A Hero’s Guidepost – Stay Open to Mystery!!

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Rod's World

Some more brilliant words from Lissa Rankin as I work my way through her excellent book the Anatomy of A Calling: The Website.

“Its easy to think we can understand the world and how it works. But then if things happen that we can’t explain, it can lead to discomfort, disorientation and even denial. When something happens that disrupts your story of how the world works, be curious. Don’t worry too much about explaining your experience. The need to know arises from the mind, which can’t begin to fathom what your heart knows is possible. What if “How”and “Why” were not the most important questions, the ones that actually help us live?. When you’re willing to stop being an expert on life, you open yourself to magic. You let life be the teacher and humble yourself as the perpetual student. That’s when the real fun begins.”

So those signs you receive in your life, do you take notice of them or do you know that it just wouldn’t work out. Lets look at some signs sayings, there are some great ones:

1. The best job I ever had in my career as editor of a national Community Development journal called Community Quarterly would have never happened if I had ignored the poorly handwritten flier – volunteers wanted in St Kilda that day in the library.

2. This is why The Universe has your Back by Gabby Bernstein is another of my favourite books, great training in listening for the signs, she also does a quote card pack: Manifesto.

3. A place definitely not to look is in your head, when you feel that energy flowing through your body, follow it to its source.

4. The cat is about to head off and find Aladdin’s Caves: Follow the Sun.

5. You don’t only get one on life. My friend Thea writes a daily, 365 days a year book. Don’t hold on when you are meant to let go.

6. We have all heard the classic joke about the man ignoring God’s messages. It may not always make sense, but we all know when our intuition is speaking to us loud and clear. Stop ignoring it: Intuition.

7. A life without borders, what level of trust would that take where we could follow each and every sign.

8. I have a friend who when she travels chooses to go the road less travelled, to follow the crooked roads. She sometimes gets lost, but her adventures are of legend: True Colours.

9. This is one sign we do not want in our relationships, practice telling your disempowered and empowered sacred love stories to each other.

10. Replace tequila with your favourite drink, mines water: Tequila.

11. I think this signs for me.

12. I think the message here is to not give the wrong signs and actions out: Hit the Road Jack.

13. Words do not get results, words with actions that follow do.

14. And don’t forget to listen to the ones of Self-Love: That’s why You’re beautiful.

15. And these are probably the most powerful signs we receive. I call it the person you would most like to ravish in your life. Thats my sacred love story about these signs in our life.

What mysteries have happened in your life, those people you thought about who SMS’d you a minute later. That dream you had years ago about the place you are now in and you know that you have been there before, these are your signs to listen too and follow.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Forgive yourself for not Knowing!!

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Rod's World

I was about to continue reading Danielle LaPorte’s magnificent book White Hot Truth when I discovered I had finished it and what remained was the index, I loved this book so much I considered reading it anyway. here is a link to Danielle’s page so you can get this book: Clarity for your life. I have been choosing subjects out of the book for my blogs as I have been reading it over the last couple of weeks. In the last few pages Danielle talks about Self-Compassion, I love this subject so that is what we will discuss today. Let’s walk down this sacred path:

1. I am in a year long training program called the Activators training program which is to have you live from Essence during your days. Katie’s quote relates to what we practice on a daily basis.

2. Why is this happening to me? I was discussing how does one have integrity with my mentor yesterday and this subject came up. That how powerfully you could be in the moment was your level of integrity: Divinity.

3. At times in our life we need to be sad, angry even extremely pissed off. And yes, that is good for us.

4. Coco Chanel used to talk about wearing more than one string of pearls. Why wear one if you can wear two, or something to that effect. I think that one string of pearls is just fine. But that’s because my pearls are black, hers were white. How many strings of self compassion pearls are you willing to grant yourself: String of Pearls

5. Do you feel that, the rising of the sun within’s rays. That’s called transformation.

6. Time to be that goody two shoes you have always wanted to be. Service, Kindness, Love, Generosity, etc.etc.etc: Try.

7. Activators, this is your lesson for today.

8. Big hug for yourself, make sure you have given consent: Pretty Hurts.

9. Set your controls for the heart of the sun. no hold on, turn around and set them for your heart.

10. You, yourself, the face in the mirror, the one they are talking too, they’re included: Seeing the Goodness.

11. I am always talking to myself, I think everybody does. it takes something to turn that voice down. Be it a daily meditation practice like loving kindness, I find that having a practice changes the quality of the message to self love.

12. Getting to know and accepting yourself, beautiful: F**king Perfect.

13. Gautama Buddha (c. 563 BCE/480 BCE – c. 483 BCE/400 BCE), also known as Siddhārtha Gautama , Shakyamuni Buddha or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was an ascetic (śramaṇa) and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the eastern part of ancient India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries.

Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region.

14. Time to accept so you can create space for something else, your life is worth a great deal more than that perceived negative thought you just had: Firework.

15. Remember having to take permission slips to school when you went on school excursions. Guess what, It’s your turn to write them for yourself, make them beautiful.

As Danielle finishes her book – May your beauty dawn on you. May your pure faith light the way. May all be so blessed. And hey… slow down if you need to, but don’t ever stop.

Namaste until next time my dear friends

Every Experience makes you Grow!!!

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Rod's World

The four major areas that this occurs for me are my love relationships, my friendships, my adventures, my environment, my health and fitness, my intellectual life, my skills, my spiritual life, my career, my creative life, my family life and my community life. These are my areas of experiences, growth and contribution. Today I would like to discuss how we handle growth in our lives.

When you watch how young children soak up information, you realise how deeply wired we are to learn and grow. Why does it seem to falter as we grow older? Why can’t we continue to learn and grow until the day we leave this mortal coil. I think we actually do , it’s what we do with it that makes the difference. Lets take a journey down the growth path over the years:

1. After publishing four bestselling books in five years, Sarah Allen took a hiatus when she was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer at age 39. She returned to writing with her 2014 bestselling Lost Lake. She is now in remission. In 2015, she revisited the popular setting of her first book..

2. I don’t look the same as when I was expelled from Eaglehawk High School in 1972 for not attending and generally not giving a toss about formal education. Also the journey I have taken since those days into education that makes a difference means that I have grown exponentially since those days long ago: Try Everything.

3. Remember when that door didn’t open for you last year. That was meant to happen so that you can be where you are now.

4. Your growth is up to you, not the stories of others. All the great people on the planet got there listening to their stories, not the tales of others: My Story.

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society.

6. Differents stages in life that that will have you end up in a powerful place: Rest of my Life.

7. There’s a scene in a good or bad Steve Martin film called Parenthood where his family is going apeshit and the screen becomes like a roll coaster ride. He rides it for a while then life begins to flow again.

8. The author of the inspiring The Monk who sold his Ferrari, Robin Sharma’s words and life speaks of the possibility of having gorgeous in our lives: Gorgeous.

9. Founder of the Firestone Tyre company Harvey wrote a book way back in 1926 called Men of Rubber: The Story of Business. Firestone, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison were generally considered the three leaders in American industry at the time, and often worked and vacationed together. All three were part of a very exclusive group titled “The Millionaires’ Club.”

10. Rooting means different things in different parts of the world. here in my hometown of Melbourne , Australia rooting has an entirely different sexual meaning: Rooting for You.

11. I have a friend who would be considered a perfectionist, she doesn’t start at least half of her projects due to this, Its Growth not perfection that gets things done.

12. Stuck at the starting gates, they got nothing done: Pompeii.

13. Seeds need sun and wind and rain to become trees, so do we humans.

14. A Useful resource in this area is Wayne Dyer’s book Excuses Begone: Excuses Begone.

15. 300 metre trees were once but mere seeds, their growth is pure evidence of life.

These twelve areas are blueprints for the soul, the opportunity to feel different every day you wake up, to have a 1,000 litres of vitality versus 100 in your life by taking on growth each day.

Namaste until we meet again, my dear friends.

It changes the entire Conversation!!

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Rod's World

I’m an one on one English tutor at Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston, Victoria, Australia. My student didn’t turn up this morning and I had printed her a lesson called Making Contact. I put this in Google Images and it brought up hundred of quotes on making eye contact, transfiguration by another name.

My friend Chris runs these amazing transfiguration events where you share eye contact with 20 different people over the evening and you finish with a I Love you Circle. This was not what I expected when I typed the words in so let’s have a look at some of these quotes and how they can be interpreted:

1. Kids get it, but adults have had the joy and imagination beaten out of their imagination.

2. Making eye contact with a total stranger was how I met my first true soulmate, on a railway station of all places: Soul on Fire.

3. I heard about living your highest values from John Di Martini the other night but what I will remember most is the friendly single mum from Tasmania I met in the line when our eyes crossed.

4. If you want what you say to land with the person you are speaking to make sure you have grabbed their attention: Don’t Look Down.

5. I make Chai at Mojo dance once a month, I dance with a women who I have screamed at, we have serious trouble looking into each other’s eyes, I hope she reads this.

6. This has happened to me three times in the past month, one of them was 22 years old. What is my soul trying to tell me: Friends.

7. I love the word lovely, Yummy.

8. Yahia Lababidi is an Egyptian-American thinker and Pushcart-nominated poet, whose work has been translated into nearly a dozen languages. To date, is the author of 4 well-received books, in 4 different genres: Signposts to Elsewhere (aphorisms), Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Bellydancing (essays), Fever Dreams (poems), and most recently, The Artist as Mystic (conversations): Heart’s on Fire.

9. I just had too because it is so silly.

10. I have always had trouble reading Dostoyevsky, Hahaha: S.E.X.

11. When you eye gaze with 20 different people it helps take this habit away, thank you for your ceremony , Chris.

12. One of my best friends met his life partner on a bus to Sydney when this happened: I’m Into You.

13. And, Yes I love Ram Dass, check him out. It’s not the christian God he is talking about.

14. Sarcasm is a beautiful thing, shit women have to put up with all the time: Stop staring at my Boobs.

15. And then there are times this has to be the next action.

Well, Eye contact, AKA transfiguration is a very powerful tool for connecting with your fellow human beings, practice it as often as you can.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

We are a work in progress!!

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Rod's World

Disruptive Engagement – what does Brene Brown mean by that term: It’s quite long but worthwhile -To reignite creativity, innovation, and learning, leaders must re-humanize education and work. This means understanding how scarcity is affecting the way we lead and work, learning how to engage with vulnerability, and recognizing and combating shame. Make no mistake: honest conversations about vulnerability and shame are disruptive. The reason that we are not having these conversations in our organizations is that they shine the light in dark corners. Once there is language, awareness, and understanding, turning back is almost impossible and carries with it severe consequences. We all want to dare greatly. If you give us a glimpse into that possibility, we’ll hold on to it as our vision.

To me it is engagement through the community, accepting self-love and love of others and giving your identity up. The juice is from service to others. I put in engagement quotes to find pictures and got a whole lot of rings and vows of deep love so I changed it to committed engagement and these are what came up. Let’s journey:

1. Be responsible for your life, it’s your engagement and stand for what it is that creates the story that will be told after you have passed.

2. He really did look like an eccentric 60’s hippie philosopher. Alan Watts is quoted by humanists, community builders, and generally good people: Work and Play.

3. Doing Life – How do you do yours? Is it a joyous journey you wake up every morning screaming Yes!!!!!! Or is it a life of darkness?

4. Being silent is being busy if you planned it. I have many friends who have attended the 10-day Vispanna meditation retreat and said it was the hardest thing they had done and the best thing they had done all in the same breath: The Devil goes Down to Georgia.

5. How could you not choose this imagery and message, that’s why I said you need to give up your identity.

6. Engagement is a day to day adventure, make sure you do not wait to begin it: Alive.

7. Such a beautiful smile from a person who brings so much joy to the world. Can’t help but agree if you are fully engaged in loving your friends and family you are totally engaged in life.

8. Have you found a cause to sacrifice yourself into? They say it is the ultimate experience in your life. Parenthood is said to be this for many: Soul Sacrifice.

9. The Latter-day Saints base their religion on many hands engaged in a good cause> If you have ever been to Salt lake City you will never get lost as the first fifty streets around the temple are named Temple North, South , East and West.

10. I think it’s meant to be an anti-war slogan: The Universal Soldier.

11. Helen Keller definitely has the right to say this, I agree wholeheartedly.

12. Often people go and do self-development programs and get screamed out to go out and Do It Now, one big man being famous for it. Move at your own pace, its the only one you can: Piece of my Heart.

13. 7,000,000,000 unique folk battling a media who are trying to make you conform to fit a corrupted image of what it is to be human. Fight the good fight.

14. perhaps if we did this before doing it with a physical being there would not be so many of these: D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

15. There are heroes, and then there’s us, transforming the world one act at a time.

What you engage in will create your life. Think about that for a moment. Any change you want to make?

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

I like walking in the Rain!!

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Rod's World

What is your favorite fresh thing, one of mine is walking in the rain!! Being washed clean by Gaia, given a new start!! As we have more and more fresh things taken away from us and given processed experiences how do we claim back our fresh moments?

It is probably in our childhood years we experience freshness on a day to day basis. Running from one adventure to another, being excited moment to moment. What does the world have to say about being fresh in our lives, let’s have a look:

1. To experience all that occurs in your life allows each moment to have a freshness to it, a sense of adventure.

2. Ready, Steady, Go. It’s time to begin today’s new adventure: Tomorrow.

3. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf of stopping and starting over again. Remember that he is not real, only made up in your thoughts.

4. There is that saying if you have never failed at something you have never really lived. Life is not meant to be easy at all times: Better.

5. Laura Ingalls Wilder February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer known for the Little House on the Prairie series of children’s books released from 1932 to 1943 which were based on her childhood in a settler and pioneer family. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the television series Little House on the Prairie was loosely based on the Little House books and starred Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls and Michael Landon as her father, Charles Ingalls.

6. They call them cubby holes because if you stay in them you never grow up to have fresh starts: Try.

7. Fill in the Blanks, how you do this is your choice, A fresh start or the same old drudgery.

8. I listened to a great podcast this morning about not planning to begin a new venture three months in the future because it will not happen, get started and begin it now was the message from the podcast: Lay me Down.

9. We have an opportunity to change the ending of the story of our life moment to moment: go left instead of right, catch the no 96 tram instead of the 86.

10. Do you rise up in the morning or get up with no purpose for the day? Each day has a brand new bright opportunity if you allow it to Rise.

11. I love Lao Tzu, he can write ten words and you can ponder them for the next month.

12. My beautiful sisters, Ruth and Jann can probably relate to the freshness of their friendship over the years, they may have even been to Spain: Never shout Never.

13. Henry S. Haskins (1875–1957) was a stockbroker and man of letters. His aphorisms were edited and published anonymously with an introduction by Albert Jay Nock in 1940.

14. I spent the weekend next to the Yarra river in my home city of Melbourne, Australia at a retreat centre. Being near the water, the trees, the birdlife and in the fresh air invigorated my soul: Aloha Ke Akua.

15. Whose life are you living, the life your parents told you to live and you got trapped by the money. Listen to your soul, it’s time for a fresh start.

Fresh has so many interpretations in our world. If it has numbers next to it it is not fresh. Think that if you know the person who made it or grew it then it probably is.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Action brings your dreams Closer!!

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Rod's World

The women of America could have lain down for four years and hoped Donald didn’t get re-elected, they didn’t do this. They are committed to their rights and the rights of all the groups Donald disrespected and over half a million of them took to the streets to show their commitment to them and their way of life.

What calls people to action and to fulfill their commitments in their lives. Let’s have a look at what people say:

1. There is a famous saying, don’t listen to their words. look at their actions. It’s not your mood that gets things done, it’s your actions.

2. Are you: Shake It Off.

3. In my country, Australia, wedding commitments fail up to 50% of the time, where do they go? What is missing after the words?

4. How often do you go to the convenience store, sorry about the maccas ad: No Excuses.

5. Andy Andrews (born May 22, 1959) is an American author of self-help books and a corporate speaker, known for his 2002 bestselling book The Traveler’s Gift.^[1] He has written over 20 books and sold more than 3.5 million copies around the world. His books have been translated into over 20 languages. Andrews regularly speaks for corporations, organizations, athletic teams, and the U.S. military. Three of his books, The Noticer, The Traveler’s Gift, and “How Do You Kill 11 Million People?” appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List.^[1] Andrews has appeared on The Fox News Channel, and Good Morning America.

6. Commit to the changes that are happening in your life, because it is guaranteed they are: Changes.

7. I use my goals to feel how I want to. To me, it is more important how I feel on the journey than the goal.

8. When you commit to a new future, stop looking back. That was the past and you are after a new future: Little Wonders.

9. When you make big Commitments you may need to do a bit of this, apologies for hurting someone but never for being yourself.

10. Do this, however you choose too. It’s got a unicorn in it: Born This Way.

11. Don’t listen to those thoughts. The Universe and your Inner Pilot Light are rooting for You.

12. Include others in your commitments. People are called to you by how you make them feel: Humble and Kind.

13. Can you touch the bottom of your life, make larger commitments!

14. As Jim Carrey says, there is Fear or Love, Choose one: Fear and Love.

15. I love plants in cracks, they have huge commitment.

I honor the women around the world who stood up for their rights and beliefs over the past 24 hours. It gives me hope that the change is truly coming.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

We’re all in the same Game!!

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Rod's World

I live in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It was the policy of succeeding governments , both left and tight to place the heavily demonised asylum seekers who had arrived on the shores of our proud country amongst our population. What they did not mention is they placed them in houses without furniture and food, some without electricity for days. This would never be reported in the mainstream media of our country as they are on the side of asylum seekers are evil.

I work at Darebin Intercultural Centre, set up to assist the assimilation of new groups to our multicultural neighbourhood. We set up an asylum seeker lounge to get the new arrivals out of their houses and into the community and provided free English lessons for anyone, some visa classes issued to asylum seekers banned them from working, volunteering and receiving the basic 510 hours English training, but we are called a civilised country.

So who is an asylum seeker, here’s the definition if you didn’t know :

asylum seeker – a person who, from fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, social group, or political opinion, has crossed an international frontier into a country in which he or she hopes to be granted refugee status.

It does not say if you came by boat you were queue jumping, that is something our government made up, so lets have a look at what the world has to say about it:

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1. I was asked a question at an event called The Awakening that I attended yesterday. It was, What is it that makes you lose hope? My answer is tribalism or nationalism, that ethos that makes people thing that there are human beings on the planet who matter less than people born in your country.

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2. What would the world look like if we followed the above words of the great orator and civil rights champion, Martin Luther King : Justice.

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3. I teach English to asylum seekers. One of them is a Sri Lankan woman who was born in a refuge camp in Indian, having two children there. Whose relations paid for her to travel to Australia by boat as she had no chance of getting out of the camp legally, where she and her children was placed on Christmas island and Darwin detention centres for 12 months before being allowed into our community.

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4. This is how having to look after Asylum seekers is portrayed by mainstream media in our country : Share It Maybe.

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5. These are two lines from our national anthem Advance Australia Fair, we seem to have forgotten something.

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6. One of the tricks used to raise worry about asylum seekers is that they won’t fit in. Perhaps the fact that modern day coffee and the guitar owe their discovery to the middle east may allay these fears: Guitar Live.

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7. Our Air Force at the moment bombing parts of Syria, I would call that shock and awe, get the connection.

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8. How do we fix the problem of asylum seekers flooding our shores? Our country has increased its equanimity with each cultural intake of refugees. When I grew up as a child all you could get was steak and three veg. at roadside cafes, I now live in a suburb with about 20 different culture’s food outlets; When you say nothing at All.

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9. William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays, and screenplays. He is primarily known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he spent most of his life.

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10. Before planes everybody arrived in our country by boat, The first boat arrivals, the English, declared Australia Terra Nullius,Terra nullius – Indigenous Australians had inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years before European settlement, which commenced in 1788. Indigenous customs, rituals and laws were unwritten and their social and political organization was unknown or understood by Europeans as being analogous to their own institutions, and the British could not find recognised leaders with whom they could sign treaties.

The first test of terra nullius in Australia occurred with the decision of R v Tommy (Monitor, 29 November 1827), which indicated that the native inhabitants were only subject to English law where the incident concerned both natives and settlers. The rationale was that Aboriginal tribal groups already operated under their own legal systems. This position was further reinforced by the decisions of R v Boatman or Jackass and Bulleyes (Sydney Gazette, 25 February 1832) and R v Ballard (Sydney Gazette, 23 April 1829).

Prompted by Batman’s Treaty (June 1835) with Wurundjeri elders of the area around the future Melbourne, in August 1835, Governor Bourke of New South Wales indicated the significance of the doctrine of terra nullius by a Proclamation that Batman’s so-called treaty was null and void because Indigenous Australians could not sell or assign land, nor could an individual person or group acquire it, other than through distribution by the Crown. a land with out people , and set about trying to wipe out the native indigenous people on their arrival: Treaty.

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11. One of the methodologies used by the Australian government was to stop reporting the arrival of boats in the name of national security.

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12. One of the asylum seeker couples I taught English to were a civil engineer and a doctor who had to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban declared a fatwa on Lina, who was a doctor who had been empowering women. Most people who seek asylum had jobs before they had to drop everything and run for their lives: Getting It On.

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13. Words not included in the asylum seeker who arrived by boat in Australia policy. We have generously given them temporary visas where they must reapply every three years to see if they can stay. What would you feel like in your life was measured on a three year life span.

14. And this is one of the main reasons that we know the term asylum seeker: War, what is it good For.

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15. I have friends who say questionable things about asylum seekers, The first question I ask them is have they ever met an asylum seeker? There answer is usually in the negative.

I request you to research your knowledge of what is written about asylum seekers. A viewing of the excellent Mary meets Mohammad documentary helps greatly.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

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Real Heroes don’t wear Capes!

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Rod's World

I won a competition when I was very young dressed as a super hero. As you get older you realise that the heroes in life don’t necessarily wear capes. That heroics are much simpler than that, a smile when you feel down, a hug when you feel lonely. a dollar in a cup.

Appreciation of what they do is what people remember, it has been an ongoing battle for me as it was not a strong point in my family as I was growing up. I have to remember to say thank you as it was not something I learnt from an early age.

Acts of appreciation, what does society say about them, lets have a look:

1. Margaret Elizabeth Cousins, also known as Gretta Cousins (7 October 1878–11 March 1954) was an Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist and Theosophist, who established All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1927. She was the wife of poet and literary critic James Cousins, with whom she moved to India in 1915. She is credited with composing the tune for the Indian National Anthem Jana Gana Mana in February 1919, during Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to the Madanapalle College.

2. I am not like the millions who think that the Tony Robbins documentary I am not your Guru is a classic. Too me it looks a lot like manipulation but a lot of people I respect swear by him and have done the fire walk : The Tony Robbins Experience.

3. I still remember the Japanese airline staff member who walked us to the front of the line in Kyoto airport because we were due to miss our flight as we had assumed a flight to Moscow would be international. It was domestic and we could not read the signs in 1990.

4. Expectations versus acts of Appreciation. How dull has your relationship become when your day to day actions are expected? : Someone Like You!!

5. This is not so easy to do, a dear friend of my brothers is in hospital at the moment with the possibility she will not see 50, you never expect this.

6. Bruce Wilkinson is a Christian philosopher and author who has given keynote addresses at major national and international events with stadium audiences of 80,000 or more. He has written more than 60 books that have been translated into 30 languages, including several books that reached the number one spot on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Bruce’s book, The Prayer of Jabez, remains the fastest-selling book in history, with worldwide sales exceeding 20 million. Scarlet Begonias.

7. A little known secret that can have you lead a fulfilled life.

8. The Wonder of you. A lot of songs have been written about this. Here’s the most famous by the King: The Wonder of You.

9. Aaron Polson currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, two sons, and a tattooed rabbit. His stories have featured magic goldfish, monstrous beetles, and a book of lullabies for baby vampires. His work has seen print in Shock Totem, Blood Lite II, and Monstrous with several new stories forthcoming in Shimmer, Space and Time, and other publications. The Saints are Dead, a collection of weird fiction, magical realism, and the kitchen sink, is due from Aqueous Press in 2011. “

10. These people are rare, we usually marry them or have them as our children. Have you seen that ad were the father announces his death to get his children to come at Christmas. It says a lot about unconditional love. Here’s a disco version: Unconditional Love – Donna Summer.

11. One of the most famous quotes ever written about appreciation comes from Maya Angelou and it doesn’t even use the word.

12. When you put your love out there you are giving your power away, it lies within the life within you, the same for flowers, don’t pick them and bring them to an early death : Dead Flowers by Townes.

13. My friend Daniel started a Facebook page : Daily Gratitude Space for a forum so people could write what they appreciate daily. It has grown to over 1,000 members. Join, its a beautiful thing to do.

14. Love her or hate her, Mother Teresa’s words are still quoted 20 years after her death. There are many Indians alive today who appreciate what she did for them even though she was considered a bit narky : Mother Teresa’s Song.

15. What can you not say about the great man who is Wayne Dyer. Who did he appreciate? Wayne Dyer stated Nisargadatta Maharaj to be his Teacher and cited the quotation, “Love says: ‘I am everything’. Wisdom says: ‘I am nothing’ from a compilation of talks on Shiva Advaita (Nondualism) philosophy I Am That. He was influenced by Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization and by the teachings of Swami Muktananda, whom he considered to be his Master. In his book, Wishes Fulfilled; Mastering the Art of Manifesting, Dr. Dyer also credited Saint Francis of Assisi and the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu as foundational influences in his work.

I appreciate all of you who read my blogs, I am in awe you are from all over the world. I was especially bemused by the person from St. Kitts who read one.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Make each day, a Story!!

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Rod's World

Are you a good storyteller? I love listening to podcasts and the ones that hold my attention are the ones who tell great stories. To me, a great story is one that has you live an experience you haven’t before. This means that everyone can be a storyteller for another because we all have our own unique experiences, how do you get other people to listen to yours?

Lets look at what people have said on their storyboards:

1. Christina Baldwin is a writer and seminar presenter of 30+ years experience. She has contributed two classic books to the exploration of journal writing, including the well-known classic, Life’s Companion, Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice, revised and reissued in 2007 after 100,000 original sales. This work led her to a long study of personal growth and group dynamics and as a result of that experience she wrote Calling the Circle, the First and Future Culture to explore how social container releases needed wisdom.

2. From little things, big things grow. In Australia an indigenous tribal elder Vincent Lingiari took on one of the large land owners Lord Vestey with a simple story, Its our land: From Little Things.

3. Steve Jobs was a classic story teller, he said Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest, my entire family now has apple computers.

4. How do you relate to stories, do they lift you up and give you a new direction in life. They do for me, it may be a simple half page or a 400 page volume but if they add to my knowledge they have done what is required : Compass.

5. Michael Margolis made a career from Story telling. on his twitter page he wrote the following : Helping trailblazers tell their story. Educator, anthropologist, entrepreneur. Left-handed, colour-blind, believes chocolate is a food group. Try the red pill. His webpage is called http://www.getstoried.com.

6. Our mainstream media tell stories, they unfortunately have become written for profit not the betterment of society. How did we let it become about money not what would help our society grow: Magic.

7. We have all heard the saying you will not be remembered for what you had when you pass, but how you made people feel, the stories that are told about you when you are no longer there.

8. Sir Terence David John “Terry” Pratchett, OBE was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. Pratchett’s first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which he wrote two books a year on average. His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff was at the time of its release the third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days. His final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death. He definitely turned his life into a story: The Hedgehog Song.

9. Changes, don’t wait to be a richer man: Changes, just gonna have to be a different man. Lines from a famous Bowie song. Don’t keep telling the same story for your whole life.

10. Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All: Everyone Included. I set up a Facebook group so we can share great cultural stories, Join Here : FB Interculturalism.

11. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

12. Tenzin Gyatzo, HHDL has it down pat. Its not success that is going to transform the world. Will it be the Western Women as he has also said : Transformer.

13. I hadn’t heard of Michael Margolis before I wrote this blog, have watched a few YouTube videos while writing it, he is a fascinating man, have a look.