Love Hurts!!!

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Rod's World

Did you know love is not enough? I found that out in a sudden, dramatic way yesterday. I was travelling in our lockdown city of Melbourne to visit my supposed partner outside the 5-kilometre allowable zone when I rang her because she had written to me that she felt a bit down about her zoom visit to her psychologist. I rang her to find out what could I do for her, two hours later I was heading home and it was all over.

It was because I had agreed with her and allowed her space the night before and it seems I should not have listened to her and gone against her will and taken care of her. We had discussed this for an hour after I was halfway there and she told me she felt the most empowered she had ever felt. It seems that I am not enough to meet her needs. A day later I realise that I cannot be different from where I am at the moment. I can grow but cannot miraculously be different from where I am at the moment, so yes, Love hurts.

What does society say about the pain of unrequited love, lets have a look:

1. I hope it finds this place soon.

2. I forgot: Stronger.

3. I found out the embrace of love is not enough.

4. How will I get her out of my heart, it seems impossible at the moment, only time will tell: Love Hurts.

5. Being in the same city doesn’t seem far enough, I cannot stop thinking of her.

6. I’m crying typing this: When I Look at You.

7. I wish you the best life.

8. No words needed: Disappear.

9. It’s storming in my heart.

10. I mistakenly thought this was not us: Almost in Love.

11. It seems this was not us.

12. And not just of a sexual nature: Dreaming of You.

13. I fear this.

14. Thank you karma, you hurt: Instant Karma.

15. and our final lesson comes from the Twitter personality Bauvard – A work of art should stand on its own, divorced from the personality of the creator. That is the only way the creator can be a work of art in himself.

So what am I learning? Embrace that individual inside you who has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else. Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms. And above all, be true to you – if you cannot put your heart into it, take yourself out of it. Starting today…

1. Get your priorities right.

2. Take full responsibilities for your goals.

3. Know your worth.

4. Choose the right perspective.

5. Don’t let your old problems punish your dreams

6. Choose the things that truly matter.

7. Love You.

8. Accept your strengths and Weaknesses.

9. Stand up for You.

10. Learn from others, and move on when you must.

11. Be honest in your relationships.

12. get comfortable with being UNcomfortable.

13. Be who you were born to be.

14. Never give up on You.

The playlist today is a bit maudlin, we begin with Kayne West, go back to the 1970s to hear that song by Nazareth. The four pop divas: Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Olivia O’Brien and Selena. We finish off with John Lennon: Love Hurts!!!

This will not stop me from spreading the ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. I have extended it to a million people in my new tribe: Thriving People.

Join if you wish. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do!!!

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Rod's World

So, I promised a friend I would write this blog about how I was feeling, my identity is resisting it because I am not feeling full of possibility, I spoke to my mentor about it and he pointed out that the only way out of it was in. So here goes.

I feel stuck as I am basically doing what I was two to three years ago and my soul feels there is meant to be more to life than that. I went to one of my sources of inspiration, my friend Marc Chernoff and found an article 16 Harsh Truths That Make You Stronger. This is the shortened version of how it goes:

It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than dominate them, more manhood or womanhood to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind -Alex Karras.

1. Life is not easy. Hard work makes people lucky – It’s the stuff that brings dreams to reality.

2. You will fail sometimes – The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being brilliant.

3. Right now, there’s a lot you don’t know – the day you stop learning is the day you stop living.

4. There may not be a tomorrow – Not for everyone.

5. There’s a lot you can’t control – You can’t control everything in your life no matter how many safeguards you put into place.

6. Information is not true knowledge – Knowledge comes from experience.

7. You can’t be successful without providing value -Don’t waste your time trying to be successful, spend your time creating value.

8. Someone else will always have more than you – Whether it’s money, friends or magic beans that you’re collecting, there will always be somebody who has more than you.

9. You can’t change the past – You can’t change what happened, but you can change how you react to it.

10. The only person who can make you happy is you – The root of your happiness comes from your relationship with yourself.

11. There will always be people who don’t like you – You can’t be everything to everyone.

12. You won’t always get what you want – Appreciate the things you have right now. Many people aren’t so lucky.

13. In life, you get what you put in – If you want love, friends, give love, be friendly.

14. Good friends will come and go – Most of your high school friends won’t be part of your Uni life.

15. Doing the same exact thing every day hinders self-growth – If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

16. You will never feel 100% ready for something new – Nobody ever feels 00% ready when an opportunity arises.

Typing number 15 made me shudder, I have been in this rut for at least a week and keep telling my self I do not know the way out, which I know not to be true. So what does the world say about being in a rut and its effect on one, lets have a look:

1. I recommenced my daily walks today and am attended a Warrior Code session tonight, they are designed to shake you up.

2. I’ve set up a dinner with my siblings, they definitely do this: Glad To Be Alive.

3. Much to much comfort, why do I feel so bad then?

4. Take a dose, and the medicine goes down: A Spoonful of Sugar.

5. It’s how you relate to it that gives it the wonder.

6. It’s not always a win/win situation, how would we learn if it was: Seven Years.

7. It’s difficult to be what you are not.

8. At the top of my list at the moment: Rut.

9. Enoch Arnold Bennett was an English writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known as a novelist, but he also worked in other fields such as the theatre, journalism, propaganda and films.

10. I’m taking up the invitation: Grow As We Go.

11. Time for some explanation.

12. Time to stop waiting to be rescued and found: Who You Are.

13. Shayne’s Pinterest bio reads Author and Always the Good Girl. A firm believer in happy endings. Refuse to let your past define you. Be strong, take control, change your life.

14. Including yourself: Rise Up.

15. And our final lesson comes from running coach Ben Rosario, that it is the journey to your goals and dreams that got you there, so remember to have fun.

To me, the only difference between an opportunity and an obstacle is attitude. Getting a second chance in life is about giving myself the opportunity to grow beyond my past failures, It’s time to positively adjust my attitude toward future possibilities.

The playlist starts with some healing medicine from Teddy Prendergast and Marry Poppins. Then there are three pensive tracks from Lukas Graham, The Killers and Ben Platt. The penultimate track is Jessie J and we complete with some soul from Andra Day: Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do.

So being in touch with my ethos for the world: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included on a daily basis is the practice I will choose to climb out of this rut. Until we meet again my dear friends.

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet. We’re Hunting Vampires!!!

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Rod's World

Is the above statement impossible? What amazingly achievable things did you do today that will they make the difference you wish to on the planet. This is a quite common thought process I have when I am not sure and there does not appear to be much evidence they are. Another list from my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff that points out some simple things we can do:

1. Smile – Smiling actually makes you happier.

2. Treat everyone with kindness and respect – even those who are rude to you, because you do.

3. Perform one selfless act – In life, you get what you put in.

4. Avoid needless drama and those who create it – life is too short to spend time with people who suck the joy out of you.

5. Think of the positives – Stop being afraid of what could go wrong.

6. Inject a little love into the world around you – Love what you are doing, Love where you are, Love the people you are with.

7. Take decisive and immediate action on something that needs to get done – You can’t change anything or make any real-world progress without action

8. Follow your intuition when making decisions – Only time will tell, but our human instincts are rarely wrong.

9. Spend time on something you believe in – Follow your heart today.

10. Meet someone new – You’ll be surprised at the lessons they teach you.

11. Exercise and Eat Healthy – Those who exercise have a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

12. Be a student of life – If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready when great opportunities arise.

So how has society commented on what is and how do we achieve over time, here are a few of my favourites:

1. Not everyone will agree with you.

2. Imagine the resolve it would have taken to be an African American tennis player who won Wimbledon in the 1970s: Anything You Can Do.

3. The Japanese understand vision and action.

4. Add an arrow to your quiver every day: My Heart Scares You and a Gun Doesn’t.

5. Being versus doing your goals, different animals.

6. What if they say no: Permission.

7. And you can fall off the end of the earth.

8. Another way of saying it is to Find your Why: Respect.

9. Lautner was born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, Michigan,^[3] the son of Deborah and Daniel Lautner. His mother works for a software development company, while his father was a Midwest Airlines pilot. He has one younger sister named Makena. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lautner has Austrian, Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, and Swiss ancestry, and has stated that he has “distant” Native American ancestry (specifically Ottawa and Potawatomi) through his mother. He grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan, a town near Grand Rapids. He has stated that he was bullied in school because he was an actor. He commented, “I just had to tell myself ‘I can’t let this get to me. This is what I love to do. And I’m going to continue doing it.’

10. People miss the point of this song. It’s not arguing that you should sit around, wish for things, and not take any action. It’s arguing that you should never give up hope: When You Wish Upon A Star.

11. Every action must simply become that, an action that takes you forward or backward from where you are before you took it.

12. If you build the door, it will open for you: Hound Dog and Dialogue.

13. Dan wrote a book called How Many People Does It take to Make a Difference, what do you think the answer is?

14. What are your courageous dreams?: Empire State of Mind.

15. And for our final lesson, we visit another musical score.

Marc and Angel say the following question is the one they get asked the most, ” What can I start doing today to make my life happier and more rewarding?” Take on some of the above actions and I am sure that this will occur in your life.

The playlist today contains two show tunes and a track from over 60 years ago by a legend. We begin with Annie Get Your Gun then two newbies to me via Harley x Joker and Ro James. Aretha Franklin belts it out live next. Jiminy Cricket croons the next show tune. Elvis is our 60-year-old contribution and we finish with Alicia Keys: Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet. We’re Hunting Vampires!!!

We all have different things we want to achieve in our lives, one of my main ones is to have Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included be the world paradigm. I will need a few of the above actions on a daily basis, methinks. until we meet again, my dear friends.

People are Prettiest When They Talk About Something They Really Love!!!

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Rod's World

Do you do what you love to fulfil your basics in life? We can look at some of the answers given on Quora as to why this occurred for many people. It goes back to a lack of support in our developing years. I particularly like this answer:

“For me – when I was young I always wanted to go into the Law (I blame the reruns of Perry Mason on after school). When I was 17 I started at a new high school, the careers counsellor didn’t know me from Adam and when she asked what I wanted to do at Uni, I said Law – she asked if was getting straight A’s, I wasn’t. Her response? Forget about Law then, it’s a pipe dream. I still insisted that for my work experience I’d like to try something Law related. This request was ignored and I was assigned to stamp books in a Uni library for a week whilst other students she knew got to hang out in law firms for that week,

As a teenager with particularly low self-esteem, this advice to ‘forget it’ from an authority figure was unfortunately taken quite seriously and so I did forget about Law.

Obviously, in hindsight it was exceedingly poor advice, there was a multitude of other options open to me without straight A’s. I can’t place all blame with the careers counsellor, I could have figured it out on my own, but I wonder how things may have worked out differently had she been a bit more helpful with someone she was meeting for the first time.

Here are Ten Simple Truths from Marc Chernoff that are sometimes forgotten that would help us make progress towards doing what we love.

Education and Intelligence accomplish nothing without action.
Happiness and Success are two different things.
Everyone runs their own business.
Having too many choices interferes with decision making.
All people possess dimensions of success and dimensions of failure.
Every mistake you make is progress.
People can be great at doing things they don’t like to do.
The problems we have with others are typically more about us.
Emotional decisions are rarely good decisions.
You will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity arises.

So, what does the world say about truths in life, Here are a few of my favourites:

1. A paradox it may seem, but will get a lot done in life.

2. Sojourner Truth, born Isabella [Belle] Baumfree; was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine’s list of the “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.”: Standing In The LoveLight.

3. Our Shadows walk alongside our light.

4. What would Cinderella say about this?: Who Is She?

5. Not everything we read or hear is true, use your discretion to find out which is true or untrue.

6. Boom!!!: Live Your Life.

7. Unfortunately, we have been electing these people as our political leaders in far too many countries lately.

8. They are your keepers.: Faithful.

9. What is your favourite carnival ride, probably says a lot about your relationship to life.

10. One foot in front of another gets the job done: From Little Things, Big Things Grow.

11. K.I.S.S.

12. Sonnenberg’s blog — FrankSonnenbergOnline — has attracted millions of readers on the Internet. It was named among the “Best 21st Century Leadership Blogs”; among the “Top 100 Socially-Shared Leadership Blogs”; and one of the “Best Inspirational Blogs On the Planet.” Frank’s newest book, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, was released November 2018: Honesty.

13. Choice the first path, you will feel a lot more relaxed in your life.

14. I rate George one of the worlds great philosophers, highly underrated: Truth.

15. And for our final lesson, we go to Alan Watts for a universal truth.

Just remember those significant moments of opportunity for personal growth and development will come and go throughout your lifetime. If you are looking to make positive changes in your life you will need to embrace these moments of opportunity even though you will never feel 100% ready for them.

The playlist begins with my favourite song from my friend Jo Jo Smith. Over to the Cinderella soundtrack next then back to the present with T.I. and Rhianna. New to me is Sarah Reeves. The Waifs do a Kev Carmody cover next. The penultimate song is by Billy Joel and we finish with some spoken word from George Carlin: People are Prettiest When They Talk About Something They Really Love!!!

What do you really love? For me it is spreading Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included across the planet. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Sometimes You Have To Fight For The Things!!!

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Rod's World

The end of a decade, you have done some amazing things, you have done some stupid things and you have done a lot of basic, ordinary things. What would you like to have said to your younger self if you could travel back in time to give yourself some advice about life?

Here is a list by my friend Marc Chernoff called Lessons Life Taught Us that will make you think:

Spend more time with those who make you smile and less time with those who make you feel pressured to impress.
Laugh at stupid jokes. Apologise. Tell someone how much they mean to you. It’s the small moments that make life grand.
Life is way more enjoyable when you stop being trying to be cool and simply focus on being yourself.
Complaining is like slapping yourself for slapping yourself. It doesn’t solve the problem, It just hurts you more.
Learn to adjust the sails of your life to unpredictable winds, while keeping your focus clear on your destination and keep sailing until you get there.
Freedom is the greatest gift. Self-sufficiency is the greatest freedom.
If you want something in your life you’ve never had, You’ll have to do something you’ve never done.
Your health is your life, keep up with it. Get an annual physical check-up.
Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless. Period. Don’t be dishonest and don’t put with people who are.
Forgiving yourself is far more important (and difficult) than getting others to forgive you.
There are few joys in life that equal a good conversation, A good read, A good walk, a good hug, a good smile, or a good friend.
Laughter is the best medicine for stress. Laugh at yourself often. Find the humour in whatever situation you’re in.
Everything that happens in life is neither good nor bad, It just depends on your perspective.
You’re not alone. Everyone has problems. Some people are just better at hiding them than others.

So what does life say about the lessons we learn over our journey, let’s have a look:

1, Don’t waste time on those quick to judge and not take the time needed to find out about the real you.

2. Going out your front door each day is an inherent risk: Mine.

3. I have had periods of both, I am called the beautiful man.

4. Karen Salmansohn came out of advertising to create the popular salmon.com due to the awful ongoing mispronunciation of her name. People used to joke that she couldn’t drink a glass of water without it spurting out the knife holes in my back – because there were so many jerks and “drama llamas” in the ad business: My Immortal.

5. Better known by his pseudonym “The Colonel”.

6. For each their one: Oh My God.

7. I know which I prefer.

8. From the world’s most popular quote writer, Ms Unknown comes this insightful piece of wisdom.: Walk a Mile.

9. What a great name.

10. They are very special, these people, as it says do not let them go.: Time of My Life.

11. I just love this image, I have used it before.

12. in the early 1960s, Rohn was invited to speak at a meeting of his Rotary Club. He accepted and, soon, others began asking him to speak at various luncheons and other events. In 1963 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he gave his first public seminar. He then began presenting seminars all over the country, telling his story and teaching his personal development philosophy until the time of his passing in 2009.: Run The World.

13. Life has both Shadow and Light in it.

14. This reminds me of the African philosophy of Ubuntu: ‘A person is a person through other people’ strikes an affirmation of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and difference. It is a demand for a creative intersubjective formation in which the ‘other’ becomes a mirror (but only a mirror) for my subjectivity. This idealism suggests to us that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me. Humanity is a quality we owe to each other. We create each other and need to sustain this otherness creation. And if we belong to each other, we participate in our creations: we are because you are, and since you are, definitely I am. The ‘I am’ is not a rigid subject, but a dynamic self-constitution dependent on this otherness creation of relation and distance.: Ubuntu.

15. And for our final lesson………

And to take Self Love into 2020 here are some questions from Marc:

If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?
Why are you, you?
In one sentence, what do you wish for your future self?
What’s something you have that everyone wants?
What’s something Nobody can steal from you?
What has the little voice in your head been saying lately?
What makes you feel incomplete?
What’s something new you recently learnt about yourself?
What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
What promise to yourself do you still need to fulfil?

For the final list of the decade, I have returned to some pop divas and an all-time classic. We begin with Taylor Swift, then rock out to Evanescence. Across to Malta for Ira Losco. Then Joe South followed by Dirty Dancing. Beyonce is the penultimate number and we complete with all things Ubuntu: Sometimes You Have To Fight For The Things!!!

Life teaches us many lessons, one of mine is that Love and Respect For All, Everyone Included answers question two and three above. Until next time we meet in the new decade, dear friends.

Take Time To Connect To The Divine.

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Rod's World

I spent the weekend at three entirely different connections in my life. Friday night I made chai at Dancing Freedom, Saturday I crewed on a Spring Chant Meditation and Sunday I attended Sunday Assembly. Each fulfils a different part of my soul and the people come from completely different parts of society.

I believe the more parts of society I have contact with it helps me able to strengthen my resolve to see the ethos, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included become accepted across the planet. I am working on the Act Local, Think Global principle. I live in the Darebin Council area in Melbourne, Australia where there are over 150 different cultural groups residing and volunteer at the Darebin Intercultural Centre where differences are Acknowledged, Explored, Understood and Embraced.

How has the world look at connecting in this time of world leaders talking about nationalism vs, Globalism and the difference which of these being dominant will make to human beings connecting with each other? Lets have a look over time:

1. From Hollywood, the land of fables comes this wise insight regarding human connection.

2. Jacqueline is an entrepreneur who left the banking industry to make a difference in the area of global poverty: We are all Connected.

3. In our instant gratification times, we can easily miss the message of deep connection.

4. The We are all Starseed conversation: Across The Universe.

5. It can be as simple as eyes locking across a crowded room at a party.

6. Harvey grew up openly gay at a time when very few celebrities were. So to have the above be true he must have had a strong belief in universal connection: You’ve Got A Friend.

7. Hip Hop artist Dramatik of the Wolves speaks about the mind, body and soul connection we make with certain individuals we come across in our life journey.

8. Don’t really know what Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg . is referring to here, although I know I have connected to quite a few people on a deep level across the airwaves: So Far Away.

9. I agree, if you can discuss your shadow and light with your connections, they tend to be more intimate than just making polite conversation.

10. Our roots are our common humanity: Human.

11. Connection isn’t always about spoken words, it may be a shoulder to cry on.

12. And then there is the special one: We Found Love.

13. One World.

14. John is known for his work on marital stability and relationship analysis through scientific direct observations, many of which were published in peer-reviewed literature. The lessons derived from this work represent a partial basis for the relationship counselling movement that aims to improve relationship functioning and the avoidance of those behaviours shown by Gottman and other researchers to harm human relationships: Steady Love.

15. And our final lesson is from Steve Maraboli, I spend my time on how to make all relationships like this. Imagine that world paradigm.

A short blog today, Dancing Freedom fuels my body transformation connection. Chanting my heart connection and Sunday Assembly my desire to connect to humanity through service.

Today’s playlist begins with one of the most unusual songs I have used, it is a group of scientists known as Symphony of Science. Then a cover by Rufus Wainwright followed by two songs by Carole King and James Taylor where they reverse roles. The beautiful anthem by Rag N Bone Man is next, the penultimate song is by Rihanna and we complete with the golden voice of India Arie: Take Time To Connect To The Divine.

A dear friend who passed way to early, said that Love was the Answer. I agree, the more we communicate it the closer we will get to having Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included in all our relationships. Remember, if you wish to receive a reminder about when I have done my latest blog, sign up on the right-hand side. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

It’s About Breaking Down The Walls

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Rod's World

I am starting to get a lot of information in my Facebook news feed as to what makes a man a real man, I was in my local library the other day when I saw the updated version of Steve Biddulph’s visionary book Manhood first released in 1998, now called the New Manhood: Love, Freedom, Spirit and the New Masculinity and re-released in 2015. I discovered a review of the book which sums how I see the situation, written by a phycologist named Katja:

Just reading the first ten pages of this book will probably be enough to leave you in no doubt – we in the Western world have a serious problem with men. Lonely, frustrated, confused, unhappy men. Men who can’t express their emotions and either numb them or channel them in negative and violent ways towards women, children, and other men. Men whose identities are tied up in their careers, because they never learned that there were any other options. Men whose fathers were authoritarian, cold, distant, abusive, or absent, and who are perpetuating those same patterns in their own families. Particularly affecting is the section in which Biddulph explores where we as a society got our modern conception of “manliness” – and where, frankly, it all started to go wrong. If this book impresses upon you one message, it is that our concept of manhood has become warped, constricted, deranged – and is in desperate need of re-evaluation. The fact that this is just as much the case as 20 years ago when it was written is extremely worrying. Biddulph doesn’t mince words – he cuts straight to the point and tells it like it is, succinctly but deeply exploring the problems of modern manhood, with a writing style that is refreshing and at times devastatingly emotional. So much so that the friend who lent it to me said that it made him cry – and if you think there’s anything wrong with that, then this book is for you in particular! Here is a link to the book: The New Manhood.

All over the world movements are arising to shift this, in my hometown, Melbourne we have one-day events called Isle of Men and a three-day retreat called Menergy, they are for men to attend to become a better man for themselves, their partners, their children, their families and their friends. So what has the world said about masculinity over the years, let’s take that journey:

1. Withholding causes emotional and physical pain on an ongoing basis.

2. Little Boxes, Little Boxes all in a row: Mask Off.

3. What one could call living a complete life, not ignoring the hard parts.

4. Wrong-way, go back: A Woman’s Worth.

5. Boom!!!

6. The shadow and the light, Its all part of the deal: Shadow of The Day.

7. If this irritates you, its time to begin the journey.

8. The journey from the mind to the heart and back again – a great start: Jar of Hearts.

9. I am 65, I only learnt this in my last five years, it is very freeing.

10. Both M and F words, but they have totally different meanings and distinctions attached to them: Breaking Free.

11. Repeat after me, It is not given to you.

12. The film industry has a lot to answer for: Gangsta’s Paradise.

13. Because I can.

14. Fuck, this is good: In My Feelings.

15. And for our final lesson in masculinity, who is the greatest victim, time to go and look in your mirror.

Each chapter has a quote at the beginning, I thought I would finish with a few:

You and your father: Oh will you never return to see, your bruised and battered sons? Oh, I would, I would, if welcome I were for they loathe me everyone – Traditional Folk Song.

Real Sex: Slowly, Slowly in bed with a woman, I am learning to be human – Jesse Kornbluth

From Boy to Man: Between childhood, boyhood, adolescence and manhood there should be sharp lines drawn with tests, feats, rites, stories, songs and judgements – Jim Morrison.

You would think a playlist about masculinity would be all men lamenting on the subject, not so. There is quite a bit of rap though. We begin with Future who is followed by Alicia Keys. Linkin Park gets quite dark next then Christina Perri and Ruby Rose have their say. Back to rap to finish with Coolio and Drake: It’s about breaking down the Walls.

In the steps forward I have seen in the men’s movement in my country I hold great hope for my ethos: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again my dear friends.

There Lies Hidden Love in Each Friendship!!

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Rod's World

Just spent a glorious weekend looking at Relationship with my fellow Warriors Of Love: Where we Hangout on line. One of the distinctions we looked at was How attachments learnt at an early age from our parents affect our ability to relate to society, as I had learnt a new set of distinctions on public speaking over the 6 previous weeks it felt like distinction overload. I relooked at it today and can see the benefit of studying the ideas a bit and how attachment can run your life.

So how has society dealt with attachment over the years, lets have a look:

1. I think they call it Mindfulness these days.

2. There is no try, yummy: Yoda’s Wisest Words.

3. Ralph Marston was a professional football player who spent a season in the National Football League with the Boston Bulldogs in 1929. His incisive motivational quotes are still used to this day.

4. His Holiness rocks: Contemplate Impermanence.

5. We are taught this from a young age, it takes a lot of practice to get over our early training.

6. I spent quite a bit of time away from my mum early on, it may have had some effect later on to my relatioships, ha ha: Can’t Remember to Forget You.

7. One word, Boom.

8. Due to the early influences we need to practice this on a daily ongoing basis: Let Go of Attachment.

9. The millennials take at it.

10. Laughing at yourself, real Self Love: I Love to Laugh.

11. Yasmin Mogahed received her B.S. Degree in Psychology and her Masters in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completing her graduate work, she taught Islamic Studies and served as a youth coordinator. She also worked as a writing instructor at Cardinal Stritch University and a staff columnist for the Islam section of InFocus News. Currently she’s an instructor for AlMaghrib Institute, a writer for the Huffington Post, an international speaker, and author, where she focuses most of her work on spiritual and personal development. Yasmin recently released her new book, Reclaim Your Heart, which is now available worldwide. Visit her website, yasminmogahed.com, where you can find a collection of her articles, poetry, and lectures.

12. Now known as spiritual bypassing: Spiritual Bypassing.

13. One of a humans shadows, having to be in control, not easy to let go.

14. Is this Enlightenment?: Young and Beautiful.

15. And we finish with some uber wisdom from Ram Dass, if you need it or don’t there’s still work to be done.

I lost the sheet about the attachment styles so have meandered a bit from it, but it is worth a read.

The play list contains a lot of Spoken Word and even one silent track. We begin with Yoda, then to the silence of Art at Chance. one of our three female singers is next, it’s Shakira. Back to spoken word with Alan Watts. The over to the musical Mary Poppins. The penultimate spoken word is from Candance Van Dell and we finish with a sultry number by Lana Del Ray: There Lies Hidden Love in Each Friendship!!

I believe that racism comes from us attaching to the identities we are taught to attach to at an early age. That is why my mission is to have the world paradigm be Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

Until next we meet, my dear friends.

Freedom is a State of Mind!!

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Rod's World

Going off the grid for 5 days from 6AM tomorrow morning, off to Confest for the first time in 30 years with two of my friends who are Confest virgins. A little about the festival: ConFest (Conference/Festival) is a gathering of people wishing to share talents, skills, ideas, concerns and philosophies in a caring fun loving and tolerant atmosphere. The presentation of workshops, demonstrations, entertainments and the maintenance of site facilities are all performed by volunteers, monetary payment is neither accepted nor made.

At ConFest, people often set up villages with differing themes. ConFest is a clothing optional space, this means ConFesters can wear, or not wear anything they chose. Everywhere at ConFest is clothes optional. Don’t be surprised to have a naked ticket collector when you arrive at the ConFest gate. Clothing can range from nothing to body paint, a coat of mud, a sheet, a fairy costume, even a ball gown or dinner suit. At ConFest, clothing is not gendered specific. There is just one simple rule, respect other ConFester’s choices. A long-running and very popular ConFest tradition is the communal artist’s studio. Activities include body and sign painting, life drawing, clay work, organic art, photography etc. Artists, models and workshop facilitators are always welcome.

I am looking forward to returning, last time I went it was around 1,000 people, it is now over 6,000. How do 6,000 people express their own individual shades of freedom? Then, how does society comment on personal freedom, let’s have a look:

1. I love that saying, there is only climbing.

2. Its all in the air: The Air that I Breathe.

3. Thucydides has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behaviour of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by and constructed upon the emotions of fear and self-interest.

4. You got to fight for the right to…: You’ve got to Fight…

5. Mail, Key, Bike, etc. etc. etc.

6. There are rules that you are not meant to follow in your life, they are your bullshit rules: Nkosi Sikilel iAfrika.

7. The next step after freedom.

8. I . have met many of these fine people in the past six years of my healing journey, far too many to mention, you know who you are, Thank you: Love Street.

9. It travels hand in hand with integrity.

10. Nothing, Nada, No way, Fuck Off: No Way, Get Fucked, Fuck Off.

11. One word – Rumi!!

12. It may be known as Nirvana: Come as You Are.

13. Ask, expect. depend: Cry Freedom.

14. The curly haired eccentric one knows how to say it: Believe.

15. And our final lesson, two words: Fuck Yes.

What workshops will I do, they go all day supposedly. I will do ones that touch my heart.

Today’s playlist is great. A classic from The Hollies, The Beastie Boys next imploring you to …, A stirring National Anthem is thrown in next. Three of my faves from different eras, The Doors, The Angels from OZ, finishing with Nirvana. Mumford and Sons close it out with a plea to our senses: Freedom is a State of Mind.

Freedom to me would be the world living from Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again on the other side, my dear friends.

Humans are still the most extraordinary Computer of All!!

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Rod's World

How am I feeling after our Warriors of Love training day on Identity and Essence offered by Arion Light and his Essence School? Link to a New Future.

My Essence is Trust in Intimacy and sees me on a journey as to what it would take to have life be intimate moment by moment in my daily interactions with my family, friends, workmates, and potential lovers as that is an area I am working on after a ten year drought and a 12 month amazing journey.

We did an exercise on giving feedback in regards to our identities and our Essence. All went well as the first two people got it right in giving me feedback to my identity that was areas they thought I could improve in coming from I love you, Rod. Bring on the third person, who started by praising my identity which brought up the following thought, Wait, you are doing it wrong and then an aha moment that I related that my identity was all that was wrong about me and that if people really knew that about me they would never speak to me let alone interact with me in a relationship.

So, how has the human race spoke about Identity and Essence, let’s have a wee look:

1. Busyness vs. Passion, The choice is up to you.

2. Mahatma, we are called the Warriors of Love, 33 and expanding: Faith.

3. We leave no one behind.

4. I work at a place called the Darebin Intercultural Centre. The word Intercultural was specifically chosen to empower what the above quote is pointing at: Common Cultures.

5. John Abbot (1751-c.1840) was an American naturalist and artist. He was the first artist in the New World to create an extensive series of insect drawings and to show insects in all stages of development. In addition to more than 3000 insect illustrations, he also produced drawings of birds and plants. He obviously believed all creatures were part of the earth’s culture.

6. Another Warrior’s essence is clarity, this quote reminds me of his stand for it: Set Your Controls for the Heart of the Sun.

7. Do you know what you really want?

8. How fucking beautiful is this from Albert, rocks my world: Real Love.

9. Not up to them, It’s up to you and the actions you are willing to take it to make it happen.

10. I love the way Brene Brown says it: Dare to Lead: Dare To Lead.

11. A missing from current society is the power of the storytelling circle.

12. Boom: It’s My Life.

13. Made me think of the saying: Opposites Attract, well done Stephen.

14. When I am with the Warriors of Love I feel this so strongly: Illuminating the Soul.

15. And for our final lesson for the day, have some ridiculous fun.

Moving onto the Essence conversations, I have big boots to fill, I am up for it.

Today’s playlist is a little eccentric. George Michael funks out the first track, then some intercultural kids from Western Sydney, Bysa. A classic Pink Floyd song takes you to …, followed by a very gospelly number by Blanca. Brene Brown then lays some truth on us then some good old rock and roll from Bon Jovi. We finish with a contemplative piece about the soul: Humans Are.

My ethos to fill those boots is, Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Till next time we meet again, dear friends.