Your job is not to be Perfect!!!

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Seven billion of us and counting.

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

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

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

11. And your task for your life is…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She Births New Beginnings!!!

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Rod's World

Crewed on an event called Embody your Full Power as a Man last night. It’s an introduction to a body of work called Dancing Eros for Men. Surprisingly you do not journey with your male archetypes but with those of the sacred feminine: The archetypes are the Maiden, the Wild Woman, the Priestess, the Erotic Mother and the Slut and they live in all of us in their own unique way: Dancing Eros.

I began the journey in June 2018 with some trepidation as I looked out over the group of men gathered in the room the first night as to what a slightly over the hill 63-year-old would get out of such a program and would I have to dance like a slut in front of 20 other men, not really my bag. This what I wrote when requested to do a testimonial for the intro last night: The intimacy I created with the group of men I journeyed with transmuted to everyone in my life: Lovers, Brothers, Sisters, Parents, Workmates, Strangers in the Streets, see you at the intro. It was like the spirit of humanity sat in that room with me over the eight nights and days we spent together.

My friend Marc Chernoff has created a list which sums up pretty well what I got out of it:

A Silhouette of a human being stands before you. Perhaps a friend. Perhaps a lover. Perhaps a perfect stranger. They need you to connect with them. They need you to share this moment.

They need you to:

1. They need you to smile without hesitation.

2. Give without expectation.

3. Comfort without lying.

4. Guide without misleading.

5. Forgive without resentment.

6. Rest without judgement.

7. Notice without critiquing.

8. Appreciate without comparing.

9. Listen without interruption.

10. Question without objection.

11. Challenge without mocking.

12. Consider without doubting.

13. Discuss without criticizing.

So what have we said about our sacred feminine spirit over the centuries, here are some of the ways we expressed it:

1. As children, we rely on what our heart says to us to be in the world, as our brain kicks in, we forget the purity of this.

2. Just Man up is such a demeaning tool to dissect our full personality: On a Roll.

3. You need to do the work.

4. CARLOS ANDRÉS GÓMEZ is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor, and author of Hijito, selected by Eduardo C. Corral as the winner of the 2018 Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House: We’ve Only Just Begun.

5. To take on a transformational shift like Dancing Eros, you need a fair bit of this.

6. We need to have them in a healthy balance: Both Sides Now.

7. From the 18th Century. Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.

8. Values can be buried with you and remembered, Ferrari’s can’t: I Gotta Feeling.

9. French-born fashionista Rykiel was also a writer. She wrote several books about fashion, a collection of children’s stories, magazine columns and an epistolary novel with Régine Desforges. Her first book Et Je La Voudrais Nue (I Would Like Her Naked) was published in 1979. In 2012, she co-authored N’oubliez pas que je joue (Don’t forget it’s a game) with journalist Judith Perrignon.

10. This is why it was an honour to be part of the crew who gave the opportunity to 50 men to transform their lives: The Power of Love.

11. Time to walk the Inner path.

12. You can dance if you want to, It’s time: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.

13. Or that suffering may take you to a Dancing Eros for Men intro in Collingwood.

14. Listening deeply is part of the deal: Listen to The Earth.

15. What others would you add?

In the end, what all people want deep down is the need for you to be uniquely you – just the way you are, and they need you to respect them – just the way they are. This so fits in with my world ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

The playlist contains some of the classic female voices of all time: Unknown pop diva Ashley O begins the journey. Karen Carpenter and Joni Mitchell are the first of our female vocal legends. We return to this century with The Black Eyed Peas before being entranced by Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. We finish with some beats from Listen to the Earth: She Births New Beginnings.

Remember to sign up to receive these blogs in your inbox on the righthand side of my homepage at http://www.rodwill1707.com. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Don’t Count the Days, Make the Days Count!!!

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Rod's World

I just spent the weekend crewing on The Essence School’s Warrior Rising retreat. It was excellent: Living As Essence.

I walked into an initiation without hearing about the intent of it as I was in the kitchen, I later found out it was Pain to Power. The premise was you paired up with someone and shared the essence that empowered your life force and of they saw you were not present to it they pushed you to the extent you had agreed to on a scale from zero to ten, zero being no touch and ten being full-on. I chose five as I felt that was about what I could take and deliver from my 65-year-old body. I started with the essence of Resilience and with each blow got to see that there was more to it, by the end it had become: Resilience, Power, Unstoppability and Strength. During another exercise, it morphed into Unstoppable Resilience.

There are simple truths we sometimes misinterpret as uncalled for pain, here they are:

1. The route to your destination is never a straight one – We take questionable turns and get lost.

2. Real friends won’t ask you to changes who you are – The right people for you will love all the things about you that the wrong people are intimidated by, and they will empower you in them.

3. Cheating is a choice, not a mistake, and not an excuse – They trusted you much more that you deserve.

4. The past can’t hurt you anymore – not unless you let it – Forgive and move on.

5. Adversity will come to every person at some point – You can’t change the hand you were dealt, just how you play it.

6. Sometimes things fall apart so better things can fall together – When things fall apart, consider the possibility that life knocked it down on purpose.

7. Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right – Keep an open mind. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you didn’t know.

8. Everything has just been the way it needed to be – In life, we do lots of things. All of these things, positive and negative have taught us important lessons.

9. Silence is often the loudest cry – Sometimes what a person needs most is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.

10. The difference between where you are and where you want to be is what you do – What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

11. It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not – Judging yourself is not the same as boing honest with yourself.

12. Right Now is the only moment guaranteed to you – Smile through the hard times, even though it doesn’t seem to get any better.

There should be some great quotes on overcoming pains, lets have a look:

1. Back to the Ancient Roman Empire for this one, The first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus, Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses, a 15-book continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria (“The Art of Love”) and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology.

2. We don’t use the ordinary moments of our days to tell as dinner stories when we overcame something: Moments.

3. And stronger!!!

4. A classic of the pain to power genre: I Want You To Hit Me.

5. Sing the Light Electric, free yourself.

6. Push me harder from your friendship: I Stand Alone.

7. Deaf and blind from the age of 19 months, Helen Keller definitely has the right to speak about this. She was a suffragette, pacifist, radical socialist, and a birth control supporter.

8. It is all fuel: Blank Space.

9. It never ever lasts forever.

10. Insert your word in this for God, Gaia, The Universe, Allah, The Buddha whatever takes your fancy: Bring Me To Life.

11. In the overcoming of it, there lies the growth.

12. For Joy, insert Power: Roar.

13. Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer, and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the historical leading figures of the Romantic movement of his era.

14. There’s a fine line between…: Pleasure and Pain.

15. And our final powerful lesson for today comes from Private Benjamin, AKA actress Goldie Hawn.

So just live, make mistakes, make memories, and take chances. That is how I am spreading my ethos around the planet, if you need a reminder it is Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

The playlist for today is kickass rock and pop divas, from zero to ten in styles. We begin with Tove Lo, some Spoken word from The Fight Club, then we rock out with Godsmack. Taylor Swift takes us back to the world of pop. Evanescence then powers it back up. Penultimate is more pop from Kate Perry. We finish with one of my favourite Aussie rock anthems by the Diviynls: Don’t count the days, make the days count.

Remember you can get my blogs direct to your email by registering on the right-hand side of my page. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

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.

Every Year Men drop out, But Not Women, They are more Serious!!!

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Rod's World

Stay in tune with your spirit. Be calm and think. Listen to your inner voice. Anticipate and plan. Take 100% responsibility for your life. lean into your struggles. Act with courage. Maintain an open mind. Practice kindness and compassion. Keep your promises. Forgive, let go, and move forward. My friend Marc Chernoff says this is how you get from where you are from where you want to be.

Over the past ten years of the last decade, how have you gone with this? If you had known or followed them would it have been easier? I know that I struggled with some of them at times in the past ten years. Here are some concepts that Marc used to handle some of the barriers:

1. Loving someone should not mean losing YOU – True love empowers you, it doesn’t erase you.

2. Getting even doesn’t help you get ahead – You will never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with them.

3. You attract what you show to the world – If you want it – reflect it.

4. Failure is success when you learn from it – Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

5. You are not what you have done, but what you have overcome – Hardships, mistakes, rejections, pain. All these things give birth to your wisdom and strength.

6. Your past can only hurt you today if you let it – do not pay any attention to what the past is whispering if all it’s doing is bad-mouthing what today has to offer.

7. It’s never too late to become the person you are capable of becoming – Repeat after me: “I AM FREE”.

8. Passion is important – always travel the route that makes you happy.

9. The pain is worth it – You can’t really begin to appreciate life until it has knocked you down a few times.

10. Sometimes what you don’t want is what you need – sometimes the things you can’t change end up changing you for the better.

So what does the world say that is possible to learn over a decade, let’s have a look:

1. Luck helps, but hard work will get you there more regularly.

2. We may never know which will be true: Wishing Well.

3. Passion is important – always travel the route that makes you happy.

4. What do you plan it to be in the 2020s: I Was Here.

5. Alessandra Torre is an American novelist best known for contemporary romance. Torre is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon International bestselling novelist. Alessandra is the Bedroom Blogger for Cosmopolitan. She has been a guest columnist for the Huffington Post, RT Book Reviews, and was featured in Elle Magazine. In 2017, she created Alessandra Torre Ink, an online community for authors, which offers webinars, courses and the Inkers Con conference.

6. Time to begin journaling, my dear friends.: Opportunity.

7. Self-explanatory, really.

8. Seneca is a dude: That’s What Friends Are For.

9. Co-founder of Linkin Park Michael Kenji Shinoda born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band’s rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, producer, and co-lead vocalist. They are still performing together.

10. Musicians and athletes, it’s not about their moment of glory: Work.

11. At 20 Maya Angelou was a prostitute and Malcolm X was a petty thief, they did not give up their dreams.

12. Each second can change the direction of our lives forever: Art for Art’s Sake.

13. Who knew in 2010 that an invention made the year before would dominate the world ten years later. I refer to the smartphone.

14. It’s never too late to become the person you are capable of becoming – Repeat after me: “I AM FREE”.: Free.

15. And for our final lesson, each morning remember to turn the page as you walk into the next decade.

As we step into the next decade, remember to keep the great things from your past ten years and to discard those that were the lessons. You needed the lessons but you will definitely have new ones over the next ten years.

Two classic English bands feature in today’s playlist. We begin with Free, then to the first of two pop diva’s Beyonce followed by Sia. Dione Warwick leads her star-studded friends in the next number. Kelly Rowland works it in the next tune, the penultimate number is by 10CC and we finish with Rudimental: Every Year Men drop out, But Not Women, They are more Serious!!!

As we march into 2020, I take with me my wish to have Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included become the World Paradigm. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet. We’re Hunting Vampires!!!

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Rod's World

Is the above statement impossible? What amazingly achievable things did you do today that will they make the difference you wish to on the planet. This is a quite common thought process I have when I am not sure and there does not appear to be much evidence they are. Another list from my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff that points out some simple things we can do:

1. Smile – Smiling actually makes you happier.

2. Treat everyone with kindness and respect – even those who are rude to you, because you do.

3. Perform one selfless act – In life, you get what you put in.

4. Avoid needless drama and those who create it – life is too short to spend time with people who suck the joy out of you.

5. Think of the positives – Stop being afraid of what could go wrong.

6. Inject a little love into the world around you – Love what you are doing, Love where you are, Love the people you are with.

7. Take decisive and immediate action on something that needs to get done – You can’t change anything or make any real-world progress without action

8. Follow your intuition when making decisions – Only time will tell, but our human instincts are rarely wrong.

9. Spend time on something you believe in – Follow your heart today.

10. Meet someone new – You’ll be surprised at the lessons they teach you.

11. Exercise and Eat Healthy – Those who exercise have a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

12. Be a student of life – If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready when great opportunities arise.

So how has society commented on what is and how do we achieve over time, here are a few of my favourites:

1. Not everyone will agree with you.

2. Imagine the resolve it would have taken to be an African American tennis player who won Wimbledon in the 1970s: Anything You Can Do.

3. The Japanese understand vision and action.

4. Add an arrow to your quiver every day: My Heart Scares You and a Gun Doesn’t.

5. Being versus doing your goals, different animals.

6. What if they say no: Permission.

7. And you can fall off the end of the earth.

8. Another way of saying it is to Find your Why: Respect.

9. Lautner was born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan,^[3] the son of Deborah and Daniel Lautner. His mother works for a software development company, while his father was a Midwest Airlines pilot. He has one younger sister named Makena. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lautner has Austrian, Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, and Swiss ancestry, and has stated that he has “distant” Native American ancestry (specifically Ottawa and Potawatomi) through his mother. He grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan, a town near Grand Rapids. He has stated that he was bullied in school because he was an actor. He commented, “I just had to tell myself ‘I can’t let this get to me. This is what I love to do. And I’m going to continue doing it.’

10. People miss the point of this song. It’s not arguing that you should sit around, wish for things, and not take any action. It’s arguing that you should never give up hope: When You Wish Upon A Star.

11. Every action must simply become that, an action that takes you forward or backward from where you are before you took it.

12. If you build the door, it will open for you: Hound Dog and Dialogue.

13. Dan wrote a book called How Many People Does It take to Make a Difference, what do you think the answer is?

14. What are your courageous dreams?: Empire State of Mind.

15. And for our final lesson, we visit another musical score.

Marc and Angel say the following question is the one they get asked the most, ” What can I start doing today to make my life happier and more rewarding?” Take on some of the above actions and I am sure that this will occur in your life.

The playlist today contains two show tunes and a track from over 60 years ago by a legend. We begin with Annie Get Your Gun then two newbies to me via Harley x Joker and Ro James. Aretha Franklin belts it out live next. Jiminy Cricket croons the next show tune. Elvis is our 60-year-old contribution and we finish with Alicia Keys: Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet. We’re Hunting Vampires!!!

We all have different things we want to achieve in our lives, one of my main ones is to have Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included be the world paradigm. I will need a few of the above actions on a daily basis, methinks. until we meet again, my dear friends.

People are Prettiest When They Talk About Something They Really Love!!!

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Rod's World

Do you do what you love to fulfil your basics in life? We can look at some of the answers given on Quora as to why this occurred for many people. It goes back to a lack of support in our developing years. I particularly like this answer:

“For me – when I was young I always wanted to go into the Law (I blame the reruns of Perry Mason on after school). When I was 17 I started at a new high school, the careers counsellor didn’t know me from Adam and when she asked what I wanted to do at Uni, I said Law – she asked if was getting straight A’s, I wasn’t. Her response? Forget about Law then, it’s a pipe dream. I still insisted that for my work experience I’d like to try something Law related. This request was ignored and I was assigned to stamp books in a Uni library for a week whilst other students she knew got to hang out in law firms for that week,

As a teenager with particularly low self-esteem, this advice to ‘forget it’ from an authority figure was unfortunately taken quite seriously and so I did forget about Law.

Obviously, in hindsight it was exceedingly poor advice, there was a multitude of other options open to me without straight A’s. I can’t place all blame with the careers counsellor, I could have figured it out on my own, but I wonder how things may have worked out differently had she been a bit more helpful with someone she was meeting for the first time.

Here are Ten Simple Truths from Marc Chernoff that are sometimes forgotten that would help us make progress towards doing what we love.

Education and Intelligence accomplish nothing without action.
Happiness and Success are two different things.
Everyone runs their own business.
Having too many choices interferes with decision making.
All people possess dimensions of success and dimensions of failure.
Every mistake you make is progress.
People can be great at doing things they don’t like to do.
The problems we have with others are typically more about us.
Emotional decisions are rarely good decisions.
You will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity arises.

So, what does the world say about truths in life, Here are a few of my favourites:

1. A paradox it may seem, but will get a lot done in life.

2. Sojourner Truth, born Isabella [Belle] Baumfree; was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine’s list of the “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.”: Standing In The LoveLight.

3. Our Shadows walk alongside our light.

4. What would Cinderella say about this?: Who Is She?

5. Not everything we read or hear is true, use your discretion to find out which is true or untrue.

6. Boom!!!: Live Your Life.

7. Unfortunately, we have been electing these people as our political leaders in far too many countries lately.

8. They are your keepers.: Faithful.

9. What is your favourite carnival ride, probably says a lot about your relationship to life.

10. One foot in front of another gets the job done: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

11. K.I.S.S.

12. Sonnenberg’s blog — FrankSonnenbergOnline — has attracted millions of readers on the Internet. It was named among the “Best 21st Century Leadership Blogs”; among the “Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs”; and one of the “Best Inspirational Blogs On the Planet.” Frank’s newest book, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, was released November 2018: Honesty.

13. Choice the first path, you will feel a lot more relaxed in your life.

14. I rate George one of the worlds great philosophers, highly underrated: Truth.

15. And for our final lesson, we go to Alan Watts for a universal truth.

Just remember those significant moments of opportunity for personal growth and development will come and go throughout your lifetime. If you are looking to make positive changes in your life you will need to embrace these moments of opportunity even though you will never feel 100% ready for them.

The playlist begins with my favourite song from my friend Jo Jo Smith. Over to the Cinderella soundtrack next then back to the present with T.I. and Rhianna. New to me is Sarah Reeves. The Waifs do a Kev Carmody cover next. The penultimate song is by Billy Joel and we finish with some spoken word from George Carlin: People are Prettiest When They Talk About Something They Really Love!!!

What do you really love? For me it is spreading Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included across the planet. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Sometimes You Have To Fight For The Things!!!

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Rod's World

The end of a decade, you have done some amazing things, you have done some stupid things and you have done a lot of basic, ordinary things. What would you like to have said to your younger self if you could travel back in time to give yourself some advice about life?

Here is a list by my friend Marc Chernoff called Lessons Life Taught Us that will make you think:

Spend more time with those who make you smile and less time with those who make you feel pressured to impress.
Laugh at stupid jokes. Apologise. Tell someone how much they mean to you. It’s the small moments that make life grand.
Life is way more enjoyable when you stop being trying to be cool and simply focus on being yourself.
Complaining is like slapping yourself for slapping yourself. It doesn’t solve the problem, It just hurts you more.
Learn to adjust the sails of your life to unpredictable winds, while keeping your focus clear on your destination and keep sailing until you get there.
Freedom is the greatest gift. Self-sufficiency is the greatest freedom.
If you want something in your life you’ve never had, You’ll have to do something you’ve never done.
Your health is your life, keep up with it. Get an annual physical check-up.
Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless. Period. Don’t be dishonest and don’t put with people who are.
Forgiving yourself is far more important (and difficult) than getting others to forgive you.
There are few joys in life that equal a good conversation, A good read, A good walk, a good hug, a good smile, or a good friend.
Laughter is the best medicine for stress. Laugh at yourself often. Find the humour in whatever situation you’re in.
Everything that happens in life is neither good nor bad, It just depends on your perspective.
You’re not alone. Everyone has problems. Some people are just better at hiding them than others.

So what does life say about the lessons we learn over our journey, let’s have a look:

1, Don’t waste time on those quick to judge and not take the time needed to find out about the real you.

2. Going out your front door each day is an inherent risk: Mine.

3. I have had periods of both, I am called the beautiful man.

4. Karen Salmansohn came out of advertising to create the popular salmon.com due to the awful ongoing mispronunciation of her name. People used to joke that she couldn’t drink a glass of water without it spurting out the knife holes in my back – because there were so many jerks and “drama llamas” in the ad business: My Immortal.

5. Better known by his pseudonym “The Colonel”.

6. For each their one: Oh My God.

7. I know which I prefer.

8. From the world’s most popular quote writer, Ms Unknown comes this insightful piece of wisdom.: Walk a Mile.

9. What a great name.

10. They are very special, these people, as it says do not let them go.: Time of My Life.

11. I just love this image, I have used it before.

12. in the early 1960s, Rohn was invited to speak at a meeting of his Rotary Club. He accepted and, soon, others began asking him to speak at various luncheons and other events. In 1963 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he gave his first public seminar. He then began presenting seminars all over the country, telling his story and teaching his personal development philosophy until the time of his passing in 2009.: Run The World.

13. Life has both Shadow and Light in it.

14. This reminds me of the African philosophy of Ubuntu: ‘A person is a person through other people’ strikes an affirmation of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and difference. It is a demand for a creative intersubjective formation in which the ‘other’ becomes a mirror (but only a mirror) for my subjectivity. This idealism suggests to us that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me. Humanity is a quality we owe to each other. We create each other and need to sustain this otherness creation. And if we belong to each other, we participate in our creations: we are because you are, and since you are, definitely I am. The ‘I am’ is not a rigid subject, but a dynamic self-constitution dependent on this otherness creation of relation and distance.: Ubuntu.

15. And for our final lesson………

And to take Self Love into 2020 here are some questions from Marc:

If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?
Why are you, you?
In one sentence, what do you wish for your future self?
What’s something you have that everyone wants?
What’s something Nobody can steal from you?
What has the little voice in your head been saying lately?
What makes you feel incomplete?
What’s something new you recently learnt about yourself?
What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
What promise to yourself do you still need to fulfil?

For the final list of the decade, I have returned to some pop divas and an all-time classic. We begin with Taylor Swift, then rock out to Evanescence. Across to Malta for Ira Losco. Then Joe South followed by Dirty Dancing. Beyonce is the penultimate number and we complete with all things Ubuntu: Sometimes You Have To Fight For The Things!!!

Life teaches us many lessons, one of mine is that Love and Respect For All, Everyone Included answers question two and three above. Until next time we meet in the new decade, dear friends.

Be Curious, Not Judgemental.

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Rod's World

Someone asked me recently, “What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you.” It’s like they are asking do other peoples opinions decide what you do in life. Truth be told, nobody has the right to judge you. People may have heard your stories, but they can’t feel what you are going through, they aren’t living YOUR life. So forget what they say about you. Focus on how you feel about yourself, and do what you know in your heart is right.

My friend Marc Chernoff’s list gifts us ten things to do for ourselves even if others judge you for it:

1. Take care of yourself.

2. Do what you know is right, for YOU.

3. Follow your own unique path.

4. Lock yourself away from the world and work on your goals.

5. Adjust your goals and dreams as life changes.

6. Forgive those who have wronged you.

7. Show everyone your love and kindness.

8. Stand up for others, even if it’s the unpopular thing to do.

9. Fight through your failures.

10. Keep your head held high and keep on smiling.

As Jack London once said, “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist”. so why do we take notice of how people judge us, and what has society said about judgement over time:

1. How would the planet operate if we all did this?

2. Remember when you are pointing a finger there are three pointing back at you: Only God Can Judge Me.

3. Judgements are normally instant before you know anything about a person or situation. Show some kindness and ask what is happening for them.

4. Everybody’s life changes each chapter. Learn the full story before you make your decision.: It’s my Life.

5. Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-born writer who emigrated to Ireland and was best known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. Early in McCaffrey’s 46-year career as a writer, she became the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first to win a Nebula Award.

6. To each, their own: Judge Not.

7. As you are about to do it, remember how it felt last time it happened to you.

8. Each of us has our own deadly sins, mine are chocolate and icecream: Sinnerman.

9. Brene has something to say about it.

10. Very difficult to do I have found: Hallelujah.

11. There are 7 billion unique individuality types on the planet, remember that.

12. His Holiness rocks: One Love.

13. Mother Teresa was known for getting in people’s faces, she does not hold back here.

14. Two Bob Marley songs and this fantastic anti-judgement quote: Creep.

15. And for the final lesson, what would it take you to get to live your life from this premise?

Every new day is a chance to change your life. Work on making life all that you want it to be. Work hard for what you believe, and keep your dreams big and your worries small. You never need to carry more than you can hold; just take it one day at a time. And while you’re out there making decisions instead of excuses, learning new things, and getting closer and closer to your dreams, know that there are others out there, like me, who admire your efforts and are striving for greatness too.

There are some giants of the music scene on today’s playlist. Two songs by the same artist but both not done by him, one is a cover. Tupac leads off, Then to the world of rock and roll with Bon Jovi. Bob Marley’s first-ever single follows. Then, two giants, Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, both recorded live. The penultimate number is a cover of Bob by Playing for Change and we complete with Radiohead: Be Curious, Not Judgemental.

I have found as I become less judgemental I come closer and closer to living my life ethos – Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk!!!

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Rod's World

It’s the festive season and the end of the year, and notably the end of the decade. My social media newsfeed features many posts talking about living in the now and not regretting your past life. I acknowledge over the past ten years I have been in many different places. It began in psych units for the first four years then a miracle cure via the love my siblings showed me stating That they did not care how much I hurt them and myself, they would still love me unconditionally. Enter the Conscious Community of Melbourne via the Rainbow Bridge 13:13:13 retreat in Gunnedah in the shire in December 2013 and my miraculous recovery journey began.

Over those six years, I have had many regrets but this piece of prose from my friend Marc Chernoff sums it up pretty well:

“When the deepest part of you becomes engaged in what you are doing, when your activities and actions become gratifying and purposeful, when what you do serves both yourself and others, when you do not tire within because you are pursuing the sweet satisfaction of your life and your work, you are living your life the way it is meant to be lived.”

Of course, you will have regrets, but it is how long you hold onto them that matters. Marc lists 17 decisions that can affect you in this area:

Not loving what is.
Waiting and waiting and waiting.
Changing who you are because others have changed.
Letting heartache define you.
Running away from problems.
Being ungrateful.
Allowing long-term anger to occupy your heart.
Believing that beauty looks a certain way.
Letting your expectations run rampant.
Disrespecting others.
Disrespecting yourself,
Putting up with unfaithful friends and lovers.
Rushing Love.
Neglecting your most important relationships.
Trying to control every last detail about everything.
Never taking risks.
Giving up on YOU.

So, lets have a look at what we human beings say about the power of regret:

1. Congrats, you made it through. Next small step forward.

2. It may be as simple as turning left instead of right and missing out on bumping into the love of your life: Money Changes Everything.

3. From the world’s greatest philosopher Ms Unknown comes this-worldly insight as to why people have come into your life.

4. But we all have those doozies!!!: Why Did You Do That.

5. Yes, it was!!!

6. Our education begins on the day we are born and we graduate on the day we pass: Falling In Love.

7. I relate this to my drugtaking period.

8. Where does falling in love fit in here: Everything Has Changed Now.

9. Mine is bungy jumping in New Zealand.

10. Regret is like the mud in a pigpen, for wallowing in: Bring Me To Life,

11. A writer of words, a poetic soul, an emotive expressionist, Ranata Suzuki is a poet and quote writer whose eloquent words form with painful clarity the sad yet beautiful world of the broken heart.

12. And yes, there is an official description of the mood: No Regrets.

13. Shadow and Light travel together to give you the complete experience.

14. Time to move on down the road: Moving On Down The Line.

15. And for our final lesson, that big white-haired dude in the sky has his say.

Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you want; not because you don’t deserve it, but because you deserve better. No matter how many times you break down, there should always be a little voice inside you that says “NO, you’re not done yet! Get back up!” That’s the voice of passion and courage. Life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel; but you are well equipped for it as long as you tap into your talents and gifts, and allow them to flourish.

Today’s playlist contains some Alan Watts wisdom and several certified legends of the music scene. Cyndi Lauper leads out, Lady Gaga is next from that film. Alan’s wisdom follows, then a beautiful duet from Kate Perry and Ed Sheeran. I sneak some rock in with Evanescence next. The penultimate track is by the Walker Brothers and we complete with Roy Orbison: Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk.

Let’s learn from our regrets and conquer them so that Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included can flourish on the planet. Until we next meet, my dear friends.