Forgive and Forget, Is it that Easy?

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Rod's World

I was recently talking to a friend outside her house discussing what publicity I could help with for an event she was involved with to receive a discounted ticket when I recieved an SMS from my bestest friend asking me if I was off the airwaves.

I SMS’d her back and explained what I was doing or at least I thought I did. I then received another SMS asking where we still going out that night. I sent one back saying that going out with her was my main priority. The reply I received was not what I expected, It was that she had not felt that way for a long time and felt I was being negative to her.

After the initial shock of receiving such a reply I realise that we needed to discuss the difficulties we had been having in catching up and forgive each other and re- establish our friendship to what it had been when we first started going out with each other.

Wikipedia defines Forgiveness as follow –

Forgiveness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//

Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.^[1]^[2] Forgiveness is different from condoning (failing to see the action as wrong and in need of forgiveness), excusing (not holding the offender as responsible for the action), pardoning (granted by a representative of society, such as a judge), forgetting (removing awareness of the offense from consciousness), and reconciliation (restoration of a relationship).^[1]

In certain contexts, forgiveness is a legal term for absolving or giving up all claims on account of debt, loan, obligation or other claims.^[3]^[4]

As a psychological concept and virtue, the benefits of forgiveness have been explored in religious thought, the social sciences and medicine. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives^[5] including forgiving themselves, in terms of the person forgiven or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In most contexts, forgiveness is granted without any expectation of restorative justice, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is incommunicado or dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of acknowledgment, an apology, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe himself able to forgive.^[1]

I have chosen quotes from across the Ages to see what our society has to say about it, Here we go –

1. In our love relationships we will always come across things that make us arc up. This enables us to practice the noble art of forgiveness on a daily basis to restore the deep state of Love that we committed too when choosing those particular people to fulfil these roles in our life.

2. When we are ruminating on the past and blaming others or being the victim of circumstances in our lives, it is valuable to realise tht we cannot change events as they occurred but we can drastically lessen the effect they will have on our future by uttering the words, silently or out Loud, I foryou you, me , them etc. etc.

3. Lissa Rankin, Author of the ground breaking book The Fear Cure points to that a major percentage of disease is caused by False Fears. On reading the books I discovered that a lot of these fears come from things and events where you have not forgiven ,even to the point of Heart Attacks, here is the link to her page about it – The Fear Cure .

4. Self Forgiveness is an important part of Self Love, a state that is required to allow other Love into your life. Be courageous in admitting that even you make mistakes.

5. Holding on to interactions and events that play on your minds days and years later is very bad for your mental health research shows. Converting these from a bitter experience to a valuable lesson will free you from the debilitating illnesses that often follow the practice of blame and shame.

6. Every Tuesday the local Council come and collect the rubbish I have been unable to recycle. If is was as easy to clear the mind of holding of things from the past that clutter up our lives.

7. The vow goes I will love and cherish, whether in Good Fortune or adversity. Its not always plain sailing on the good ship Matrimony. Moments of forgiving occur every single day as we journey down this sacred path.

8. How long have you sentenced yourself to. I had one shadow belief that was from the age of four. It only took to the tender age of 60 to realise what it was costing me, the world looked very different after letting this one go. I suppose there was no internet and Facebook when I took it on.

9. World Peace Day is 21st September, It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, there have been a total of 26 days of peace since 1945, the end of World War 2, the War to End all Wars. Oops got that one a little eschewed.

10. Be in the Now, Moment to moment, Discipline – all words that point to what is needed to live in the state of the dignity of True Forgiveness.

11. Any you an anyone or a butterfly? Butterflies have beautiful colours and character and fly lightly in the wind because they are not carrying their past burdens around with them.

12. Two steps forward, three steps back doesn’t get much done. When you grant yourself and others the precious gift of forgiveness you free your feet from work-boots to the latest Nike runners and you have the ability to Just Do It!!

13. Promises, Promises was a minor hit for the band Naked Eyes in the eighties. What they sung in the 80’s. Its about how much value we place on them. When you forgive it better be of a reasonably high level.

14. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a fantasy about a man who grew younger not older. He grew smaller the longer his life went on, do you by holding on to those grudges?

15. Finally, the words you use in your life is what gives you your power. In Australia we are known for saying sorry for the simplest of things. So when you have cut someone deep those words have little effect, Try on Will you forgive me?

We had a frank and moving discussion that night when we went out and restored the relationship to nearer what it had been. I didn’t sat please forgive me. I will next time I see her.

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.

Suki or Lhasa?

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Rod's World

Who are Suki and Lhasa, my sister’s beloved cat and dog, I’m not allowed to have pets in my flat.

Pets? Cats or Dogs, Rats or Mice, Budgies or Parrots. We all have our personal choice. I am more of a Dog person than those life controlling moggies who know they are the owner not the other way around.Wikipedia has an interesting definition of what an animal lover is, Check out number three –

The terms animal love or animal lover can have several meanings:

affectional relationships between humans and companion animals, see human-animal bonding
wider concern about the well-being of all animals, see animal welfare
sexual relationships between humans and animals, see zoophilia
affectional bonding between animals, see pair bond
the possibility of emotions such as love in animals, see emotion in animals
Animal Love, a 1996 documentary filmDIRECTED by Ulrich Seidl

I have chosen 15 quotes , some famous , some from just your standard neighborhood cat or dog lover. Here we go –

1. I’ve decided to start my quotes on a less that serious note. I can’t imagine Paul my 50’s something psychiatrist using licking as part of his treatment but I might suggest it on my next three monthly catch up.

2. Suki normally is giving that look when he wants a pat, once you start the cut off point is never.

3. Mark Twain was known for his quirky and insightful quotes as much as his fame for his novels. His summation of the output of dogs vs. Cats is pretty close to the bone in my opinion.

4. Love the even when you don’t share the People Food line, Yes most dogs believe they are human.

5. The one dog I had was poisoned, my parents disappeared him very quickly. I switched to guinea pigs because they couldn’t run away because they were in a cage.

6. Jean Maurice Eugene Clement Cocteau, French poet and film maker always had at least one cat in his home. He came out with this well known cat loving quote as testament to the love he felt for them.

7. I have several friends who judge a persons character on the reaction their pets have to them. I remember visiting my friends house in Bendigo. They had 13 animals, 6 cats. Four went for my lap at once.

8. How a dog and children come into the world. Treated right they will continue to do so until we place that wooden cross next to the back fence, the pets I mean not the children.

9. Dogs know something when they choose trees as their place of going to the toilet. Starlight attracts them to the beauty, that’s a little left field.

10. Unconditional Love, if we followed this set of ideals for loving I think the world would be a better place all around.

11. Especially when it from a young kitten rubbing themselves against your leg at dinner time, and believe me they know when it is their dinnertime, don’t be late or there will be consequences.

12. We all have seen that look if we have ever been graciously allowed to share a premises with a cat. I am plotting to take over the world look and you are going to be my first conquests.

13. Had to get in one about my true addiction Music, I have 24,000 songs on my Itunes. My friend La Rola organised a dance party to pay for her beloved car Kevin’s surgery. How could you not go.

George Mikes, Hungarian Born British author came up with this beauty, about the real chain of command in our homes.

15. Aaw, isn’t it cute when two cats clean each other, they do it from the smallest moggie to the largest lions. No one has worked it out. Which one of the three scenario’s above do you think it is.

I am jealous at times of the love my sister and her family have received from Suki and Lhasa, Lhasa is a bit old these days to show much, He just lies around and sleeps, but remember after all he is a cat.

Its time to say adieu, so once again Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

What Now my friends

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Rod's World

Well, I did the inspirational work shop Now- The art of Having It All Incredible Workshop led by my friends Jules and Clare on the weekend and how could I not write my blog about one aspect of it.

There are 4 premises to live an inspired life through –

Creating Safety
Telling the Truth
Be Organised
Live Passionately

I was going to write about number three but I need to do a little bit of work in that area, face the truth , a lot of work really. So I have chosen number four, to live passionately. Mention passion and the image of Tony Robbins and his fire walk resonate for some, others the quieter realm of Eckhart Tolle’s the Power of Now meditations.So what had people said about it over humankind’s journey. Here are the 15 quotes I have used to exemplify how we feel about it.

1. We can’t start on too serious a note, when you live a passionate life you will find that people are drawn to you because they are inspired by your actions.

2. I am reading Lissa Rankin’s amazing book The Fear Cure, Lissa’s FB PAGE. In it she highlights how fear causes up to 60% of the illness that occurs on the planet. What if we were to concentrate on conquering or accepting our fears, then how remarkable would our lives be.

3. Back to the 17th Century for this one. John was the founder of Methodism, a religious order based in England. He believed in preaching outside and was known for his passionate oratory.

4. Beauty, Passion and Completeness certainly go well with Living, Dreaming and Loving. I looked up Herbacin and low and behold they are a cosmetic company. Great quotes can come from anywhere.

5. When you are living passionately you may find the desire to share it could have you ending up speaking to large groups of people as more and more of them want to hear about what you are up to. I recommend that you get some training in this so it is more effective.

6. It was recommended during the course to focus on one thing and surprisingly it will affect all the other areas as well. My friend Jeffrey Slayter says to Look where you are organised and that is where you will find your passion and purpose. Get organised and let your passion blossom.

7. In this time of advancing technology it is more and more possible to set up as an entrepreneur. Remember to choose passion not money as your driver.

8. Weapons of mass destruction, does this name scare you. Light your soul and petty items such as these do not stand a chance of overcoming the human spirit.

9. The Specials did a great song back in the day Free Nelson Mandela,The Specials. Thankfully they did and there are pages and pages of his eternal wisdom to be inspired by. He certainly didn’t settle for a life that was less. Are You?

10. Another way of saying passion is are you awake, the world needs people who are awake before we put the planet to sleep on a permanent basis.

11. I deliberately chose this image because it is hard to read the words the flower covers. They are beautifully and dream, powerful components in a life lived with passion.

12. In your face time, do not apologize for your life, passion is spelt and achieved very differently from being sorry for your life.

13. Affairs have a bad name. I did a retreat in 2013 where I married my self and took personal vows. I think this is one of the reasons so many marriages fail, because how can you keeps vows for another when you do not have any of your own. I have mine in my I phone and on my fridge door. Looking for someone to have an affair with, stop at the nearest mirror, there you go.

14. Passion on its own isn’t enough. Throw in some belief and faith, along with kick ass work and you have a chance to go all the way.

15. Over to Steve jobs for the final hurrah. Founder of Apple, one of the great innovators on the planet. What you do should be a matter of the heart, and you will know when you find it. here is a speech he made to the 2005 Stanford commencement class, Its inspirational Be Inspired.

Well, that’s my cut at living passionately, may you find it useful.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

The one Life we Know we Have

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Rod's World

I am doing a personal development course Sunday run by two of my friends called NOW – The Art of having it All. They start the event blurb with the following line – Do you sometimes feel like a 40, 000 year old sage in some areas…And a shit scared 4 year old in others?.

A fantastic question. How would it be to live life full out in all areas. Here’s an explanation of what living life full out means for one person, Nancy Solari, life coach , radio host and best selling author who happens to be legally blind. Here’s the link to her webpage Living Full Out

Living Full Out is a way of viewing your world – your circumstances, your goals, your life story – as a springboard to success. When you live life full out, you not only embrace change, but also look for opportunities to create change. You never settle for stuck, never run from a challenge, never rest on your laurels. People are access to reaching your goals, not obstacles to get around. “Making a difference” becomes a mantra not a slogan. You wake up each day excited to greet what will happen next – the good, the bad and the frustrating. No area of your life is too small to bring passion to.

I have been part of a group of runners who had the main street of Leningrad, Nevsky Prospekt interrupted on a Friday Afternoon for us to run down with the mayor of Leningrad and other dignitaries to support Ending World Hunger. I have also been hospitalized for major depression five times. Is this having it all. I couldn’t keep up the commitment that saw me run down that promenade and make a huge difference to world relations, I also ran the Moscow peace Marathon when I was there and after a few years my knees told me that they didn’t like me running 100 kilometres a week anymore.

here are the fifteen quotes I have chosen on the subject, some from the famous, others quite unknown.

1. We have an official retirement age, in out country it is 65. People live to their 80’s in retirement. Wayne Dyer tells a story where a passenger on an airplane asked him how long he had been retired when he was about 70 years old. Wayne replied why do you think I am retired. I will retire the day they put me in a box. He lived up to this touring Australia the week before he recently passed away.

2. Leonardo Da Vinci left many a great gift to the planet. One of his obsessions was flight, he created designs for helicopters and gliders centuries before they came into being. This quote has also survived from his time. This link is to some other amazing things he did Why the sky is blue.

3. I have found that I feel the most full and content when I am doing good deeds that assist people and the planet. Focusing on myself takes me down a path that is not a great place to be.

4. How often my mind has said to me that you can’t do that, or no one will listen to you is uncountable. When I have achieved my greatest triumphs is when I have said thank you for sharing and ignored it allowing for me to breakthrough and get it done.

5. The joy and imagination of youth where nothing is impossible. Oh but if we could bottle this and drink its essence when the naysayers said to behave ourselves as we got older.

6. The story we tell our-self about how we are travelling in life is what makes possible apathy or success. Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King had stories just like us. Change yours if you want to live life more fully.

7. Popes and dying. The Eastern philosophies teach that you cannot really live until you realize that you are going to die one day. Our whole society in the west is focused on denying this until the moment it happens.

8. I love these 4 things. The lines that you can barely read say like no one is watching you, like you have never been hurt, like no one can hear you and as though heaven was on earth. 4 prescriptions to live full out without excuses.

9. Postscript , you cannot change that which has gone before, write your dreams down and go at it full bore, the past won’t care.

10. Ever had those days were you laugh and smile uncontrollably. They are the special ones. Replicate them as often as possible and you will live a fantastic life.

11. My friend Emeli has a saying, Get real, Get it Done. It is a fantastic way to look at life, because living it through another’s ideals or wishes is fake as it can be, your heart will shatter into a million pieces eventually.

12. We actually are living our lives full out moment to moment. Just that a lot of the time we know we could do better. Seek out resources to help you break through when you become blocked in your creativity.

13. We all have this silly assumption that we will wake up tomorrow, some people don’t and really we never know when it will be our turn. Big dreams full out, action like we only have this moment to fulfill them

14. I had a friend at high school who I wrote The Boston Gobbler, a satirical look at our life in a rural Victorian town. it lasted three episodes because the thrusting horses in the letters to the editor offended our conservative Christian head master. I gave up having my words in print for 40 years because i let the opinion of someone else define who I became. I love writing with a passion.

15. Whoever and whatever you believe about being brought to this mortal plane, it was for a purpose or it would not be your turn. make it a brilliant one.

I am looking forward to Sunday, Jules and Clare are brilliant facilitators and live their lives full of purpose more than most.

until next time Namaste my dear friends.

Within these walls Freedom lies.

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Rod's World

I have been doing a lot of work on what lies within me the last few years . At times deep depression and anxiety has lived there, causing me to spend time in a psych ward to recover my senses. But now having done a lot of body and breath work my within has moved from my head to my heart, and life has become a much more blissful place..

What lies within the person you just interacted with, were they speaking their truth or do they fear what would happen if they did so because only they really understand what goes on behind those thoughts enclosed in their often murky mind.

There are many quotes and readings on the matter, by famous to unknown contributors, here are my favorite 15.

1. We often say that our ideal mate will have certain characteristics, On my list it said I like green eyes. My closest friends has dark brown eyes and does not partake in my favorite three passions. What attracted me to her is mystifying, one thing for sure is her inner beauty.

2. Marvin sang of wanting some fine Sexual Healing but he knew that peace did not lie within that. That it was a personal matter that granted you Peace in my Time.

3. Maya Angelou, subject of my previous blog Why have I never heard of her, states that however bad it gets a little bit of your inner flame will continue to flicker allowing you to rekindle the flame of life.

4. You may have movie star looks, but they change with age. Your true beauty shines through your actions of Loving in a compassionate way through your life.

5. before it got all to serious , These three wise Tibetan monks would like you to realize the importance of this Sacred Practice.

6. Your gut feeling often tells you to do things that don’t seem to match your existing reality. Intuition does that sort of thing and it definitely comes from within, no external factors here my friend.

7. The art of self love allows us to recognize the love that others are offering to us in this awakening world. Practice an act of self love daily, it will keep the doom merchant away.

8. We were all sent to see Career counselors at the end of our schooling. They probably had less of an idea than we had what we would do with our lives. Society tries to fit us into little boxes. Get your happy on and listen to your body and heart as to what your glorious life is meant to be.

9. I have lived in many places in my 61 years. As a child and being the son of a school teacher, we moved every few years as you did back then. I have kept the habit up most of my life. Some places were intensely happy and others not so hot. The reason for this was that I was there wherever I moved to.

10. A French general during WW1, Ferdinand knew that it was not superior troop numbers that made the difference. It was igniting the passion within his troops that led to successful campaigns.

11. Perhaps the most famous purveyor of what comes from within. Gautama Buddha advised his millions of followers not to idolize him but to seek what they were looking for within themselves.

12. This beautiful image from Africa points to how you can lessen the fear you travel the world experiencing. By ramping up the self love you cannot be affected by others interactions with you, vindictive or otherwise.

13. The big O, loves the song that made this her catch-cry, here is the YouTube link This little light of Mine. Remember it all comes from within, shine there and the world will shine along with you.

14. Elizabeth Kubler Ross was one of the pioneers in the study of the dying. Her work empowered many people to die gracefully by sparking their beauty within.

15. For our last insight we return to Love. We must spend the time needed to have self love located within ourselves. It is not up to the world to provide us with the feeling, most times if we are looking externally for it, we have not reached a level of self love sufficient to be a fine example that is accepted and loved by others.

I will keep , as Byron Katie says doing the work that allows me to walk this earth with no or very few expectations. it is a life journey that will complete the day of my passing.

Namaste my dear friends until next time.

No Expectations, Can we live without them.

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Rod's World

I recently completed two courses , Creative Mastery via the Activation School, here’s the link for some more info – Creative Mastery Program and Sex and the Soul, here’s the link – Sex and the Soul. I was taken to many unfamiliar places but they have asked me to write a testimonial as to what I got out of it.

The major thing that I have got out of it is a seemingly total lack of expectation. We seem to walk through life expecting that it will turn out a certain way and often become disappointed when it does not. The definition of what an expectation is

a strong belief that something will happen or be the case. – “reality had not lived up to expectations”

So what do we have to say about that belief that often can leave us ecstatic or disappointed. Here are 15 quotes that ponder what society has made it mean

1. Sri Chinmoy, one of the original masters who brought meditation to the west stated that in giving up expectation one achieved the blissful state of peace.

2. I had to think about this one, do I see a difference. I define hope as helping other people evolve. I think that action is involved for both because without it, hope or expectation are not going to happen.

3. The Bard – Sir Willy wrote many a classic play. He covered all the areas of life but saw that expectation was a tortured route to having our hearts suffer pain.

4. These four statements point to the fact that if you could live your life under them a state of genuine bliss would surround you on a day to day basis.

5. Do you live your life worrying about what other people think about you. Its not your job nor is it theirs to expect you to live by theirs.

6. My logical mind traps me in this quite regularly. When you are told you are intelligent you often put on a front that you know when you really don’t. Actually all there is is questions and answers.

7. This instant gratification society we live in seems to be getting faster and faster, expecting more and more to satisfy our ever growing needs. The rate of mental health issues this creates is growing on a disproportionate scale and simplicity is seen as the way to reduce it.

8. It’s not my fault, my parents didn’t love me enough, my husband was never home, fill in the blanks ……. Your quality of life is your responsibility, even to the point of 100%. but that is too confronting for most of us.

9. Diana, The Princess of Wales fought against the staidness of the royal family to be involved in many charitable projects with no expectation of receiving anything in return. She did it out of the kindness of her heart.

10. Be aware of what is, this is a practice that has to be done moment to moment. You can create an ideal life through action but one must always be aware of what is so.

11. How often when someone does something for you do you immediately offer to something back for them. Just being in the moment of receiving is the true gift you have been given. The pure joy that it allows to ripple through your heart is priceless.

12. One must have a cat or dog quote. How long do we spend trying to get that exact shot of our loved ones we want when life is a natural process not a posed one.

13. People will respond in the way they see fit at that moment in time in their lives. They may be angry, loving or questioning of what you were intending. You can not control their response, only your reaction to it by being gracious in the giving of it.

14. Horace was a Roman poet born in 65 BC, a long, long time ago in human history. What would the world be like if we had listened to his sage advice back then.

15. And finally a reminder. I remember when I used to think 30 was old, I am twice that age now. This beautiful quote guides us to the power that acceptance and gratitude for what is will lead us to having a fulfilled if not long life.

Well it will be an experience and take some effort to remain in this state of no expectation, wish me luck.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

How to Kill a Cat, Not really!

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Rod's World

Curiosity starts with the itch to explore, the greatest explorers are the newborn. A 1964 study showed that babies as young as two months old, when presented with different patterns , will show a marked preference for the unfamiliar ones This attraction to everything knew and novel is known as diversive curiosity.

In adults diversive curiosity manifests itself as a restless desire for the new and the next. The modern world seems designed to fulfill our desire for this type of curiosity. Diversive curiosity is essential to an exploring mind; it opens our eyes to the new and the undiscovered, encouraging us to seek out new experiences and meet new people. But unless it’s allowed to deepen it can become a futile waste of time Unfettered curiosity is wonderful, unchannelled curiosity is not. When diversive curiosity is entrained – when it is transformed into a quest for knowledge and understanding – it nourishes us. This deeper, more disciplined and effortful type of curiosity is called epistemic curiosity.

Which type of curiosity do you mainly dwell in. Here are the 15 quotes I have chosen to have a look at this area of life which creates interest for us.

1. I have hair similar to Albert at the moment , slightly wild and woolly. No specialtalents that I have a piece of paper for, although people say I am a great wordsmith. I am definitely passionately curious about all areas of life as I hope you are too.

2. Walt Disney, creator of the iconic Mickey Mouse series of cartoons came up with this slice of wisdom when asked how did he keep on coming up with such new and exciting concepts. He did not accept that it could not be done in an era before the Internet, Facebook and PC graphic software.

3. My friend Michele’s company is called Within Without. She is a curious creator who inspires people to live the life they love. This quote reminds me of her passion for breaking through that which is accepted to be the norm, here is a link to her webpage : Within Without

4. Curiosity, the incurable dis ease that we receive when we enter this journey called life. That is slowly treated as an illness that much be put in its place so that you can grow up. I shout out to it being incurable just squashed by a mundane education system.

5. I went to The U.S.S.R. the year before the Berlin Wall came down to run the Moscow Peace Marathon. We also went to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. We did not know that the sun fell from the sky and darkness prevailed immediately at 5 p.m. We were stuck on the other side of the city from where we were staying so we could have panicked. Instead our curiosity took us into the place we recognized, Bar – it sold coffee and Ice-cream as there were not establishments for locals to go and have a drink. We meet two students home on holidays from Uni and they became life long friends and showed us the underground club scene which was thriving.

6. Modern day best selling Author Nancy B. Brewer remindsus that curiosity can take us to places that we need to be careful in. There are rumors of dead cats in some locations.

7. Good to Great, how does one get there. Unleashing your curiosity is one way James C. Collins, the American business analyst and lecturer suggests that control won’t cut it.

8. More and more people are catching in on the Secret, someone even wrote a book about it that being curious has to offer. Your creativity will blossom the more you let your curiosity out to play.

9. What do we put on our gravestones, I like this cut at it. A bit more inspiring than love from the children.

10. How we live our lives is what people remember about us not what we owned or what we did, but how we made them feel. A noble death is said to have been had when people only have good things to say.

11. Thomas Stearns Eliott, or T.S. to his friends and the rest of the world, died in the swinging 60’s. he penned two of my favourite quotes, the one above and You are the Music while the Music lasts. its never to far and keep the music playing is my motto.

12. Author of a Top ten business blog Edgy Conversations Dan Waldschmidt is pursued widely for his outlook on running businesses , he said the above about what part curiosity plays in being successful.

13. Back to the dead cats, it isn’t always Roses and Champagne when you let your curiosity run free. There may be a modicum of trouble as well, but what sort of life is a life without a little of it now and then.

14. The 1982 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry also said some pretty cool things about how we relate to nature. That we should not think it is our playground to do what we want with it without thinking about the consequences was one of them, to always remain curious as to the effect we were having on it.

15. Eleanor Roosevelt does not hold her role as First lady to be her greatest achievement. This lies with helping write the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights when she was appointed chair of the Human Rights Commission after her husbands death. Eleanor was a fine example of some one who lived a life of curiosity and achieved much from doing this.

Here’s to the curious and the discoveries they have given us that have improved our lives.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

There’s Serendipity in Every step if you wish there to be.

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Rod's World

Serendipity is a word that is not used that often in our society but to me, it is a powerul force in our psyches. Wikipedia defines it the following way :

Serendipity means a “fortunate happenstance” or pleasant surprise“. It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming‘s accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer in 1945, and the invention of the Post-it note by Spencer Silver in 1968.

The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company.^[1] However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.^[2]

I recently made a very dear and special friend without there being any intention to do so on the day I met her. It has been a pleasant surprise that has transformed a part of my life that had been dormant for many a year.

Here are the 15 quotes I have chosen on the matter with my insights into them.

1. I met my first real serious relationship when my friends younger sister sang you made me love you, I didn’t want to do it to me at her 18th Birthday. This was not an older man trying to hit on a younger women. It was pure serendipity at work.

2. At times it feels like you fall into things that matter most in your life. I became part of a running team that had the main street of Leningrad shut down on a Friday Afternoon in the name of Ending Hunger with the mayor and other dignities because we were sent to see the wrong person because of a language misunderstanding.

3. I chose this one because I do not know what it really means. Something like the classic song Pleasure and Pain by seminal Aussie The Divinyls : Lover, Lover.

4. Ser-uh n-dip-i-tee, they say English is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn because it is said differently from how it is written, this would support that premise.

5. Do you have an aptitude for serendipity, are you one of the lucky ones. I think it is your positive attitude to life that increases the opportunities of it occurring.

6. Here we are, chugging along in life, going to work, coming home to eat and watch T.V., going out with our friends and then we meet a person who will transform that. My friend Barry met his wife on a debauched cricket trip to Sydney, which was 870 Kilometers from where we lived. Three $500 phone bills later at the demand of his housemates, me and her brother they reunited in Sydney and the rest is History.

7. The and and threw me a little. But listen to the message, you can’t plan your whole life, that reeks of perfectionism. Perfectionism is the booby prize in my eyes, stops you from starting many things in your life.

8. How often has you said to yourself: Self , now how did that happen but I am so glad it did. We do not always know that what we are looking for is the best thing for us.

9. The more awake you are to the planet more and more times Serendipity will magically happen for you, I know this as my Truth.

10. I recently read a book by my friend Tanishka which distinguishes between Soulmates, Twin Flames and Your Beloved. The first two you meet to learn from, the third is your destiny presenting itself. You don’t logically choose, your heart does it for you.

11. What does Serendipity taste and smell like? for me is is the scent of Spring, when all is awakening and the beautiful smell of fresh flowers and blossoms fill the air.

12. Often when Serendipity enters our life, our logical mind will reject it as a fearful path to travel down, Eleanor Roosevelt was considered a rebellious women, as she says do the thing you mind says you cannot do, that’s where the treasure lies.

13. Rule number 5 is where Serendipity lives. I had spent years trying to know more to fix myself up. I recently starting doing Body and Breath work and my life transformed. Don’t wait 60 years like I did.

14. Serendipity does not live in the world of the Possible, that is the Arena of the logical mind. My friend Emeli did not meet Oprah Winfrey, The Dalai Lama and Sir Richard Branson by listening to the voice in her head that often says Who do you Think you are. Set yourself Impossible dreams, they are the only ones that make a difference.

15. Serendipity can have you make new deep friendships in the most unexpected places. We know when they are a Special One, these are the people to focus your time on , as the quote says Quality always trumps quality.

I am getting quicker and quicker at writing these blogs, my sister Jann , a research scientist spends hours on the information she uses in her blog Fire Up Water Down, which is about the elements and the profound influence they have on our lives. I’m a start typing and do the research via Google as I go type of guy.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Whatever gets you through the Night.

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Rod's World

Tonight my friend Emeli Paulo is leading a RAW session on Addiction : What’s Yours. I have been thinking about this and I think my friends may feel it is posting positivity on my Facebook page Positivity HQ, but I believe this to be a sacred calling to counter the evil mainstream media is spreading across the planet.

So I thought long and hard, not Sex, not Alcohol , I gave up drinking on my 40th Anniversary of doing that, not gambling, I see that as a waste and came across Music. I have 23,000 songs and lectures on my Itunes library, I am subscribed to both My Music and Spotify and have Mixcloud, Souncloud and Bandcamp accounts. 23,000 songs is 77.6 days of music to put it in perspective.

So what do we get from our love of Music. Here are the 15 thoughts I have put together that our sages, musicians and people of note have contributed to the matter.

1. What does this truly mean. To me it is in those moments when a chill goes up your spine. Years ago I worked on the door for my friend Kerri Simpson and I knew when she was on, She always sang Summertime and when it sent chills up my spine the effect would last for hours.

2. When first contact is made they will bring many new and exciting things with them. But one thing they will certainly bring is their music. Even Klingon’s had music in Star trek, admittedly it was hard to appreciate but they loved it as we do our favourite style.

3. Billy Thorpe’s Somewhere over the Rainbow doesn’t make me think what a great song, there are many finer versions. But what it does make me remember is the night at the Myer Music Bowl that I and 200,000 other people sang it along with him.

4. Among my 23,000 tracks I have quite a bit of meditation music. I listen to it primarily when I am travelling on public transport. I lowered my Carbon Footprint to an Electric Bike, a pushbike and Public transport several years ago. It takes me to a place of genuine bliss while journeying through the chaos of a major cities thoroughfares.

5. There are so many styles of music that one can listen to, It seems there are new ones being developed every year. I am not a huge fan of Death metal, Pagan Rock and such genres. More for me tunes that have a positive message.

6. We Live on our own part of the World, so in the other parts of the world our indigenous music is captured by the title World Music. This gives you many opportunities to learn and listen to the magic of other cultures as these year Five students did.

7. Here’s an image you will find hard to get out of your head. A naked 61 year old man bopping around his apartment’s kitchen to GodsKitchen doof.

8. Back to ancient Greece. Plato and his mates sitting around listening to an inspired bouzouki performance. He turns to them and says …….

9. Another cute memory, A hot 40 degree Celsius day in St. Arnaud primary school. Our class is singing the Yellow Rose of Texas, half way through we hear the class next door joining in. The power of music is irrepressible.

10. It is often said by people that a particular song touches their heart. In doing so these words give you access to precious moments of healing that enliven your human experience.

11. Nature plays music to us all the time, sometimes it is powerful in the form of destructive winds, sometimes almost silent like an early morning sunrise over the mountains. We cannot write such superb songs, just give it our best shot.

12. Eckhart Tolle speak of the inner stillness that music can conquer. I have seen this many times in my music listening career. The most memorable being when I went to my friend Alicia’s Melancholia event two years ago. A young musician named Dan Parsons did one of his original songs and you could have heard a pin drop. It was outstanding music.

13. What came first, the horse or the cart. Darwin one of the great naturalists discovered that music came before speech. I believe this to be true because Nature has always provided it from the beginning of time.

14. I had to get the comment of one musician in the list. Levon Helm from The Band points to the healing side of music. It has been used in shamanic ceremonies for thousands of years, It has never been seen to fail.

15. And for our last insight, we cross to one of history’s greatest minds. The best way to crack a case of the Sad’s is to go inner and drench it with the music that inspires you.

I am including links to some of my favourite inspiring music so that you can appreciate them as well The Voice of an Angel, Goddess Songs, Indigenous Bliss, Ben sings of Love, Australia’s Heart and Soul, The Outlaw Women from Down Under, Lilith – Wild and Alive

Here’s to our love of music, Namaste until next time my dear friends