Love The Trees Until Their Leaves Fall Off!!!

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Rod's World

In my state of Victoria, Australia, a group of indigenous women from the Djab Wurrung tribe have been fighting the State Government to save their ancient birthing trees, I attended a rally of support outside our Parliament House yesterday.

Among the women speaking out against the eviction of the Djab Wurrung protection embassy camp and the removal of thousands of trees between Buangor and Ararat, including some 200 sacred birthing and direction trees, some of which are believed to be around 800-years-old, embassy leader DT Zellanach travelled from country to speak into power, supporting the rally’s calls of “no trees, no treaty.” The embassy camp has been actively blocking the removal of the trees for around 14 months, despite notices of eviction from the Victorian government being delivered to make way for Major Road Projects Victoria to begin clearing the land.

Our government declared a public square that is just 17 years old, Federation Square being added to the state’s heritage register in recognition of its cultural significance to Victoria. Yet they will not recognise the birthing trees which are around 800 years old the same protection.

When did we forget that nature and the lore of the indigenous people of our country are just as important, if not more so?

What has society said about the rights of mother earth and its peoples over the centuries, remembering that the First Australians are the world’s longest existing culture who had looked after this land for 60,000 years before European settlement, lets have a look:

1. We are the only European settled country that does not have a treaty with the indigenous people of the land we invaded, our relationship with them suffers accordingly.

2. Embassy leader DT Zellanach had this to say at the rally: Zellanach: We are the land. What you do to our country you do to us. We’ve never ceded sovereignty.

Our women and children are the most oppressed people in this land. I get sick and tired of seeing what men want to do to our women and children. The trees are Women’s business: Wild Women Do.

3. The actions the Djab Wurrung women have taken to raise support to resist for 14 months is truly magnificent.

4. These women can clearly hear their regions earthsong: Earth.

5. Sixty thousand years, I believe we have something to learn off these women before it is too late.

6. Ralph Emerson was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, he died in 1882. Luckily there are still people like the Djab Wurrung women who are willing to stand up for their rights: Eve of Destruction.

7. Clearly does not satisfy the Victorian State Government.

8. A quirky individual, Michael Jackson stood for the earth, he possibly would have been at the embassy if he was alive today: Earthsong.

9. I consider the Djab Wurrung women Earth Angels.

10 What are the birthing trees but not the soul of the Djab Wurrung nation: With Arms Wide Open.

11. Our premier, Daniel Andrews has forgotten this, No Trees, No Treaty.

12. I was gifted the ability to hear the earth by an indigenous elder at Confest, sometimes I hear the earth crying, I sure you can hear the trees on the Embassy site: The Memory of The Trees.

13. To all the people who attended the rally with me, thank you for giving the trees a chance.

14. Many Christians who follow the greed train seem to have forgotten this quote from their holy book, including members of our state government in this situation: Timeless Land.

15. And for our final lesson some words from one of the great women of this and the last century, Maya Angelou. To the Djab Wurrung women, I stand with you, No Trees, No Treaty.

Indigenous land, it’s where you stand, we cannot keep denying 60,000 years of occupation. Time for a treaty, and time to protect the Djab Wurrung sacred birthing trees.

Today’s playlist is about the Earth, birthing and trees. We begin with Natalie Cole. Some rap from Little Dicky follows, then we go back to the 1960s to Barry McGuire to demonstrate we haven’t really learnt the lesson this song is about. Then a Michael Jackson song I actually had never heard of. Creed follows with a beautiful ode to birthing then, the penultimate song is from Enya and we complete with a tune from one of Australia’s preeminent indigenous bands Yothu Yindi in praise of the timelessness of our ancient continent and its first people: Love The Trees Until Their Leaves Fall Off!!

I have not written a political based blog for several years but realised that it was time to reenter that space. No Trees, No Treaty. If we are to have Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included becoming the worlds catchcry all must be willing to take action. Until we meet again, my dear friends. Remember if you wish to receive my blogs sign on in the follow space.

She slept next to the Fires!!

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Rod's World

It took just on a week to get back from the magical land that is known as Confest. The title comes from the glorious minimalist I meet on the last day who had decided to come the day before Confest began, she hopped in her car with a backpack and slept on the earth the entire time, could also do the most amazing earth sounds, I fell in love with her from the moment she shared her vision for the planet.

How do I feel after experiencing my first Confest in 30 years, a mixture of joy and sadness actually. The joy that I have come home again and sadness that I waited 30 years to return. There were hundreds of things to do, workshops, mudtribes, Temple rooms, Silent discos, I chose to hang around our firepit in Tranquility during the day: the drug, alcohol and smoke-free camping area and receive the connections that would come my way and must admit to a silent disco addiction garnered from attending similar events in the Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy. They were not the same, the evil energy of drugs and alcohol permeated the tent, still, I danced.

How did the connecting go, fucking magnificently: Saturday night this is the countries represented around our little fire: Finland, Chile, Argentina, Japan, China, The United States, and me as the token Aussie.

The United States started it all with Woodstock, Confest is Australia’s answer. Woodstock’s motto was Peace and Love, how did Confest fulfil that in my heart and how do we as human beings do that on an ongoing basis, let’s have a look:

1, Jimi performed at Woodstock, he would have loved Confest. Died too young at 27.

2. MLK Jnr. knew what was a need, they shot him: Love Your Enemies.

3. Just keeping it real.

4. Heartspace, way to go: Listen to Your Heart.

5. From the greatest of philosophers, Ms Unknown comes this pearl of wisdom.

6. Working together to make the change, Fuck Yes: Let’s Stick Together.

7. Self-love first, the rest will follow, there were 10,000 souls to share yours with.

8. His Holiness recognizes Love and Peace as the new religion that will make the difference, will you: Love is My Religion.

9. If you don’t know who Ram Dass is, check him out, pure gold.

10. Only one song: Stairway to Heaven.

11. Of course, we cannot forget the powerful morning potion after the few hours of sleep got each night.

12. I met dozens of these beautiful angels over the time I was there: Give Peace a Chance.

13. If you truly want to integrate the Confest spirit in your life, do this.

14. And, especially this: We are family.

15. And the final lesson comes from the divine one, Maya Angelou.

What was the most profound moment of Confest for me? When the indigenous elder ran up to me and said, it is good to see you again this lifetime, then performed a ceremony on my face for 15 minutes in the indigenous language, then told me to listen to the forest. Want to know what it said? It said why do these people come here and play the musical instruments of Africa and sing the songs of India, don’t they know we are the oldest surviving culture on the planet and we have our own sounds. We will heal when they leave. it feels like I can hear the Earthsong. By the way, I had never met him in my life.

The playlist of Love and Peace contains some spoken word and all-time classic anthems. We begin with Martin Luther King Jr, then the unusual combination of Roxette and Eminem. Back in time to Bryan Ferry, then Bob’s son Ziggy Marley. Two more old Love and Peace classics follow from Led Zeppelin and John Lennon. We finish all in the family with Chic and Sister Sledge, Lots of live versions because music is just better live: She Slept next to the Fire!!

Confest was a great example of how I want the world to relate: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until next time, my dear friends.

Put on your Perspectacles!!

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Rod's World

The quote in the empowering book Time for my Life: 365 Stepping Stones by Thea Westra for today is as follows: Goals help you keep in perspective what’s really important so you do not spend all of your time doing what seems important – Nido Qubein. Nido is an American Lebanese University president and philanthropist who has donated over $10 million dollars in his lifetime to education. He has not lost sight of his goal to his seemingly important day to day urgent tasks.

How do you stay in perspective when it comes to your purpose, your goals, your why in life? Another way of asking it is How can you be more effectively making use of your time? And how has society related to it over the years, Here’s a few takes at it:

1. How many people do you have in your life who would give you everything?

This piece of wisdom is from the First Century A.D. Marcus was a Roman emperor who sought the meaning of life and wrote an excellent book called Memoirs about it: Human.

3. I think I have wasted a few years of my 63 years not doing this, worrying about things that I couldn’t at the time change or do anything effective to change my circumstances, nice one Mary.

4. Too simple: Mean.

5. Remember when we were kids and we were going to astronauts or veterinarians, why did we change our perspective and stop looking?

6. They wrote a song about this a long, long time ago: “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” is a popular song composed by Mitch Leigh, with lyrics written by Joe Darion. It was written for the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha. It is the main song from the musical and became its most popular hit. The song is sung all the way through once in the musical by Don Quixote as he stands vigil over his armor, in response to Aldonza (Dulcinea)’s question about what he means by “following the quest”. It is reprised partially three more times – the last by prisoners in a dungeon as Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant mount the drawbridge – like prison staircase to face trial by the Spanish Inquisition. It was awarded the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame: The Impossible Dream.

7. Love and Respect for All – Everyone Included.

8. Are we all star seed, energy in different forms. If we vibrate what we want on a daily basis, the universe listens: Across the Universe.

9. This makes me think of his Holiness’s statement about If we really listen, and not just wait to reply we actually might learn something new.

10. Amazing, really: Nowhere Man.

11. We are all unique individuals, love that about yourself.

12. And it’s also one of the great medicinal plants on the planet: Dandelion.

13. I remember The Hour of Power evangelist TV show from the 70’s that Robert Schuller hosted, seems he did it for 50 years until 2010. We all have fears though, I find facing them is the most useful way of lessening their influence over my daily life.

14. How we are training our young folk more and more these days. Self love is the reverse of this: I was Here.

15. Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation”. He was elected the first Saoi of Aosdána in 1984 by The Irish nation, the ultimate accolade a creative artist can receive in that country.

Martin Luther Kings distinction around perceptiveness Somebodiness’ which is a state of self dignity and worthiness, despite what others may think. It is a deep inner resolve that nobody can convince me that I am not somebody sums up how I feel about this subject well. Your perspective is just as valuable as anyone else’s, never forget this.

Music this blog has three song’s from the 1960’s , two pop diva’s and two people I have never heard of, that’s why I love what YouTube throws up for my requests. Rag ‘n Bone Man., Taylor Swift, Andy Williams, Rufus Wainwright, The Beatles, Tevin Campbell and Beyonce.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Why Now, Why didn’t we Know this!!

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Rod's World

In her chapter Discernment is Everything – When the negative serves the positive Danielle LaPorte pens the following piece:

My new life is Golden

After I learned how to breathe under water

I knew that my lungs had all the answers.

My skills in courage were as follows:

swallowing terror whole

making good use of disgust

boring a hole in my kitchen floor with my tears

loving like what I loved was the only child ever to be

born of the sun and the moon

changing my mind while naked

breaking vows

making a new vow (only one)

leaning back and taking deeply deep breaths of space

watching the Universe reveal all of us to me.

My reward is as follows:

I get to go wherever I want now and always,

for instance

under water or

to that golden spot that I thought was only a dream

but is now my new life breathing me.

I can read the discernment in this and love her statement about being discerning:

Being discerning is not the same as being judgemental. Discernment is big-minded and awake. Judgement is narrow-minded and operates in the dark. Discernment is our wisdom coming to life.

How do we discern, how does the world discern? Let’s have a look by taking a journey around the globe:

1. Now that would be a breakthrough for all of us to relate to our lives in that way.

2. Let’s raise our courage levels so we know when to do the latter and not spend our life suffering: Walk Away.

3. It takes going to the edge to see discernment over judgement, are you willing?

4. Is your Facebook feed chock full of events run by your friends and ones that Facebook thinks fit in with your lifestyle. Time to use your inner wisdom as to which ones you attend: Invited.

5. Four interesting definitions of discernment, choosing and acting appeal to me.

6. Often people drop the first word and never reach the stage of discernment: Sound Judgement.

7. How often is your head held high in these situations?

8. I just spent three hours in a workshop today listening to the cost of giving your power away to the deity known as the religious god and that we were above this, this quote reminds me of the power George said we give away: Embrace The Day.

9. Don’t go into your life with your eyes closed.

10. Don’t let it be such a secret in your life that it impedes your chance of success: No Secrets.

11. Why I left the home pf the original sin many years ago.

12. Andy Stanley is a pastor. First thing on his google entry is – What do you do when you’re no longer content with what you wear, drive, or live in? Followed by Character, Influence, Spiritual Growth. One could ask what these two statements have to do with the prophecy of love that Jesus Christ was spreading: Doing it Wrong.

13. Love the combination of discernment and vision. Actions that will open us up.

14. To me unrenewed is when you live your life from a poor me mentality and discernment is when you are willing to confront those parts of yourself that aren’t so nice but you hold them in your heart and see what comes from that: Suspicious Minds.

15. In other words don’t push it down someone else’s throat.

Discernment isn’t easily swayed, because it has a strong sense of self. It means you will stop falling for anything and listen to your intuition more readily, building a stronger nature.

A mixture of the feminine and the masculine in today’s music – Malcolm Brown, Drake and Fine Young Cannibals from our kingdom and Christine Aguilera, Ziona, Naomi Striemer and Missy Higgins from our queens.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Note to Self : Stop Expecting!!

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Rod's World

” The reason many people in our society are miserable, sick , and highly stresses is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over.” – Steve Maraboli

Luminita Saviuc states that in every instance of transformation, the transformative insight was always one that led her to letting go , surrendering and giving up, in the best sense possible. And perhaps out of all the self-sabotaging habits of thought and behaviour, the one that’s far too common is our desire to control aspects of our reality that are actually beyond our control.

I can speak from experience that staying in control can be costly, as I have experienced several mental health periods in my life which I fought seeking the help that I needed to restore the balance in my life.

So how do we relate to control in our society. let’s take a peek:

1. This reminds me of the Activation work where we get in touch with our Essence in life I do with my mentor Arion Light: Link to the Source.

2. The history of psychedelics dates back tens of thousands of years, it is only in the past 100 years that there has been scientific and counterculture interest in these substances. They were originally used to obtain transcendental experiences: Purple Haze.

3. This is one form of control it would be a great thing to let go of, refusing to get back up.

4. The soul is harder to hear when you are controlling what enters your heart: Keeping Your Head UP.

5. To achieve this those mental controls of fear and anxiety must go.

6. When the controls are gone, we can sing relax don’t do it: Frankie sings it.

7. And yet, there are profoundly powerful acts of control that we need in our life.

8. We often lose control when we just don’t want to wait anymore, and say that’s enough. Remember that what people talk about on their death beds is what they regret usually, not what they celebrate: No Regrets.

9. What would our lives be like if we were so in control that we were incapable of giving back?

10. Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels for teens, which have received numerous awards and rave reviews. Her books have been published in over thirty countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide: You’re the one that I Want.

11. Ah, the women who introduced the term The Work to the world. Another pearl of wisdom: Let Life live you – It does anyway.

12. Hard to drive your car of dreams with four flat tires, isn’t it.: Flat Tire.

13. Or even not knowing what you don’t know!!

14. A way to make sure that people stop relating to you from a position of power: Stop Complaining.

15. A possibility if we set our controls for the heart of the sun.

” So don’t be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than you have ever known, casting its shadow all over you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don’t know what work they are accomplishing within you? – Rainer Maria Rilke

Namaste until next time, my dear friends

It’s not easy being a Goddess!

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Rod's World

What is a mere male doing writing about goddesses? A story, in 2013, after getting over my latest mental health episode I saw that my friend Sun was having a Kirtan with a Kundalini dance session. I ended up doing the door for the event and met Nemone, the Kundalini Dance facilitator and signed up for her eight week course because I sensed it was a way to heal faster.

During this process Nemone mentioned she was going to a retreat in Byron Shire and that I should come along. With $50 in the bank this seemed an impossibility. On the night of the heart chakra dance we had to do it blindfolded and dance to fulfil an intention which seemed impossible, I choose, I will go to the retreat. Imagine my surprise when the sixth email I opened that night was the payment plan offer for the retreat. So I was off to the retreat.

I arrived in the shire and was introduced to the workshop leader, a woman named Tanishka Tantrika, I felt like I had known her for lifetimes. Over the next 7 days my DNA was transformed. My favourite memory was one participant asked her to repeat something, Tanishka answered not really, her output was so fresh each time. I became and elder and took on personal vows over this period of time,

What I did not know about Tanishka was that she was The Moon Woman who had a 500,000 person following on Facebook. Two online courses later I find her knowledge of god and goddesses unique. She has just released a book on Hay House entitled Goddess Wisdom: Where to get the book.

So I have chosen 15 goddess quotes, let travel down the path:

1. I think this is one of the most powerful things that taking on being a goddess allows women: The right to not have to apologize for it.

2. How you treat a person is how they will relate to you: I hear you Calling

3. I know many women who have reached this discovery. Thanks for the power you bring to womanhood.

4. Pretty much sums up the goddesses I know, has anything been left out?: Shake It Off.

5. And the people who know her knows that too, or face her wrath.

6. Both men and women can do this as we both have masculine and feminine sides to our soul: You Sexy Thing.

7. Goddesses can go from Femme Fatales to completely butch, there is no goddess look, it’s who you be.

8. Written sometime in the 1700 or 1800’s by Goethe acknowledging the power of the goddess to empower the present moment: Song of the Goddess.

9. Reading Tanishka’s beginning to her journey you would never imagine that she would end up writing a book called Goddess Wisdom.

10. Goddesses know this to the bottom of their heart’s, the power of the circle: The Earth is my Mother.

11. Frida knew that these people exist, it sometimes takes a while to find yours.

12. I woke up like this, booya!: I am the Goddess.

13. The role of the goddess; to empower people and the planet.

14. Goddesses see the big picture, for them not the chauvinistic desire to rule the world, she knows better than that: Beltane Fire dance.

15. Goddesses realise there will be scars along the journey, they triumph over them.

I have a lot to thank my friend Tanishka for, without having met her I would know little of the goddesses and how to recognise one. You have expanded my life tremendously.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

The Soul of Service!!

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Rod's World

I’m suffering a hit of ecstatic bliss at the moment because I received Danielle LaPorte’s new book White Hot Truth in the mail this week. Subtitled Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path – from one seeker to another the small portion I have read delivers on all fronts.

I flipped the book open and came to the section on service, hence the title, the chapter also includes the words conscious optimism and giving from your fullness, I love this statement. In the chapter is this following quote:

I am driven by two main philosophies; know more today

about the world than I knew yesterday, and lessen the suffering

of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you – Neil Degrasse Tyson.

The one comment I wish to make on the Manchester bombing is the graciousness the homeless man showed to the victims, he could of quite easily snuck off into the darkness of the anonymity of that subculture. For his kindness he has been gifted six months free rental of a house by the owner of Manchester United . This is what should be remembered about that horrendous event, not the event itself.

So what happens when you live from a space of giving, let’s have a look:

1. A mining magnate in my country of Australia has gifted $400 million dollars , about 10% of his wealth to various charities. He said that making money is not about having bigger houses it’s about making a difference if and when you can.

2. Live the life you were really meant to, his holiness the Dalai Lama says happiness does not come from loving yourself first, it is from helping others and compassion: Give.

3. A kind gesture can be as simple as smiling at the person sitting next to you on the tram, train, or bus.

4. Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier: Love Life.

5. Perhaps an oxymoron but you need to create space so that you can give one of the great gifts in life, the joy of allowing others to give to you.

6. Time is a made up conversation, how much do you value it. The gift of quality time is priceless to another, much more than an object: Time after Time.

7. “Don’t Just

Don’t just learn, experience.
Don’t just read, absorb.
Don’t just change, transform.
Don’t just relate, advocate.
Don’t just promise, prove.
Don’t just criticize, encourage.
Don’t just think, ponder.
Don’t just take, give.
Don’t just see, feel.
Don’t just dream, do.
Don’t just hear, listen.
Don’t just talk, act.
Don’t just tell, show.
Don’t just exist, live.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

8. What’s your gift to the world, how are you doing in giving it away to others: Pablo Picasso.

9. Don’t be a two handed taker!!

10. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up: Just the Way you Are.

11. Minimalism is a current fad, to make your life simpler by cleaning it up, giving away what you don’t use and not taking stuff you don’t need.

12. One of my dear friends is having treatment for cancer at the moment, I send her a song from Youtube on a regular basis to cheer her up, I also call her the divine one: Standup.

13. This is called the pay it forward philosophy, join the movement.

14. I am one of the chronic givers who fights the battle with being able to receive, I was well trained by my mum to be a lifelong volunteer: Castle on the Hill.

15. Give from Love.

So I will finish with another paragraph from Danielle:

Use your Soul. Stop, drop and send light. You believe in it so use it. After you dry your tears from the latest shooting or news headlines, take four minutes – twenty if you can – to sit in silence and very specifically send love, positive energy, healing, light and prayers to the person, people, place or situation on need. How many times so we say to someone, “I’m sending you Love”?Really send it

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

People are your Assignments!!

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Rod's World

You are always being guided, even when you don’t feel like it. It comes with being part of the human race, a unique human being. We are all in a large classroom called Earth and the people you choose to know and even those we do not give us our assignments in life. How often do you become frustrated with our political leaders even though we have never met them?

So who do we choose as our most personal assignments? Often it is our family, as they are in our lives the longest, even though it may be at some distance later in life. So let us take a journey through our assignments:

How many people have you met in your life, when you have thought, OMG, I am so glad I am nothing like them. They are there for that exact lesson

2. Joel Scott Osteen is an American preacher and televangelist. He is the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, in Houston, Texas. Osteen’s televised sermons are seen by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly in over 100 countries. He gives you some sage advice as how to handle fear as an assignment in this quote: Fear and Love.

3. Number ten is the only one you can read clearly, that’s enough.

4. Listening to your mind, trying to work out what others want to hear is not the assignment. Deep down in your soul is what you have to say: Shake It Off.

5. The old 24-hour formulae, we all have the same time in a day, so each of us has the chance to inspire others with our actions.

6. Self Love first is the prime assignment, hard to give it away if it is not part of our inner being: Stronger.

7. This is why the idea of war is corrupt as an assignment, we need to end it ASAP.

8. The second evangelist today, Myles Munroe is slightly more controversial for his stance against gay rights. He is also the author of over twenty philosophical and biblical books. I like this quote though: Ride on Time.

9. This falls in the category of don’t listen to people’s words, watch their actions. Dreams without actions are very shallow.

10. What if all mothers had told their children this, what a different world we would live in. Motherhood is a vital assignment: Imagine.

11. Sometimes assignments with each other can be frivolous, this is one of them, or is it?

12. I am finding it easier to recognize the latter these days, It’s worth the effort: Adventure of a Lifetime.

13. Confucius’s principles had a basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. He also recommended family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the well-known principle “Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to yourself”, the Golden Rule.

14. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, “Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoyevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music.” Two of his films were listed in Sight and Sounds 100 greatest film ever made: Invisible.

15. And here is your final assignment, remember it as often as you can.

Remember to work on at least one new assignment AKA personal relationship a week, it will transform your life!!

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

When You Get Lost, Celebrate!!

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Rod's World

When you get lost, celebrate. In every great journey, heroes lose their way sometimes, doubt their own power sometimes. Get lost, and find yourself. Find presence, the breath, the beating of the heart> Take the giant step of not knowing which step to take; a perfect step. Trust the doubting too. And your path will find you, moment to moment. Your true path cannot be lost, ever.

Jeff Foster: Reasons to Celebrate, Page 164 – 165: – The Way of Rest.

Do we remember to celebrate our lives, or do we through complaint in there to balance it out? How could we have a total celebratory life, how would that fit in with what the media expresses as daily life, war, death, and mayhem?

Luckily there are individuals who do not agree with this, here are some of their profound quotes about leading a celebratory life:

1. What we say and think creates our life, I have a practice of writing in the Facebook group Daily Gratitude Space. Join it has you look at simple things you can celebrate. https://www.facebook.com/groups/949499165128838/

2. One of America’s most respected authors, keynote lecturers and productivity consultants on high performance human achievement. 10 million audio programs sold in 14 languages, Denis Waitley is one of the most listened-to voices on personal and career success. He has helped a lot of people lead a good life: Good Life.

3. One way to ensure you are celebrating life is to have your attention be fully where you are, moment to moment. Not so easy to do!

4. Why is it that events that happen in our lives are better as memories. Refer to the point above: Memory.

5. Celebrations change in their focus as we travel down the journey of our lives. Where is yours focused on now?

6. I am one of the world’s worst photographers. My 89-year-old mum served in WW2 as a photographer and passed her skills on to her daughters. Ryan is considered the most important photographer in America, a celebration of life: Photograph.

7. Well, you can’t read many words on this quote. Laughter, a Hug, and Candles Burning BRIGHT. Sounds like a celebratory life to me.

8. As Oprah said love it and the universe will love you right back: Wake me up before you Go-Go!!

9. Josef Pieper was a German Catholic philosopher, at the forefront of the Neo–Thomistic wave in twentieth century Catholic philosophy. Among his most notable works are The Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance; Leisure: the Basis of Culture; The Philosophical Act and Guide to Thomas Aquinas (published in England as Introduction to Thomas Aquinas).

10. What would life be like if we celebrated all body forms, no anorexia probably? Fashion magazines have a lot to answer for: Your Body.

11. Music, Dance, Laughter, Meditation equals Celebration.

12. The dictionary of Jazz (Robert Laffont, Bouquins) defines him in the following way: A first-rate artist and intellectual, Archie Shepp has been at the head of the Avant- Garde Free Jazz movement and has been able to join the mainstream of Jazz, while remaining true to his aesthetic. He has developed a true poli-instrumentality: an alto player, he also plays soprano since 1969, piano since 1975 and more recently occasionally sings blues and standards: Lush Life.

13. Celebrate your life, It’s yours and you have no idea how everybody else is doing with theirs.

14. What entry in the history book are you leaving behind? What comes up when they google your name. It’s your celebration by life: Celebration!!

15. I had this said to me about Los Angeles by a 16-year-old girl in California in the 1990’s. Then she explained what she meant. I had not heard or thought of some of the things she talked about. They certainly know what celebrating is about in the Golden State.

So let’s remember to celebrate life, supposedly we only have one.

Namaste until nest time, my dear friends.

Don’t Squander Joy!!

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.