Are you Interested?

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Rod's World

I have lived in Preston, Victoria, Australia for four years now and find it a much more communal area than the suburb I previously lived in. Perhaps this is because of the local council who are committed to each of the 153 different cultures who make up its population and the Darebin Intercultural Centre that was sent up to ensure this happened. link to information on DIC.

What makes a great community, It is defined in meaning two distinct things

community

kəˈmjuːnɪti/

noun

1.

a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

“Montreal’s Italian community”

synonyms: group, section, body, company, set, circle, clique, coterie, ring, band,faction;
2.

the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common.

“the sense of community that organized religion can provide”

I have belonged to many different communities over my life: The football playing community, the singing community, the self development community and the Northside living community being some of them.

What has society said about Community over the centuries. The 15 quotes I have chosen say different things about it, lets have a look :

1. Author of the outstanding book Love and Will Rollo May states that Communication is an essential part of Community as it leads to us understanding each other not judging from made up opinions.

2, This beautiful poster suggests many ways to build a sense of community. If these are in place I suggest you would be part of a vibrant one.

3. When you become a genuine part of a community there is something you give to it, your heart. One touched in your heart you realise that this is what fulfils you th emost in your life.

4. Marianne Williamson, known for her quote from her best selling book A Return To Love: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. This quote is often incorrectly credited to Nelson Mandela. Another powerful pointer to th epower of community from Marianne.

5. Synergy is another benefit of strong communities. Synergy is the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. You need less to achieve much more.

6. In your Face community, Love and Respect for all, Everyone Included – the ethos of my public FB group Interculturalism, a space to join and share your examples of Community that includes everyone.

7. Always look out for people who are in your community who are not partaking of what is available in belonging to it. Always give them the choice but don’t assume they don’t want to be.

8. I agree with Mahatma, when I am not partaking in a Community I feel a little lost as I did for the first year of living in Preston, but after discovering The Intercultural centre and its activities I became part of that beautiful gift one gives, Of Service.

9. Love this image and quote from Henrik Ibsen, father of the school of Realism. In a community anyone can step forward and lead, they tend to have less bureaucracy than other structures.

10 A gaggle of words that come out of Community. Things that you obtain, assets, a sense of wellness, support of others and events to attend and meet the others from your community.

11. I am listening to Mitch Albom’s book the Five people you meet in Heaven, a book about Ernie who dies where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever. Its fascinating and points out the importance of creating purpose and meaning in your life through community service.

12. David Bowie worked on this his whole love, from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke, he was all about including everyone in his fan group AKA his community. Here is one of his finest songs in relationship to Community: Heroes.

13. Jasmine Guy is an actress who pointed out that Community is not as easy as it used to be when we were part of a tribe living in a Village, but it is still is so worthwhile.

14. Maria Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, acclaimed for her educational method that builds on the way children naturally learn. She created schools where the whole school was a community not broken up into separate classes.

15. And finally something to remember, that our bodies are a community as well, made up of millions of Star Seeds and Cells.

So have a think about what communities you say you belong to and those you would like to, I guarantee that it will open your heart more for you and by being of Service you will live a healthier life.

Namaste until next Thursday, 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.

I Feel I’ve meet you Before.

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Rod's World

Sometimes you meet someone, and it’s so clear the two of you, on some level belong together. As Lovers, or as Anam Cara – Soul Friends, or as Family or as something entirely different. You just work, whether you understand one another or you’re in love or you are partners in crime. You meet these people throughout your life, out of nowhere, under the strangest circumstances, and they help you feel alive.

What would it take to feel that way about everyone on the planet: Love and Respect for All: Everyone Included. This is the ethos for the public Facebook group I formed over two years ago, Interculturalism. You are free to join and tell your stories.

So I have chosen 15 quotes relating to We are One to comment on, No Oprah or Tony, but some very beautiful insights.

1. As far as we know all species on earth hearts beat the same. Maybe at different speeds but they all have to beat to stay alive. We forget this at times and enter the judgement zone that we are different.

2. Back in the 70’s in Melbourne Australia, a band called Skyhooks released a Song called Ego is not a dirty Word, Video of Ego is not a dirty Word. It may not be a dirty word , but it keeps us separate.

3. Eckhart Tolle is a German-born resident of Canada, best known as the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose. In 2011, he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world.

4. Science Fiction writer Ray Bradbury reminds us we are an experiment with form by the Universe. Not separate but an experiment from a greater force.

5. When born we know nothing of Me and You, but are then trained to be a unique individual by other unique individuals. We then spend the rest of our lives trying to fit in with the colourful creation that is earth’s culture.

6. We look in the mirror and either like or dislike what we see dependent on our mood. This image points out what the reflection of Me is.

7. When we find those people mentioned in the first paragraph we feel like a force to be reckoned with. How much could we get done if we united together and used the force of a tsunami for good.

8.Luciano De Crescenzo (Italian pronunciation: [luˈtʃano de kreʃˈʃɛntso]; born 18 August 1928) is an Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer. He published a long series of books, including novels and popularizations of philosophy. For his work in the field of Greek philosophy he received honorary citizenship of Athens in 1994. Here is his quote on our need for each other to fly.

9. Radha Sahar is a New Zealand musician who sings meaningful songs to life Voices of the Wind. This beautiful ode calls out to us acting as one, not as loners.

10. Somewhere on our journey we forget this . I think this is what all babies are told as they are delivered and fight for it as long as they can.

11. Our celebrity today is His Holiness The Dalai Lama, he included everyone and every creature as well.

12. A lion and a bird, how much do we love those pictures on Facebook where two different species become friends, time to wake up.

13. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of Peking Man. it is claimed we are all descended from Peking Man. One Family split asunder, time to remember our heritage.

14. Time for a reminder from one of the great disco songs We are Family, we have the same amount of blood and the same number of bones, yes We are One and the Same.

15. Unfortunately this question does not appear on most countries citizenship test, lets start a movement to have it be the first and only question people need to ask.

Do you feel more connection to people after reading this, I hope so as that was my intention. Namaste until next Monday , my dear friends.

Do you Live Yours?

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Rod's World

I was wondering what to write about on the final day of the year, when this passed through my Facebook News Feed.

I can’t quite get an analogy for meeting people on FB.

It’s a bit like a party maybe but on FB, accepting friend requests is fraught with difficulty. At a party you might spend a while chatting with someone to find out who they are.

On FB the equivalent is looking at people’s profiles. Being a friend of a friend is not a valid reference, because the hackers, spammers and trolls have made it so. It’s your profile that tells the world who you are.

Like I’ve said, I don’t accept friend requests from people who do not show themselves on their profiles. Pictures of self, family and pets are no indication of who a person is, except they maybe indicate that the only thing public about this person is the generic, and this person does not care to step outside the common denominators of life.

Well a pale representation is not the richness of a human being and photos of family will never make up the difference.

Do we really have that much to hide? Are we really not allowed to have opinions, or discuss passions or inspirations, and are we not allowed to disagree with each other, with our employers opinions, with those who do not suffice as the leaders they claim to be? Something is wrong with that picture. Personally I’m not buying it.

My suggestion is, if you really cannot disclose to the world what you think and feel and who you really are then perhaps you could consider a pseudonym. FB cannot possibly keep track of them all. Just close your account, let your trusted friends know what you are doing, and start up a new one called Jane Carstairs or Adam Lake. No one cares what your name is but they do care who you are.

My friend Debra wrote this and it made me think of my 4,000 Gods and Goddesses of possibility on Facebook. I check each one and check if they are up to making a difference with their posts and if they have a PASSION. I send each of them a unique Facebook Birthday Card for being on my team.

So lets have a look at what the world says about living with passion. Here are the 15 quotes I have chosen, lets go :

1. Simple in its message, along with the passion throw in a handful of generosity. Its not about expecting something in return. Passion comes from within.

2. And who does our passion affect. Ralph Waldo Emerson says if even one person is touched by it, its worth the journey.

3. David Bowie wrote a song back in the 70’s titled Oh You Pretty Things: Classic Bowie. They were all Passionate people.

4. I changed a quote to include this because it is so beautiful and empowering. Lets turn one into the other in 2016.

5. Beauty again, my friend Vic used to say if you Love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life. having discovered this at the tender age of 59, I would have to agree.

6. This perfect day, Every day is a once in a lifetime day, Choose Passion.

7. 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, Mandy cuts to the heart of the matter with her inspirational, straight-talking, witty, and often wildly humorous take on life and love. Mandy’s Website.

8. Your Passion may be abstract art like my friend Yasemin, Yasemin’s Beautiful Art. She does all these things, buy some of her art, its beautiful and she needs money to heal at the moment.

9. Soul Growth, another way of saying living with passion, who said that it has to be perfect

10. Essence and Joy, two things I have been studying over the year through my participation with my mentor Arion Light and his Activation School – Arion’s website. I combine them in my passion day to day.

11. More and more people are walking away from the corporate world as they realise that money does not fulfil their hearts wishes. There is a new class of people , they live from their Passion.

12. Kelly Corrigan is an American writer born in the late 1960’s. Host of a show called Foreword, where deep thinkers take on deep subjects., she also launched a website called Circus of Cancer. Leading by example, she speaks her dreams out loud.

13. At times following our passion we sometimes feel lost. Do the above and you will soon return to the path you are meant to be on.

14. Are you as equally good at giving and receiving. I cannot say this. i am a classic giver but have some weakness in the area of receiving. I love Oprah because she is pure Passion.

15. The lucky last, four simple words and the cute cat photo. Do it with Passion, your unique Passion!!

Well , this is the last blog for 2015, Thanks to all the people all around the world who read my words. Have a beautiful time celebrating the New year, and remember: Passion, turn to the Left, the Right, Upwards and Downwards, but especially Inwards.

Namaste until next Monday my dear friends.

They were here Before!!

Posted on December 28, 2015 by Rod's World

There is a quote incorrectly attributed to the Buddha that the master will appear when the disciple/student is ready. It is actually from the Theosophical tradition.

In 1875 Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, and William Quan Judge co-founded The Theosophical Society. Blavatsky combined Eastern religious traditions with Western esoteric teachings to create a synthesis she called the Perennial Religion. She developed this in Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), her major works and exposition of her Theosophy..

The second example I will give is the young monk asking the head monk how do you find your master, and what qualities must they have. He replied, they must have been here before you. Is it this simple the Art of Mastery or do we never reach it, is it a journey for our whole lifetime and we get as close as we do to it as we pass on.

I have chosen 15 quotes covering most of the centuries wisdom has been on the planet, no Oprah but we have the big man, Tony Robbins.

Here we go :

1. Presence, not knowledge, study is behind Mastery. If you are not present in the moment you may as well be watching T.V.

2. Doing what you have been doing to get to where you are at the moment will get you a certain result, not often mastery. here’s a talk Marianne gave at Google on Creativity and Leadership, Enjoy – Marianne’s Wisdom.

3. Infinitude – the state or quality of being infinite or having no limit. Mastery fits well into this description. it takes away logical explanation.

4. Back to Leonardo’s time for confirmation that Mastery is not attainable as an outer skill unless you have achieved it in the inner arena.

5. If you do not master your feelings you have very little chance of mastery very much else. This os where control actions comes from. Overcoming fears, self judgements are an essential part of the journey.

6. I went to the Australian Open tennis once and watched a match on a side court, I could not even register the ball because of the speed it was travelling at. So confidence would have made no difference in me mastering hitting the ball.

7. Bruce Lee is heavily quoted in the area of mastery, but he knew that is was mastering yourself not your opponent that was your real victory.

8. Hard work, not a weekend course! Michelangelo one of our great inventors and all round genius points out that it takes old fashioned hard Yakka to obtain anything like Mastery.

9. Robert Greene researched many of the great geniuses of history to write this masterful book on releasing your passion and getting closer to having mastery in your life – Link to Book.

10. The ultimate test, Self Mastery. doing the things we should do versus those we should not. Listening to the angel not the devil on our shoulders. It comes from Integrity in all matters.

11. Sometimes referred to as “The father of the American navy”, John Paul Jones knew back in the 1700’s he would not defeat the superior British forces if the did not engender faith in his men.

12. Maslow also pointed to this , without strong foundations do not even think of mastering the finer points. Do the Work – Byron Katie, Access to the Work.

13. We know what our creativity is, our Inner Pilot Light whispers it to us our whole life. We do not have to look far it, but to take action and master it our circumstances cry foul for a lotto us.

14. Mastery is not a race, one must include patience when travelling the path.

15. You can attend as many of Tony’s seminars as you like, they have inspirational names : Unleash the Power Within, Date with Destiny and Life and Wealth Mastery. Tony warns you the knowledge means nothing without the action.

I believe that the more effort you put into travelling the path that is our life and that you add integrity and hard work to it you will get closer to the elusive mark of mastery.

Namaste until next Thursday my dear friends

Surrender, Rumi Style!!

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Rod's World

I was so busy yesterday doing pre Xmas things, that the blog did not appear out of my fingers. And after a sumptuous lunch with the family and relatives I was wandering around the apartment looking on the walls for inspiration.

Thats where I go to when i’m stuck, I have posters, writing from courses and quotes from my favourites. When the real estate agent who recently sold my flat saw them he took a step backwards. its OK though another investor brought it and she loved them and wants me to stay.

I read through them and saw the following Rumi quote – This is Love: to fly toward a secret Sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of Life. Finally to take a step without Feet. I keep this on the wall because it challenges my logical way of thinking about Life.

I also recently did a find a word for the year exercise via the fine work of Susannah Conway Find Your Word for 2016. My Anam Cara Emeli passed this on to me , its really worth while over a 5 day period. My word is Sacredness but another word I was considering was Surrender.

I put Surrender quotes into Google images, thats where I get all mine from, but two listings underneath it was Surrender quotes by Rumi, I knew what I had to do. So lets look at 15 quotes by Rumi on surrender, here we go.

1. How much of our lives do we resist surrendering to new adventures, would you go with your dream partner if they came up to you in the street and said, lets runaway to Jamaica now?

2. I have been learning to surrender to my emotions more and more. I imagine I will be freer to deal with moments like these were they fly back and forth between extremes at the end of the rainbow.

3. We, or at least I have spent a lot of money on this question, some of it from a good place, some not so great. I have been hospitalised 5 times due to mental health issues. My last mentor has suggested I do body work and get out of my head. it has made profound changes in my life.

4. When we are coming from Conscious spirit the necessity to blame others drops away, responsibility becomes the gift it is.

5. I sure those of us still waiting, especially if you are in your 60’s like me find this one confronting. I surrender to its wisdom.

6. How often do we repeat the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, same with questions I’m afraid.

7. Underlying all there is Love, drink copiously of it and you will remember this.

8. Don’t know how this snuck in, but Eckhart is a fine philosopher on the subject of surrender as well.

9. Here’s the silent one, the one without words, drink it in.

10. I know I have looked in totally the wrong place for the friendships and love i seek in my life, when it has been there all along, surrender to what is so.

11. I have written lists and burnt them so that what my soulmate is like is out there in the ether. When I met someone who was one for a while, she was nothing like it, all my other desires did melt away.

12. Perhaps Rumi’s most famous quote on Love and Surrender, if we really got this we would be able to hear Sacred Love, that time when someone or you say I Love You and it never has to be said again because it is heard for a life time.

13. Surrender to this and have your life explode in 2016, I dare you.

14. Place you hand above your heart and knock, it has been waiting a long time for you to enter!!

15. We finish with one off my bucket list, Sufi spinning. Perhaps its as simple as this not to become a dizzy wreck as I do after 60 seconds. Sufi’s do it for hours.

I was speaking to one of the Iranian asylum seekers about my love for their poet Rumi, Abdul looked at me strangely, I think Wikipedia explains it well. Only in the west is he known but such a simple name.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی‎‎), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (جلال‌الدین محمد بلخى),Mawlānā/Mevlânâ (مولانا, “our master”), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, “my master”), and more popularly simply as Rumi (1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian^[1]^[8] poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic.^[9] Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, other Central Asian Muslims, and the Muslims of South Asia have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries.^[10] His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the “most popular poet”^[11] and the “best selling poet” in the United States.

Well I hope this gives you an idea of how highly I regard Rumi. Namaste until Monday my dear friends.

What’s on Your Wall?

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Rod's World

I recently received the phone call all renters dread a few weeks ago, the Real Estate agent advising you that the owners are selling. John advised me that if an investment buyer brought it I may be able to stay. My walls are covered with the displays of my life.

The Indigenous painting my sister gave me as a house-warming present four years ago, the Tiwi Island painting my friend did, the letters that you write at my friend Jules Sutherland’s extraordinary events like Mojo Tantra Dance. I thought they would want me to remove them but they liked the homely look of them, I only had to take the 50 or so thing I had on my fridge. It goes up for auction Saturday so here’s to fingers crossed.

So I have a commitment to write a blog every Monday and Thursday and when I didn’t have something planned I used to look at my wall at home and something would inspire me. I write them at my voluntary position at Darebin Intercultural Centre between English students and the only thing above my desk is a Life is a Gift sticker, so what do we think of life is a gift across the Universe. Here are my 15 quotes of Choice, Here we go :

1. Here is a formulae worth relating to, Who doesn’t like receiving a present or being in the present!!

2. Marinela Reka is a noted English poet, Her Web Page full of poems. This quote from her suggests that there is a way of living life that you could get presents daily not just on your birthday.

3. Life’s gifts do not come to you when you take your eyes off your vision and dreams on your daily journey.

4. Life is many things, these are all pretty cool ways of relating to it. Go forth and prosper.

5. David Viscott was a pioneer in the Talk Radio Therapy shows in the United States in the 1990’s . He points to the access to fulfilment in life is to give your gift away to others when you discover what it is.

6. Several of my friends are overseas at the moment at the bedside of their sick and ailing parents. One of the had not seen her mother for 15 years. She set up a fund to ask for help getting back to see her before she passed on, of course we contributed what we could.

7. It isn’t always the famous who come up with the best quotes or insights. This unknown quote speaks beautifully about the gift a simple kiss can be between two people.

8. Who would suspect that a revered Basketball Coach would be remembered more for his quotes than his sporting feats. Jim Vivano is remembered got this beautiful quote about the influence parental belief can have on their children.

9. Another unknown person came up with this quaint idea, live each day as a thank you note. If we did this the art of letter writing would be flourishing.

10. Do you unwrap your day as if it is a precious gift, or do you just fall out of bed, throw a coffee down , get in the car and speed off to work. Mindfulness added to your day adds something to its quality.

11.This person likes the number 15 like I do. 15 fantastic things to spark your day off on an ongoing basis.

12. Are you Awake? most of the great disciples aren’t asking you to become Muslim, Christian, Orthodox or Buddhist. They are asking you to awake to the power of Love in your life, Are you Awake?

13. Its always good to remember that life’s gifts are not always what you expect. This saying came from the Trojan War, when the Greek army left a wooden Horse full of soldiers outside the gates of Troy. The Trojans thought it was a parting gifts. Boy, did they get it wrong.

14. Maria Shriver calls herself an Architect for Change. Ex Wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger : Powered by Inspiration, Maria looks to the simple things such as friendship to fulfil your life’s purpose.

15. Finally the thing you cannot be paid enough for if you offer it from your heart, Your time. This is what your friends and family love you for, the giving of your time to them without attachments.

Some of these would be great posters to put on your walls, I am not a minimalist like my brother in law, I think wall space is to proudly display what you are up to in your life.

Namaste until next Monday my dear Friends.

Who or what do you Love?

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Rod's World

A question that takes up a lot of the human races time or a catchy Doors song : Classic Doors. What do we place value on in our lives, for me its my family, I am fortunate enough to have three siblings who it is easy to appreciate for their kindness and generosity. Hugo, Ruth and Jann have helped me through many a tough time on my mental health journey. One could say I might not be here except for them.

So I have learnt not to undervalue Love and Friendship , so that what I’d like to discuss today, Value in our lives. I have chosen 15 delectable quotes to cover the subject, here we go.

1. There are many ways to say to somebody I value you in my life, this poster covers quite a few of them. Which is your favourite – I like You are crafted with beauty and purpose myself.

2. At times I found it difficult to relate to the fact I was someone of value. When in this state its good to have friends and family who love your more than the story you are listening to in your head.

3. Couldn’t find a funny one this time so have gone for the cute. Teddy Bear wisdom is always good value, I bet you didn’t know they could talk.

4. Second song, Baby I’m a Want You by Bread – Loaf of Bread, lots of songs written about how people fall in love looking across the room. Relationships that last are based on getting to know the person and valuing their place in you life before you take the big step of saying, yes, you are the one.

5. Dr. Steve Maraboli is a life-changing Speaker, bestselling Author, and Behavioral Science Academic. His empowering words, strategic insights, and social philosophies have been shared and published throughout the world in more than 25 languages. He is known as the worlds most quoted man reminds us of who is the most important person to value, go and have a look in the mirror.

6. Elvis was better known for his singing than his quotes. Regarding his values it may even be said he had a Suspicious Mind, Elvis Sings. But in this quite famous quote he points to the fact there are 7,000,000,000 sets of values on the planet.

7. Go where you are valued and loved, all else is the abode of Energy vampires. This is not as easy to do as it seems but be strong, my darlings.

8. What values do we seek in the people we want close to us> The list in this quote is a pretty great place to start, As it says do not let them go, they are far to precious.

9. Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death. He was a prolific author, and one of the first English writers able to live by his pen. This was back in the 16th century and even then they were saying hold on to that which is valuable to you.

10. Another Thomas Fuller quote, we walk around thinking we will never get sick from the day we are born, then Bam it hits us and we suddenly realise that our health is the most important thing we should value.

11. Thunderclap Newman had a number one hit back in the day with There’s something in the Air The Rocking 60’s. This quote makes us think how important it is to value other people’s something because it could be their everything. Love them for this offering.

12. In Google Images this was the most repeated quote, I liked this mage of it the best. It points to that the simple things in life are what brings us happiness, because the hoarded chattels we cannot take with us.

13. My 88 year old mums favourite ever Royal. When we go op shopping she still buys books about her if she sees them. Diana says listen to your heart not your head, that is where your true values lie.

14. One of the things I value most in Life, Music. It could be dais I love it, I have 25,000 songs on my Itunes.

15. I saved the mystical one to last. Souls are a bit woo woo for some people but this quote speaks to what I believe why we should value our friends and keep them real close.

I hope you have got some value out of this. Please take a look at what you value in your life and make a commitment to be a better friend to it or them, its part of your soul after all.

Namaste until next Monday, my dear friends.

Walking the Visionary Road!!

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Rod's World

Had an inspiring weekend crewing on my dear friend Emeli Paulo’s True Grit workshop. Twenty brave souls and Ten crew inquired into what does True Grit mean for them to fulfil their dreams and purpose.

The highlight of the weekend for me was the two times we did the process that saw people move from their current reality to embracing their vision by seeing what they needed to let go and what support they needed. I have called it Walking the Visionary Road because I forget the actual name used and I like mine better.

I got to play the current reality in one of them and saw so much out of it, primarily how I hang on to mine and how my vision is normally in the distance but without structures in place to get there.

So what do we as a society say about why we need and the power of having a vision. Fifteen quotes and yes Tony Robbins is in there, how could the big guy not be. Here we go –

1. And the rhythm of life is a powerful beat, feel the tingle in your fingers and the tingle in your feet. Having your Vision powerfully in presence is a truly creative act, take it today.

2. What is your position in Life, an oft asked question at parties as social chit chat. Who gives a flying rats, I wonder what that expression means. But what inspires is people speaking about their passion in Life, what turns them on and gets them hot under the collar. Cute little duckies by the way.

3. As a child I remember watching the old American series, The Invisible Man. It was mesmerising to a young child living in Country Victoria. A bit like our powerful vision is to others who cannot not see it and often become the naysayers in our life. Don’t listen to these folk.

4. I am old enough to remember when Muhammad Ali was named Cassius Clay. Here is his take on living from Vision and the forgettable song that was written about him : The Black Superman.

5. Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree. Here is her take on living an ordinary life.

6. Debbie Ford was an inspiring author who wrote on how our shadow world inhibited our chances of fulfilling our vision. her work had us look at our excuses and re aligning with our life’s vision. Unfortunately she died young, her fans have continued her insights at Debbie’s Work.

7. The legend goes that Thomas Edison broke 1 million light bulbs before he discovered the ones that worked. If this is true that definitely makes him an expert in the arena of execution.

8. Alice Cooper’s first hit was Welcome to my Nightmare – Alice in Action. The Japanese are very succinct and direct, with their sayings. Here is their input to the importance of action in our daily lives and the consequence of the lack thereof.

9. Nelson Mandela had one of the great Visions if our time. He attributes the power of being about to hold a huge Vision through your imagination as the reason for him succeeding.

10. In business there is a requirement to provide the Tax department with your Income statement and Balance Sheet. How many of us include our Vision in our assets list. Really it is the greatest one we have.

11. How many of you have been to Disney World. I have, it a place where our dreams and fantasies come alive. This is Walt Disney’s vision for the children of the world. Awesome, if I don’t say so myself.

12. I sing in a choir, The Moons a Balloon, our leader is my Friend Kavisha Mazzella, she is an award winning Singer Songwriter, here’s one of her songs Invisible Indivisible. I pay more to go and dance to recorded music that hear her sing her beautiful words.

13. I recently went to a public talk on healing the wounds of Love. The focus was not on making up a better story about them but Waking Up. Jeremiah kept stating our job is to Wake Up. This was a profound moment for me.

14. Saving the best nearly to the last. The Get it done man Tony/Anthony Robbins. Why Vision holders are special people. Combined with commitment and willingness to act, the world is your oyster.

15. Another way to sneak in another list of Possibilities, but this is a beautiful one, it included all the ingredients for an awesome life.

It was an extraordinary weekend, opening up a sense that we will fulfil our Visions, one step at a time, some taking fast steps even running towards it and others one solid step at a time, with periods of falling backwards. Remember we are now officially a member of the Collective Potential tribe, welcome aboard.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.

Am I Perfect?

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Rod's World

Went to this fabulous talk last night with my good friend Karen by Leyolah Antara and Jeremiah Abrams called Healing the Wounds Of Love. Leyolah is my teacher so hearing Jeremiah talk on the power shadows have on our love life was kind of inspirational really. He says on his website –

“There are many offers of help out there for the lovelorn and lovesick: programs and how-to methods for self-improvement to love yourself more, to find love, to attract a soul-mate, to strengthen your will and determination, to think, act or be certain ways that will succeed in satisfying our deepest longing. But most such enterprises engage in what amounts to spiritual by-pass, an avoidance of the core of the wounds our souls have sustained in love.” Here is the link to it : Jeremiah’s Website

He spoke of how we each have stories and that the younger we have catastrophic events happen in our life in the area of Love the greater control these stories have over us later in life and our purpose was not to replace them with a more empowering story but to wake up from them and be in the present. Jeremiah said that allowing yourself to be vulnerable was a key access to this state of Awakeness.

So what do we as a society have to say about being vulnerable. As I promised last Blog I would go to our sisters predominantly this blog and I have kept my word, one could say this is a subject they are more practised at. Here we go –

1. Who has not watched Brene Brown’s TED talk on Vulnerability. Millions of people over the planet have been inspired by her forthright views on how we are affected by not being vulnerable with our loved ones.

2. And from that talk there are some magical one liners or quotes. This one particularly calls to me as it is a birthing process of all that we desire in our lives.

3. I love the line from Avatar I See You, its in the dictionary now. Brene does too.

4. Get Up , Stand Up for your Rights – The opening line for an iconic Bob Marley and The Wailers song. Bob wrote a lot of songs about Love because he believed in this.

5. Yes, Brene makes it back in again, I promise there are other women later on. Once again Brene makes a valid point that its not about the suffering but the opportunity to birth that which we seek most in our lives.

6. As Jeremiah is a Jungian therapist I thought I had better seek some scientific evidence of how vulnerability affects our mental health. His good friend Sigmund sates that never loving is where not being vulnerable leaves us.

7. And from one of the greatest story tellers of all time , Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī AKA Rumi, this is the effect of being vulnerable – Unmeasurable Joy.

8. Back in the day, I watched a grainy Black and White T.V. set with this man singing about Love doing one of the world first international broadcasts. He was so openly vulnerable in a time when people thought the world was going to end and where closing down. The clock got very close to midnight The Cuban Missile Crisis

9. I have met a lot of people in the past few years that I am willing to “Share” with. As is stated here, it has led to some amazing relationships and moments of pure bliss.

10. 7 things I definitely love having in my life, still working on it with some people. If we were truly awake could we do it with everyone in our lives?

11. The favourite saying of my friend Emeli Paulo, I am Enough. This beautiful quote from Molly Mahar, founder of Stratejoy.com – Molly’s Website, adds so much power and vulnerability to it.

12. Whip it, Whip it Good by Devo, an anthem to Vulnerability? Here it Is. Only when we reveal it all, all the way down is true intimacy available with another. Not easy, but worthwhile for what Joseph Campbell calls the Bliss.

13. Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, radical feminist, womanist, lesbian, and civil rights activist. In her own words, Lorde was a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. She was visible as you could be in a time that all the things she was were extremely left of centre, true vulnerability.

14. When we grow up we are trained not to be vulnerable but secretive, ashamed and separate. Luckily there are conscious movements breaking out across the planet who are reversing this process.

15. A beautiful back, with words written on it that cut deep, Love comes at a cost, that of being vulnerable. Go on do it, its worth the effort.

Well I think there are some great insights in this list, when I am famous for my writing and can afford it I will follow Jeremiah to Bali and do some of his work.

Namaste until next time my dear friends