She believed she could, so she Did!!

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Rod's World

I met the new police inspector for our region at an interfaith celebration last month, she is a 28 year veteran of the force and specializes in Social Justice, Kelly has renamed her team Dynamic Darebin. I like it a lot, when do we declare something as dynamic in our lives? Are our relationships dynamic, our finances dynamic, our careers dynamic.

Let us have a look at what people have said over the years that they find dynamic:

1. Mahesh Sharma is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected in the Indian general election, 2014 from Gautam Buddha Nagar. He is a physician by profession.

If you wish to fulfill your ideas do not wait around.

2. From the prolific philosopher, Anon. comes worldly advice people will not be lead by you if you are not seen as dealing with them on a day to day basis: If You’re Out There.

3. Uneeka Jay is an award-winning speaker, personal consultant and the founder of Rewrite 365 LLC. Uneeka has over 20 years of progressive leadership experience in companies with revenues up to a half billion dollars. Using that experience, Uneeka effortlessly walks women through the process of rewriting their lives by refusing to settle. Rewrite is more than a brand for Uneeka; it is her life story. Finding herself pregnant at age 16 and on welfare, she refused to allow statistics define her future. She identified her Hatements (things preventing her from living her best life) and removed them one by one to achieve her goals. Uneeka lives her mantra; settling is not an option.

4. Your time is now, you are neither too young or too old: The Climb.

5. My friend and mentor Arion said he liked it when I laughed, that it was new for me. I gave up a long time ago when my life was endangered. I feel dynamic when I do it.

6. I think the person who takes a job in order to live – that is to say, for the money – has turned himself into a slave _ Joseph Campbell. Finally it’s never about the money: If we ever meet Again.

7. However you do it, via keyboard or artistically by pen and pencil, remember they cannot get it out of your brain once you have passed.

8. When do you feel most dynamic? Doing your 9 ot 5 or doing what turns you on: Surprise, Honeycomb.

9. Start Young!!

10. Lolly Daskal is founder and CEO of Lead From Within, her proprietary leadership program is engineered to be a catalyst for leaders who want to enhance performance and make a meaningful difference in their companies, their lives, and the world. Based on a mix of modern philosophy, science,and nearly thirty years coaching top executives, Lolly’s perspective on leadership continues to break new ground and produce exceptional results. Huffington Post honored Lolly with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World: Brave.

11. Being dynamic also means standing up for your truth, nor pretending to like others.

12. Remember those times you thought, Why Me? And it turned you in a new wonderful direction in your life, keep on keepin on: Everything happens for a reason!!

13. And aren’t we glad he followed his own advice.

14. This is such a beautiful ethos, may all creatives follow it: Heart of Gold.

15. Matthew Kelly (born July 12, 1973 in Sydney, Australia) is a motivational speaker, author, business consultant, and founder of Dynamic Catholic. He is a founding partner at Floyd Consulting, a management consulting firm whose clients include more than 35 Fortune 500 companies. His lecture topics include identifying negative routines and actions in daily life, and the value and positive inspiration of Catholicism on everyday life.

So for me I feel dynamic when I am blogging and teaching English to improve relationships between the cultures in Darebin, we have 164 different ones.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

People are your Assignments!!

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Rod's World

You are always being guided, even when you don’t feel like it. It comes with being part of the human race, a unique human being. We are all in a large classroom called Earth and the people you choose to know and even those we do not give us our assignments in life. How often do you become frustrated with our political leaders even though we have never met them?

So who do we choose as our most personal assignments? Often it is our family, as they are in our lives the longest, even though it may be at some distance later in life. So let us take a journey through our assignments:

How many people have you met in your life, when you have thought, OMG, I am so glad I am nothing like them. They are there for that exact lesson

2. Joel Scott Osteen is an American preacher and televangelist. He is the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, in Houston, Texas. Osteen’s televised sermons are seen by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly in over 100 countries. He gives you some sage advice as how to handle fear as an assignment in this quote: Fear and Love.

3. Number ten is the only one you can read clearly, that’s enough.

4. Listening to your mind, trying to work out what others want to hear is not the assignment. Deep down in your soul is what you have to say: Shake It Off.

5. The old 24-hour formulae, we all have the same time in a day, so each of us has the chance to inspire others with our actions.

6. Self Love first is the prime assignment, hard to give it away if it is not part of our inner being: Stronger.

7. This is why the idea of war is corrupt as an assignment, we need to end it ASAP.

8. The second evangelist today, Myles Munroe is slightly more controversial for his stance against gay rights. He is also the author of over twenty philosophical and biblical books. I like this quote though: Ride on Time.

9. This falls in the category of don’t listen to people’s words, watch their actions. Dreams without actions are very shallow.

10. What if all mothers had told their children this, what a different world we would live in. Motherhood is a vital assignment: Imagine.

11. Sometimes assignments with each other can be frivolous, this is one of them, or is it?

12. I am finding it easier to recognize the latter these days, It’s worth the effort: Adventure of a Lifetime.

13. Confucius’s principles had a basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. He also recommended family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the well-known principle “Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to yourself”, the Golden Rule.

14. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, “Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoyevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is German music.” Two of his films were listed in Sight and Sounds 100 greatest film ever made: Invisible.

15. And here is your final assignment, remember it as often as you can.

Remember to work on at least one new assignment AKA personal relationship a week, it will transform your life!!

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

When I am sad I eat Chocolate!!

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Rod's World

” I recognise my anger and I honour my reaction to the darkness. I know my true power lies in my capacity to be the light. I call on the energy and thoughts of love to pour through me and inspire me to take action from a place of true power “. This powerful prayer is from Gabby Bernstein’s The Universe Has Your Back, it comes from Step 2: Remember where your true power lies.

I think that what we have to offer the world comes from our remembrance of it. If we are eternally sad, that’s how the world occurs for us. Why not be curious in our remembrance of events. How they affected us, why they made us joyous or sad, we have examples of them all.

Let’s strap on our memories and go on the journey:

1. I remember a drive from San Fransisco to Los Angeles down the coast road on a foggy day. We picked up a hitchhiker going to his Narcotics Anyomous meeting. He was a local and took us to all the places people didn’t know about. The connectedness to the people and the area was remarkable.

2. This song was number one in our country for a lengthy period: Beautiful People.

3. Imagine if you walked the streets doing this, what a difference a day would make!!

4. There is that really bad 90’s Arnie movie End of days. I can remember moments for decades ago, and forget what I did last weekend: Moment of Clarity.

5. I was born in the 1950’s. Lots of truth to Brue lee’s statement. I remember the people I know and not many others who did not live a life worth remembering.

6. What memories live in your heart. then can be from your childhood or yesterday, they say time is a made up concept anyway: Memories of a song in my Heart.

7. My friend and I went on a cricket trip in the 80’s to Sydney, 1,000 kilometres away. He met our friend’s sister, fell in love and moved to Sydney three months later.

8. I have this vivid memory of Ken, the American Vietnam veteran who rescued us from the bush in New Zealand after our two-day hike in the mountains went bottoms up: I Remember You.

9. How often does this happen? Besties one day demoted to part of the pack six months later.

10. Is this the ultimate state of being? I use giving and receiving, better at the first, not so great at the second: Giving and Getting

11. People remember what you do, not what you say. A powerful memory.

12. Memories are made of this, but your future isn’t/ Fulfil your dreams: Follow The Sun.

13. Whilst writing this I received the phone call from one of my sisters I had been dreading. My beloved brother in law passed from cancer last night.

14.Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described her as “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”. Lessing was the eleventh woman and the oldest person ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature: I remember when I was Young.

15. And this is the place our memories live.

So as the phone call shows, your memories can change instantly, hold onto the great ones.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Nature is pleased with Simplicity!

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Rod's World

Sometimes we feel that we have just reconnected with a truth we’ve always known and that if we could just know more about it, our life would be delightful and rich. I call it reconnection with your soul. It takes letting go of many of the things that clutter our lives in the hectic busyness of the modern world.

How do you reconnect with those simple things that used to please you as a child? Let’s have a look at what the world has to say about it:

1. One way I find works is to reconnect and recommit to my core values, as Zig Ziglar, the iconic business coach says we can begin again and make a new ending.

2. I ran into a friend I had not seen for five years in a hat shop in Leningrad. What reconnection brownie points were taking place for this to happen: Fate.

3. From one of the world’s greatest philosophers, Master Unknown comes a beautiful quote about how and why we reconnect.

4. Throw out those judgments and the chance of reconnection being able to come to the fore is much more prevalent: Connection.

5. Laurie Colwin (June 14, 1944 – October 24, 1992) was an American writer who wrote five novels, three collections of short stories and two volumes of essays and recipes. She was known for her portrayals of New York society and her food columns in Gourmet magazine. This is great advice she is offering.

6. This quote is a recipe for reconnection with our souls, I think it is essential: One Human Race.

7. I have a special one of these, a mate I met at a retreat four years ago, Michael, you rock my soul.

8. Beautiful image for a beautiful practice: The Best of Me.

9. How did we survive with these relatively new words that have been added to our dictionaries? What’s a dictionary, is that spellcheck or google it?

10. Co-founder of the online sensation, The Huffington Post. Arianna points to the power of meditation and contemplation in reconnecting with our inner selves: Beautiful.

11. the opening lines from the all-time classic song, The Sounds of Silence. We need to reconnect with all of us for it to truly work out.

12. Go for it, email me the results to rod.williams13 @gmail.com: Never Grow Up.

13. How difficult is this living our distracted lives?

14. Wayne Walter Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 29, 2015) was an American philosopher, self–help author, and a motivational speaker. His first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), is one of the best-selling books of all time, with an estimated 35 million copies sold to date: Make peace with your Ego.

15.And finally, remember to have a healthy relationship with this intrinsic part of your psyche.

It’s time you had an extraordinary relationship with your nature. Inner and outer, we need both.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Being a singer is a natural Gift!!

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Rod's World

What is out natural state? It is said most people are on a search for happiness throughout their lives, yet you cannot find it anywhere because it is located inside of you, it is your natural state from childhood.

Is it something we forget? Are we educated out of this simplicity by others who have forgotten the happiness of childhood? Let’s have a look at what the world has said about the state of being naturally happy:

1. You don’t have to broadcast it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that you are a natural being, it shines out from your being!!

2. When you have conquered your inner demons, the outer ones disappear as well: Inner Demons.

3. we go back to the 16th Century for our next quote. François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac, 15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. It is said that his world-view was clear-eyed and urbane and that he neither condemned human conduct nor sentimentally celebrated it. Born in Paris on the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was vacillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplary of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman. Until 1650, he bore the title of Prince de Marcillac.

4. We have loved the images of the natural world David Attenborough has brought us over the decades: Planet Earth.

5. When you are living in your natural state of being you shine throughout the universe.

6. Maya Angelou was a natural at many things, She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” (1993) at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961: On the Pulse of the Morning.

7. You can only be different to everybody else because you are unique, giving you your Youness.

8. Christian Dior is actually a business name, so he/she did not say this, it’s very powerful, though: Revolution.

9. Albert Einstein once said, ” once you stop learning you start dying “. Wake up every day in the natural state of learning.

10. Soul harmony, such a beautiful concept, and way to live your life: Love is Soul Harmony.

11. Are all things that are naturally beautiful positive, not in the case of autumn.

12. More and more in this speeded up, instant gratification world we go for processed food and as a race, we get sicker and sicker. We have forgotten the healing power of natural foods and have gone for the easy way out: Healthy Habits Song.

13. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci 15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519), more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter, and tank, he epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Over so many fields he used simplicity to discover things.

14. Remember those shots of running around the backyard pool in the nude with your childhood mates? What happened , a call out to stay in this natural way of being: Shrey Singhai.

15. And to finish, a reminder that flowers do not think about life too much, they just naturally bloom.

So what in life is your natural expression, do not give up until you find it, I hope you already have.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

What a Miracle, What a Blessing!!

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Rod's World

Were you blessed with living in a house where gratitude was a given or was it a premises where put-downs and teasing were more the norms? In these houses, it was often expected that the children growing up were expected to display behaviors, emotions and thinking patterns that had never been modeled. Gratitude is held in high esteem by virtually everyone, at all times, in all places. From ancient religious scriptures through modern social science research, gratitude is advanced as a desirable human characteristic with the capacity for making life better for oneself and for others. Though gratitude is associated with pleasantness and highly desirable life outcomes, it is certainly not an easy or automatic response to life situations. Resentment and entitlement often seem to come naturally. Individual personality flaws such as neuroticism or narcissism make it difficult to recognize the positive contributions of others. The very fact that gratitude is a virtue suggests that it must be deliberately cultivated.

So how has gratitude been expressed over the centuries, let’s go on that journey:

1. Sara Avant Stover, a teacher of feminine spirituality and empowerment and a yoga and meditation instructor, bestselling author, and inspirational speaker, is the founder of The Way of the Happy Woman: a worldwide community based on the teachings and practices in her bestselling books, The Way of the Happy Woman and The Book of SHE. As the creator of the world’s first Women’s Yoga Teacher Training, the online program Reversing Our “Curse,” and The SHE School, Sara has taught tens of thousands of women worldwide. She has been featured in Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post, Newsweek, and Natural Health and on ABC, NBC, and CBS. Sara’s teachings, writings, programs, and communities support women of all ages to place the Heroine’s Journey at the heart of their lives. She teaches on feminine spirituality, lifestyle, healing, relationships, and more. Sara lives, hikes, writes, and dances with mystery in Boulder, Colorado. These thousands of women are very grateful for Sara’s teachings.

2. This beautiful image caught my eye immediately. it reminded me of the facebook group I am a member The Daily Gratitude Space of, where hundreds of people choose to place what they are grateful for over the airwaves: Grateful.

3. I write one thing a day I am grateful for in my Desire Map Planner by Danielle LaPorte. Just one thing a day sees this happen for me.

4. Why you should be grateful fro what you have at this time is that you have worked for it. That’s how to get things, doing the work: Royals.

5. From the greatest quoted philosopher Anonymous comes the above classic pointing to that you need to take the actions of gratitude first.

6. That’s the place gratitude hits home, in our hearts: Beautiful.

7. perform an act of gratitude a day to a stranger and you may just transform the planet.

8. Who is this for you? Your parents, your lover, your children, your boss, your bestie? Go on do it, and make the difference: Stand Up.

9. The author of several transformational books, the latest being The Universe has Your Back, Gabby Bernstein trains people to be grateful for their lives and do great things with them. Read her books and check her website at https://gabbybernstein.com/

10. We all have lots of stuff, but often in this consumer driven society we search of more and forget that what we have has made us what we are. Remember this act of gratitude and you will free your life up expedientially : That’s just the Way It Is.

11. There is a minimalist movement sweeping western society, here’s one thing they could take one.

12. They don’t need to hear that I really appreciate what they did for me. Not!!!!!!!Speak Up.

13. This makes my soul shudder, how beautiful.

14. From Little Things, Big Things Grow, really only one song for this: From Little Things.

15. Melody Beattie is one of America’s most beloved self-help authors and a household name in addiction and recovery circles. Her international bestselling book, Codependent No More, introduced the world to the term “codependency” in 1986. Millions of readers have trusted Melody’s words of wisdom and guidance because she knows firsthand what they’re going through.

In her lifetime, she has survived abandonment, kidnapping, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, divorce, and the death of a child. “Beattie understands being overboard, which helps her throw bestselling lifelines to those still adrift,” said Time Magazine. This beautiful quote is an example of the power of her work.

So, as you may have picked up, I believe in the power of daily gratitude. I hope from reading this you join our band of merry pranksters.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Not All who Wander are Lost!!

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Rod's World

The Universe speaks in mysterious ways. We have many patterns during our life. Having the same ones we had at four when we are forty can be dangerous or freeing, dependant what area in life we are using them. Sticking to set patterns can hold us back in fulfilling our plans and dreams, Einstein said – “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Do you know what your patterns are and do you strive to change them to better yourself on a daily basis, Let’s have a look at the power of patterns:

2. I used to have the pattern of going to bet at 2 a.m. and rising at 10 a.m. When I took up the habit of going to the gym at 7 a.m. I had to go to bed many hours earlier.

2. Migrating to the United States in 1938 to avoid discrimination as she was part Jewish, Lotte Lehmann holds the distinction of being the only person with a misspelled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it was spelled, Lottie. She was a fabulous opera singer as well: Auf Flugeln Des Gesanges.

3. Let it Go, Let it Out, Let it all Unravel. Let it Free and it can Be a path on which to Travel. Leunig’s great ode to pattern breaking.

4. Constantly disrupting is what achieves the breakthrough, doing it for a day doesn’t hold water: Breakthrough.

5. As we are going through another revolution with the introduction of robotics mature people will have to take this on as many jobs disappear.

6. Do you have a fall/autumn season for your patterns, or do you hold on to the dead leaves, sorry about the golden arches: Send my Love.

7. I asked Tuli Kupferberg once, “Did you really jump off of The Manhattan Bridge?” “Yeah,” he said, “I really did.” “How come?” I said. “I thought that I had lost the ability to love,” Tuli said. “So, I figured I might as well be dead. So, I went one night to the top of The Manhattan Bridge, & after a few minutes, I jumped off.” “That’s amazing,” I said. “Yeah,” Tuli said, “but nothing happened. I landed in the water, & I wasn’t dead. So I swam ashore, & went home, & took a bath, & went to bed. Nobody even noticed.”

8. If I use the term the vicious circle for this quote will it give away what modality I studied in the 1990’s : Same Old Love.

9. Then some patterns are worth keeping, these are some of them.

10. Louis Hay wrote her first book at 58, she lived and still lives the above statement at the ripe old age of 90: Unwritten.

11. What is the most Fabulous thing you have ever done, for a lot of people it is having children. As I have not done this, running the Moscow Peace marathon the year before the Berlin Wall came down is mine.

12. This quote certainly gets into what holding on to what we know works to survive costs us, Time to attack: Teardrop.

13. Marshall Rosenberg, the creator of Non Violent Communication has helped thousands reduce their resistance to using negative means of relating to the people in their lives.

14. Bruce Lee studied life as much as he did martial arts. There are hundreds of quotes you can find all over the internet attributed to him. This one is a particularly powerful one: Living In The Moment.

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

On his death in April 2014, Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, described him as “the greatest Colombian who ever lived.”

How are your patterns going? Allow them to wander and discover new routes to fulfill your dreams!!

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

It fills the cup of Silence.

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Rod's World

My Chinese english student Ginny isn’t coming today, her husband is flying back home so she has to drive him to the airport so I am listening to music and writing todays blog. I thought music would be a great subject to write about. I have 40,000 tunes on my Itunes, I’m a bit addicted, always have been since a young age.

I have been a door-bitch for my musical friends for over 30 years, I love most types of music and support the theory most eras produce some talented people. At the moment Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are playing on my iPhone. I saw him in the Birthday Party many years ago, always worth a listen.

How do you relate to music , does it pump you up, slow you down or both, let’s have a look what they say about it:

1. How did you choose your favourite songs? First Love, divorce, losing your virginity are often memorable times.

2. Thats why we part with our hard earned cash to go and see the greats. They combine words and silence that fills our heart with joy: That’s what I Like.

3. Your music rends to relief the pain, It’s your gateway to your soul.

4. Friedrich Nietsche is considered on of the great philosophers. At the age of 44 he had a complete breakdown and was cared for by his mother and then his sister until his death 11 years later: Without Music.

5. Backstreet Boy member has had an extraordinary life for 20 years thanks to his musical ability. He is very grateful for it.

6. Had to laugh at this one, probably true for me though: Life is like a Song.

7. What is your soul music, Mine is beautiful deep songs by female singer songwriters.

8. Have had many of these outbursts over my 62 years, the last was at a Safer Youssef, a mystical experience: Soupir Eternel.

9. I always thought that I couldn’t sing until I met my friend Kavisha Mazzella, an award winning singer songwriter and beautifully hearted soul and my choir leader, you can listen to her at http://www.kavisha.com.

10. There are so many songs that fill my dreams, what are yours: Dream a little Dream of Me.

11. Love an acronym, this is a powerful one.

12. I have made many a good friend I met at music gigs watching bands we both appreciated: Make you feel my Love.

13. Passion, Joy, Heartbreak, Power. All have their specific songs.

14. The Bard, taught at most western English speaking schools , you either loved or hated him. His words could make the earth shudder, didn’t know he discover earth music though: Earth Song.

15. I went to a funeral of a friends father. He had them play Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette as one of the tunes. He died from lung cancer. I haven’t chosen the music for mine yet, I may not have heard it yet.

Music is a constant part of our lives, some of it we love , other styles we hate. My big secret, I love pop divas, very uncool in the live music scene.

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.

The Best Part of our Hearts!!

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Rod's World

In my community paper the Northcote Leader there was an amazing story of kindness reported the other day. Members of the community donated enough for a family to replace their car to take their daughter to school who has cerebral palsy after they were involved in an accident and their car was written off.

Stories like this remind me of the kindness of strangers and not to give in to the dross that is marketed as mainstream media, that of death, killing, war and anything that seems to bring community spirit down. How do we remember to be kind each day, lets go there:

1. Confucius was born in 551 B.C., I think it is still relevant after all these years. Gratitude is a great gift to receive but is it gratitude if you expect it?

2. Models do not win citizens of the year very often. We do not make these decisions on looks but what difference these people make: Lean on Me.

3. Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin ; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist. She is equally well known for her much publicized romantic affairs with a number of artists, including Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin and the writer Alfred de Musset. Wonder why she used a male pseudonym?

4. One of the main benefits of Kindness, we rise together: Rise.

5. Watching small children meet each other without judgement to me is the best example of this on the planet.

6. Did you know there is a good news network : http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org – perhaps we can sack CNN: Good Times.

7. I think I’ll hop on Raymond, my pet unicorn and spread lots of this today.

8. How many strength building exercises do you do a day, get your kindness muscle out and play: Be Strong.

9. What would they write on the grave of the person who did this – I’m sure it would include a life well lived.

10. I gave up organised religion a long time ago, perhaps I could take on this one: Lady Gaga and Dalai Lama on Kindness.

11. Your new daily practice.

12. A man who inspires me as much as his holiness, Lao Tzu, I recommend you read his books: How to write a Love Song.

13. Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born Jesse Louis Burns; October 8, 1941) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He is the founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. Former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. is his eldest son. Jackson was also the host of Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000.