You so have what it Takes!!

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Rod's World

I began the six week journey again that we take on Arion Light’s Activation Program: Activation School. In the first week we look at what it truly takes to come home to one’s self, the heart, your soul. We do a beautiful practice with a partner receiving the beloved from them. We also discuss our intentions for the course, mine is to give strength to the love and the purpose of my life and for the planet.

So what do sages and visionaries and your ordinary joe say about coming home, lets have a look:

1. F. Scott, big time author pointing out its inner work not the colour of your drapes that has you come home.

2. Insert your name in place of someone’s and I reckon this quote hits a home run: I’m Going Home.

3. Byron and Arion’s work attest to this. Do the work and it becomes easier to come home.

4. The story you tell yourself creates how your home looks, what do you put on your welcome mat: Home is where the Heart Is.

5. We have journeyed so far from our hearts spaces, it’s time to take up the challenge and return to that beautiful, beautiful oasis.

6. I met a person recently, she is from a different generation, but the moment I began to speak with her I knew I had found another of my anam cara, Irish for soul friend, you normally have known each other for lifetimes: Make You Feel Your Love.

7. There are people I miss in my life, so it’s wonderful when you hear they are going to drop into town for a visit, include yourself on this.

8. Doesn’t your heart feel so much lighter and open when you come home to it? They say that love has come to town: Uh-oh, Love has come to Town

9. To be thrilled all of the time, that’s what coming home to yourself truly is, the ability to live it moment to moment.

10. Do you ever go and stand in a rain storm hoping it will wash away the pain and hurt that is real or imagined. In coming home the heart can heal them as well: Cleansing Rain Song.

11. I live alone, can’t have pets so I get these in other places in my community where I am coming home.

12. Haven’t your wildest dreams come from your heart not your head? If your home address resides above your neck it’s time to move: The Dream of Life.

13. What would you include in your favourite coming home experiences?

14. When travelling one may find many new temporary homes, but there’s a pillow waiting for you in your heart: Home is where the Heart Is.

15. Old souls, young souls – our country has a 60,000 year soul to come home to, we just have to have the courage to find it.

I did get a little bit off track on the way through, but I suppose that is one of the variances of the journey to coming home, it never follows the route you hope ot will.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Something out of Nothing!!

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Rod's World

There is a poster in front of me that is advertising the Goodstart Preston program, on it is written the statement Creativity is more than artistic expression, it’s a safe and engaging way for children to explore their feelings and imagination while developing motor skills and language.

Remember as a child when you had imaginary friends who could be dragons, princes, and princesses or the brothers and sisters you didn’t have. Where has that incredible creativity gone in our more mature life? Let’s have a look at what society has said about creativity over the years:

1. From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Dorothy Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in publications such as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics led to a place on the Hollywood blacklist.

2. I love this statement by Brene Brown, sharing your soul with the world, what a way to describe creativity: You Have to Get Back UP.

3. I thought John Kennedy said this, but it was definitely George. Over his 94 years, he wrote an incredible 60 plays, the best known being Pygmalion, a stalwart of the school curriculums. A little-known fact is that he opposed vaccination back in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s.

4. Probably my favorite quote maker. Albert Einstein’s work is contagious and I love passing it on: Pass it On.

5. It’s Santa time. How old were you when you stopped believing or are you a survivor?

6. We remain loyal to people but how often do we give up on our gifts because we are told by society they are not the way to make our living: Get Lucky.

7. Fahrenheit 451, one of the most iconic sci-fi books ever written. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn any that are found. The book is named after the assumed temperature at which paper combusts. Thank goodness for Kindle.

8. Paint attracts the child in one because it so bright. But when Danny was around on TV it was black and white. Here is a classic dance routine from his show with Gene Kelly: Danny and Gene.

9. Do you remember those puzzles that were popular where you had to go outside the box. If you solved them you were a creative.

10. A lot of Creatives never make it to their Uni graduation. Here is one of the most famous and his speech about it: Be Inspired.

11. Do you know that most things that are created are after an incredible journey of failure, Edison being the classic example with the electric light bulb.

12. You can Dance if you want to: A koan for creativity: Safety Dance.

13. It’s essential ot remember the last element, have fun on your creative path.

14. I know I have made some awful flub ups because of my unwillingness to let go of my certainty about life I think I’m making one at the moment : Get Back Up.

15. As I mentioned before I thought JFK had made a quote, he didn’t but he definitely said this one. Idea’s are timeless as is your creativity.

So fight for your right to party/stay creative. It’s that part of you which can make the world a better place.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

Build from the Inside Out!!

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Rod's World

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Are you on the right path!!

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Rod's World

I have done several workshops lately, the latest being on Experiential Astrology , the new Moon and Kali. I don’t know a great deal about Kali, having studied more the Lilith and hecate lineage of goddesses over my trip so I looked up Kali.

Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time. There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time. In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala. Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses. The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote, “Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love.”

It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality. Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death). It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate. This is not to worship death but rather it is to overcome the I-am-the-body idea by reinforcing the awareness that the body is a temporary condition. Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego. Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego. Thus we are the eternal I AM and not the body. This is underscored by the scene of the cremation grounds.

Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha or liberation to Her children. She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality. The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise. A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form. A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.

A worthwhile guidance to follow in Life, so let’s have a look at what life says about being guided:

1. They sat very few individuals ever reach enlightenment because most people do not have the stamina to take all the steps required. I think we need to remember this and that there will be a lot more steps.

2. Yes, you are not one of the 150,ooo people who died on the planet today if you are reading this. That means you have survived those countless mistakes you have made and are still being guided: Life is a Flower.

3. In a week one of the two most unelectable people in the western world will be president of the United States. Guess what , have the courage to let go of what you can’t change.

4. Mason Cooley (1927 – July 25, 2002) was an American aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of these such aphorisms Cooley developed was “The time I kill is killing me.” He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the College of Staten Island. He was also an assistant professor of English at Columbia University from 1959 to 1967 and an adjunct professor from 1980 to 1988. He received his B.A. from San Diego State University and his Ph.D. from Oxford: Bad Blood.

5. One of the more forgotten religious guides, if you say you follow your guiding angel you often get a smirk from certain individuals.

6. If you are lucky you might find one of these guides in your life, perhaps even more than one. I have one at the moment, Arion Light from the Activation School: Blinded by the Light.

7. You can’t read the whole quote but certainly get the gist of it.

8. Pick a side to be on, Douglas bader was a famous fighter pilot in WW2 who lost both his legs in an accident and returned to combat. I want some of the divine guidance he was receiving: Break the Rules

9. I love the emoji for a hug, the little yellow creature holding its hands out, perhaps it’s doing this.

10. I would suggest you are being well guided by this quote,and there’s butterflies, yay!!: Stuck on You.

11. I am always so thankful the Chinese gave us the wisdom of Lao Tzu. This is from Confucius, another very wise man.

12. Coco Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both financial success as a businesswoman and catapulted to social prominence in French high society, thanks to the connections she made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron. In 1970, her net worth was $19 billion (equivalent to $118 billion in 2015), making her one of the richest women of all time. She thought for herself, very loud: I Won’t Back Down.

13. My friend Leyolah Antara swears by prayer, saying it is vital in entering being guided, she is the founder of Kundalini Dance, Leyolah Antara.

14. If there is a piece missing, all there is to do is persevere, really: Prince Ea.

15. My favourite cigar smoker, Led England during WW2, made great speeches and wrote some great quotes, here’s one.

Don’t give up on looking for your guided, I found my best one at 60.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

P.S. I was having the day off, and nearly forgot to write this.

As long as you don’t need them!!

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Rod's World

I saw a beautiful word on the way to my volunteer work today, when I got their I was told I was no longer a volunteer but a visitor and have to wear an ID identifying me as so, I have been volunteering there for 3 and a half years, bureaucracy is a beautiful thing.

The word I saw was transference, I wasn’t sure of its exact meaning so I went to google, here it is : definition of transference:

Transference is a phenomenon characterised by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is “the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person’s childhood”. Another definition is “the redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object”. Still another definition is “a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, especially of childhood, and the substitution of another person… for the original object of the repressed impulses”. Transference was first described by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who acknowledged its importance for psychoanalysis for better understanding of the patient’s feelings.

I’m still not sure if I know what it means after that but I will have a go at discussing the following quotes on it:

1. Have you been to see a film and left disappointed because their interpretation didn’t match the one you had created from reading the book in your head, I know I have.

2. In the definition it talks about repetition in the present, if the repetition is of a negative nature get away from that transference: Bad Vibe.

3. I have a friend who does self development work, he says it is to have people become sane in an insane world, he must have read this.

4. How often do we fear situations in out life, and when they occur the result is nothing like the expectation, for me its a fear of heights, what’s yours: Guts over Fear.

5. Arthur M. Jolly is an American playwright and screenwriter. In 2006, he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for a script named The Free Republic of Bobistan.

6. Are you great at hugging , holding and being held. To me this is the greatest act of transference of the soul, spirit, energy through action: I Want to Hug You.

7. Nationalism, one of the great tools of fascism. Sport taken to extremes, killing in the name of!!

8. James Frank Dobie – was an American folklorist, writer, and newspaper columnist best known for many books depicting the richness and traditions of life in rural Texas during the days of the open range. As a public figure, he was known in his lifetime for his outspoken liberal views against Texas state politics, and for his long personal war against what he saw as bragging Texans, religious prejudice, restraints on individual liberty, and the assault of the mechanised world on the human spirit. He was instrumental in the saving of the Texas Longhorn breed of cattle from extinction. Imagine what he would have thought of our crazy times: The Human Spirit.

9. Aren’t they so charismatic: we all know one of them. In the conscious dance community I hang in, I know quite a few thankfully, people who are alive and full of enthusiasm.

10. That first day of school when we are with our mothers normally, and they leave us behind with a whole lot of strangers, how long did it take you to get over the first day blues: First Day of School.

11. How often do we transfer our vision into reality? I put it in google, guess the result: 20,300,000. I suppose that’s why they call it leadership.

12. Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. After her graduation from formal education, Weil became a teacher. She taught intermittently throughout the 1930s, taking several breaks due to poor health and to devote herself to political activism, work that would see her assisting in the trade union movement, taking the side of the Anarchists known as the Durruti Column in the Spanish Civil War, and spending more than a year working as a labourer, mostly in auto factories, so she could better understand the working class : Never Know.

13. Father of the Star Trek phenomenon, Gene Roddenberry – was asked to write a series called Riverboat, set in 1860’s Mississippi. When he discovered that the producers wanted no black people on the show, he argued so much with them that he lost the job, but what a great question.

14. The father of transference, Sigmund Freud lightening the situation a little: The Cigar Song.

15. The Diva of soul Nina Simone lived with the transference that music can be, a blessing or the burden of fame throughout her life, suffering mental health issues and family breakdown as well as playing to some of the biggest audiences of her era.

So what have you transferred from your childhood and who do you relate to like they were that person who did that to you the first time, It’s a life time journey battling the transference of our minds.

Namaste until next time my dear friends.

Where we Wrong?

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Rod's World

Today I wrote on reconciliation. In our country there is a call for reconciliation to recognise the indigenous people who are not recognised in our constitution. There is one slight problem, most of the indigenous people don’t want reconciliation they want a treaty that recognises the fact the land was stolen off them.

This has caused much division, in the area where I live there is a call to change the name of the local electorate from Batman, named after explorer John Batman to recognising our indigenous people, the Wurrundjeri.

Batman is a controversial figure due to his dealings with Aboriginal peoples in Van Diemen’s Land/ AKA Tasmania and Victoria. The artist John Glover, Batman’s neighbour in Van Diemens Land, said Batman was “a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known”.

The treaty Batman negotiated with local Aboriginal peoples in 1835, to acquire land in the Port Phillip area, was a matter of controversy in his day, and has remained an event of great historical interest and debate.

So what does the world say about reconciliation and is it essential that it occurs for the soul of the earth to be restored. Lets begin out journey:

1. Actually Thich Nhat Hanh, this beautiful man has been a peace and reconciliation activist since the days of the Vietnam War. He was interviewed by Oprah, a bit long but worthwhile: The Interview.

2. Recognised as one of the greatest peace activists on his release, he was originally jailed for being a guerrilla, he set up the famous truth and reconciliation commission after the end of apartheid so that chaos did not break out and that a new future could be created in South Africa.

3. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was a Spanish writer who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in that language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. What do you think he means by this statement?

4. It is said that we outgrow people but what about those times we made somebody wrong for what they said or did. I recently made up with a person who had been one of my dearest friends. My heart sung after I did it.

5. What if we could restore all the broken hearts we suffered in our life, would the world occur differently, fuck yeah!!

6. Nelson again, putting it in our faces. South African Songs

7. Practical action, Fraser was the last Liberal Party Prime Minister to practise Keynesian economics. In retirement, Fraser became involved in international relief and humanitarian aid issues and, domestically, as a forthright liberal voice for human rights. Shortly after Tony Abbott won the 2009 Liberal Party leadership spill, Fraser ended his Liberal Party membership, stating the party was “no longer a liberal party but a conservative party”.

8. In Victory someone usually loses, Reconciliation tends to be the opposite where both parties obtain what they desire.

9. García Márquez started as a journalist, and wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularising a literary style labelled as magic realism, which uses magical elements and events in otherwise ordinary and realistic situations. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo (the town mainly inspired by his birthplace Aracataca), and most of them explore the theme of solitude. This powerful statement speaks to the gift of reconciliation.

10. The Fonz from the sitcom Happy Days could not say these words. How much pain has our inability to say them caused us? In my case quite a bit.

11. Have you ever met someone you keep running into in the most unusual situations. I saw one of these people on a TV program the other day.

12. Brother Roger was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 1988 and wrote many books on prayer and reflection, asking young people to be confident in God and committed to their local church community and to humanity. He also wrote books about Christian spirituality and prayer, some together with Mother Teresa with whom he shared a cordial friendship. A springtime to the Soul sounds like a wonderful place to hang out in. Leonard Cohen has a wistful song about reconciliation : Amen.

13. South Africa’s other great peace activist, Desmond Tutu calls us out that forgiveness and reconciliation are real things we need to take action on. Tutu’s admirers see him as a great man who, since the demise of apartheid, has been active in the defence of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS,tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2007; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. He has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings.