Doubt kills more dreams than Failure!!

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Rod's World

You with either look back in life and say “I wish I had” or “I’m glad I did”. These prophetic words were spoken by Zig Ziglar, a preeminent American motivational speaker. The way of doing this is to become a champion at knowing what you want. Keep focusing on the “do not wants” and that is 100% what you will get more of! Make it a primary focus to keep on homing in on what you do want. It is the first thing to work on. The one thing that makes the biggest difference in your life.

Keith Abraham asks the following question to people in presentations, workshops and in general conversation. “What do you want to Achieve?” Only to have the reply come back to him ” I don’t know “. Which them prompts to ask the annoying question, “Yes, but if you did what would you like to achieve?” When that fails, as it often does, I ask the fool proof question, “What don’t you want?”

So setting our sights on goals and dreams is an inherently important part of our life. Has society much to say about this? Here’s what I have chosen to comment on today:

1. Your intentions steer you towards your goals. Lack of intention leads to lack of completing any goals in life.

2. Barnsley’s culture is rooted in its industrial heritage and it has a tradition of brass bands, originally created as social clubs by its mining communities. Virginia Woolf was born in an affluent household in Kensington, London, attended the Ladies’ Department of King’s College and was acquainted with the early reformers of women’s higher education. To become part of the society Ms. Woolf inhabited would truly take something from the mining background of Barnsley: Virginia Woolf.

3. Remember when we were all going to be astronauts, firemen, doctors or vets, what happens to these lofty ideals?

4. Penned by the worlds most famous philosopher, Ms. Unknown this makes me think of when we reach our goals and forget to set new ones: Stand in the Light.

5. With a rap career spanning 30 years LL Cool J can definitely claim to having stayed focused over this time.

6. They are not just the good bits, you need to put in the hard yards: Unconditionally.

7. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī , also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī , Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( “our master”), Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( “my master”), and more popularly simply as Rumi , was a 13th-century Persian, Sunni, Muslim poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. 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. 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” and the “best selling poet” in the United States.

8. Studies show that right now we are actually living in the most peaceful time in human history…by far. Use this to your advantage and set yourself some awesome goals: If you want it, It can Happen.

9. it all starts with a dream. You need to clarify an achievable realistic goal that has a timeline attached to it. Then you need to mentally confirm what it is you want to achieve.

10. Does your goal live in your heart or your head. Purpose likes hanging around in the former: Mark my Words.

11. The bit the Secret left out, you actually have to take action.

12. What word do you use to describe it, I use Gaia, the power of the Universe: Mama Gaia.

13. Agree with this totally, It’s going on in my life.

14. Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness, The Prince of Peace, whatever name we know him by the Dalai Lama is worth listening too: Purpose of Life.

15. As a politician this man should know what he is talking about where the affairs of most countries are run on a short term basis to ensure the retaining of power not a vision to make the country a better place.

A definition I read recently of Setting our sights that stuck with me was as follows – Pursuing your Passion is not about being interested or involved. It’s about having a burning desire to live your dream everyday.

The Dalai Lama has made today’s music videos, along with the Indigo Girls, Jordan Smith, Kate Perry. Justin Bieber and Lindie Lila.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Invest in People who Invest in You!!

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Rod's World

I have 4,,828 friends on Facebook. I use the principle if we have 100 mutual friends and we have not met that we eventually will. This means I have a lot of the Melbourne Conscious Movement, musicians and female American life coaches as friends. I write a Facebook birthday card for each and everyone of them. Today one of the people was my friend from Landmark Education Thea Westra. As I wrote it I started to think about her remarkable book Time for My Life, 365 Stepping Stones, 2843 Life Power Boosters at your fingertips.

Thea wrote a book that has a page for every day of the year that has a stepping stone, action, challenge, quote, clearing, question and affirmation for you to contemplate. As an example her is today’s page.

Stepping Stone – Be willing to accept. A gift given and received requires two parties. The person who is giving the gift and the person who is receiving the gift. You must be open to receiving after you ask something to happen or to come your way.

Action – Today is the birthday of the author of this book. Send Thea Westra a hello birthday greeting. Just use the Contact Form at http://www.myforwardsteps.com . Your message will go directly to Thea’s inbox and she will reply.

Challenge – Be patient and focus on daily changes, rather than waiting for revelations.

Quote – Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non- essentials….Lin Yutang

Clearing – Check chair/table legs to see if they need new protective caps.

Question – Can you distinguish essential from non-essential?

Affirmation – I choose to be debt free.

So, do you allow time for your life? How does society relate to this noble practice, lets have a look:

1. The one time this happened to me was in a motorcycle accident and memories of people who were special to me filled my heart and mind.

2. I didn’t know Marilyn was a fan of Eckhart Tolle: Teach me Tiger.

3. The problem with this is that if the person you are talking about departs, it leaves a huge gap. Working on self love as the driver might be more useful then it can’t be taken away when someone leaves.

4. As we make more and more time for our life, we learn to stop doing the things that do not come from our passions: Lights.

5. They say the magic is in the silence not the small talk.

6. So many of the business gurus I read say it isn’t about the money, It’s about the time and to stop wasting time doing things you regret later or do not enjoy. It’s probably because of the second sentence above: No Regrets.

7. Seems a bit contrary, If you are in the Now why would you also be living life as I can’t wait to get to the future?

8. The 27 Club is a list of popular musicians, artists, or actors who died at age twenty-seven. It originated with an unsupported claim of a “statistical spike” for the death of musicians at that age, but this has been repeatedly disproved by research. Members are Jimi , Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones in the 1970’s and recently Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse: “27”.

9. At what age did you stop doing this with your friends, It’s supposedly when we grow up.

10. They say we meet a few people in our lives who we can be separate from for years but when we get back together it feels like five minutes, I think that’s because they have placed themselves in our hearts: You’re in my Heart.

11. I love the last line, sometimes I get stuck in the belief its a permanent fixture.

12. Don’t forget the people who teach you the hard lessons: Difficult.

13. It’s like the saying, if the door doesn’t open for you – It’s not meant to at that time in your life.

14. What if, why did that happen to me, etc. etc. Turn around and walk towards to your dreams: Mr. Brightside.

15. Rabindranath Tagore, also written Ravīndranātha Thākura, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore’s poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his “elegant prose and magical poetry” remain largely unknown outside Bengal. He is sometimes referred to as “the Bard of Bengal”.

You can contact Thea via http://www.forwardstepsblog.com, it seems these days you receive a free 179 page eBook and for a paltry $10 Australian you can purchase the eBook of the book I am talking about in this blog.

Music is from Marilyn Monroe, Ellie Goulding, The Walker Brothers, the unknown Maria Stoian , Rod Stewart, Eminem and the Killers.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends

Dig the well before you are Thirsty!!

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Rod's World

The title of this blog is an ancient Chinese Proverb, they are great with wisdom and go back a long way to people such as Lao Tzu and Confucious. In this time we call it being proactive. In his book Live your Passion Keith Abraham has come up with a list to help with this. Here it is:

1. Use a diary or a planner on a daily basis and group activities together – phone calls; trips to the shop; meetings.

2. Have a big clean out and get organised. Clean out your desk; your garage; your office and your wardrobe.

3. Look at things you can do to save minutes. Save 10 minutes each day = 36.4 hours per year.

4. Plan today; for tomorrow and list your daily goals down.

5. Before you say “Yes”, check your priorities and schedule.

6. Maintain a focus on the things that count for that day.

7. Complete the toughest task first, and everything else becomes easier.

How does the world look at being proactive, there are many versions of it and here are just a few:

1. Probably the more famous ship quote is “Ships in the harbour are safe, but that is not what ships are built for” Both about being proactive.

2. People will offer to help at times, but what about those days no one is around, these have to be your proactive days: Drive All Night.

3. We cannot live a productive life if it is based on a negative what if fear-based scenario. If it is from a what if, and you are finding the solutions before it happens that is a different matter.

4. Have your actions be daily little steps that fulfil your bucket list of life: Diamonds.

5. The king of being proactive and the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey was heavily influenced by Peter Drucker and Carl Rogers. Another key influence on his thinking was his study of American self-help books that he did for his doctoral dissertation. A further influence on Covey was his Mormons beliefs. According to Clayton Christensen, The Seven Habits was a secular distillation of Mormon values.

6. Here is a more direct way of saying, be proactive in your life: The Greatest.

7. This takes daily practice, we don’t wake up this way every day.

8. Great list if I don’t say so myself: Be Prepared.

9. Plans are completed by the three percent of people who actually write their goals down on a daily basis and take action.

10. Will Rogers was the #1 radio personality, he was #1 at the movie box office, he was the nations #1 most sought-after public speaker, he was the #1 most read newspaper columnist, he wrote books, travelled the world and gave liberally to charities around the world. Will Rogers was beloved by all. He was also a Cherokee Indian so the fact he achieved these things is all the more remarkable given how American Indians were being treated at the time: Will Rogers.

11. We get to say, do you say yes or no?

12. I don’t know the exact origins but for many years now I have often said to colleagues that we have two eyes, two ears and one mouth, and that is the proportion in which we should use them. The management literature abounds with entreaties for us to listen better, to develop listening skills, to be reactive listeners, and to listen first before speaking. But have we learnt the lesson: If I were a Boy.

13. Is yours?

14. Don’t just eat breakfast, drive to work and home again, eat dinner and go to bed – be curious on a daily basis: Curiosity Killed The Cat.

15. From the world’s most prolific curly haired genius comes the definitive statement, that knowledge is not the be all and end all. Even though he knows a shitload, Albert knew that without imagination it was extremely limited.

So from Lao Tzu’s time to Stephen Covey, the message is still very much the same, by managing your priorities effectively you move from being out of control to being in control.

Music is from iconic 70’s Australia – Little River Band, pop divas Sia, Beyonce and Rihanna, uber-talented singer-songwriter Glan Hansard, Disneys the Lion King and James Blunt.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends

And one day, for no particular Reason!!

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Rod's World

I was going through my books as part of my decluttering process when I came across Destroying the Joint – Why Women have to change the World. I bought it off my friend Catherine Deveny, who has a contribution to it called Destroying the joint in Twelve Easy Lessons. The stamp inside of it says stolen from the bedside table of Tony Abbott, He is Australia’s ex-prime minister who declared himself Minister for Women, a strange role for an extreme right wing bully boy, he has since been sacked by his party from both roles and wallows on the back bench.

Lesson number one begins as follows: Beware of anyone using the words ‘respect’ ‘traditional’, ‘family value’, ‘honour’, ‘unacceptable’, ‘morality’, ‘uncalled for’, ‘inappropriate’, ‘unnecessary’ or ‘offensive’. and to be particularly wary of the word offensive as offence is subjective. Catherine goes on to say just because you are offended does not mean you are right and that it is being used as a form of social control and that no one has the right not to be offended.

So I had to choose carefully today’s quotes as I did not want to offend anyone, just kidding, here we go:

1. Bryant McGill is a human potential thought leader, international bestselling author, activist, and social entrepreneur. He is one of the world’s top social media influencers reaching a billion people a year. Don’t look over there at the other person if you are offended.

2. Could being offended also be construed as speaking your truth, give it a go: Ain’t Worried about Nothin.

3. The judgement of being offended, time for a judgement detox methinks.

4. A suggestion, lock your doors and never leave your cloistered premises: Offended by Everything.

5. Deep wisdom from an unexpercted source, Bill was a baseball player for the Cincinatti Reds.

6. With the light comes the dark, doing only one of them make it hard to speak your truth: Addicted.

7. An interesting quote from a highly religious man. David Bednar is on the quorum of the Church of Latter Day Saints, a place we could expect a lot of people to make judgements about non christian values.

8. They are located reading mainstream media and the opinions spruiked from its tenuous publications and stations: Equal Rights.

9. In 1995 Lebowitz wrote Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas, a children’s book about giant pandas living in New York City who long to move to Paris. Lebowitz was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey. Lebowitz describes her “Jewish identity [as] ethnic or cultural or whatever people call it now. But it’s not religious.” She has been an atheist since the age of 7.

10. Time to look in the mirror for the person who is doing the offending: Ego is not a dirty Word.

11. Imagine a world if everyone spoke the ones they keep to themselves. Vulnerability or madness?

12. Her 15 minutes of fame were being married to Kurt Cobain, she has also had a 40 year musical career best known for the alternative band, Hole: Uncool.

13. If you saw the number of goatee beards in the area I live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, Australia you would be quite worried about the above statement.

14. Sprung!! : S & M.

15. Carlos Castaneda’s books and the man himself became a cultural phenomenon. The story of his apprenticeship to a shaman, a kind of hero’s journey, touched a chord in the counterculture generation and resonated as a myth of adventure and self-discovery.

The reason offended people use offense to put you in your place is in order to fortify their place, the truth being neither have greater value than the other, they are after all just our opinions. The skill one should bring into place here is the ability to not live your life from judgement moment to moment, a life long educative journey.

Music this week comes from one of the iconic 70’s Australian bands Skyhooks, Peter Tosh, Courtney Love, Rihanna, French Montana, Enrique Iglesias and an offensive number by the virtually unknown Stuart Whitaker.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends

What sets your soul on Fire!!

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Rod's World

When people find their passion, they not only love what they do but they lead a life that other people only dream about. In his book Living Your Passion Keith Abraham has a quiz in which he asks the following questions:

What does having a passion mean to you?
What was one thing either in the past or present that you were passionate about, really focused on or just loved to do?
If you won 10 million dollars in Lotto tomorrow, what would you love to do with your time and energy?
Of all the things you have ever done, what were you doing when you were the happiest?
What are the five things you value the most in your life?
In 30 seconds, write down the three most important goals in your life right now.
What have you always wanted to do but been afraid to attempt?
What type of activities or circumstances gives you the greatest feeling of importance?
What is the one thing which you would dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?

They say that 3% of people have written goals, I must know a rare breed of people because at least 50% of my friends do. So what does the world say about having and knowing your passion, Let’s have a sneak peek:

1. Want a boost of energy, follow your passion and with it comes the energy to excel.

2.The 3 P’s that fulfil my life: On Purpose.

3. You’ll know when you find it, Steve definitely found his.

4. It is said you are both a student and a teacher in your life when it comes to your passion it’s up to you: Teach Your Children.

5. How beautiful, Live it, Breathe It, Beam It. Yowzaa.

6. America’s greatest gonzo journalist often got people’s blood racing if you have ever seen the interpretation of his life in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: The hotel on Acid.

7. When your passion enters your soul, it also enters your heart and mind.

8. Passion fills you with the roar of the ocean, Its like people can hear it as you enter the room: Oceans Roar.

9. That’s why it doesn’t go away, the rest of life may be random, but your passions are not.

10. It’s Oprah time. always good advice: Born to be Somebody.

11. Converting a nation with her passion, Julia Child definitely did this. Julia Carolyn Child was an American chef, author and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.

12. having written over 300 blogs, I have definitely found mine: My, My, My.

13. Make me think of Jim Carrey’s Fear or Love Speech, here it is: Fear vs. Love.

14. They’re your dreams, no one elses: Live Your Life.

15. And at the end, a wall chart for you to print out.

Don’t just get up, go to work, go to bed on a daily basis: do things that make your heart shudder.

Music is from Sabrina Carpenter, CSNY, Johny Depp, Dinah Smith, Justin Beiber, Troye Sivan, Jim Carrey and T.I. Enjoy their focus on passion and purpose.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

They may forget what you Said!!

Posted on January 18, 2018 by Rod's World

How many times do you have to repeat what you said to somebody? Human beings have a habit of waiting to reply, not listen when in conversation. This trait does not lead to powerful interactions that create the most useful actions in our day to day lives. So, is it the way we are educated so that we grow up thinking that we are meant to know the answers already versus a genuine curiosity in life.

When did education become about rort learning for each student being rated against each other in one or two exams instead of empowering them in what they are great at, let’s enquire into how society defines this:

1. How much of the math you learnt at school do you remember? A math major may say a lot, but the students focused on another calling would probably say ver little as they were not involved in it.

2. Way back in the olden days of the education system in my schooling, I remember having a piece of chalk thrown at me for asking a question that did not fir the cirriculum: Don’t ask me Questions.

3. And with the curing of this habit, we could do this in a relatively short time.

4. How would it be if we used this premise in dealing with each person in our lives, transformational methinks: You are my Sunshine.

5. Was she referring to her new compatriot in World leadership when she penned this. Only time will tell.

6. Rollo Reese May was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book Love and Will (1969). He is often associated with humanistic psychology, existentialist philosophy and, alongside Viktor Frankl, was a major proponent of existential psychotherapy. These are all schools of thinking that champions communication over silence: Intimacy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDkoknFMvfI

7. Just assuming that people are listening to you is a wide stretch of the permission they have given you, you need to earn their respect.

8. As Thomas says, take action, observation will only get you so far. Remember the classic quote, they do not remember you for what you said, but by your actions: The Hokey Pokey Song.

9. Engagement is just not in the physical, but also the etheral.

10. Bill Gates, Steve jobs and the Dot.com gurus are probably the greatest examples of this in recent history: Love.

11. Dale Harbison Carnegie spelled Carnagey until c. 1922; was an American writer and lecturer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936, a bestseller that remains popular today.

12. I think the question she is asking is how do you turn your students into the next leaders of the planet: Survivor.

13. If you get people’s attention, they are willing to believe it and grow from it.

14. To become the female leader of a muslim state, Benazir must have had remarkable skills at both of these things: Give Peace a Chance.

15. The Road Less Traveled, published in 1978, is Peck’s best-known work, and the one that made his reputation. It is, in short, a description of the attributes that make for a fulfilled human being, based largely on his experiences as a psychiatrist and a person. The book was broken up in four parts – Discipline, Love, Religion and Grace. The book took off only after Peck hit the lecture circuit and personally sought reviews in key publications. Later reprinted in paperback in 1980, The Road first made best-seller lists in 1984 – six years after its initial publication.

So from these interesting takes on engagement and listening to people when they speak, we can see that there are many diverse takes on actively engaging in life, so let’s get out there and do it.

The music today comes from Graham Parker, The Civil Wars, an obscure singer songwriter, Hannah Sutherland, Debbie Doo Kids TV, Lana Del Ray, Destinys Child and John Lennon. Enjoy this quite diverse offering.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

I will be better Tomorrow!!

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Rod's World

When you read the title of this blog does it make you think you are having a bad day or having a great day and tomorrow will even be greater? Danielle writes that conscious optimism is the soul of service. On page 123 of her magnificent book, White Hot Truth there is an awesome poem titled Nothing Changes Without Me:

Sometimes, my heart is so open

I can’t tell if it is a gaping wound

or a portal for everything that ever was and ever will be.

I’ve learned to Love the beautiful terror of eternity,

and scenario planning for how shattered I could be

if the dark things got tall

and if I fell backwards in my forgetting of the Light.

But you can’t fall backwards in Space,

You can only only only ever unfurl.

More than anything,

I’ve wed the certainty that nothing changes without me –

not coal becoming diamonds

not fertilizing eggs

or migration patterns

or medicine dreams.

And what I had thought was a net cast to me from a higher God

is actually strands of Truth and filaments of desire

that I have tied together with my own two hands.

And in precious encounters, I tie what I know and want to you,

so we can ride the winds of wonder.

Here is the link to obtain the book: White Hot Truth.

So let’s have a look at how optimism lessens the suffering of others:

1. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

2. Cute take on words: Everybody.

3. A great quote from the 33rd POTUS. Scholars, starting in 1962, ranked Truman’s presidency as “near great”; since then he has been ranked between 5th and 9th in historical rankings of U.S. Presidents.

4. My neighbours upstairs gt their lemons from a tree up the road that overhangs someone’s fence. Hey, free lemons: Mrs Robinson.

5. The perfect 10 gymnast from the L.A. Olympics

Mary Lou has kept providing the soul of service for her now 49 years.

6. When you fall down, you can do the former or the latter. The optimist is a latter type of person, also there are other to help you get up: One More Time.

7. An optimum list that will get you through your day when it feels tough.

8. Born deaf and blind Helen Keller certainly lived a faithful life. The first deaf-blind person to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree in the United States, very little stopped this amazingly optimistic soul.: Stronger.

9. From the worlds favourite philosopher, Ms Unknown comes an analogy between pessimism and optimism.

10. His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, The Dalai Lama, whatever you want to call him, without his optimism the world would be a much sadder place: Be Optimistic.

11. Robert Michael Hensel was born with the birth defect known as Spina bifida. He is also a Guinness World Records holder for the longest non-stop wheelie in a wheelchair, covering a total distance of 6.178 miles. Now that’s optimism multiplied tenfold.

12. If you haven’t taken it on because of….., begin it now but don’t do it the way that has stopped you before: Solving Problems.

13. Helen Keller again, she was an inspiration to the world in the way she gave from her fullness, even though we would consider some of them disabilities.

14. Because everyone loves cat and dog drawings: We love Cats.

15. Definitely, time to delete that file.

I love Danielle’s definition of “Waking Up” –

We all need to wake up

so we can do the work

that needs to be done

to live in a world

that we espouse to want to live in.

The music this time comes from Ingrid Michaelson, The Lemonheads, Daft Punk, Kelly Clarkson, The Dalai Lama, Brent Cobb and Bemular. Different styles, but all enjoyable.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

There’s a blessing in the Storm!!

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Rod's World

Picked up Danielle LaPortesexcellent White Hot Truth for a read last night: Here’s the link. Flipped open on the chapter about discernment. As I am also reading Gabrielle Bernstein’s Judgement Detox I like her definition that Being discerning is not the same as being judgemental. Discernment is big-minded and awake. Judgement is narrow-minded and in the dark. Discernment is our wisdom coming to life.

The main area I use my discernment is in my quest to have Interculturalism – Love and Respect for All: Everyone included spread across the planet. If people make a xenophobic statement about another culture I immediately ask them, have you ever met a member of that race. You would be surprised how often the answer is no. Mainstream media has a lot to answer for in this area.

So where do you use discernment and where has the world commented on it:

1. Don’t base you reality on what is pushed at us from media empires whose purpose is to make a profit not necessarily report the facts.

2. This must be a famous quote because there were so many versions of it. Charles Spurgeon was known as the Prince of Preachers in the 19th century. A bit in your face: Your Soul.

3. Love the power of Maya’s words. Now there is someone who had the ability to discern instead of judging.

4. Gold weighs more, so will your relationships: Gold.

5. I have 50+ Invitations on my Facebook Page today, I will have to be very discerning with my choices.

6. It also takes courage, that’s because it is much easier to judge and not do anything about said judgement: Brave.

7. I’m Jealous. Mel Lawrence (May 17, 1935 – November 5, 2016) was a film director and producer and former concert and festival promoter. He is best known for his role as the Director of Operations at the Woodstock Festival, his work on the Qatsi Trilogy, and for directing and producing the Emmy-nominated documentary Paha Sapa: The Struggle for the Black Hills.

8. It’s interesting how discernment seems to be tied up with Christain values. One would think that form of belief would take it out of the picture: We Believe.

9. A great list as to what values your discernment could be made up of.

10. In 2000, she was named one of the “100 most influential Black Americans” by Ebony magazine, which said that “Her books, lectures and television appearances have made her a multimedia high priestess of healthy relationships.: Human.

11. That’s why self-love is so important, it empowers you to the people you will have around you.

12. You know when it’s happening, bunker up: Killing In The Name Of.

13. Discernment knows when to act and to intercede.

14. But if the truth is an aspiration, then discernment is a heroine: Discernment.

15. The place that will tell you many things, 24 hours a day sometimes, the mind. A lot of them are untrue. let’s practice listening to the spirit contained in our heart.

Discernment looks at several details and then balances these facts against what we believe. Not easily moved but can still be flexible. Without discernment, any snake oil salesman would love you as a target.

Not much pop in the music this week, just Sara Bareilles. An old classic from Spandau Ballet and my favourite rock anthem, guess which one.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Be brave with your Life!!

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Rod's World

Just received Brendon Burchard’s new free book, High-Performance Habits – you actually pay the postage and handling in the mail and the premise of it is six habits, three personal and three social. The personal ones are Seek Clarity, Generate Energy, and Raise Necessity. The Social Ones are Increase Productivity, Develop Influence and Demonstrate Courage.

As Mark Twain relates ” Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” When we first do something that contains fear, such as skydiving, the level of fear first time is quite high, or at least it was for me. But the more we do something the more comfortable we get with it. That’s why leading a courageous life can also increase our fearlessness.

What have people said about having a dose of courage over the years, here are the quotes I have chosen:

1. Who is your standalone hero or heroine, Gandhi, Malala, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa? Or is it just someone from your local community?

2. Everyday courage could mean keeping a positive attitude or taking action despite great uncertainty, bad health or hardship such as sharing unpopular ideas or showing up every day for work even when things are tough at the office: What’s Going On.

3. Mainstream media and our government are telling us to be afraid of Africans with one politician stating that people were afraid to go out because they were afraid of being followed home by an African and having their home invaded. No courage there!!

4. Feel that tremor in your heartbeat, that’s the recipe for courage, go out and do it anyway: The Climb.

5. Unconditional Love, the ultimate emotion – includes trusting someone besides yourself.

6. One of my top ten, Brene Brown. Netflix or ring that person you have been putting that conversation off with, you choose which will have the most positive effect in your life: Be Brave, Show Up.

7. My favourite E. E. Cummings poem is the following: I carry your heart with Me, here it is:

I carry your heart with me ( I carry it in my heart ) I am never without it ( anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling

I fear no fate ( for you are my fate, my sweet ) I want no world ( for beautiful, you are my world, my true ) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows ( Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide ) and this is the wonder that keeps the stars apart

I carry your heart with me ( I carry it in my heart )

To love that much is an act of immense courage.

8. The dark and the light, Fear and Courage, they travel with each other: So What.

9. Every great adventure began by putting one foot in front of another, the courage is in taking the first step.

10 Who remembers the cheesy song from the Mickey Mouse club, one of Walt’s first creations: The original mouskeeters.

11. Every year my friend Emeli from Collective Potential produces a workbook to implement 2018. This year its called On Purpose. If you would like a copy, join Collective Potential on Facebook and there is a link.

12. One of my other blogs is about this amazing woman Maya Angelou.

Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights, activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professors of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” (1993) at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961: Maya on Courage.

13. Bravery is a synonym for Courage I think. As well as heroism, potvaliant, and valiancy.

14. Some truth is spoken by the cigar smoker: Hot N Cold.

15. Unusual image, looks like the fish is definitely not in the right spot.

You are capable of remarkable things that you could never foretell and will never discover without courageous action, please take it.

Music this week comes from Marvin Gaye, Pink, Brene Brown, Maya Angelou, the Mickey Mouse Club and one of my favourite pop divas, Katie Perry.

Namste until next time, my dear friends.

What’s Left Unsaid, Says It All!!

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Rod's World

Do you make judgements about people and withhold what you truly believe? Remember that not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. Bruce Lee once said that “Always be yourself and have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and try to duplicate it.”

One way that is common these days of saying this is to speak your truth, how many New Years Resolutions will be I will speak my truth this year. What has the world said about this quirky term, to speak your truth, let’s have a look:

1. People have often be scared out of doing this by people they see as braggarts thinking that you have to be over the top when sharing your truth, this is not the case for everybody, each of us is unique in our own way.

2. Author of the iconic book “Women who run with the Wolves”, Clarissa points out what you become in touch with by speaking your truth: Speak Life.

3. If there were not people who took this on, not much would change on the planet as people are addicted to being comfortable with what’s so.

4. My proofreading background seems to think they left a word out of this quote, where do you think it is and which word is it, still a powerful request: Halo.

5. Feel the tremors, time to speak up!!

6. What would the great plays sound like if you left out half the lines, your truth is your great play: Not Afraid.

7. Unnecessary things like worrying about judgements by others, make 2018 the best season of your life.

8. Your truth does not have to taste bitter, in fact, it can taste like your favourite food: Falling Slowly

9. The man who had three conversations with God states that your truth can ooze peace.

10. A few other practices that may come in handy as you change your world and for others: Live your Life.

11. Speaking your truth does not mean you have to become arrogant towards others, in fact, it means that listening to others is the best way to recruit them to your cause.

12. Go where your heart leads you, says it all really: Your Heart will lead you Home.

13. What I love about Caroline Myss is that she definitely speaks her truth, especially to participants in her seminars who are clearly not. I have had the honour of experiencing this twice.

14.Rachel Naomi Ramen answered the question – How does curing differ from healing?

Basically curing is about repair and healing is about growth. So curing is something we do to others and healing something we evoke in others. Curing happens at the level of the body and leads to a re-normalization of physiology. Healing happens at the level of the person and involves an evolution and refinement of the individual, a deepening of the capacity for emotional life, mental life and spiritual life¾the furthering of personal wholeness and not physical health. Healing promotes the quality of life and the capacity to engage with life: Who You Really Are.