touches my heart every time. I told her she reminds me of Maya Angelou when she reads it: Access Ari and her words of Beauty.
Dannielle LaPorte: I use her daily planner and have for five years. Uber insightful Canadian, lots of free stuff including at the moment her Flagship Book, The Desire Map: My Favourite Canadian
Madysn Taylor: DailyOm, always a great read on a wide variety of subjects: Here’s Madyson.

So that covered Facebook and the net, but what does society say about a few of our favourite things, let’s have a look:

1. What more love can you offer in a gift than actually creating it yourself.

2, My friends who have been there said the uniqueness of its people is one of the reasons New York is their favourite place: New York, New York.

3, Money you can get back, time is gone forever, us it wisely.

4. Don’t know who Terry Gross is, but with 29,000 songs on my Itunes and Spotify, I plead guilty to this: My Favourite Things.

5. And then there is all of life.

6. The good bits and the so-called bad bits, put down the umbrella’s my friends: Satisfy My Soul.

7. All dancing and singing ones do it for me.

8. Reading Oliver’s name I instantly think of his book with the quirky title The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: Toccata and Fugue.

9. Shared.

10. Who knows what may be generated by having a cup of coffee at your favourite cafe: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

11. Who’s your favourite voice.

12. I love it, Life as a happy accident: Happy Accidents.

13. At 17, Coelho’s introversion and opposition to following a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. His life story reads like the title of his most popular book, The Alchemist.

14. Education goes both ways, the student and the teacher are changed by each interaction: Teach Your Children Well.

15. And finally, a recipe to start a few of your Favourite Things with.

In her excellent book, Love Out Loud: Contact Nicole., Nicole Gibson recalls a quote from a friend “Stand In Love, Don’t Fall In Love”, I think this sums up the power of a Few of our Favourite Things very well.

On the playlist, we return to a few previous centuries to fill in the mix today. Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane, Bob Marley and Bach lead off. Then a classic from a great OZ band, The Waifs. We finish with two artists new to me, Saint Motel and the duo Suzzy Bogguss & Kathy Mattea: A Few of My Favourite Things.

My Favourite thing is Interculturalism: So remember to show Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included until next time we meet my dear friends.

Nature is Fine, but Human Nature is Finer!!

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Rod's World

Humans and Connection, what we search for on an ongoing and daily basis. All elements of society have shifted profoundly in my lifetime. Almost all of them have shifted in one direction – away from the normal and directly towards the weird.

These words come from Seth Godin’s little masterpiece of a book, We are All Weird, The Rise of Tribes and the end of Normal. He states that Creation is amplified: Publish a book or sell a painting or customise your car or design a house – whatever your passion, it’s easier to do it, it’s faster to do it, and it’s more likely that (part of) the world will notice what you do. The ability to reach and change those around you has been changed forever by the connections of the Internet and the fact that anyone, anywhere can publish to the world.

Seth also says that because you can find others who share your interests, weird is perversely becoming more normal, at least in the small tribes that we’re now congregating in. The community you choose can be a mirror and an amplifier, furthering your interests and encouraging you to push even further. The internet connects and protects the weird bt connecting and amplifying their tribes.

So how have we looked at human connection over the decades, here’s a few quotes that give us some idea:

1. I am in a program called the Warriors of Love. We recently looked at Resonance, when you are at your lowest, what you need is the above, not statements like Just Do It.

2. Brene is such a genius in these areas, A state that will always be part of my journey until they put me in the ground: Courage, Compassion and Connection.

3. I am so glad that I have recently found several events that are based on people meeting in a circle and sharing their stories with each other. This is a profound way to break through the fear people have of others knowing who we really are when the masks have been removed.

4. Married to one of the worlds wealthiest men, Melinda and Bill have discovered that making more money a second than some countries do does not fulfil you, your connectedness with others on the planet is where the inspiration comes from: Better Place.

5. And a little more from Melinda on the power of human connection.

6. Taking time to commune with the power of nature adds to our ability to connect to the 7 billion inhabitants that hang around on her: Earth Song.

7. Animals seem to like hanging out with each other. They do not analyse why they love each other as nearly as much as the human race.

8. Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. His best-selling book Man’s Search for Meaning (published under a different title in 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism, and initially released in 1946 as Trotzdem Ja Zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, meaning Nevertheless, Say “Yes” to Life: A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp) chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most brutal ones, and thus, a reason to continue living: Survival.

9. To me beautiful art does not necessarily mean paint on canvas, it can be words, hugs, baking, servitude, many different things.

10. AKA, you and I are unique: Human.

11. It’s the moment when you find the answer to contentment isn’t just internal or external but a balance of both.

12. Who makes up the people in your life, category one or two: Delicate.

13. The Pet Owners eulogy.

14. From the loinclothed one, comes an excellent point as to what it takes to make the world an unwelcome place: What a Wonderful World.

15. Amit Ray teaches the importance of integrating yoga, mindfulness and positive approach towards life. His words and teachings are popular and inspire people across the world. Regarding yoga, he says that yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, the science of youthfulness, the science of integrating body, mind and soul. He advocates for creating peace and positive vibration on earth. He emphasises that it does not matter how long we are spending on earth, or how much money we have gathered or how much attention we have received. According to him, it is the amount of positive vibration we have radiated in life that matters. He emphasises the value of family. According to Amit, there is no better example for a child than a caring mother and a dignified father.

Only wealthy organisms are able to culturally diversify, and as human beings get richer and more productive, our instinct is to get even weirder. As productivity has skyrocketed, so has our ability to do what we’d like instead of merely focusing on survival. Standing out takes, time, money and confidence. More of us have all three now.

The playlist today begins with some excellent insight from Brene Brown, then a pop diva in Rachel Platten. Michael Jackson delivers one of his more obscure numbers, then an explicit number from Eminem. The beautiful voices of Rag and Bone Man and Taylor Swift follow ending off with Louis Armstrong. Here’s the Youtube playlist: Nature is Fine, But Human Nature is Finer.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Sunset is still my favourite Colour!!

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Rod's World

There is a poem towards the back of The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss called the Slow Dance written by child psychologist David L. Weatherford, it goes like this:

The Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight? Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down, Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?

When you ask: How are you? Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in bed

With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

Ever told your child, We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste, not seen their sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time to call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere, You miss half the fun of getting there

When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race. Do take it slower.

Hear the music Before the song is over.

Timothy talks about busyness being one of the major causes of stress and the enemy of the new rich, the four hour week workers whose lives are about living for fulfilling their dreams, dancing through life. So I have chosen some dancing quotes to look at hearing the music before the song is over:

1. I hear their reply when I ask, How are you because my heart is open from the dance of life.

2. Don’t let those hundred chores that need to be done in your head forget how much you and your friends would dance to the music and the not music when you were little: Safety Dance.

3. We have all met that person who makes us break our rules, often more than one on our lifetimes.

4. Not sure what the difference is, they say perfectionism is its own worst enemy: Let’s Dance.

5. I like doing it with another soul so all that exists are our two hearts beating as one.

6. I love this image of the dog leaping in pure ecstasy, who gives a fuck how it looks if it fully expressed: Dancing Fool.

7. Always remember what had you take up the dance in the first place, the joy and freedom.

8. Before enlightenment, take one step then another. After enlightenment and success, take one step and then another: How Far I’ll Go.

9. To me, dancing is about the expressive bits, not the steps that make it up.

10. My 90 year old mother said to me she would like me to lose some weight. I am 63 and over 100 kg again, and yes, I am a dancer: Better when I am Dancing.

11. I just took part in Dancing Freedom’s 21 day dancing challenge. You got sent 10 to 20 minutes music to dance to everyday. The only space I really have in my flat is the kitchen and the back yard.

12. I dance on dance floors where speech is not optional, we are there to dance, we are all quiet: Can’t stop this Feeling.

13. Not the slow dance, these times are special.

14. Don’t mess with a dancer, we are tough as nails and sweet and kind all in one: Shake It Off.

15. And this is what the poem is about, the Heart.

Doing the slow dance is like turning off the noise. Surprisingly the world doesn’t end and you end up being liberated in a way few people ever know. During this time follow the koan – If you don’t have attention, you don’t have time.

Namaste until next time my dear friends:

Change always comes bearing Gifts!!

Posted on September 7, 2017 by Rod's World

” People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives: J. Michael Straczynski

Wayne Dyer said all excuses are misalignment. Words like “difficult,” “risky,” “can’t,” “too weak,” “too dumb” and “too complicated” do not apply to the divine mind. I urge you to reharmonize with energy that can do anything and everything, for this is your original nature. The title I chose is based on my mentor’s statement that everything is a gift, that we just choose which one to assess as positive versus negative. Yet everything that happens to us gives us an opportunity to look at our dreams and how it affects them and what are we meant to learn from it on the path to them.

So why does society love making excuses, what does it say about this maligned practice that holds us back, let’s take a journey:

1. My friend Emeli runs workshops to get people to discover their Why in life, she says that until you have discovered this that your what you do will never truly satisfy you.

2. Which side of the coin do you live by?: Come and get It.

3. Choose the coloured path, It’s where your dreams live.

4. Get that crayon out and cross those excuses off your list of thoughts for the day, let’s go: I’ve got no Excuses.

5. A prime example of when there is a cost when excuses take over from the original intent.

6. Actions deliver, words do not. They quickly become excuses and lies if the actions do not match them: Bring me to Life.

7. It’s time to stop saying I would if…….

8. Miraculously every person has the same 24 hours in a day, what you get done totally goes down to what matters to you and how hard you are willing to fight for it: No Matter What.

9. Another way of saying it is, Fake it until you make It.

10. Dreams have a beginning , a journey , and a completion. We should not assume that it is going to be a smooth journey the whole way: Ain’t no mountain high Enough.

11. They are called your dreams, that’s why they live in your heart.

12. Remove these excuses from your vocabulary and your dreams will have a chance: Get Up, Stand Up.

13. The world’s greatest philosopher, Unknown reminds us to return to the source when the doubts creep in.

14. The longer you keep saying it and not delivering with your actions, the greater the chance of this happening becomes: Little Lies.

15. Earl Nightingale was an American radio speaker and author, dealing mostly with the subjects of human character development, motivation, excellence and meaningful existence. Nightingale was the author of The Strangest Secret, which economist Terry Savage has termed “…one of the great motivational books of all time“.

So how will you pass your time, going for your dreams, or listening to the reasons why not? It’s your choice in the end.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Time, not just Money!!!

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Rod's World

Let’s say you’re moving to a new house interstate. To help you out one of your friends pay for the moving company. A very generous offer worth $5,000. another friend comes to your house and helps you pack the boxes, load the truck, travel with you to the new house, unload and unpack the boxes. Two weeks later, both friends need a favour on the same day. Who would you be inclined to help, the one who wrote a cheque or the one who committed time and energy?

Unlike the time and effort people put into something, it is what money represents that give it value. The cost of something is relevant to what people place on it whereas time cannot be given back. There are 2 million dollar watches and 10 dollar watches that both do the same job, possibly made with a process that took approximately the same time. How many times have you been in a meeting thinking, I will never get this time back.

So what has society said about the value of time versus money, lets delve into it:

1. People don’t come around to your place to look at your possessions, they come to exchange stories of the great times that you spent together, your experiences.

2. If you lock them up in the kennel , and only bring them out to show them off as an asset, no tail wagging: I Love My Dog.

3. It’s what you focus on that gets the money rolling in, how you spend your time.

4. We don’t go on and on about the time that some one gave us lots of money, the money soon is not there. But that time we were feeling suicidal and you held our hand all night, now, thats a different matter: Hold my Hand.

5. Remarkably the only thing that is always there is you, not your money, your friends. It depends on how you direct your life that makes it work out or not.

6. There are many meanings for prosperity such as wealth, success, profitability, affluence, riches, opulence, the good life, (good) fortune, ease, plenty, welfare, comfort, security, well-being; nowhere does it just say money: Prosperity.Yeha-Noha.

7. A car cannot love you.

8. Why are there so many books compared to museums. Simply put, people like stories that entertain, not things that people collected: Love Story.

9. What children remember, not the toys.

10. The big Tones take on it: you can’t get more time: Invest in Yourself.

11. Two ultra rich musicians recently took their own lives, they were not happy because they were ultra-rich.

12. Bhutan is a country that measures their gross happiness product, not their gross domestic product. Guess which country has the highest well being: Happy.

13. Better known as the advice columnist Dear Abbey, this quote would have been written in the 1950’s or 60’s. I think it is far more relevant in our instant gratification days that we now live in.

14. What should come first is your vision for life, not your bank balance. Fulfilling your vision means you are living life on your terms: Live your Life.

15. Love does not carry a price tag, remember this daily.

Why do we call a business a “company” – because it is a collection of people in the company of other people. it’s the company that matters.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

You cannot Lose Something you Are!!

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Rod's World

Apologies for being a day late, I was putting my computer in a drawer at the reception at work as I was going to lunch and the office was locked when I found my copy of The Universe has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein. I opened it to a page that had an affirmation on it:

“I recognize I have chosen wrongly, I forgive this thought, and I choose again. I choose Love”

It is from a chapter called Oneness sets you Free, surrendering to the Holy Instant. What would life be like if we lived it in oneness, not duality? Many great philosophers have made comment on this subject, let’s have a look at what they say.

As you can’t read it clearly this is what Albert said A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

2. Love Ram Dass, (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931)He is an American spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach via his website: Be Here Now.

3. Such a beautiful way of looking at Life. Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, if you have ever heard him speak you know that he lives his life this way.

4. When I was a runner I used to run the Shri Chinmoy half marathons in Melbourne. The organizers were some of the most open-hearted people I have come across: Open my Heart.

5. Remember those nights you were in the outback staring at the milky way realizing that you were an insignificant drop in a massive universe that you could not exist without, this talks to that.

6. Oneness is very simple: everything is included and allowed to live according to its true nature. This is the secret that is being revealed, the opportunity that is offered. How we make use of this opportunity depends upon the degree of our participation, how much we are prepared to give ourselves to the work that needs to be done, to the freedom that needs to be lived: Individuality.

7. Now, this is a difficult state to reach given what the media serve up to us on a daily basis.

8. In all this oneness, we have special moments. We call them Love, for George: Careless Whispers.

9. I write a daily Love Meme every day, often using a heart symbol. It represents to me what makes us all one.

10. Why did you turn left instead of right and run into your beloved? Because in our lives there are no random occurrences even though we often complain they happened: Safe.

11. We are all Starseed, the mountains, the seas, Us.

12. I once saw this man pour sand out of his hands. He could shift your concept of what was so. If you were willing to believe it was a different thing: Divinity.

13. Each of us has the divine masculine and the divine feminine within us. They need each other but must operate as one to be effective.

14. Quantum Physics has argued for this since its concept, unfortunately, our eyes cannot see the closing scene from the Matrix: Lose Yourself to Dance.

15. And in Oneness Everything is a Gift, even that.

Another practice from Gabrielle’s book is Let go of the shadow of the past by seeing someone for the first time with the eyes of love. So let’s recognize the other person is you.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Don’t Squander Joy!!

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Rod's World

I went along to watch a friend do her graduation performance at a transformational program she had been participating in called The Voices Of. In it, Ally embraced the voices of her INNER CHILD, INNER WISDOM, FEAR, SHADOW, DO-ER & DREAMER, she had come to find her TRUE VOICE. It was one of the most joyous evenings I have been to in a long time. Here’s a link to the website for it if you wish to know more: Voices of Movement.

It made me think about what brings you joy in my life. Is it music, sex, food? There are many ways to feel it, let’s have a look at what they say about it:

1. From the author of the iconic novels Treasure island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson points to the fact joy is a feeling, not something that can be truly expressed in words.

2. Joy is a choice we must make daily, I made it last night by attending Ally’s graduation. To experience it today I must continue to choose it: I Choose You.

3. Can’t you feel it bubbling up just wanting to burst through, have a joyous day!!

4. Get out your fishing net of love, there is a soul full of joy waiting for you: Heart Full of Soul.

5. How do you have joy occur in your life, you focus on the things that make you feel that way.

6. What do you hold as holy, what keeps you warm and aglow? For me it’s music and blogging: Eternal Flame.

7. Your life is not somewhere to get to, It is a journey. Finding joy in that will make for a more enjoyable one.

8. It doesn’t change who you are when you get to your goal. If you are not joyful on the way there don’t expect it will change miraculously when you achieve it: Joyful Journey.

9. Until his final years, Wagner’s life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre.

10. One of my favourite writers Wayne Dyer reminds us that we knew this when we came into the world, so how did it become something that we have to battle for as we get older: Be Natural.

11. If you lead a life of gratitude for the simple things joy will flourish in your life on a daily basis.

12. This is a list of joyful events I attempt to practice daily because it certainly would be a case of Incredible Joy: Singing In The Rain.

13. Joy is not a destination , it’s a state of being. There is a borough named Mount Joy in Pennsylvania though.

14. Thich Nhat Hanh says some mightily obtuse things at times. You will always get a huge amount from them. This song came up next on Youtube, I think it defines joy appropriately: A Spoonful of Sugar.

15. From the world’s most prodigious and famous philosopher, Anon. comes the reminder that when you are giving joy it cannot help but stick to you as well.

So joy is available in your life, if you want it to be, I say don’t squander the opportunities day by day.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.