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.

Love to Love You Baby!!

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Rod's World

So I chose this title so I can link Donna Summer, Yay!! Disco Gold

I went to one of my favourite dance journeys last Saturday Mojo Tantra Dance which I have been attending over the past year run by my dear friend Jules Sutherland. The people who attend are beautiful souls but most are single which is not how we were intended to be.

Even some of the partnered people behave like they are not but what would it take for each of us to discover Sacred Love with each other. I define Sacred love as meaning that you have a devoted, everlasting and precious love for someone who you want to spend your life with.

So what gets in the way for us, the beautiful people of the conscious movement of Melbourne Australia to have Sacred Love in our life.

I have chosen 15 quotes to make comment on. Here we go :

1. When you fall in love the energy it provides you is amazing until we realise that we have given the power to the other person and then we begin to feel drained as if a Vampire is sucking our life force out of us. This is not Sacred Love.

2. Are souls made of star stuff. When Sacred Love becomes existent in our lives this statement by Emily Bronte rings so True.

3. With our instant gratification lifestyles some will find this statement quite confronting. No Ending, Nadda, Never, Eternally Yours etc. etc.

4. Is your toilet sacred, discover Sacred Love and yes my friends that little room at the end of the hall becomes part of it.

5. Robinson Crusoe got lost for years. with Sacred Love you can get lost for ever, in the nice way.

6. This is why Sacred Love is Sacred. You don’t say it flippantly, because when you say these three words to the person you are declaring it to, you will never have to say it again.

7. Falling in Love is often based on the physical in Holywood movies. Sacred Love is falling in Love with the whole Freaking lot.

8. Barbara De Angelis is an American relationship consultant, lecturer and author, TV personality, relationship and personal growth adviser. I love this quote of hers, what a great gift to give to Life.

9. Johnny Depp cannot only act, he can say some deep shit as well. Four Questions of Sacred Love all with the same answer, Awesome.

10. THIS!!

11. Abira Mukherjee, a highly talented and versatile singer of Hindustani classical, Indian light and folk music, understands the Sacredness of Life and the power of Sacred Love.

12. I’ve used this quote before but I love Charlie Chaplin, mainly for his famous speech The best of Charlie. For Sacred Love to be available handle this first.

13. That broken arm, don’t worry about it. Sacred Love restores our whole being. Physical, Mental, and Ethereal.

14. No words needed, pure Sacred Love.

15. And finally, when it happens there are no rules. My friend met her life partner walking along Elizabeth Street in the city. He offered her a ride home on a hot day. They had sex and have been together 30 years. Go figure.

I wrote this because I looked around a room full of beautiful souls who deserve Sacred Love. I honour them as friends and wish that on the writing of this Sacred Love will enter all their lives.

Namaste until Thursday my dear friends.

Doing the Honourable Dance!!

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stop Running Away!!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

What does Lady Gaga mean to You?

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Rod's World

Its Blog writing time again, I read this fantastic one by Luminita AKA The Purpose Fairy this morning and it was about Integrity and it featured of all people Lady Gaga The Article. It was a short video by Lady, and Luminita’s discourse on it. Luminita is in my top 10 posters on Facebook. Her posts are always inspirational and well thought out. Here is a link to her Website – The Purpose Fairy.

How do we relate to Integrity, do we try our best to keep our word but have it drop out when life get busy. Or do we make it what we base our existence or no matter what the cost. Myself I wander between the two. I spent many years doing the work of Landmark Education and did their Integrity seminar at least three times. It is a rigorous enquiry into what it takes to live from Integrity and brings up stuff in all the areas you are not in integrity. So myself I travel the path of improving the amount of time I can say I am in Integrity.

So what do other people have to say about it, no Oprah today but an interesting collection to comment on, Here we go.

1. A powerful way to see Integrity is as your Inner Lover. The person we give all of our heart to, who we try not to disappoint and make good our relationship as soon as we damage it.

2. The Chinese culture is known for its philosophers and wise sayings. Here is their cut on Integrity. Very simply, do what you are willing to have people know about.

3. Mainstream media is full of sensationalist drivel 90% of the time. Mostly it is reports on when people are out of Integrity. Murderers , Wars , Domestic Violence all come from Lives lived without Integrity. Why do they think that is what we want to hear as news, then again why do we want to know about it in the first place?

4. Wise people are often quoted as being the thought leaders of our generations. They put us on the Right path, but it is the life lived in Integrity that matters, Actions not Words deliver the goods.

5. I often in my younger life made decisions that did not have a lot of Integrity. all for the instant gratification moment and personal gain. Luckily as we mature we realise that this is not the noble path and amend our ways.

6. Are we leaders without Integrity, Dwight Eisenhower, one of the most respected of U.S. presidents didn’t think so. The cement that binds Leadership is Integrity at whatever level of endeavour we exist at.

7. By now you may have worked out that travelling the path of Integrity is not Easy. It is taking the Road Less travelled.

8. Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Atheist – It doesn’t make a difference that you have strong beliefs if your actions are suspect. Integrity lives in your actions and behaviour.

9. Do not admire the person who has made their wealth from raping and pillaging the land. They are crooked in their ways, instead admire those who say This shall be and deliver on it.

10. The conundrum of one with out the other weakens both. Weakness and danger lie waiting if both are not on display.

11. This one is right in your face. Success simply does not exist if Integrity is missing. Imagine if this is how it was measured instead of how much money was made?

12. We have all read the quote about 1 percent of the worlds population having 40% of its wealth. Douglas Adams, best known for the eclectic Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy novel points out that Sincerity and Integrity are what needs to be provided to deliver True Service. I agree whole heartedly.

13. Consistency of Action is not the world of the hypocrite. It returns you to Power and Truth in your life. I am always seeking this sacred place in my day to day journeys.

14. I am always moved by that other quote that states people remember how you made them feel, not what you give them. This quote also points in that direction as to the cost of breaking your Integrity with others.

15. Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory in the 20th Century. I like his quote being the last one, it states that which we already know, that Integrity is the basis of our identity. To break it is to violate it.

So Lady Gaga lies with some esteemed scholars in reminding us as to how to live a Life of Integrity. I have recently discovered her music as well , its not as bad as a cynical Indie rock and Singer Songwriter loving music fan thought it would be.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

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

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time, my Dear Friends

Passion, Power or Fruit?

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Rod's World

I have recently been getting a lot of articles in my News Feed about how the education system is letting our children down, that they learn very few practical skills for later in life and definitely do not look at what are you passionate about. When they begin at the age of four or so they are astronauts Prime Ministers, League footballers, Rock Stars but this is soon crushed out of them as impractical and everybody is taught from the same book.

So how do we get our Passion back? For me it was a journey of lots of workshops, long periods of mental health issues, running marathons, drug taking , singing in choirs etc. I found it attending a film night at the end of my last period of Mental Health issues. A Colombian film at the Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston, Victoria, Australia I was impressed by the sense of community. I asked if I could volunteer and that is when my love of Interculturalism began. Here are the links to the Facebook group I created called Interculturalism, a place people can post their examples of the ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included Interculturalism.

I have chosen 15 quotes on Passion and of course, one of them is from Oprah, here we go.

!. Oprah, loved or hated. I’m part of the former group. A newsreader who has created an empire based on possibility and sharing it. One passionate individual.

2. It is said that your dreams often reveal your passion in life to you. I have been remembering mine more and more lately and it looks like it includes travel.

3. I recently posted that Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa had the same 24 hours as we did. What made the difference is their level of passion, I think. My brother went ape-shit at it, is saying I was being arrogant. Not arrogant, passionate.

4. I receive a post called The Daily Flame from my friend Lissa Rankin who I met in Byron Bay. My friends think I write it. It is empowering your Inner Pilot Light, her latest book is about it The Fear Cure. If your Inner Pilot Light is aflame people will notice.

5. Beauty is one thing that attracts our attention. It interrupts the mundane. How to transform the mundane into beauty is live a life of passion fulfilling your dreams.

6. Passion begins now. You don’t have to know how it s going to be fulfilled, that’s called perfectionism , one of life’s booby prizes.

7. I find that as I get into filling my life with things I am passionate about this rings true. Don’t know about no sleep though. A different time and space continuum I’m thinking.

8. Deepak Chopra, doyen of the Spirituality genre, says Always, yes lets repeat that again, Always go with your passions, Are You doing this?

9. Vincent Van Gogh, In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. This is passion, to me boredom is a made up concept that covers our profound laziness.

10. Love this, the Drunkenness of the mind, when we have lost control of our senses. Being sensible and being passionate do nor correlate in my world.

11. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the great philosophers of the 1700’s was a poet, novelist, playwright, diplomat and civil servant as well. He points to you see the world as angry or sad if you have an angry heart, but it is just as easy to have a happy and passionate one. Its your choice after all.

12. Our hearts, the lifeblood for our bodies. Why are more and more people dying from heart attacks in our heavily compartmentalised world. I think its time we etched Passion on them at birth.

13. Dennis Waitley is a founding member of the Council for Self Esteem, the old chestnut of make you life about what lives in your heart , not your wallet. Love the image as well.

14. I see the sun come up most days. This is a new occurrence over the last few years. For most of my life my sleep was a sacred site as it filled up my day as relevantly as what I was doing to fill up the rest of the day. No alarm clock for me.

15. Novelist Galen Watson combines the two things that will have you live an extraordinary life, Passion and Love in his moving quote.

Passion turn to the left, Passion turn to the right or whatever direction you need to to fulfil your dreams. Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Love to Love you Baby!!

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Rod's World

I have struggled with Self Love my whole life. I have taken self loathing to the point of being hospitalised 5 times in the past ten years. I did numerous courses and read numerous books to try and work out why? It has been only recently since taking up body work with Arion Light through The Activation School and his ground breaking course Creative Mastery that I have shifted into the world of Self Love.

It was through the practice of acceptance of what I thought was wrong with me not get out damn spot that allowed me to access this precious state. I have chosen 15 beautiful quotes to have a discussion on what stops us and how we can come to it. Oprah’s included.

1. The first person who hears your words, spoken or not is the one looking back in the mirror, and they have a good memory, be kind and speak with compassion.

2. Brene Brown, expert on vulnerability was a University professor before her rise to becoming one of the most respected authors of the Conscious movement. In her work Brene pushes the importance of daily practice. For Self Love she suggested embracing the now not the when.

3. It doesn’t matter how often other people tell you You are beautiful, until you get this in your soul, they are wasting their breath.

4. Shine on , You Crazy diamond, great song from Pink Floyd, great advice to listen to when you wake up.

5. How many times have you said this to someone? Perhaps Awesome, you’re flying on all cylinders might be more appropriate.

6. When the applause dies down , what is left , Do things for your own pleasure not others because some day they will not approve of you.

7. I have just finished reading Lissa Rankin’s great book, The Fear Cure – Cultivating Courage as Medicine for the Body, Mind and Soul. You get to write your own prescription for Courage at the end, an acknowledgement what it is that provides you with Self Love to Ignite your Inner Pilot Light. Here’s the link to her page The Fear Cure

8. As I mentioned I have been hospitalised for mental health issues 5 times in the past 10 years. So I fully agree with this statement that being in love or not with yourself has a profound effect on your health.

9. Alan Cohen has two persona’s, owner of a national Ice Hockey team in the United States and author of 23 inspirational books on Hay House publishing. If you Love you Live Now is now my choice in life.

10. Remember when you were a kid and you and your friends used to go looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but really didn’t know which end it would be at. Here’s the solution, Live like there is a pot of Self Love at each end.

11. The Work is a fantastic site that Byron Katie has built for people to transform themselves through her 4 questions

Is it true? (Yes or no. If no, move to 3.)
Can you absolutely know that it’s true? (Yes or no.)
How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without the thought?

It’s up to us to engender self love not others.

12. Oprah, people either love or hate her, there seems to be no in-between, I am a former. The opportunities she creates for people to enter the state of Self Love is profound, I honour her for her stand for possibility.

13. Is Hate to strong a word to use when referring to your self, perhaps we need to go all the way down to ground zero to come out the other side of Self Love

14. As I said in my previous blog Stand by Your!! I made one of the toughest decisions I had in my life asking the woman I thought was going to be my soul-mate to go away. This quote refers to why I did it. I treat myself a whole lot differently to how I did 12 months ago.

15. Finally a quote that points out how much psychological weight you carry around when you rely on the acceptance by others. A friend asked me how much weight I had lost the other day. I replied in kilo’s none, but in my mind and soul tons and tons.

Well, I know that this is a life time journey and I have a lot of years practising self loathing so I commit to a daily practice of self love for the years I have remaining, we will see what occurs, if its anything like the miracles that have occurred in the past 12 months I am in for a highly enjoyable wild rode.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother!!

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Rod's World

Just got back from my second Menergy, last year I had the worst flu I had had in 10 years and could barely walk and slept through the main ceremony, here is the article I wrote about it Menergy with the flu.

Since I have been back a lot of people have asked me how it was, the majority of them women, with one saying last night she was considering a sex change so she could attend Menergy next year. I an still integrating the experience because it was so jammed packed so I have extracted 15 Brotherhood quotes to comment on what I think I got from the weekend.

Wikipedia defines Brotherhood as follows

Brother, a male sibling
Brotherhood (Order of the Arrow), a membership level in the Boy Scouts of America honor society..
Fraternity or Brotherhood, a male social organization

I think a few of the 165 men who attended may have been boy scouts here, me being one of them , but I don’t remember the brotherhood level.

1. Martin Luther King was a powerful spokesperson for the power of brotherhood and I think the Heart Space ceremony on the Saturday Night speaks to what he is referring to. can’t reveal anymore about it, come along next year and experience it yourself.

2. Arne Rubenstein, champion of supporting boys to become good men donated twenty books and information about his Rites of Passage work as he unfortunately could not attend but supports the work of Menergy. better men makes for better family relationships.

3. The gathering allowed men to be vulnerable with each other, and as the trust grew the sharing got deeper which they could take back to their relationships.

4. American journalist Heywood Broun was famous for having penned this quote that it is in the art of community building that leads to a happy life. menergy is living proof of this.

5. From 19 to 87 years of age, 165 men who had never gathered before and will never gather again came from their neighborhoods to create a beautiful sense of what LBJ is pointing to here, Brotherhood.

6. When we gathered around the welcoming fire at 4.30 am in the morning and you looked around at the different states the men were in, from tiredness to ecstatic joy I got a sense that the power of circles would become normal in the not to distant future.

7. Googling Darrel Mitchell brought up information about Daryl Mitchell, the African American actor who was paralyzed half way through his career after a road accident. With the support of his friends Denzel Washington and Chris Tucker he has remained an actor. Support like this was extended to those who found some workshops or processes confronting.

8. Aldous Huxley, author of a Brave new World stated that a brotherhood was only as powerful as the love and justice each man showed to each other. using this as a measurement Menergy will continue to grow from strength to strength.

9. Menergy has this as one of its principles, from the inclusion of the local indigenous brothers at the opening ceremony to the spread of different nationalities I’m sure this will spread more and more as Menergy becomes the event for conscious men of all nations to attend.

10. All these words speak to me as what occurred over the weekend, none less important than the other.

11. As we grow up and leave our sporting and scholastic days and enter our adult duties we sometimes forget the bonds we created earlier in our youth. it takes something to keep friendships your whole life. Menergy is a way of reversing this practice.

12. The closing ceremony always goes over time, because yes you do create some sort of brotherhood in 4 days. Deep, loving support for all the men who you have gone through a no bull shit period of time with.

13. Leading Civil Rights lawyer Clarence Darrow also stated that You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free. We were placed in smaller tribal groups of 5 or 6where we went deep with each other and shared with each other what our freedoms were.

14. Poetry was featured at the cabaret, Poet Edward Markham stands for that conscious brotherhood is the great missing link in our societies journey towards better relationships between men and women and children.

15. And finally the locale, Licola is in a beautiful valley on a pristine river, how could you not include all living creatures in your brotherhood.

That’s my experience of the inspiration that is Menergy, see you all my good btorhers there next year.

Namaste until next time my dear friends

We live on Her, sometimes we Forget

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Rod's World

I just went to this fascinating seminar on the weekend Free Humanity lead by entrepreneur Jeffrey Slayter His website who has got in contact with his conscious as well as his business side. Most business seminars do not have drumming ceremonies and lengthy discussions on the need to be in contact with Mother Nature to heal our souls.

Having not been out of my urban environment for quite a while and traveling out of the city for four days next weekend this made me think about what our relationship to Mother Nature is and its importance to humanity.

Wikipedia gives the following definition of Mother nature :

Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth-Mother), is a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it in the form of the mother.

It has been a popular subject over time and here are the 15 quotes I have chosen to exemplify her importance

1. Language is an interesting concept, Before written languages there were the languages of nature, the wind, the rivers, the animals, the birds.

2. Since we have arrived on the planet we have chopped a lot of these down to make things without realizing they are our lungs and healing spaces. There is no anger or greed in a forest.

3. Author of the best selling Wikinomics Anthony Douglas Williams attributes great healing powers to Mother nature, we in the west appear to have forgotten this.

4. If you wish to be reminded of the power of nature, look to your children. They see the fairies, the beauty of plants and the glory of the night sky, Life is still a wonder to them.

5. As you hustle off to your income generating job on a crowded train or highway it is easy to forget the beautiful planet that we live on. Whoopi Goldberg points out that she doesn’t feel that way towards us.

6. My friend Kavisha Mazzella the singer/songwriter with the voice of an Angel, hear her here An Angels Voice, says that the power of music is in the silence after, very much like the beauty of the sound of walking in a pristine forest.

7. It is said a week in a forest is recuperative as a month in hospital, I know which one I would prefer.

8. Do the words Tsunami, Earthquake and Perfect Storm bring up pleasant associations for you. Mother nature is mild and calm until she is woken from her sleep and then her rage can be devastating. Be nice to her.

9. Jeffrey said at his seminar this powerful one liner, as we get older we become more of a student, less of a teacher. You cannot read in books or hear in talks what mother nature can teach you, you just can’t

10. Where are the invisible spaceships that are being built to exodus us from the planet when it become uninhabitable for humans. Oops, that’s right they’re not being built, damnation.

11. The humorous quote, most of those sounds you hear in nature are mating calls not unlike the pickup lines that are heard in the beer caverns that fill our cities.

12. David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth, points us back to our origins with a poignant reminder that we still need them, because with out them we will not be here either.

13. Lao Tzu, one of the great thinkers, slows us down to remember that everything is accomplished in nature, and not at the breakneck speed that humanity is rushing along at.

14. The fascination of language, the two words left out of this quote that seem to be relevant are corporate greed, shame really the influence they have on our current situation at the moment.

15. Karolina Kurkova, listed in the top 50 most beautiful women reminds us that we come from Mother Natures loins as well. We are all a beautiful offspring of the stardust that makes up our planet.

One could write on this subject for time immemorial, which is how long she has been around. I felt my heart open writing this, thank you Mother nature for that gift.

Its time to say Namaste until next time my friends, thanks for reading my quirky output, Love you all.