Standing In the Lovelight!!

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Rod's World

My friend Jo Jo posts a wish that people stand for Love each day, it’s because that’s who she is for life. The title of this blog comes from my favourite Jo Jo song: JO JO at her best.

What turns on your Love Light. There are 7 billion versions of this on the planet, I recommend that you find the people who have similar reasons as yourself, as my friend Jeffrey Slayter says , go and find the Others. Don’t look for those who will not understand yours.

I have crossed diverse areas of peoples Lovelights in the 15 quotes I have chosen to look at where society has gone with this. Let us begin our journey:

1. As Jo Jo sings we are standing in the Love Light all the time, must be the season for it if you choose it.

2. Unfortunately at times the Love Light gets shattered by the irresponsible actions of a greedy few and an event called war takes place. It is then up to our children to say enough, this is now what we were put on the planet for.

3. There was a slightly better known band that Jo Jo who did a song about this subject as well, here it is : Sweden’s go at it! I prefer the Australian one.

4. All the external lights: street light, candle light, and even the light from the moon and the stars does not come anywhere near the power of the inner light of love. It makes you tremble and shudder with vitality and joy.

5. If we could just provide the energy required from the love we have for each other when we first arrive on the planet. Because that is what we are, Pure Love, then the question of alternative energy would be solved out right.

6. Must have been dancing in the Lovelight when I chose this one. Beautiful image of the power of it.

7. People often say they fall in Love, I say they find it as it is ever present in the form of light. We just need to look harder for self love and sacred love.

8. Driving the car to the stressful job does not feel like love to many, but get the mind out of the way of the heart and the light shines through.

9. One of the strongest examples of this for me was in the ancient Russian city of Leningrad the year before the wall the day came down with a young submariner. We both could not speak each others language but found entering each others Lovelight irresistible.

10. David Oman McKay was an American religious leader and educator who served as the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving from 1951 until his death. He believed in the LoveLight.

11. Gede Prama is a long student on peace. He began his childhood by communing with symbolical Guru in one of old village in north Bali. Later on when he learned from the life stories of many maha siddha (the enlightened), he began to understand his spiritual experience in childhood. This last experience then enriched by meditating, reading, researching and personal meeting with some of world wide spiritual Gurus like HH Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Karen Armstrong.

Scholarship enables Gede Prama to continue his postgraduate study to England and France. Hard work makes Gede Prama was appointed as CEO (chief executive officer) of a large corporation at the age of 38. And one year later he left behind all luxuries of corporate world then begin a journey of serving. To serve people on the path of peace.

12. Lighten the dark regions of your inner world. Denying them does not produce light but stress. Going on an acceptance journey allows for new Essences to grow in their place.

13. Sue Fitzmaurice is a coach, a very great one from New Zealand, here is her story

My purpose in life is to teach, research, coach and write about purpose. It’s what I love and it’s what I’m good at. It took a while to figure out that that was my thing – I spent a good few years chasing my tail, chasing money, achievements, status, and a few other things that had both negative and positive outcomes but all of which led me to here.

I hope in some small way I can inspire others to be all they can be and to reveal their own purpose in this world, with some nourishment for the heart, mind and soul.

Despite intolerance of all kinds around us I believe we are all One, that Love and Light underlie our humanity, and when we can understand and open to it, we will cease harming each other and our planet.

For most of us it takes most of our lives to figure it out, and each day is another step up the mountain.

14. When will we learn to light our Love Lights, they definitely don’t do it at school. In fact one could say they specialise in putting them out.

15. And as we do Jo Jo, the last one is send out as much Love Light as we can each day, because that is what will make the difference in the end. The work of the Natural Mystic.

So my purpose was to shine some Love Light on the lives of people who manage to read this and hope they pass it on to their beloved, family and friends

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends

There was No Peace!!

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Rod's World

One of the things I do is tutor refugees who need to Improve their English. At the moment I have very two different students. One was born in a refugee camp in India 25 years ago, yes thats right, she had been in a refugee camp 25 years. Then she was put in three detention centres by our government before being released. She has lived in a free community 4 months of her young life. The other is a doctor who was on the council of the capital city of the nation she comes from , I asked her why she left. Her reply was poignant , there is no peace Teacher, she calls me teacher. I have a sense they will both be great citizens of our country given what they have been through.

I have been thinking about that statement , there is no peace since, what truly gives us peace, is our nation of Australia we live in relative peace from war but to a lot of people They do not feel so, ramping up the threat to our nation. So I have chosen 15 wide ranging statements about peace to comment on the subject.

1. That great philosopher Unknown comes up with on of the most powerful definitions to my mind, peace belongs in our heart not the physical surrounds that we are in.

2. Peace has a few allies in making the world a better place, I love the last one Everybody not just us, no hate, no war.

3. Maura is 9, with more people of her age thinking like that I give Peace a Chance, Join in with John and Yoko.

4. Be in the Now, that is where peace lives, I resist this a lot. Need to read The Power of Now again.

5. Robert Brault is a writer of forty years standing, he points to the fact where our peace really lives, within.

6. We have all seen those silly cartoons with aliens looking on as there are explosions all over our world. Silly or Not?

7. One of the world’s great peace activists, a man who lead a nation to freedom peacefully, hits the spot with this one. Makes me think of Cat’s Peace Train.

8. A disturbing image with a powerful message. Yes its up to you to be a Rider of the Storm

9. MLK, in my favourite top ten speakers, I listen to him regularly, his passion for peace was extraordinary.

10. To one of the young things who have replaced Martin Luther King, the youngest recipient and possibly the most deserving winner of the Nobel Peace prize. Malala speaks the words of peace for her generation.

11. Closer and closer, the world is becoming a smaller place, may we use the words above in our recipe.

12. I’m sure each parent wishes this for that bundle of joy they hold in their arms as they raise them with love. A question though, How does war replace this scene later in Life?

13. One of John Lennon’s more obscure Peace quotes, but a chance to listen to You’re not the only One.

14. Yes a cute dog photo peace quote, works for me. Who is Antsy McClain, watch this: Living in Aliminium.

15. And finally a Sacred Meditation to complete with, may there be peace in your life and the world.

Namaste until next Thursday my dear friends.

Migrant or Refugee?

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Rod's World

I went to my friend Kavisha Mazzella’s first solo art exhibition yesterday and she sang a song of her nonna’s story. Her grandmother was a refugee from Burma who had to flee when the Japanese started bombing and invading Burma and the Anglo Burmese had to flee the invasion. Here is the song: Fisherman’s Daughter.

It made me think how you become a refugee , the previous century had two world wars that saw many nationalities in the European sector become refugees and this century has seen more Asian, middle eastern and African countries due to civil wars and invasion by western countries.

What did the world do and what will it continue to do with these people who have suffered having to flee their own homeland because they have no other option.

The 15 quotes I have chosen cover statements about and people who have experienced being a refugee, let us begin the journey:

1. This pope has to keep reminding us that migrants and refugees are actually human beings as well , mothers fathers, sons , daughters , uncles and aunties as some nations have started to forget.

2. Each of us come on to the planet as a bouncing baby, some healthier than others, but none of us are illegal.

3. Communication between nations or Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included would solve many of the problems that occur when people are branded migrant or refugee. I have created a Facebook Page to assist this to happen : Interculturalism.

4. On the page I talk about above I posted a quote that says if you call your self a christian or a muslim or an Italian or English you are being violent. On of you do not say you are from a particular religion or country are you not because you are owning being a human being totally. These flags above represent what is one of the major problems migrants and refugees face.

5. We can never tell what our journey will contain, unfortunately for the migrant and refugee the struggle is much more difficult than those who live in the country they are fleeing to.

6. For many of the families in my country of Australia, this is how they arrived, with one suitcase each. They made a successful life for their families from this difficult beginning.

7. One of the difficulties forced on migrants and refugees is that they must become …….., the question to be asked of the nation saying that is would your citizens do it if the situation was reversed and you were the Other.

8. We have all seen pictures of refugees camps and people crossing dangerous oceans in boats. Why do we wonder then when these same people make such wonderful citizens after putting up with these treacherous journeys to get to a safer country to call home.

9. This is a very broad statement, we probably do it to our own family at times, so how do we do this to people from countries we know very little about. Take the time to get to know people, especially new arrivals to your country.

10. This is what mainstream media forget when they place labels on people fleeing danger in their own countries. It is normally a label that has caused them to leave.

11. Tshibanda Gracia Ngoy fled tribal conflict in 2005 from Nigeria. In 2012 she was a finalist in the NSW Young Australian of the Year and a member of the NSW Multicultural Youth Network. A commerce and communications degree student at Wollongong University, Gracia Ngoy is also a caseworker for refugee families, a youth motivational speaker and a member of the Illawarra Regional Advisory Council and the NSW Multicultural Youth Network. Gracia, who speaks five languages, arrived in Australia with her family in 2005 after fleeing tribal conflict in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo. After settling in Wollongong, she took up an offer of free homework tutoring, simultaneously signing up as a mentor for others. An accredited freelance journalist, Gracia recently published her first book entitled A Little Recipe for Success which aims to inspire young people to live successful, fulfilled and purposeful lives. She has also written numerous articles aimed at breaking down cultural barriers between her native Congo and Australia. Awarded the prestigious Australian Young People’s Human Rights Medal, Gracia was also named 2010 Wollongong Young Citizen of the Year. Drawing on the wisdom of personal experience, Gracia is determined to help the ‘many people living shattered lives who have been tied up by their past experiences and challenges.’

12. What you let your government get away with when dealing with members of their citizenship, especially their migrants and refugees build the future way you are treated as well.

13. This man is considered one of our greatest minds to have ever lived on the planet, he was a refugee.

14. António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres, born 30 April 1949) is a former Portuguese politician who was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He also served for a time as President of the Socialist International. He served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. This is what he say about accusing refugees of being terrorists.

15. This has been forgotten in our country, in fact we call them illegal and take away their rights to live as a human being saying they do not have a right to live here and send them to gulags.

So my request is that you spend time getting to know the migrants and refugees in your country. Only then will we realise that they are fellow human beings not terrorists. Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Pay as you Feel or Donate, its all Giving.

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Rod's World

I wanted to write todays blog on the pay as you feel ethos, there is a chain of restaurants in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia called Lentil as Anything who do just that, you eat there and pay what you can afford. There are not many pay as you feel quotes so I have had to move over to what it is to donate or give of our time.

I give a lot of the little money I have that I can afford to give. I support guide dogs as I have a blind friend, I support Green peace and several other organisations who do good stuff around the planet and volunteer my time as well as an English teacher and a Social media nerd.

I have chosen 15 quotes that i think will allow for some interesting comment. Here we go:

1. I have a friend Emeli who runs an organisation called Collective Potential whose target audience is corporate types who have realised that the $100,000 job does not provide the satisfaction they are looking for. Frankly they never do.

2. At least several times in out lives the chance will come to make a difference to someone. I once met a person in the street who told me that I wouldn’t remember him because he used to be a drug addict but that I had saved his life in the way I had treated him as a human being and not a number when I worked for the government welfare agency. He was right, I didn’t.

3. What makes the greatest difference, the child talking to the homeless man who has not spoken to someone in five days or the millionaire making a six figure tax deductible donation. I know which one does for me.

4. Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions. Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, describes the ordeal. She certainly lived the meaning of the above quote.

5. As the example of the person I met in the street who said I had saved his life thorough my actions and that of children who talk to strangers like they know the person needs love these are both moments of the above.

6. This man is a frigging saint, enough said.

7. Can I put a Dolly Parton song in this blog , yes I can : Put a little Love IN Your Heart.

8. What would it take to make a statement like this. Anne Frank was a teenage jewish Schoolgirl hiding from the Nazi’s who wrote the Diaries of a Young Girl which was made into the iconic film The Diary of Anne Frank, she did not survive.

9. Sir Ken Robinson has done four TED talks on the danger of rigid education. He points out if you buy into the mainstream you will not know how to give your gifts to the planet, they will be drained out of you.

10. In the United states there are over 100,000 people waiting for live saving organs, why do we get buried intact when we could just as easily save another’s life. I don’t think your God would notice the difference.

11. There are people who are worshipped for what they gave in their lifetimes, this man is one of them, and yes we killed him as well.

12. What every person thinks who this happens for, they may not be able to say it physically or mentally.

13. It is always valued by someone, at times you will be rewarded in person, in other times it may be your next lifetime, if you believe in that sort of thing.

14.The Tao Te Ching, Daodejing, Dao De Jing, or Daode jing, also simply referred to as the Laozi, is a Chinese classic text. According to tradition, it was written around 6th century BC by the sage Laozi, a record-keeper at the Zhou dynasty court, by whose name the text is known in China. The text’s true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated, although the oldest excavated text dates back to the late 4th century BC. It is full of wisdom like this.

15. The great Buddhist concept of compassion as spread by the Dalai Lama is well spoken in this quote by Steve Maraboli, the worlds most quoted man.

Will the people who are the givers of the world withstand the attack of the takers,is it really the beginning of the Age of Aquarius as is being promoted on the internet, I hope so.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Trusting in Allowing!!

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Rod's World

I read an article from the Goddess Circle which started with this quote :

“My daughter,” the Goddess said. “The sooner we release the grip on what is no longer serving us, what no longer fits and what is no longer in alignment with our highest good, the sooner what is meant for us can flow into our world. The sooner you let go of a life that isn’t yours, you open yourself to one that is.”

It made me think of how what we allow in our life can control how it turns out, here is the full article, its very good, Trusting.

So what does to allow or allowing mean here is one dictionaries definition.Expand

allow

/əˈlaʊ/

verb

(transitive) to permit (to do something); let

(transitive) to set aside: five hours were allowed to do the job

(transitive) to let enter or stay: they don’t allow dogs

(transitive) to acknowledge or concede (a point, claim, etc)

(transitive) to let have; grant: he was allowed few visitors

(intransitive) foll by for. to take into account: allow for delays

(intransitive) often foll by of. to permit; admit: a question that allows of only one reply

(transitive; may take a clause as object) ( US, dialect) to assert;maintain

(transitive) ( archaic) to approve; accept

Word Origin

C14: from Old French alouer, from Late Latin allaudāre to extol, influencedby Medieval Latin allocāre to assign, allocate.

So as we can see there are many different meraning, actually there are probably as many different meanings as there are human beings on the planet.

There were many different quotes, I have chosen some serious ones and a few light hearted ones to explore, lets begin out journey.

1. Dodinsky is the author of the NY Times best-selling book IN THE GARDEN OF THOUGHTS. His intent was simply to share his reflections about life in order to help heal the wounds inflicted by life’s troubles. At the time, the man known by his readers as Dodinsky had no idea that within months of starting his blog In The Garden of Thoughts, thousands of readers would find healing through the modest words he planted. Don’t allow your most beautiful dreams to become homeless. Dodinsky’s website.

2. In alllowing the reverence of gratitude in our lives, this allows for the possibility of any single moment to transform how we relate to life.

3. Possibly Mark Twain’s most famous quote. Do you put self love at the top of your list, as your priority. This allows you to realise when you are an option in someone else’s life. My suggestion is to walk away.

4. Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. He lives in Plum Village in the Dordogne region in the south of France, travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. His chief message is don’t allow the suffering in your life to keep you from being happy.

5. What does kindness allow in life. According to Mark Twain it is universal and does not have to be spoken as the deaf can hear it and the blind can see it.

6. Allowing or Attracting, as this quote points out it is always there so it is better to allow it than attract it, controversial I might say.

7. Tony Gaskins is a motivational speaker, author and life coach. Having appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tyra Banks Show and TBN’s 700 Club, Gaskins has become one of the most sought after speakers in the US. I like this quote a lot, it is very powerful.

8. But what if this happens, or they don’t turn up. Complaints don’t make a great deal of difference, Stop allowing it in your life or letting it happen is a more positive solution.

9. We reflect in our lives what we put in to the mix. From my experience of mental health issues where I held on steadfastly to my negative beliefs I have to agree with this one. I am so much healthier now that I have taken the time to do things that help me counter the effects of this.

10. Perhaps the most famous song about Allowing is the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil. This quote points out the danger of allowing our corporations who are driven by the almighty dollar have too much influence, Monsanto and Nestle come to mind, one trying to control the world food industry, the other the worlds water supply.

11. I like this quote, we will all make mistakes, its just part of the human condition. The Art in life is learning which one to move forward with and turn it into our Art.

12. As hard as we try, we cannot avoid feeling insulted, attacked and taken for granted at some stage in out lives. When this occurs you must allow yourself forgiveness or events that happened on the past will keep controlling how you relate to current time.

13. Esther Hicks is an American inspirational speaker and author. She has co-authored nine books with her husband Jerry Hicks, presented numerous workshops on the law of attraction with Abraham Hicks. Here she talks about Allowance being as a result of appreciation. Here is their theme song ,If you want it, It can Happen.

14. Here is the light hearted one which has a slight dig at Facebook, you can stare at people with out getting caught.

15. Who doesn’t want inner peace, renowned Buddhist practitioner Pema Chodron points out not allowing other people or events to control your emotions is the middle path to achieving this.

What do you allow to control your life, your family, your friends, your thoughts, to me it is a life long journey and is something you need to spend time on daily as we are influenced by what we come in contact with moment to moment.

Namaste until Thursday my dear friends. Happy Allowing.

Go back to where you came From!!

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Rod's World

My country made a sad decision today, it legalised the right to keep children who were born in this country in prison camps on remote islands where known cases of child abuses take place because their parents are supposedly illegal refugees.

What does this word refugee mean, the definition of it is quite clear:

According to the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees [PDF], as amended by its 1967 Protocol (the Refugee Convention), a refugee is a person who is:

outside their own country and
has a well-founded fear of persecution due to his/ her race, religion, nationality, member of a particular social group or political opinion, and is
unable or unwilling to return.

Yet we in our own country use terms like border protection and lock up children for up to a period of over 12 months, I call this inhumane and not meeting the above guidelines.

What has been said about refugees over the ages, have we improved the way we deal with them. There are many famous refugees, I had no clue Freddy Mercury was one, fleeing after the 1964 Zanzibar revolution.

Here are Fifteen quotes I have chosen to look at more useful ways to deal with refugees.

1. I work in a place who dealt with the first wave of Asylum Seekers in Australia, many of them Iranian. I will give an examples changing his name. Ali worked as an airport Manager, his younger brother was accused of political dissent. Ali was called in by the police and tortured for two weeks and on release told next time he would not leave alive. He fled the country, leaving everything behind the following day. It took him 9 months to get to Australia, and yes he came by boat.

2. Name calling by the media, used to demean not empower or open people’s hearts to these people who have suffered unimaginable atrocities that people who live in area of war do. The only way I can relate to the effects of it are when I was in Leningrad and our guide said to imagine what happened here in a 2 year period kill 1 in 5 of the people you know and that is what occurred here.

3. I saw the drone shots Russia took of the cities of Syria, as this quotes states refugees often have no choice, there is nothing to go back to. We are just very lucky to have never experienced this in our country.

4. Probably the worlds most famous refugee is Einstein. A German Jew, his work was discredited by the Nazi Party. He was one of the lucky one who got out early in 1932 and went out to make some of the most significant scientific discoveries of the modern era.

5. Tonn Benn served in the British parliament for 47 years as was seen as being the most left wing member of his party. He did not hold back in stating what he saw as the dangers of his right wing opponents, this is one of his most famous quotes.

6. Famous for We turned back the boats and Team Australia sometimes our politicians forget and let their heart slip out, this was one such occasion.

7. Go back home, to what?

8. I love the poster of two earth’s , one with all the flags over it and the other as it actually is , One planet. Then no one would be illegal.

9. They say that the strength of your team is measured by your weakest link, what does that say about planet earth and its treatment of our refugees.

10. This picture speaks to the UN convention relating to the status of Refugees, designed to do exactly what it says. Delivery, Comfort and Mercy.

11. “Refugees are people like anyone else, like you and me. They led ordinary lives before becoming displaced, and their biggest dream is to be able to live normally again. On this World Refugee Day, the 20th June let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere.”

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of The UN pointing out with there is no such thing as Us and Them.

12. Taken from the glorious song by Leonard Cohen Anthem. to me means that we give love as though like we have lost our country and are stateless, a pure love of mercy.

13. This is being questioned with the current refugee crisis sweeping Europe. perhaps they need to send the political leaders on a holiday to Syria for a week or two and it would be put in perspective.

14. This poem was written by a Somali refugee commenting on what happened to his country and how he thought before the war and after the war when he became one.

15. A sign that says it all, not needing the political or economic commentary, just the humane one. Please when commenting on they should go back home, remember this, especially in our country where a great majority of our immigrants were refugees.

I had to stop halfway through writing this, we had a U.N. Interfaith Harmony Week event, the ethos if this week is Love of God, and Love of the Neighbour. They has youth speakers from six different faiths, aged from 12 to 20 they all spoke of love and compassion. This gives me great hope for the future of refugees.

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends.

Did you Get It!

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Rod's World

I have started listening to Podcasts on the recommendation of my Anam Cara Emeli. I listened to a fascinating one about fulfilling your purpose by getting your message out there. This made me think did most people know what the Message they had to give in life was.

I have done several modalities to set up my message for the year and live from my Core Desired Feelings of . These are from Danielle LaPortes brilliant process The Desire Map. From the others my Word for 2016 is Sacredness and my Essence is Sacred Love, more about those in a later Blog.

I have chosen 15 diverse quotes, covering Love, Social Media and Purpose. No Oprah but there is Mother Teresa. Lets begin our journey.

1. This is describing the essence of Sacred Love, where you or someone say I Love You, and you don’t really have to say it again because they you or they hear it for the rest of you life this time in. Its to do with revealing your Sacred Stories.

2. Google didn’t find Aditya, but their message is Inspiring in its words and intention, don’t mess round delivering yours.

3. Its good to have a dream, I have a favourite image which is of a Unicorn and it says don’t let them kill your day dream. But to fulfil that daydream you also require the actions of Doing stuff.

4. Dennis S. Brown is a motivational speaker who grew up in a three room “Shot Gun” house in Central Louisiana is known as Mr Attitude. His ability to relate to transforming your message through real life events he has experienced draw people to him in the thousands.

5. Luke Rinehart wrote a book called The Dice Man back in 1971 where he shook a dice before making any decision. It is a fascinating read as to me the message is that we make decisions on much more shallow fears and judgements than this in our lives.

6. Throw in a bit of weird, a bit of not normal, Yes even some insanity to get that Message out there if you want it to be heard.

7. Probably not many people on Earth are quoted more than His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. When spreading you Message , if you want it to be joyful and easy look in the mirror and there is the person responsible for it happening.

8. There will always be critics, mainstream media makes a living from it, imagine if they reported the great messages that existed around the World instead, it would transform.

9. Parenting 101, give your used things to your next sibling or the family down the street who are not as well off as you. Thinking about it later and having judgements about it doesn’t get that Message out there.

10. I get to tell one of my sacred stories, about how I broke up a friendship via SMS because she said that it was a valid way to communicate and would not agree to meeting face to face. I told her it was a crap way and have not heard from her since after I said to her that I was not the negative person she talked about and that negative people did not send three things I love about you for 5 months each and every day.

11. Time for a song, Little Anthony from 1960. Tears on My Pillow, Tears may be necessary to move to the next level of getting your message out there. It isn’t always a cakewalk.

12. Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, juggler, comedian, musician, inventor, actor, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller. He is also known for his advocacy of atheism, scientific scepticism , libertarianism and free-market capitalism . The Message is the Message, we often forget this as it becomes more difficult.

13. Mother Teresa is much loved and much maligned, there appears to be no middle ground with her. She got her Message out powerfully to the World about the slums of India. As she states, you need to light the flame daily for it to keep burning, same with your message.

14. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most popular language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. There are 1,213,000,000 people in the world that speak that language. How about if we wrote our message in every language, that certainly would make a difference.

15. Finally a bit of humour about getting your message out there. Make sure it is real for you. if its not why will other people listen to it.

Each of us have a message to bring to the planet and its people, it would seem that the messages being spoken the loudest are those of war, corruption and Terrorism. Do not worry, it is the last cries of a time that has seen its day. We are entering the Age of Aquarius. Peace and Love and Human Connection.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Doing the Honourable Dance!!

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Rod's World

I went to my friends Jules Mojo Trance Dance on the weekend. Its a dance where you change partners each song and dance to a theme. This month it was on being Honoured, not a subject that I think of much when it comes to Conscious dance. Jules is a beautiful, beautiful soul who’s commitment in life is to empower people’s souls and build community. Here’s the link to her Facebook page – Perpetual Mojo.

So how do you honour one another at dance. You follow the two signals, I want to dance with you, but I don’t want to be touched, there are a lot of Contact Improv people among the attendees who just love being touched and the other signal that I want my own alone time. You always get so much out of the night and the group Hug at the end is worth the money alone.

So what do we as human beings have to say about honouring one another. No Oprah again but some quality insights among the fifteen I have chosen. here we go :

1. We go way back to 400 B.C. for our first look at honour. Sophocles is one of the three surviving Ancient Greek playwrights, imagine out of such a prolific era that only three people made it through. His message is simple, Honour is all that matters, corrupt success is bad for the health.

2. Our school system seems to be focusing more and more on the three R’s, turning out corporate clones. What matters later in life is how you relate to others not your ability to know the 12 times table.

3. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is Mark Twain’s real name. He lived by this famous quote above, a true man of honour.

4. Remembered for saving England and smoking Cigars Winston Churchill was meant to be a man of simple tastes and it seems simple words – freedom, justice and of course Honour.

5. Back to the 400 B.C. time frame Socrates is held to be one of the founders of Western Philosophy. This cute and pithy quote points to how to live a great life, be who you say you are going to be, Astronaut or President or Postman. it doesn’t matter, the joy is in the honouring.

6. Winston again, He had a profound belief in the fact that if you kept your word that you could do anything, but that honour and good sense were vital ingredients in the recipe required. He helped save a country with this belief.

7. I have several of Martin’s speeches on audio. They go for over 15 minutes but you are riveted the whole time. One of the most honourable men of all of history he made a race of people believe they weren’t niggers, they were proud African Americans.

8. Balastar is a cool name, he is a Spanish Jesuit prose writer. He was also known for his insightful quotes, why say something with more words that necessary. Balastar points to the value of keeping your words in the face of pleasing others is what counts.

9. Looks like this has been taken off a graffiti installation, How many of us create our present moment to moment. I know I’m guilty of not doing this 24 hours a day.

10. The Law of Abundance, always remember that abundance does not mean more possessions. In fact most awards are given to those who have contributed the most to society, get out there and be abundant by giving of yourself.

11. Taking us back to the the fact that Honouring oneself not be so significant is well known screen hero Chewbacca. I could’t find the language on Google Translate but I’m sure it is profound.

12. Prepared to die, not many people live by this creed. Nelson Mandela was one such inspirational being. I remember singing Free Nelson Mandela in our singing group Soulsong and how much we were moved by it each time we sang it. Here is the Specials great version of the song The Specials.

13. Off to ancient Egypt for this one, 1300 B.C. Akhenaton was a Pharaoh. I suppose the Pharaohs words got saved before anybody elses. Interesting that the soul had importance way back when.

14. I have been a bit male centric this Blog, and unfortunately this is by an other man. But it is about our mothers. Sai Baba, eccentric Indian Hindu guru from the 1970’s made a promise that we would come to no harm if we honoured our mothers.

15. Misunderstood critical thinker Werner Erhard, founder of the Landmark Forum, the mainstreams rite of passage into Transformational work came up with this classic. I did his work back in the 80’s and 90’s when he was still around. We did courses led by out there Americans who shocked us naive Aussies, so much that I went to the States and did two of their advanced course and ran the Moscow Peace Marathon the year before the Berlin Wall came down.

So I promise that my Blog on Thursday will be focused on that the wild women of our society have to contribute. Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Stop Running Away!!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Rod's World

I have recently begun working with my friend Arion Light’s principles at his Activation School on setting up my new business Rod has a Way with Words FaceBook Link..I commit to three actions each week and have not yet completed them all.

At our weekly session I breathed into what did this mean to me and I felt this incredible sense of Fear of Success rise up in me. With Arion’s work you accept that being fearful is part of how you are. He asked me was it OK to be OK that I have a Fear of Success, checking into my body the answer was No. So I am working on having it be OK to be Fearful and be in action to have my business be an outstanding success.

So what does society say about fear. I have chosen 15 pithy quotes and yes, there’s one from Oprah , so here we go.

1. Around it, run from it, pretend its not there, all of these things do not work, you must enter it and have a play with it. Like the joy of entering a mud heap, getting dirty but having so much fun you forget about it.

2. Fear is more of a feeling than a solid object, yet is has the strength to immobilise us completely. Working to overcome it is possibly more beneficial than a few days at the gym.

3. Its often the what if’s that drive our fear. What if they don’t feel the same way, what if I try again and the same thing happens. No action has the same result, fear just makes us imagine it will be.

4. Bruce Lee talks about fearing the man who has practised the same kick 10,000 times more than the man with 10,000 kicks because the man with one kick has gone through many failure to perfect it and not listened to his fears.

5. The title of this Blog is Stop Running Away. I met my dear friend Emeli Paulo from Collective Potential Their Webpage. at a Yoga and Meditation day. We were putting out the chairs because we had arrived early, we’re both like that. Em did a mini 30 minute workshop in which she promised we would know what stopped us in life. I have her card in my wallet with the words – Stop Running Away on it. She delivered.

6. Oprah time. The rulers of countries don’t get the privilege of being wimpy about their fears for too long. They must make decisions daily and cannot afford to take days off to ruminate on them.

7. Eleanor Roosevelt was one bitching woman. She says she did her best work after the time she was the President’s wife. What she points to is thta your dreams and challenges live on the other side of the Fear.

8. Right Here, Right Now – In the moment there is nothing to fear, just being present. I plead guilty to have spent a lot of time in my past being focused on the past or worrying about the future. I’m getting better at it.

9. What are our largest fears. Mine are that people will find out I am unlovable and that I am disgustedly revolting. How good would it be if we were OK about them. I’m working on the first and truly OK about the latter.

10. Perfection the booby-prize that stops many people achieving in their lives. Linked with Fears this can be totally crippling. Salvador Dali, one of the great interpreters of the Absurd points out how silly it is to dwell on it, because it is essentially unobtainable.

11. On the other side of Fear is curiosity. A bit like the classic Divinyls track Pleasure and Pain Here’s the Video its a choice we can make as to how we interpret it. When a fear arises accept it and get curious about where it came from.

12. May Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Church in the latter half of the 19th century. She would not have been able to do this as a woman in those times if she had given into her fears. The above quote sums it up nicely.

13. As a writer, this list empowers me. I took up writing again after doing Catherine Deveny’s Gunna’s Writing Class Link to her page which gave me the greatest gift: Just start, because beginning the writing dispels fear.

14. Fight and Flight both are not the answers to overcoming your fears, its in the acceptance of them that the power lies. Facing them full on as they approach and saying OK I’m fearful but it doesn’t have to disable me.

15. This can be construed two ways. You give power to the fear and they become all consuming, or you embrace them and inquire into why you have them and this allows for a more positive essence to emerge, I chose the latter.

So I will keep on embracing my Fears as this has given me power in being in action on a day to day basis.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

It’s not about selfishness—it’s about sanity!!

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Rod's World

Was in a quandary what to write today’s blog about when a friends video blog and this fantastic article Authentic Self Care appeared on my News Feed.

It raised in me memories over my life when I had not done this for myself. The times I would go to work with no sleep and fall asleep at my desk when I was meant to be managing Fourteen people. The times I would not take notice of my depression and anxiety returning and end up in hospital again. The times I would not be in contact with the people who loved me, my mother once sent me a post card with a picture of a ship on it asking if this was the ship I was returning to Australia in as she had not heard from me in 3 months. There are many other examples over my 60 years but I hope you get the point I’m making.

I have spent the last five years becoming more in contact with what is self care for me and am much more aligned with it these days. I gave up drinking, I declared a day the 40th Anniversary of commencing, thanked it and gave up, I investigated healing modalities and settled on Tai Chi as my practice, and I go Op Shopping with my Mum and sister every Tuesday.

So , onto the 15 quotes I have chosen to discuss the sacred practice of Self Care – Here we go.

1. I remember those times earlier in my life when it was about Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. That life was about me and my pleasure. I have since learnt that Service is what provides true satisfaction. Some of my friends didn’t make it through.

2. The glass half full quandary is a popular way to look at how you look at life. The empty vessel is a state you do not really want to get to, what it does to your health can be devastating.

3. William S. Burroughs, one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th century speaks to the power of relaxation in this oft quoted statement.

4. Never forget to add a sense of humour to your Self Care principles, Snoopy has something to say on the matter.

5. What affect does does how you Self Care have on you, It shows the world how you are willing to be treated, so choose it wisely.

6. I handed this poster out at a Mental Health talk we gave at our centre last year, people still come up and thank me for it stating that it is on their Fridge door. it’s a great list of practices that can make profound changes in your health.

7. Guilty as charged, I was a Yes person for Years, Byron Katie is known for her generosity in having a website that enables you to do The Work for nothing. It is profoundly healing and transformational.

8. I like to pamper myself, be pampered by others and to pamper others. It is an excellent way to return to the heart, to me this is the journey we are on as we travel towards the time we are no longer here this time.

9. Sacredness is holy divinity, promising yourself to honour your own well being should be on your personal Ten Commandments.

10. I fill out my Desire Map daily planner every morning here’s the link Daily Planner, one of the five sections is Well Being, another Essence and Spirituality. These are just as important as work you have to do. All work and no Play makes us dull boys and girls.

11. I enjoy Mind Maps, they look swirly and a bit chaotic, which self care can be some times. Give it a go for your prescription for Self Care. A resource for this is the magnificent book by Lissa Rankin The Fear Cure.

12. Make a habit of Excellence in your Self Care, keep on doing it daily.

13. Blogger turned New York Times best-selling author and speaker Mandy Hale is affectionately known around the world as “The Single Woman.” With a heart to inspire single women to live their best lives and to never, ever settle. Her advice is to never give away being the source of your own happiness AKA self care to another.

14. My friend Emeli Paulo from Collective Potential, creator of the transformational RAW workshops and True Grit weekends, has us go around at the beginning of meetings and say I am enough to empower the space and get rid of the stories we have come in with. I recommend the practice if you attend or organise meetings or workshops, Its powerful.

15. Here is a mind map that I have followed for several years. At times I forget part of it and when life starts feeling dazed and confused I look it up and see what it is that I have let slip and put it back in place.

Writing this has reinforced for me the importance of including Self Care in your daily practices. Waking up, Showering, having a coffee, rushing off to work, Getting home, making dinner, Watching TV , crashing out, repeated daily is a formulae for disaster.

Here’s to a healthy dose of Self Care daily.

Namaste until next time, my Dear Friends