Like Water in the Desert!!

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Rod's World

I took part in an eldership ceremony yesterday, my friend Gabriella requested to be admitted into the tribe of elders in our community. We sang her into the room with the first verse of Amazing Grace, it was the only one we all knew. Then we gave her our own personal blessing and welcomed her into her new role.

It was extremely moving and I thought I would write about Eldership today as I am 63 since last Monday I have the right to do this as I hold myself as an elder too. I looked up Eldership quotes and it seems you have to be a Christian to become one out there in the big, wide , world. This was not how Gabby or I hold Eldership so the quotes for today come from a different space, leadership in one’s community.

Lets us journey down the Eldership path:

1. John Quincy Adams – July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and was the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later the Anti-Masonic and Whig parties, thats a lot of parties.. He was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and thus contributed to the formation of the Adams political family. He served as a leader for his whole life.

2. To me eldership does not get handed to you just because of your age. This statement from Gandhi is more to the point of why you do: Be the Change.

3. These are the wise things I hope that I pass on as an elder in my community.

4. As elders you will have made many mistakes in your life, the wisdom bit is how you tell the people you are advising to deal with them: Learning from your Mistakes.

5. And remember red stands out more than white, no drab fare for the elders of the world.

6. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Albert lived to the ripe old age of 90. He was 77 when he won his Nobel Prize, an elder leading by example: Lead by Example.

7. They say hate will never solve anything. To me negativity is a form of hate. People do not come to their elders for negativity.

8. This reminds me of the two wolves story for some reason, that it depends on which story you are telling yourself that counts: Making Progress.

9. By the time we reach Eldership I’m sure we have covered all of these.

10. The cute quote of the day, fairy penguins, Aaw: The Penguin Song.

11. Essence is on there, The essence that you live through your life may grant you Eldership, and then again maybe not.

12. There are often times during our lives that our abilities seem to slip to a level that we later regret, they can become wise stories to tell as elders so others don’t make the same mistakes: Talking to Strangers.

13. Eldership is in pointing out that it’s hard to be somewhere else than where you are.

14. Sometimes Eldership is not words, it is just holding the space with silence allowing the others to work out what they need too: Some Eldership words from Alan.

15. Yes, even Elders are novices at that exact point of time, the new age they are.

Enjoy the little things in life because one day you will look back and realise they were the big things. I love the song from little things big things grow, such as Eldership.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

You cannot Lose Something you Are!!

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Rod's World

Apologies for being a day late, I was putting my computer in a drawer at the reception at work as I was going to lunch and the office was locked when I found my copy of The Universe has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein. I opened it to a page that had an affirmation on it:

“I recognize I have chosen wrongly, I forgive this thought, and I choose again. I choose Love”

It is from a chapter called Oneness sets you Free, surrendering to the Holy Instant. What would life be like if we lived it in oneness, not duality? Many great philosophers have made comment on this subject, let’s have a look at what they say.

As you can’t read it clearly this is what Albert said A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

2. Love Ram Dass, (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931)He is an American spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach via his website: Be Here Now.

3. Such a beautiful way of looking at Life. Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City, if you have ever heard him speak you know that he lives his life this way.

4. When I was a runner I used to run the Shri Chinmoy half marathons in Melbourne. The organizers were some of the most open-hearted people I have come across: Open my Heart.

5. Remember those nights you were in the outback staring at the milky way realizing that you were an insignificant drop in a massive universe that you could not exist without, this talks to that.

6. Oneness is very simple: everything is included and allowed to live according to its true nature. This is the secret that is being revealed, the opportunity that is offered. How we make use of this opportunity depends upon the degree of our participation, how much we are prepared to give ourselves to the work that needs to be done, to the freedom that needs to be lived: Individuality.

7. Now, this is a difficult state to reach given what the media serve up to us on a daily basis.

8. In all this oneness, we have special moments. We call them Love, for George: Careless Whispers.

9. I write a daily Love Meme every day, often using a heart symbol. It represents to me what makes us all one.

10. Why did you turn left instead of right and run into your beloved? Because in our lives there are no random occurrences even though we often complain they happened: Safe.

11. We are all Starseed, the mountains, the seas, Us.

12. I once saw this man pour sand out of his hands. He could shift your concept of what was so. If you were willing to believe it was a different thing: Divinity.

13. Each of us has the divine masculine and the divine feminine within us. They need each other but must operate as one to be effective.

14. Quantum Physics has argued for this since its concept, unfortunately, our eyes cannot see the closing scene from the Matrix: Lose Yourself to Dance.

15. And in Oneness Everything is a Gift, even that.

Another practice from Gabrielle’s book is Let go of the shadow of the past by seeing someone for the first time with the eyes of love. So let’s recognize the other person is you.

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.

It’s often its own Reward!!

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Rod's World

Being rewarded, is that receiving you a financial salary for what you do in life? Or is it a more spiritual path as spoken of by luminaries like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra and Carolyn Myss.

Above me, there is a flier advertising the Compassionate Voices Community Choir quoting words such as Rejoice, Improve, Connect and Learn. If this is what being Compassionate has to offer I’m on board.

In our busy lives, compassion is one of those things that is easy to drop out, for ourselves and others. So let’s have a look at what society has said to remind us not to do that over the centuries:

1. I recently read a quote that said do not complain for 24 hours, not even once and your life would transform. I can imagine the same applies for judging oneself and others.

2. Putting life off is not a part of a Compassionate journey. it would be like being in the now moment to moment. How much more would you get done if you did not procrastinate over things: Do It Right Now.

3. Grandparents are old, even older than our parents, and our younger siblings, why do they cling so hard? These are ideas you need to transform because you will probably be all these things sometime in your life.

4. Always have a mirror around so that you can remember you always have someone to practice compassion with, the most important person in your life: Compassion.

5. Compassion has some worth housemates, these are some of them.

6. Compassion, another name could be heart to heart surgery: Open Your Heart.

7. How would the world transform if we taught compassion in the education system as well as knowledge? I say it would be a very different place.

8. The compulsory cute animal photo quote, If you don’t ask or act what you think is purely supposition: Rolling In the Deep.

9. As Byron Katie said in her quote we always have someone to practice compassion with. And when we get that down pat we can then open our heart to others.

10. I’m the leader, the leader of the gang of compassion I am, so can you be too: Leader of the Pack.

11. Each of our senses has a purpose that can empower our lives and the world.

12. Probably better known as Uma Thurman’s dad, Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist writer and academic who has written, edited or translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House New York and is active against the People’s Republic of China’s control of Tibet: Om Mani Pad Me Hung.

13. Have compassion for the days to come, keep growing and creating the best day of your life.

14. Thoughts don’t get a lot done, it needs physical actions as well for anything to happen: Would You.

15. They call it the technological revolution, don’t forget the spiritual technologies such as compassion, kindness, serenity, mindfulness and humility.

Remember to look in the mirror when you first get up and say I Love You then go and pass it on to whoever you come across during the day.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Team Work makes the Dream Work!!

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Rod's World

I was cleaning up my apartment the other day when I found my old Synergy sticker. Synergy is an all night dance event that works because so many people put their time and efforts into making it work. Thats the definition of Synergy: the interaction or cooperation of two or more people, organisations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects: “the synergy between artist and record company”:

synonyms: collaboration · working together · joint action · combined effort · teamwork · mutual support · partnership · coopetition · coordination · liaison · association · unity · concurrence · concord · accord · understanding · give and take · compromise · dealings · relations · coaction.

It been realised for a very long time that synergy works, what have we said about it over this time, lets have a look:

1. Stephen Richards Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) was an American educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker. His most popular book was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His other books include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, The 8th Habit, and The Leader In Me — How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University at the time of his death.

2. Another way of looking at synergy is to take all the natural brilliance of the people involved and mix them together and look at what pours out: Team.

3. How do we exploit all the advantages people have? Use synergy as the base for all enterprise I say.

4. si-nar-je , that for my Chinese english students. They would find the original spelling difficult: Rise.

5. James Bond AKA Pierce Brosnan was involved in a campaign that used the synergy a campaign brings to amend when the navy had their training exercises so that mass migrations were not affected.

6. Branson doesn’t merely say things like, “Screw it, just get on and do it.” He actually lives his life that way. He drops out of school and starts a business. He signs the Sex Pistols to his record label when everyone else says they are too controversial. He charters a plane when he doesn’t have the money. When everyone else balks or comes up with a good reason for why the time isn’t right, Branson gets started. He realises the power of synergy: Richard on People.

7. This is what may hold the creation of synergy back, thinking that you are not that. You don’t need to be. Someone else on your team will be.

8. Toba Beta is sci-fi writer from Indonesia. He works as economist/practitioner in Indonesia financial industries and capital market. He is dubbed as Mister Bond by Investor Magazine. He writes journals, novels, quotes and poems. This is quite a powerful quote: Open Book.

9. Love this quote, it expresses all that is positive about using synergy in your life.

10. I find it difficult to relate to people who attempt to split their personal and work life into two different aspects. They are all hours spent living int eh same day, the same lifetime: A Day in the Life.

11. Ou were you? I’m a proof reader by profession as well as a blogger. Just a little oops there.

12. This is a great way to relate to other in a situation that requires synergy to evolve: Karma.

13. I believe it also takes action, thoughts are fine, but no action equals nada, nothing, zip, etc. etc.

14. Isn’t this just so beautiful. A big Aww from me: Never let you Go.

15. Here’s another great definition of Synergy.

So I hope this helps you focus on your dreams and the power working with Synergy will bring to them.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

How Poor are You?

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Rod's World

It’s that time again, Christmas traditions around the world have been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and continue to change as time passes. Whether it’s Christmas in India or a visit from Pere Noel in France, different customs are celebrated around the world, all emphasising time with loved ones as a priority. How much each person spends on Christmas gifts can differ based on the culture they were brought up in and the traditions they need to uphold. Billions of people gather worldwide to celebrate the festive occasion.

Our tradition is opportunity or thrift shop presents, a sustainable way of gift giving that does not add to the ever growing pile of Xmas presents created each year.

But is this exchange really the heart of giving, let’s see what society says about that:

1. An artist with an extraordinary gift, Pablo Picasso clearly found his, although there are many an individual who would disagree with that statement. His art falls in the love or hate category.

2. Even though it may not happen at the exact moment you do it, realise you are raising the quality of the planet by lifting others on their journey: Great Spirit.

3. Robert Brault is a free-lance writer & author who has contributed to magazines and newspapers in the USA for over 40 years. His short thoughts and observations are quoted on thousands of internet sites each day. Some of his most popular books include Round Up the Usual Subjects: Thoughts on Just about Everything, The Second Collection: Thoughts and Other Writings. You can follow him on his personal blog – HTTP://rbrault.blogspot.in..

4. This is making a huge request of people to receive the blessing involved. It could transform your life : Send my Love.

5. The author of numerous books on success Jim Rohn always included giving in how he told people to attain success. He was not a make a shitload of money for yourself sort of guy.

6. I was in a cafe the other day having my favourite soy hot chocolate and almond croissant treat the other day when an obvious sufferer of mental health problems asked me to buy her a latte. I did and she kissed me on the head and hand to thank me: Come In from the Cold.

7. One of the great books ever written , The Tao Te Ching, along with the Zhuangzi, is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism, and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Daoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners, have used the Daodejing as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, and it is among the most translated works in world literature.

8. When was the last time you really felt that you made a difference? You get to say after all: Stand Up.

9. This could be as simple as a smile or saying hello to a stranger.

10. My mother , who was a Brown Owl distilled this in all of her children, I am known as the world’s greatest volunteer: Happiness is Helping Others.

11. I am involved with a Self Development company called Collective Potential. whose target market is 25 to 35-year-olds who have discovered their why in life is not making $100,000 a year. We work with them on discovering their purpose in life tht turns them on again.

12.Bryant McGill (born November 7, 1969) is an American author, aphorist, speaker and activist in the fields of self-development, personal freedom and human rights. He walks his talk : Human.

13. Love in Motion, sounds like a great song title as well as a way to look at life.

14. This beautiful clip covers why giving is an essential part of a healthy life : Give.

15. Probably where the title of this blog came from. You do not need a lot of money to give, as long as you have a generous heart people will get you.

So I didn’t mention gift giving much at all did I, that’s because it is an invention of the capitalist society that is taking over the true meaning of giving. Please don’t forget the original heart-based theme.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Everything Matters, Land is Precious!!

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Rod's World

I am currently reading Stan Grant’s book, Talking to my Country, an indigenous reporter who gave a remarkable speech about how his people had been treated for the 200 years of white occupation : The speech. It tells his story growing up black in white Australia, a country which did not count their indigenous as humans beings ILO flora and fauna until 27 May, 1967, it is a powerful read.

So how do we hold country around the world, I have selected some quotes from the new residents and the indigenous residents of the lands that make up the earth, lets go for a wander:

1. François Fenelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Roman Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. His best knowing writing is : A people is no less a member of the human race, which is society as a whole, than a family is a member of a particular nation. Each individual owes incomparably more to the human race, which is the great fatherland, than to the particular country in which he was born. As a family is to the nation, so is the nation to the universal commonweal; wherefore it is infinitely more harmful for nation to wrong nation, than for family to wrong family. To abandon the sentiment of humanity is not merely to renounce civilization and to relapse into barbarism, it is to share in the blindness of the most brutish brigands and savages; it is to be a man no longer, but a cannibal.”

2. Whilst I am not a great supporter of Religious and Political orders, I like the choice of doing good as the ethics of his religion : Losing my Religion.

3. “Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.” Albert’s take on it. What will the world make of white nationalists being appointed to the Trump administration.

4. I was a year off being a draft dodger because I was definitely not going to Vietnam to serve Queen and Country: War, What is it good for?

5. Captain Jack has the privilege to be able to point out the not so good sides of his country and be listened to.

6. An icon of the protest movement worldwide, he believed that land was for everyone: This Land.

7. William Lloyd Garrison (December 12, 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, which he founded with Isaac Knapp in 1831 and published in Massachusetts until slavery was abolished by Constitutional amendment after the American Civil War. He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted “immediate emancipation” of slaves in the United States. In the 1870s, Garrison became a prominent voice for the woman suffrage movement. Back in that time he lived that his countrymen were mankind.

8. For the love of freedom for his country, Gandhi taught his countries citizens the ethos of non violence, a feat that has not been repeated in the history of mankind at the cost of millions of humans : Gandhi Jayati Special song.

9. A fact that most governments forget, that they are not the land of the country.

10. Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included: Already Home, Already Free.

11. Stan talks about his people’s attachment to the land, they do not own it , they belong to it.

12. The beautiful music of Xavier Rudd, I honour that place he talks about his music coming from: Spirit Bird.

13. The so-called winner gets to write history, how much is fact?

14. When your tribe is humankind, and you do this, the planet and the land will have a chance: Stand By Me.

15. Mainstream media has a lot to do with the resurgence of people of this ilk being elected as representatives in Governments. Look up Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, she can’t spell white supremacist. By the way this was years ago. She was wrong about the Asians, it has now become the Muslims.

So do you live on your land or in a country. Are you Australian, American ot part of the human race? We need a transformation to the latter for the killing to stop and see the rise of humanity.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Why does this keep Happening?

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Rod's World

The impossible happened, he won. Coming from the shadow world where he made promises he cannot keep because it is no longer the 1950’s, the world is an international stage and you cannot create a future looking back at the world’s past because the one thing you are guaranteed in life is change.

Yet this is one of the core values of mainstream media, that change is bad for the planet. Look at how they relate to alternative energy, entrepreneurship, and rehabilitation of prisoners versus a law and order regime. So let’s have a journey through the shadowlands:

1. In the past few years, I have been exploring why when it got difficult I used to numb out. I discovered the work of Arion Light at The Activation School and have been living a journey through my body and what it takes for me to flourish since.

2. Suan Sontag was active in writing and speaking about, or traveling to, areas of conflict, including during the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo. She wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, AIDS and illness, human rights, and communism and leftist ideology. Although her essays and speeches sometimes drew controversy, she has been described as “one of the most influential critics of her generation.” Her most famous book is ” Against Interpretation ” : Batata Vada.

3. We are entering the shadowlands when people take the truth to be what they are spewed out on mainstream media. A missing part of it is Fact checking, most of it would have to be taken off the air if that formula was added.

4. I recently gave up drinking, a habit I took up to crush my empathic abilities in my early twenties. Since doing this I can relate to what Joanne is saying, that you can see too far, the reality for people that is hidden behind a mask: Rolling in the Deep.

5. Born and raised in a Hindu merchant caste family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.

6. Author, poet, and essayist Ursula K Le Guin points out that yes, the planet is in balance, we may just not agree with what is going on: Balance.

7. A number of phrases from Tennyson’s work have become commonplaces of the English language, including “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (In Memoriam A.H.H.), “‘Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”, “Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”, “My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, “Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”, and “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”. The latter of these is extremely relevant given the going on’s in the last few days.

8. Remember when you first realized you had a shadow and tried to get away from it, you can’t: Moonshadow.

9. One of the things we used to believe about the planet, that it was flat, no longer true. But a truth is, you cannot touch your shadow. You can accept them and take their power away, though.

10. Ah, the french philosophers, not sure what this means, but they are beautiful words: Shadowplay.

11. I agree with this line from Don’s hit there is not enough love in the World.

12. Sylvia is one of those creative geniuses who chose to take her own life well before the world wished to see her leave it : Sylvia’s poetry.

13. One of the great fallacies of the new age movement is you can just ignore and let go of the shadows in your life. The more you walk away the more powerful they become.

14. What a great sentence by Sylvia recognizing that we must have dark and light in our lives: The Young Ones.

15. I hope Donald remembers this.

We are about to enter a world with the most powerful man using one liners as policy, it will be interesting times. What color do you want the wall to be?

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.

14. Nourishing is one of the great things stories are capable of as they strengthen our dreams: Dream.

15. I think my brother in law worked on this story. Images help stories as well.

So lets get out their and pump up our stories and fulfil our dreams.

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

The best is yet to Come!!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Rod's World

Some days I struggle for a subject to write my blog on, I had nothing in mind today when Elliot Goulding’s Halcyon came up on my music feed. Not being sure what it meant I looked it up:

definition of Halcyon –

ADJECTIVE

denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful:

“the halcyon days of the mid 1980s, when profits were soaring”
NOUN

a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.

a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly coloured plumage.

With such a beautiful meaning I knew I had found my word for the day. The 15 quotes I have chosen relate to the adjective more than the noun but I promise you will know what the kingfisher looks like by the end:

1. I have many female friends who hang out together and empower each other with their music, art and businesses which allow them to take huge strides in being ultimately successful in fields you would not expect them too.

2. In his iconic Halcyon series of books Peter Kazmaler points out that its good to include both the dark and the light in your life when considering what will come next: Fear and Love.

3. James Thomas Fields was an American publisher, editor and poet in the 1800’s. His most famous poem is “The Ballad of the Tempest”, which includes the famous lines: “We are lost!” the captain shouted, As he staggered down the stairs.

4. A woman who has spent most of her life going her own way, Angelina Jolie has done some remarkable things: Go your own Way.

5. Glass Towers are an Indie band from Sydney, Australia. In answer to their question I say unless you are meditating in a cave high in the Tibetan mountains the answer is no, that’s not how society works.

6. They obviously write deep songs, I agree with the line from this song. The only reason the world will be lost is if we give up: Halcyon.

7. As we see with the dramatic changes going on with watch I.T. technology, virtual reality and driver-less cars this statement made Charles Khupcan, an expert on foreign affairs who served in the first Clinton administration becomes more real each and every day.

8. Go to the peace and quiet of the wilderness of your intuition to resolve those things that natter in your life, time for : Elliott Goulding.

9. We have only this moment, the power of now. How many Now’s do you waste?

10. Jeanette Winterson, OBE (born 27 August 1959) is an award-winning English writer, who became famous with her first book, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against conventional values. Some of her other novels have explored gender polarities and sexual identity. Winterson is also a broadcaster and a professor of creative writing: Fifteen.

11. My halcyon days include this, for me peace and quite lives inside a good inquiry. And as they comment on Facebook when there is a cute dog picture, Aaw.

12. Karen Prior is a christian Professor of English who believes in the power of the word touching your soul, why books will never die: Great Big Words.

13. Remember those days when your mind and heart are in sync. They are Halcyon day but not days you are doing nothing but days you are living your dream.
14. Here is the beautiful Halcyon kingfisher. I take part in a return of the kingfisher festival in my hometown Melbourne Australia at CERES each year. It celebrates the return of the Sacred Kingfisher to an area that had been devastated by human indifference after many years. Here is the dance we do : The Kingfisher Boogie.

15. Gregory House, MD — typically referred to simply as House — is the title character of the American medical drama series House. Created by David Shore and portrayed by English actor Hugh Laurie, he leads a team of diagnosticians as the Head of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey (based on the real-life Yale–New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut).

House’s character has been described as a misanthrope, cynic, narcissist, and curmudgeon, the last of which was named one of the top television words of 2005 in honour of the character. He is the only character to appear in all 177 episodes and, except for Wilson’s brief appearance, is the only regular character to appear in the season six premiere.

So there are many moods that fulfil halcyon times for people some quiet, some full of action because that’s the way they roll, Choose the one that suits you and go for it.

Namaste until next time my dear friends