It was not in your Textbooks!!

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Rod's World

I love TED talks. 18 minutes of possibility and passion. I’m reading a book called Talk like Ted, because, yes, I have a deep wish to do one, it’s on my bucket list. Titanic explorer Robert Ballard in TED 2008 started his talk with ” Everything I’m going to present to you was not in my textbooks when I went to school. ”

So I ponder why education departments hold so stringently onto outdated technologies and teaching methods as the above statement changes at a more rapid rate. here’s his TED talk: Exploring the Oceans.

The New is what is taking us forward, allowing for what we know already, but it is the added bits that will make the difference.

Let us meander down the path we are being taken by the newness in our lives:

1. Oh, but for the brave experimenters, we would not have the electric light, the solar panel. The people who invented these things knew that the journey came with mistakes. That they did not have the answer instantly.

1. When I was sixteen I did not know that I would run marathons when another sixteen had passed. Or that I would run down the main street of Leningrad with the mayor in the name of Ending World Hunger: I’m not Afraid

3. Doe Zantamata is an author, artist, and photographer. In addition to the Happiness in Your Life book series, she also creates and designs poster books of different titles, including “Happy By Nature,” “Old Children, A Book for “Adults”,” and others. Doe has been writing since before she could tie her shoes. In addition to writing, she enjoys nature, history, and is an animal welfare advocate. She also runs a blog at http://www.thehiyL.com with daily posts.

4. What would you want to be posted on your mini whiteboard that they could use later in your life: Live Your Life.

5. One thing guaranteed life will change, be new, moment by moment. Remember this when you wake up each beautiful morning.

6. I’m old enough to remember Hawkeye from M.A.S.H. From his credits he had this not in the textbook thing down pat: Theme from MASH.

7. On this path, you have to let go of some things you have attachments to. Trust the magic.

8. A new project, travel to a new country, a new love affair. Your feelings are jolted in these situations: Feelings.

9. William Arthur Ward is one of America’s most quoted writers of inspirational maxims. His column Pertinent Proverbs has been featured in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and in numerous service club publications throughout the United States and abroad. He is one of the most frequently quoted writers in the pages of Quote, the international weekly digest for public speakers.

10. There is a quote that points out we all have the same amount of time in the day as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and HHDL. When I posted it on Facebook my brother went apeshit. This fact can be quite challenging: Absolute Beginners.

11. Don’t think that this is at the forefront of my mind as I travel through the day, I will remember it now, though.

12. Is it a creation if you already know how to do it: Imagine.

13. From the great Paulo Coelho, one simple word – “Hello”.

14. It didn’t work that time. Start again, from little steps big things grow: Starting Something: M.J.

15. How many mistakes a day do you make?

Got a little bit off the subject on the way through, but remember, what is dominant in our society was not in the textbooks you read at school.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

The delight with which you Savour!!

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Rod's World

Still reading Jeff Foster’s book, The Way of Rest: Jeff’s Home Page. I’m at the section on abundance. Jeff says it is not the things in your life that equate to abundance but the connection to every breath, how sensitive you are to every flicker of sensation and emotion in the body. It is the delight you savor each unique moment.It is the freshness of each morning unencumbered by memory or false hope.

It sounds very much like the teachings of my mentor Arion Light through his Activation School: What is Activation?

So let’s go on a journey of delight!!

1. Often if you have more than one child you need a box of each as they try their unique diets. For your health information, Froot Loops lead the sugar stakes by a big way.

2. My favourite teacher had this saying, he said he wasn’t trying to get us to be perfect as that was the booby prize, the way to never complete anything: Unique.

3. Did you know that 75% of fashion magazines are advertising, don’t give up your unique beauty and believe their crap.

4. Seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, Ralph disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States, I apologise for the coke ad: Fuc**** Perfect!.

5. If you try and imitate the great artists they charge you with fraud, there’s a reason for this. Be your own great artist.

6. Love this image, nature is so great at being unique: Born This Way.

7. We see them on the trains in their business burqa’s, hundreds and thousands of them. Ban the business burqa.

8. I write all my comments in bold, should I add italics: Confident.

9. Repeat to yourself in the mirror five times after you get up.

10. Only you can be you, the more you get this the less you struggle with the world: Just the Way You Are!

11. Papa Jack, aka John Gemperie is a Filipino celebrity whose main aim is to spread love.

12. The brave men of Scotland: Be Brave Enough!

13. Says it all in two words.

14. At age 13, Kerr entered and won the 1997 annual Dolly magazine/Impulse model competition. She was flown to Sydney a week before her 14th birthday to shoot for the magazine. Upon Kerr’s win, local media expressed “concerned outrage” at her young age. The controversy raised concerns about the glorification of young girls within the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries^{: Too Young.}

15. I’m not like everyone else because they are not me. Tattoo this on your arm in case you forget from time to time.

Try to get what you want, and it’s already far away. Be what you want, and it’s already in your heart. The rest is details. The rest, you never really wanted anyway. from lack to abundance in a heartbeat.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

I just Awesomed all over the Place!!

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Rod's World

I’m reading The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakshani, founder of Mindvalley. In it, he defines three kinds of happiness:

Happiness from Special and Unique Experiences
Happiness from growth and Awakening
Happiness from Meaning

Chances are we live our life somewhere in between our highest high and lowest low. Researchers call this phenomenon hedonic adaption. Vishen talks of using Blissipline to raise our happiness on a daily basis through three practices:

The Power of Gratitude
Forgiveness
The Practice of Giving

So how do you raise your happiness levels, let’s look at what the world has been saying about it over the years:

1. There are times in my life, I have thought, Why Me!!, now I realize I would not be leading the extraordinary Life I do now without these experiences.

2. Do not give up your happy land for others, you have to live there: Happiness is a warm Gun.

3. The first five statements sum up our childhood until they put us in the system that is meant to educate us. Fight for the right to party to be happy.

4. Not as easy as this classic Banksy image makes it: Letting Go.

5. One ingredient that helps a lot is a simple smile, practice it daily.

6. The Power of Now, not our to-do lists. Eckhart Tolle is the man for this: The Power of Now.

7. One of the practices to achieve number 6.

8. At 62 I am having the most awesome years of my life. I call myself an elder of the conscious community who has not brought the bullshit: Elder Hip Hop.

9. We are visiting that time that is the height of Object worship, captured by the retail industry Christmas has lost it original meaning many decades ago.

10.I have a daily practice to repeat the I Love You mantra in the mirror because I know that this is true but that I sometimes forget: Roar.

11. Go on, you know you can put it in your purse or wallet and bring it out when you need to.

12. How old were you when you were told to grow up and act like an adult, hopefully, it still happens today for you: Dancing Queen.

13. This quote comes from The Maxims of Marmaduke, written in 1908. It is ageless and just as relevant in this century.

14. Forgetting those things that wrecked the relationship will have a greater effect than apologizing or forgiving: Forget about Me.

15. Remember these people: Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Mark Pinkus, Jack Dorsey, Susan Boyle, Abraham Lincoln and Colonel Sanders. All took to at least the age of 30 to find their passions and become successful.

So what is your awesome, never give up on finding it, remember it’s a journey, not a destination.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

You Activate the Naughty in Me!!

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Rod's World

It’s going to be 38 degrees celsius in my city today. A temperature that slows my active genes down quite a bit. This made me think what else does this to me. How do I go in the activation stakes, what depresses this in me, or what activates the naughty in me?

I know the Activation school run by my mentor Arion Light does : The Activation School link. I also know that singing does, I have been in my choir, The Moons a Balloon for over 3 years now and I love it. But what do we, humanity say about it; Let’s have a look:

1. The eight stages of choice we have every day, go for the leap!

2. I have a love affair with the words and quotes of Albert Einstein, I must do a purely Albert blog one day. Keep up the battle against the rationalism in your life, do not lose out to it: Mr. Einstein.

3. Hands up who knows what a monoamine oxidase inhibitor is? I didn’t , here’s the answer : Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are chemicals that inhibit the activity of the monoamine oxidase enzyme family. They have a long history of use as medications prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression. Bet you feel better for that.

4. Did Osho reintroduce the male beard craze to the Western world? I’m not sure but I thank my friend Tania for introducing me to his insights and books, Glorious!!: Masterpiece.

5. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology.

6. Just had to include this one. With the introduction of the iPhone generations, it hits the mark right in the bullseye : Anaconda.

7. This is why 11:11 is such a significant time and when people notice it all the time they are on this journey.

8. Must agree with this, I have heavily been into doing lately. Getting up doing what I have always done without a whole lot of feeling attached to the actions. I need to make a choice about many of them: Enough!!

9. You need to take steps if you are to grow your ideas from a seed to a flourishing shrub, here are some that may work.

10. I know it’s not a quote but the beautiful name and smile just drew me to include it : Make me Smile.

11. The most important part of your body to activate – your Heart, as Steve says it seems to already know what you want to become.

12. Have to agree with this anon quote. I have friends I do not see for months and months, yet it feels like seconds when we are in each others company: You’ve got a friend in Me.

13. I had a friend whose daughter asked him what happens when you swallow too much light. I answered you become inlightened. Dr. Pillai seems to agree.

14. In 2016, Robbins has been the most booked female speaker in the world. As a Marianne Williamson and Oprah fan. I find this extraordinary, On February 28, 2017, Robbins will release her second book “The Five Second Rule“: The Weeknd.

15. Finally from the world’s richest man, what made him contact that original computer company when he had not written a piece of code for an operating system that has now grown into the icon that is known as Microsoft.

Well, it’s getting a whole lot warmer where I am sitting to stay out of the heat of the first really hot day of Melbourne’s summer. Enjoy.

Namaste til next time, my dear friends.

Don’t waste a good Mistake!!

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Rod's World

I have been reading a business development book written by Jack De Losa called Unprofessional. I have learned so much from it and after putting it down last night I thought about what sources I learn from these days and what were the ones I learned from during my previous 61 years.

I suppose the first I remember is Enid Blyton, an iconic English children’s writer who has sold over 600 million books, who has been accused of being elitist, sexist and racist in our more enlightened times but her books always had a high moralistic value that appealed to me.

How do you learn in these days of instant gratification? Do you Google it? Are you an old school radio and print media fan? Let’s have a look at how the world looks at it:

1. Three very important ways to look at learning, how many of them do you utilize?

2. There is a saying the day that you stop learning is the day you begin to die, I think that’s what Robert is referring to : It takes two to Tango.

3. I was often referred to as a curious child, I’m not sure which definition they were referring to: eager to know or learn something or strange; unusual.

4. We all come out with the same amount of knowledge, then it is up to our guardians to ensure that we attain a level of understanding that makes us a worthy human being: Absolute Beginners.

5. Sometimes I think whoever invented the examination system of schooling never learned this in their own education.

6. Check out Bill Cosby’s look in this clip : Reeling in the Years. My mum is 89 and still an avid reader.

7. His work includes several of the most popular children’s books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.

8. I wish I had known this acronym back in the day of my formal education. Called into the office and told not to come back because I hated it and never used to go: Feet , don’t fail me Now!

9. Gratitude is one of the great learning traditions, in Melbourne Australia, my home town, we have an FB page : Daily Gratitude Space. Join us and contribute what you have learned.

10. What a beautiful quote, live full out, learn like you were eternal : Eternal Flame.

11. Love my Lao Tzu, Confucious – Guess Who?

12. From the world’s most famous quotes author, The distinguished Anon. Get on the Unstoppable train : Unstoppable.

13. They say that it will keep occurring until you learn the lesson it/they have been sent to teach you. Yes, Life never stops teaching!!

14. It’s always an idea to do something with the learning, or it is really an obsolete practice: Do it like a Dude.

15. There is that part of learning we often try to ignore and wish that it would go away, guess what it doesn’t and yes, they happened as part of our learning.

Being alive puts you in the daily learning academy, do you resist the lessons or grow from this ever expanding life you have been given.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Build from the Inside Out!!

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Rod's World

I was going to write on creating today but when I looked up creation quotes to use they seem to have been hijacked by religious factions. So I read a bit about creation in my Activation Program manual and got to see that it was based on a strong foundation and thought that it was appropriate to check that out.

There are apparently two major meanings of which I will discuss the latter, here they are:

the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.
an underlying basis or principle.

I try to live my life with some form of foundation to it, there are times though I sometimes slip up at it. Let’s have a look at the foundation our lives are based on:

1. Trees are a great example of why it is a good reason to work on your foundations in life, Not every tree survives that flurry of seeds that fall from their parent tree each seeding season.

2. It takes two to tango. This includes the twin areas of the mind and the heart, the emotional and the physical. One does not function on their own without the other being in a health state as well: Solid Rock.

3. Vernest’s ethos in life is Living to make a difference at my own pace. To do this you must fully understand and have built a solid foundation.

4. This is a great question by Arthur. I put the question into Google: How many years has the world been at peace without a war. This is the answer it came up with: Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them or just 8 percent of recorded history: Give Peace a Chance.

5. What does it take to build a powerful foundation you can build the journey and successes in your life? A little if not a lot of this may be a powerful part of the recipe.

6. Still, my favorite moments in the Mad Max trilogy is the performance of Tina and her interpretation of We don’t need another Hero.

7. The only good thing complaining does is convince other people you are not in control, go 24 hours without complaining (Not even Once) Then watch how your life starts changing.

8. Our foundation for our future belongs to our children, build them a worthwhile one: Live your Life.

9. We must love our friends as well as our self.

10. What word do you use when something goes wrong in your life? I prefer the latter: Scars.

11. A great image to depict the importance of a solid foundation in life, the quote from Alfred is pretty good too.

12. A man who took the meaning of building your life on a solid foundation. Bruce Lee’s system, Jeet Kune Do, revolved around a central theme – absorb what is useful, discard what is useless. He spent his whole life working on his foundation to improve his craft. It seems Bollywood love Bruce Lee, they made a movie about him: Bruce Lee – The Fighter.

13. Even 2,400 years ago they were discussing in the state of ancient Greece what foundations were needed to support society. Where did they go wrong?

14. Francis de Sales, (French: François de Sales; 21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God: Lonely Island.

15. A newscaster in the United States, David Brinkley, once ran for vice president, here are the results: In 1972 Vice President Spiro Agnew was re-nominated with 1,345 votes, against one vote for television journalist David Brinkley and two abstentions. The NBC network, for which Brinkley worked, had some “Brinkley for Vice President” buttons made, which the news team wore as a joke.

So we have said over the history of time that foundations are important, How much time do you give to working on yours?

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Why does this keep Happening?

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Rod's World

The impossible happened, he won. Coming from the shadow world where he made promises he cannot keep because it is no longer the 1950’s, the world is an international stage and you cannot create a future looking back at the world’s past because the one thing you are guaranteed in life is change.

Yet this is one of the core values of mainstream media, that change is bad for the planet. Look at how they relate to alternative energy, entrepreneurship, and rehabilitation of prisoners versus a law and order regime. So let’s have a journey through the shadowlands:

1. In the past few years, I have been exploring why when it got difficult I used to numb out. I discovered the work of Arion Light at The Activation School and have been living a journey through my body and what it takes for me to flourish since.

2. Suan Sontag was active in writing and speaking about, or traveling to, areas of conflict, including during the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo. She wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, AIDS and illness, human rights, and communism and leftist ideology. Although her essays and speeches sometimes drew controversy, she has been described as “one of the most influential critics of her generation.” Her most famous book is ” Against Interpretation ” : Batata Vada.

3. We are entering the shadowlands when people take the truth to be what they are spewed out on mainstream media. A missing part of it is Fact checking, most of it would have to be taken off the air if that formula was added.

4. I recently gave up drinking, a habit I took up to crush my empathic abilities in my early twenties. Since doing this I can relate to what Joanne is saying, that you can see too far, the reality for people that is hidden behind a mask: Rolling in the Deep.

5. Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.

6. Author, poet, and essayist Ursula K Le Guin points out that yes, the planet is in balance, we may just not agree with what is going on: Balance.

7. A number of phrases from Tennyson’s work have become commonplaces of the English language, including “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (In Memoriam A.H.H.), “‘Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”, “Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”, “My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, “Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”, and “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”. The latter of these is extremely relevant given the going on’s in the last few days.

8. Remember when you first realized you had a shadow and tried to get away from it, you can’t: Moonshadow.

9. One of the things we used to believe about the planet, that it was flat, no longer true. But a truth is, you cannot touch your shadow. You can accept them and take their power away, though.

10. Ah, the french philosophers, not sure what this means, but they are beautiful words: Shadowplay.

11. I agree with this line from Don’s hit there is not enough love in the World.

12. Sylvia is one of those creative geniuses who chose to take her own life well before the world wished to see her leave it : Sylvia’s poetry.

13. One of the great fallacies of the new age movement is you can just ignore and let go of the shadows in your life. The more you walk away the more powerful they become.

14. What a great sentence by Sylvia recognizing that we must have dark and light in our lives: The Young Ones.

15. I hope Donald remembers this.

We are about to enter a world with the most powerful man using one liners as policy, it will be interesting times. What color do you want the wall to be?

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

No matter the Situation!!

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Rod's World

I was always considered intelligent at school but was expelled at the end of Year 11 for non attendance. I may have been intelligent but did not consider a formal education the way to honour it. I spent many a day in Year 11 not attending the institution, Eaglehawk High School I had left my parents home to go to.

Many years later I began the education that would fulfil my desires, in the self development field. Through the tenets of Buddhism and Werner Erhardt and Associates I began a journey that I still continue today that will continue to the day I pass to the other side.So what does society have to say about where the fulfilment of intelligence lies, let’s have a look:

1. My favourite bird, the noble owl suits this quote that Henry Ford made famous in the early years of the last century questioning were people allowed to think in an education system that was set up to train clones for jobs that already existed.

2. Being supremely intelligent did not necessarily mean that you fitted in . Here are some unusual facts about Albert: Quirky Albert.

3. Often people who come up with the great changes on our planet are considered quite crazy because how could their idea work or there is no need for that when they first start talking about it.

4. Janis Joplin, one of the 60’s great philosophers, was not known for her answers , she was known for her questioning of society: Ball and Chain.

5. Albert again, he did not shout in life, just kept improving his arguments until they gave him the Nobel Prize for one of them.

6. Or Love, kindness, inner beauty etc. etc. etc: Money.

7. I read recently you should be the dumbest person in the room if you want to be a success, this relates to that.

8. Epictetus was a Greek-speaking Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia, and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in north-western Greece for the rest of his life. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion: Just Do It.

9. They say when you are born 60% of the jobs you will do have not been invented yet, but in our country they are trying to return the education system to a standardised system throughout the country, why would you do that?

10. There is also a fourth these days, artificial which could be seen as replacing one or two of the above: Prince Ea.

11. How can you keep on learning if you are always the smartest person in the room, if this occurs more times than less, then you are going backwards.

12. Your physical looks do not remain the same, we get lines and wrinkles as the years pile on. Your wit and foresight grow over time: I don’t want to change You!

13. I had to include this one, because I am known as the research nerd, research intellectual bad ass has a much better ring to it.

14. Intelligent people will really get this: Pharrell is Happy.

15. I love this quote by Albert, It’s why I rail against the education system that thinks everyone is the same.

Intelligence is a gift we could all participate in when we enter our lives from the womb, we just need to find the right education path. Don’r rely on the one that the system says is the one that will work for you.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Real Heroes don’t wear Capes!

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Rod's World

I won a competition when I was very young dressed as a super hero. As you get older you realise that the heroes in life don’t necessarily wear capes. That heroics are much simpler than that, a smile when you feel down, a hug when you feel lonely. a dollar in a cup.

Appreciation of what they do is what people remember, it has been an ongoing battle for me as it was not a strong point in my family as I was growing up. I have to remember to say thank you as it was not something I learnt from an early age.

Acts of appreciation, what does society say about them, lets have a look:

1. Margaret Elizabeth Cousins, also known as Gretta Cousins (7 October 1878–11 March 1954) was an Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist and Theosophist, who established All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1927. She was the wife of poet and literary critic James Cousins, with whom she moved to India in 1915. She is credited with composing the tune for the Indian National Anthem Jana Gana Mana in February 1919, during Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to the Madanapalle College.

2. I am not like the millions who think that the Tony Robbins documentary I am not your Guru is a classic. Too me it looks a lot like manipulation but a lot of people I respect swear by him and have done the fire walk : The Tony Robbins Experience.

3. I still remember the Japanese airline staff member who walked us to the front of the line in Kyoto airport because we were due to miss our flight as we had assumed a flight to Moscow would be international. It was domestic and we could not read the signs in 1990.

4. Expectations versus acts of Appreciation. How dull has your relationship become when your day to day actions are expected? : Someone Like You!!

5. This is not so easy to do, a dear friend of my brothers is in hospital at the moment with the possibility she will not see 50, you never expect this.

6. Bruce Wilkinson is a Christian philosopher and author who has given keynote addresses at major national and international events with stadium audiences of 80,000 or more. He has written more than 60 books that have been translated into 30 languages, including several books that reached the number one spot on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Bruce’s book, The Prayer of Jabez, remains the fastest-selling book in history, with worldwide sales exceeding 20 million. Scarlet Begonias.

7. A little known secret that can have you lead a fulfilled life.

8. The Wonder of you. A lot of songs have been written about this. Here’s the most famous by the King: The Wonder of You.

9. Aaron Polson currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, two sons, and a tattooed rabbit. His stories have featured magic goldfish, monstrous beetles, and a book of lullabies for baby vampires. His work has seen print in Shock Totem, Blood Lite II, and Monstrous with several new stories forthcoming in Shimmer, Space and Time, and other publications. The Saints are Dead, a collection of weird fiction, magical realism, and the kitchen sink, is due from Aqueous Press in 2011. “

10. These people are rare, we usually marry them or have them as our children. Have you seen that ad were the father announces his death to get his children to come at Christmas. It says a lot about unconditional love. Here’s a disco version: Unconditional Love – Donna Summer.

11. One of the most famous quotes ever written about appreciation comes from Maya Angelou and it doesn’t even use the word.

12. When you put your love out there you are giving your power away, it lies within the life within you, the same for flowers, don’t pick them and bring them to an early death : Dead Flowers by Townes.

13. My friend Daniel started a Facebook page : Daily Gratitude Space for a forum so people could write what they appreciate daily. It has grown to over 1,000 members. Join, its a beautiful thing to do.

14. Love her or hate her, Mother Teresa’s words are still quoted 20 years after her death. There are many Indians alive today who appreciate what she did for them even though she was considered a bit narky : Mother Teresa’s Song.

15. What can you not say about the great man who is Wayne Dyer. Who did he appreciate? Wayne Dyer stated Nisargadatta Maharaj to be his Teacher and cited the quotation, “Love says: ‘I am everything’. Wisdom says: ‘I am nothing’ from a compilation of talks on Shiva Advaita (Nondualism) philosophy I Am That. He was influenced by Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization and by the teachings of Swami Muktananda, whom he considered to be his Master. In his book, Wishes Fulfilled; Mastering the Art of Manifesting, Dr. Dyer also credited Saint Francis of Assisi and the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu as foundational influences in his work.

I appreciate all of you who read my blogs, I am in awe you are from all over the world. I was especially bemused by the person from St. Kitts who read one.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Make each day, a Story!!

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Rod's World

Are you a good storyteller? I love listening to podcasts and the ones that hold my attention are the ones who tell great stories. To me, a great story is one that has you live an experience you haven’t before. This means that everyone can be a storyteller for another because we all have our own unique experiences, how do you get other people to listen to yours?

Lets look at what people have said on their storyboards:

1. Christina Baldwin is a writer and seminar presenter of 30+ years experience. She has contributed two classic books to the exploration of journal writing, including the well-known classic, Life’s Companion, Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice, revised and reissued in 2007 after 100,000 original sales. This work led her to a long study of personal growth and group dynamics and as a result of that experience she wrote Calling the Circle, the First and Future Culture to explore how social container releases needed wisdom.

2. From little things, big things grow. In Australia an indigenous tribal elder Vincent Lingiari took on one of the large land owners Lord Vestey with a simple story, Its our land: From Little Things.

3. Steve Jobs was a classic story teller, he said Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest, my entire family now has apple computers.

4. How do you relate to stories, do they lift you up and give you a new direction in life. They do for me, it may be a simple half page or a 400 page volume but if they add to my knowledge they have done what is required : Compass.

5. Michael Margolis made a career from Story telling. on his twitter page he wrote the following : Helping trailblazers tell their story. Educator, anthropologist, entrepreneur. Left-handed, colour-blind, believes chocolate is a food group. Try the red pill. His webpage is called http://www.getstoried.com.

6. Our mainstream media tell stories, they unfortunately have become written for profit not the betterment of society. How did we let it become about money not what would help our society grow: Magic.

7. We have all heard the saying you will not be remembered for what you had when you pass, but how you made people feel, the stories that are told about you when you are no longer there.

8. Sir Terence David John “Terry” Pratchett, OBE was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett’s first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. His final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death. He definitely turned his life into a story: The Hedgehog Song.

9. Changes, don’t wait to be a richer man: Changes, just gonna have to be a different man. Lines from a famous Bowie song. Don’t keep telling the same story for your whole life.

10. Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All: Everyone Included. I set up a Facebook group so we can share great cultural stories, Join Here : FB Interculturalism.

11. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

12. Tenzin Gyatzo, HHDL has it down pat. Its not success that is going to transform the world. Will it be the Western Women as he has also said : Transformer.

13. I hadn’t heard of Michael Margolis before I wrote this blog, have watched a few YouTube videos while writing it, he is a fascinating man, have a look.