You Know, It’s Never to Late!!!

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Rod's World

Twelve years ago, after an emotionally abusive long term relationship I decided subconsciously I would never put myself through that again and chose the Life of Being single. I started doing personal development stuff and looked at different issues over the years, this one seemed to slip through to the keeper. Then I met a woman at Mojo. The first time we eye gazed for twenty minutes, the second time we screamed at each other for ten.

I didn’t know what to do, as a single man she could have asked me to fuck her on the dance floor and I probably would have said no. So I spoke to my mentor, who unpacked my single man decision. We then went through an exercise imagining her walk through the door and to see how close she could get to me. Not really close at all at first, just a few steps into the room. Many sessions later, it allowed me to be standing next to her with her in my arms. Nothing happened with this woman, because I was ages away from breaking the single man mould.

Two years later and several failed attempts by women, I have the honour to be in a relationship with a woman I had known six years. She is brave, confronting, loving and willing to go the whole nine yards to make it work. At times I am shit scared that it will not work out again and at other times there is so much ecstasy surging through my body I feel that I will implode.

So what has the human race said about love relationships, lets have a look:

1. Everything, my beauty. Not some of it, the fear, the scared little girl, the raging anger, the hurt, all of it.

2. What is the name of your street? Mine is Ecstacy Street: Love Street.

3. Was I in love before that totally unexpected phone call, maybe?

4. This is the final destination I seek: That’s What Friends Are For.

5. I cannot put this into actual words, its a feeling.

6. No words and I am a wordsmith: Your Smile.

7. And see you and have you grow side by side.

8. I love it that you love God, Beauty: Love Of My Life.

9. Sound familiar?

10. I hand these to you willingly, beauty: Somebody to Love.

11. Even when my scared little boy identity fucks up and makes your heart ache, I remember your orgasmic smile.

12. Helen Keller, blind and deaf: Insightfully speaking the truth: You’re Beautiful.

13. What exactly is need?

14. Truth 101: I Love You.

15. And in the final lesson for this blog, I plead guilty as charged.

The title of this blog was meant to contain the word’s, Lost Life Opportunities as well. Why is this relevant? I reached Age Pension age, 66, one week ago. It is never ever too late. I must mention my life ethos of Love and Respect, Everyone Included. But I will finish with a question, what is going on that humanity trains our hearts to not trust they can be totally loved?

The playlist of love songs starts with The Doors, then the soulful Dionne Warwick and friends, also Rene and Angela.. next, Queen by two. The penultimate song is by James Blunt and we complete with the one-hit wonders from the sixties, The Volumes: You Know, It’s Never to Late!!!

Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Writing your Life Story!!!

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Rod's World

A friend just liked a meme I posted on Facebook. Its says the following: 4 Things you can’t get Back- The stone after it’s thrown; the word after it’s said; the occasion after its missed; the time after it’s gone. As I reach Age pension eligibility in four weeks they have made me ponder my life.

I like what my friend Marc Chernoff has to say about writing a life story worth living. I love this paragraph: When writing the story of your life, don’t let someone else hold the pen. Make conscious choices every day that align your actions with your values and your dreams; the way you live each day is a sentence in the story of your life. Each day, you choose whether the sentence ends with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.

Here are Marc’s ten suggestions for doing this:

1. Find a passion that makes you come alive.

2. Work hard on that passion.

3. Live happily in your own way.

4. Change your path when you must, but keep moving forward.

5. When the going gets tough, keep fighting.

6. Let go of the past and live consciously in the present.

7. Embrace new ideas, lessons, and challenges.

8. Appreciate the little things in life that mean a lot.

9. Live honourably through kindness.

10. Spend quality time with people you love.

So what has society said about storytelling over time, we have always done it:

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1. Yes, that diatribe in your head, that’s the story of your life.

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2. Yes, it is official, I have a crush on Maya Angelou: Maya on Words.

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3. How do you tell the world about your ideas?

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4. How’s the living going?: Staying Alive.

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5. A great reason for my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included.

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6. Our stories have had the world evolve: World Turning.

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7. What do you do in creating your communities storyline?

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8. Remember as children how much we loved this, it is still available: Magic Carpet Ride.

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9. Love this quote, well done Christina.

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10. Wise words from one of the most amazing storytellers to have lived, think the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone: Steve’s Stanford Speech.

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11. Ground Control, to Major Tom.

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12. Where have you travelled in your reading?: 500 Miles.

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13. When I think of the big items I have brought in my life, this is oh so true in every case.

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14. And the bridge takes you over: Bridge over troubled Waters.

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15. And for our final lesson, we call on Ira Glass, host of This American Life and All Things Considered.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs, and what every great story has, are characters that come alive in the pursuit of something that inspires them.

The playlist contains words today. Firstly we have Maya Angelou, then The Bee Gees. Fleetwood Mac are next, followed by a 60’s classic by Steppenwolf. Lots of Words from Steve Jobs, his Stanford commencement speech. Then an anthem from the Proclaimers and we finish with the dulcet tones of John Legend: Writing you Life Story.

My life story, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

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What will still be there on the other side?

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Rod's World

I really have not been through the COVID19 pandemic, I was in a psych unit for 5 weeks and lying on my couch for a further three weeks surviving on Ubereats so some of the restrictions bemuse me, and others seem fair enough. The trams and trains of Melbourne are still empty in peak hour, and we still cannot dance.

Will everybody return to their offices, their schools or will they never walk out their front door again. So what should we care about on our journey forward? Life is all about taking chances. It’s about doing something you initially thought you could never do. It’s about being a little bit crazy, following your heart, and not worrying about every detail of what everyone else thinks. And above all, it’s about learning to love who you are and what you have.

Marc’s list today is titled 12 Things to start caring about today, here we go:

Start caring about your own happiness.
Start caring about your goals and dreams.
Start caring about how you invest your time every day.
Start caring about how you think and what you think about.
Start caring about how you treat yourself.
Start caring about how you treat others.
Start caring about how others treat you.
Start caring about your health.
Start caring about your education and personal growth.
Start caring about doing the best YOU can.
Start caring about all the wonderful things you have right now.
Start caring about this moment we call ‘life.’

So this following your heart thing, what does society have to say about it, here are a few of my favourites:

If it has the dark and the light in the menu, go for it.

2. Have you ever asked, how did I end up here: Listen to Your Heart

3. I am a creator, one simple step.

4. Someone may even say to you, you may not be right: You may not be right.

5. So it doesn’t have to yell too loudly.

6. Don’t get lost, listen to your heart and it should not happen: Heartbreaker.

7. And is rarely wrong in its judgement.

8. I love this mantra: Silly

9. You still have passion and dreams as well as following your heart.

10. The formulae of the great unknown: Give me a Try.

11. Time to hit the Wide Open Road.

12. Have you found it yet: Happy.

13. You can’t do halfway, booya.

14. Definitely a how did I get here moment when the mind kicks in: Sing for the Moment.

15. And for our final lesson, Mama, we’re all crazy now.

Your relationship with yourself is the closest and most important you will ever have. When was the last time someone told you that they loved you just the way you are, and that what you think and how you feel matters? When was the last time someone told you that you did a great job, or took you someplace, simply because they know you feel happy when you’re there? When was that someone You? The way you treat yourself sets the standards for others. You must love who you are or no one else will either. And when you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.

Today’s playlist begins with Tupac, then Little Kid. A fine bunch of rockers from England next in the form of Free followed by Deniece Williams. Sizzla and Pharrell Williams come before the final number from Eminem: What will still be there on the other side?

O.K., its time for the ethos. follow your heart to my Facebook group Interculturalism: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ and partake in the joy of Love and Respect for All, Everone included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

You will be Somebody’s Ancestor – Act Accordingly!!!

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Rod's World

Interculturalism refers to support for cross-cultural dialogue and challenging self-segregation tendencies within cultures. Interculturalism involves moving beyond mere passive acceptance of a multicultural fact of multiple cultures effectively existing in a society and instead promotes dialogue and interaction between cultures.

“Multiculturalism” is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles.

Where I work, The Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston, Australia, the first ethos was chosen by the Darebin Council specifically because multiculturalism was being given a bad name in the media because of supposed self-segregation of cultures creating cultural ghettos, this was not necessarily true but mainstream media have never let that get in the way of a news story that sells papers or attracts viewers.

This is where I created my life ethos: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included and my Facebook Group, Interculturalism from, the group’s purpose is to spread the possibility of dialogue between cultures and positive examples of this: You can join here.

How do we create this in our lives, here are a few ways to give it a go suggested by my friend Marc Chernoff:

1. Never let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.

2. Tell the negativity committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up.

3. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

4. You look the best when you wear your smile. There is no beauty like the one that comes from inside you.

5. Moving on doesn’t mean forgetting. It means you choose happiness over the hurt.

6. Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness.

7. Someone else is happy with far less than what you have.

8. You are always free to do something that makes you smile.

9. Talk about your blessings more than you talk about your problems.

10, Stop looking at what you have lost, so you can see what you have.

11. Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.

12. if you don’t like something, change it. if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

13. Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.

14. The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them.

15. A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t get very far until you change it.

16. Just because it doesn’t last forever, doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth your while.

So what has the world said about the melding of cultures, here are a few of my favourite things:

1, Nelson and I have the same dream.

2. Parenthood 101: Love Liberates.

3. 7 Billion unique personalities, all living on the same planet, all human beings.

4. They say the quickest way to cure racism, is to travel. You quickly realise that we all have one commonality, our humanness: Wide Open Road.

5. Catherine said: In today’s society, change is constant. Although change has always occurred in every society, today it is much more rapid, due to technological advancements and a global market.

If you resist change, you will face challenges on a daily basis. If you consciously refocus your attitude to see the benefits of change, your outlook becomes positive and life becomes easier.

6. There is no planet B, we need to remember that and work together as one human race: Let’s Work Together.

7. Not just to get the 9 to 5 drone job.

8. God, Gaia, Buddha, Allah: They did not take sides, their language was universal love: One Love.

9. Perhaps it would have been better if we were all born deaf and dumb?

10. This is powerful: Human.

11. If a Nobel Prize winner can do it, we can as well.

12. In April 2009, Entertainment Weekly listed Spencer as among its “25 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood.” Was she being funny when she made this statement?: Labels.

13. Doe Zantamata is an author, artist, and photographer. In addition to the Happiness in Your Life book series, she also creates and designs poster books of different titles, including “Happy By Nature,” “Old Children, A Book for “Adults”,” and others. Doe has been writing since before she could tie her shoes.

14. Says the man who transformed the ugliest example of racial bigotry on the planet: Nelson Mandela.

15. Our final lesson, each person is unique, but they are still a person. Have a chat and find out about them, anything else is a judgement.

To me, curiosity about each other promotes dialogue and interaction between cultures. the quote: Become friends with people who aren’t your own age, Hang out with people whose first language isn’t the same as yours, Get to know someone who doesn’t come from your social class, This is how you get to see and know the world, this is how you grow sums it up pretty well for me. I’m going to give more time to spreading Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included in 2020, hence this blog.

We begin today’s playlist with Spoken Word by the majestic Maya Angelou, then an iconic Aussie band, The Triffids. Back to the Woodstock generation next, with Canned Heat. A medley from Bob Marley sends Love out into the Universe. Rag and Bone Man points out next what it is to be Human. Pop Diva time with Rachel Platten and we finish with The Specials: You will be Somebody’s Ancestor – Act Accordingly!!!

Until we meet again across the airwaves, my dear friends.

First You Dream, Then You Do!!!

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Rod's World

Had a busy weekend, attended a potluck 40th Friday evening, a commitment ceremony Saturday, and a Warrior of Love training day Sunday. This gave me a lot to choose from to write about. I have chosen to write about the growth conversation I had with a vital young thing at the potluck. She seemed to just be reaching out to begin her growth adventure but was not sure what direction to take. I gave her some of my worldly advice and left her with that. I suggested that life was about taking chances and seeing what worked out for her.

My friend Marc says the following: Life is about taking chances. It’s about doing something you initially thought you could never do. It’s about being a little bit crazy. following your heart, and not worrying about every detail of what everyone else thinks. And above all, it’s about learning to love who you are and what you have.

Here are his 12 things to start caring about on your journey:

Start caring about your own happiness – It’s important to make people happy, but you have to start with yourself.
Start caring about your goals and dreams – If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders.
Start caring about how you invest your time every day – There might not be a tomorrow, not for everyone.
Start caring about how you think and what you think about – In your quiet moments, what do you think about?
Start caring about how you treat yourself – Your relationship with yourself is the closest and most important relationship you will ever have.
Start caring about how you treat others – Live so that when the people around you think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.
Start caring about how others treat you – Choose your relationships wisely.
Start caring about your health – Exercise to be fit, not skinny.
Start caring about your education and personal growth – Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to personal growth.
Start caring about doing the best YOU can – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.
Start caring about all the wonderful things you have right now – Learn to appreciate the things you have before time forces you to appreciate the things you once had.
Start caring about this moment we call ‘life’ – This moment is your life, don’t miss it.

So what have people said about their growth paths over the centuries, lets have a look:

1. This is when fear is a positive in your life.

2. Boats are not built to stay in safe harbours, neither are you: Around The World.

3. Audrey was much more than just a great actress, In December 1992, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

4. Best known for his hierarchy of needs, Abraham Maslow calls out for us to choose growth and overcoming fear by moving forward again and again: Ours.

5. The knot explains a lot.

6. Will people come on aboard your form of contagious?: Fight Song.

7. We go back to the 18th Century for this powerful insight from the third POTUS.

8. How is your journey unfolding, don’t give your dreams up: Don’t Stop Believing.

9. A great word that hangs out with I’m Possible.

10. There are several quotes that say this, Boom!: To Live And Die In LA.

11. Its an inner and outer journey.

12. You can’t stay there anymore: Time to Grow.

13. Breathwork is very supportive on the journey I have found.

14. Our second POTUS for today’s blog: Happy Birthday, Mr President.

15. And for our final lesson, we hear from one of the world’s most powerful women . Ginni Rometty’s tenure as IBM’s CEO has been marked by noteworthy awards, including by Bloomberg’s 50 Most Influential People in the World, Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business”, Time‘s 20 Most Important People in Tech and Forbes’ America’s Top 50 Women In Tech.

Unfortunately, sometimes, just before you take your first step on the journey to pursue your dreams, people around you, even the ones who deeply care for you, will give you awful advice. It’s not because they have evil intentions. It’s because they don’t understand the big picture – what your dreams, passions and life goals mean to you. They don’t understand that, to you, the reward is worth the risk. Enjoy the Journey.

So as Steve Jobs said ” Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living within the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Today’s playlist features rock bands, pop divas and rap stars. We begin with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, then Taylor Swift and her fellow pop diva Rachel Platten. Journey next then over to rap land with Tupac and Lemar. We finish with Marilyn Monroe: First You Dream, Then You Do.

I was checking my stats recently, I spread my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included across 128 countries last year. I’m on a strong growth pattern to having it being the world paradigm. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included!!!

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Rod's World

Today I write about my Why: it’s expressed in the title of this blog. I write all of these blogs at the Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston Australia a placed that healed me after six years of a mental health crisis that included six psych unit hospitalisations totalling a period of six and a half months, my advice, never let this happen to you.

In our brochure our ethos is explained, it is as follows “Where difference is acknowledged, explored, understood and celebrated. Darebin Intercultural Centre aims to foster respectful and constructive interracial, intercultural and interfaith relations between and amongst people who live, work or play in Darebin. The Centre is a dedicated space for Intercultural development, dialogue, engagement, participation and celebration.”

How did I end up here? After working for Centrelink, a government agency who deals with the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly, read the people who others want to forget exist for 14 years I ended up being dismissed never to work again after being Manager of the most chaotic Newstart section in Melbourne ending my career doing filing because I did not listen to what my heart and body were saying to me, which was, Get the Fuck out.

I spent about two years lying around my flat believing what they had said when I saw an ad in the local newspaper: Free Colombian film night. I was drawn to this as South America is one place that is on my bucket list. I fought against my social anxiety and went to the Darebin Intercultural Centre for the film.

When I arrived there was an incredibly diverse crowd of cultures just hanging out together being friends. It spoke to my heart and to this day I do not know what gave me the courage to ask the manager Inaam did they need any volunteers. I do not know why she replied yes, as they had never had any before.

Over the following five years I have done many things and at the moment being an English tutor three days a week, my dear old dad, if he was alive would be very proud because he always wanted me to follow in his footsteps as a teacher up until the day I was expelled at the end of Year 11 for non attendance as I hated the formal school system.

I feel that my friend Marc Chernoff’s list called 10 Actions That Always Bring Happiness speaks to my joy of being involved with the Centre:

1. Appreciate how much you have.

2. Focus on things that really matter.

3. Define your own meaning in life, and pursue it.

4. Embrace life’s challenges.

5. Find the balance that allows you to be who you truly are.

6. Love your body enough to take care of it.

7. Limit your time with negative people.

8. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

9. Set a good example.

10. Accept what is, and live for the possibilities that lie ahead.

I chose to learn about new cultures as the way of empowering my intercultural journey, but what does the planet say about it:

1. No words really needed.

2. Travel is a great way to discover new cultures. Be careful you may fall in love with one, and never leave: Greece – The Best Love Song.

3. You have to open your eyes to let love in.

4. Live your life to the full, A Ho: Loving Life.

5. In December there is something to celebrate every day, not just Christmas. My favourite is December 30th: National Bicarbonate of Soda Day.

6. This is why I love our Centre, I am always learning new ways of these things being expressed: Where Is The Love.

7. Vironika Tugaleva is an award-winning author, poet, spoken word artist, life coach, wanderer, visual artist, vocalist, and seeker of beauty in all its forms.

8. I don’t always agree with Ayn Rand but this hits home: Life is Worth Living.

9. Exercise your compassion for others and their diverse cultures and build up your wing strength.

10. Strange a right-wing conservative came up with this: I was Here.

11. From the most famous of philosophers, Ms Unknown comes this power quote on the beauty of Interculturalism.

12. Abdel-Fattah studied a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law at the University of Melbourne. During this time, she was the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic Council of Victoria, a role that afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of Muslims and Islam. She completed her PhD on Islamaphobia. Abdel-Fattah was a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1998 federal election as a member of the Unity Party (slogan: Say No to Pauline Hanson). I Don’t Like It.

13. Spiritualism explained really well.

14. From the man who refused to cut the Arts budget to fund a war, here is another on the importance of art and culture: Beasts of No Nation.

15, For our final lesson, what are we up to with our addiction to learning from Social media and not libraries.

If you want to empower others in your life. you need to start living the most empowered version of your self first, that is why finding your why in life is so important. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream, I’m 65. Believe in what you want so much that it has no choice but to become your reality. And don’t ever compare yourself to anyone else; stay focused on your own journey and leave footprints behind. My blog has left footprints in 104 countries across the planet, I find this amazing.

I have fulfilled a dream today in the playlist, I got to include a Fela Kuti song. We begin with a love song to Greece, Our unknown artist at 57,000 likes is a fine voice from Lysa. The Black Eyed Peas do that song next. Back to modern times with Justin Bieber and Beyonce. Some Aussie edification with the satiricalness of Pauline Pantsdown and we complete with my dream track from Fela Kuti: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included.

So this is the joyfulness and one of the loves of my life, The Darebin Intercultural Centre where I was gifted my Why one afternoon sitting at my desk: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

Don’t Wait Until You’ve Reached Your Goal!!!

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Rod's World

Celebrate, Celebrate Good Times: Great song, it will probably be on the playlist but is what it is saying true. I beg to differ, I think our purpose in life is to celebrate all times and that our ups and downs in life are our training ground to have this occur.

I have 5,000 Facebook friends, some I know better than others but I send all of them a Facebook Birthday card, somedays it is up to 30 people but this is one form of celebration I have taken on so I have not limited the time it takes me. I do have a standard male and female formulae and some of my close friends I do special ones for. I am surprised by how many people contact me personally and thank me. So as birthdays and deathdays are our main forms of celebrations what about the other days of the year?

I went to a friends birthday at the Abbotsford Convent yesterday, Dan is a beautiful man, there was his partner Theresa and our mutual friend Karina there. I met two of my 5,000 FB friends for the first time, Shanti and Roman, great people, all of who have interesting things to contribute to a celebration. Remember, as we mature it becomes less important to have a lot of friends and more important to have real ones.

So what do friends do differently to people who just walk past each other on the street:

1. They face problems together

2. They give what they can because they truly care.

3. They make time for each other.

4. They offer each other freedom.

5. They communicate effectively.

6. They accept each other as is.

7. They are genuine and accept genuineness.

8. They compromise.

9. They support each other’s growth changes.

10. They believe in each other.

11. They maintain realistic expectations of their relationship.

12. They honour each other in small ways on a regular basis.

13. They listen, and they hear every word.

14. They keep their promises.

15. They stick around.

What has life said about celebrating friendship and life in general, here are a few of my favourites:

1. Why do we not celebrate many moments between life and death?

2. Remember, you came here for a purpose, lets make it an inspiring one: Message In a Bottle.

3. Oprah would have something to say about this.

4. A great thing to celebrate: Celebrate Good Times.

5. Love and Gratitude are two other words that are part of the celebration recipe.

6. George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond: Laughter In The Rain.

7. The celebration is not always about happy, happy.

8. Choose to be alive: Born To Be Alive.

9. What happens to celebrations when the festival season is over.

10. Hathaway supports several charities and causes. She is a board member of the Lollipop Theatre Network, an organization that brings films to sick children in hospitals, and advocates gender equality as a UN Women goodwill ambassador. She is married to businessman Adam Shulman, with whom she has a son: Unconditionally.

11. Your Celebrate Life fridge magnets.

12. How would you live your life differently if the life expectancy age was 40: Africa.

13. The Greatest gift you can give to another.

14. More fridge magnets: Hallelujah.

15. And for our final lesson today, be all there.

Remember, life is kind of like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late. But after the fun, there are a few who stay and help you clean up the mess. And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess. These people are your real friends in life. They are the ones to celebrate life with.

How did Neil Sedaka, Kate Perry and KD Lang get on the same playlist? They all sing songs of celebration. We begin with The Police, followed by Kool and the Gang. Neil is next, then back to disco and Patrick Hernandez. Kate drags us back to the present. We finish with Toto and KD: Don’t Wait Until You’ve Reached Your Goal!!

So, I reckon if we all chose to celebrate life more, my ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included would occur sooner than later. Remember you can have these blogs sent to your inbox from the box on the right-hand side of the main page. Until we meet again my dear friends.

You Can Never Go Back!!!

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Rod's World

After doing 9 transformational workshops in 2018 it has been a bit quiet on that front this year. Just my first stop year-long training Warriors of Love with the Essence School: For your edification up until now. I have completed a one-day vulnerability workshop and the amazing Awakening Connections. Level Two in the past two weeks. Both provided a new level of being alive. Here is the mission of Awakening Connections:

We believe that at our human core our greatest longing is to be seen, felt and heard by those we love.

Awakening Connections is a new paradigm of relating that empowers people to come into deeper wholeness, love and truth.

We know a world exists where humans feel enlivened within themselves which in turn creates an opening for healthy, sexy and inspired relationships.

Relationships with self and others are the most challenging emotional experiences we face, asking us to continually evolve and grow.

We give people the ability to really step into and navigate the challenges we face and turn them into gold.

Awakening Connections celebrates the journey of relationship through embracing both its ecstatic potential as well as the gritty, real and raw nature of the human experience.

It’s time to create extraordinary relationships, are you ready?

Did they deliver on this, I would have to say FUCK YES in spades. For privacy reasons, even though as adults we did not have this agreement to reveal the contents of the course I will reveal the last practice at the end of this blog. But lets have a look at what society has said about the values of transformational experiences over time:

1. Yes, he is a chef, a quite famous one, but this so relates to our lives.

2. Have you seen that meme of the guy on the bike riding what we think life is like and the one below with the entangled ball of string that represents what life is truly like, this is saying the same thing, be courageous: Live Your Life.

3. Sir Richard’s take on it.

4. This was written quite a while ago, to me he is still speaking the truth: Free.

5. From the world’s best-known cardigan wearer comes this powerful statement on transformation.

6. I think it says Patti Smith, not sure: Because The Night.

7. My man Thich Nhat Hanh, you rock.

8. We discussed trust and safety quite a bit over the four days of the journey: Surrender.

9. Lot’s of Heart opening too.

10. I had the privilege of seeing one of the other participant’s souls, it was an ecstatic experience: Soul Sacrifice.

11. What is wonderful about this type of workshop is you can go the whole gamut of life from rage to silence and this is what is provided.

12. From ancient China is the offering of the whole world when it lands in your soul: We are the Champions.

13. Welcome to your new career, my fellow participants.

14. So here is a song that was played towards the end, not nearly loud enough. This song is meant to be so loud it rocks your soul: Lust for Life.

15. And for the final lesson, this is what transformational experiences do. It turns the numbness and the noise down. And you get to hear your soul’s passion.

On the final day, we gave up our old lives, asked our partner to hold our old fears, mine was: Will you hold my Neediness of and total mistrust of women, she accepted. We walked down the aisle and my new vows are:

I vow to stand in my power, I vow to be a legendary lover, I vow to do what it takes to get the job done, I vow to have an open heart at all times, I vow to let love in and I vow to be part of healing the planets pain schisms through spreading Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included across the Globe.

The playlist today begins in the now and then goes back to the past to some of the classic transformational anthems: We begin with T.I. and Rhianna, moving on to Rudimental and Emeli Sande. Patti Smith then rocks your world, back further to the king Elvis. Then we complete with two out of the final three tracks being my all-time favourites. Santana from Woodstock, Google it if you don’t know what Woodstock was, followed by Queen telling you who you are, then completing with Iggy Pop as we did on the final day, remember as loud as possible: You Can’t Go Back.

So if you get to create your vows in such a supportive bubble your life with be different from the moment you take them. Thank you so much, Alley, Shaney and Jared, we owe you big time. Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included.

Never Accept The Definition of Life From Others!!!

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Rod's World

I am going through a 21-day process called Integrity and the Power of Habit via the Warriors of Love year-long training program I am in. Each week has a list of core principles, for week one they are as follows in the area of Integrity :

Live from Embodies Essence.
The Power of Declaration from Essence.
Integrity – Do what you say you will do.
With Integrity Comes Power.
Write It Down – Put it in time.
When Integrity falls out, we create distance.

For each of us, these principles will bring up different shadows where we could improve said integrity. I immediately noticed for me it was how I spend my mornings. I have watched ABC News Breakfast for at least an hour for the past five years. My friend Brian Johnson from Optimize, the best ten dollars you can spend on the internet: The link to Brian’s World. states that we are at our most refreshed first thing in the mornings . after we have rested our body.

So the TV is now turned off and I go for a half-hour walk wearing my absolutely fantastic Beats Bluetooth headphones listening to my morning meditation.

What do others say about the morning and how empowering it is when used to its full benefits, let’s have a look.

1. My Tibetan Buddhist school referred to him as Shakyamuni Buddha. This is about living in the present.

2. One is not the loneliest number sometimes: One.

3. A bit out of integrity with the spelling but a great message.

4. My life ethos is Love and Respect for all, Everyone Included so I cannot agree with this: One Love.

5. Celebrations, Challenges and Commitments are what we look at in the group.

6. Word Magic: Try.

7. And hopefully we all have one of these, and if we don’t, they are out there, you just have not found each other yet.

8. Refer to the Blog title…: Born This Way.

9. Is this a tautology, even if it’s not, it’s clever.

10. From the worlds most popular philosopher, Ms Unknown, the reason why early to bed, early to rise is such a great idea: Live It Up.

11. From the early and mid-1800s, Ralph speaks of the benefits the mornings offer.

12. Life is a Blessing, a powerful mantra to live life by: Blessed We Are.

13. And is all across the planet.

14. Cute cat photo of the blog: Moving On Up.

15. And for our final lesson, there are 7 billion different ways to relate to these principles.

Today’s list from Marc and Angel Chernoff is entitled: 10 WAYS Successful people START Their Mornings:

Get an Early Start.
Clarify and Review Your Priorities.
Prune any nonessential commitments for the day.
Exercise.
Eat a Healthy Breakfast.
Kiss your partner good-bye.
Practice 15 minutes of positive visualisation.
Eat That Frog.
Connect with the Right People.
Stay Informed.

Today’s playlist educated me, I did not know that one of Australia’s musical icons went as far back as the sixties, but there you go. We begin with John Farnham and Bob Marley from the last century. Pink and Lady Gaga returns us to this one. Another Australian number one from Mental As Anything. Then a fantastic singalong from Peia, and we complete with some R and B from M People: Never Accept The Definition of Life From Others!!!

So here is to walking to my nearby lake in Rezza, aka Reservoir each morning. Showing myself Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included. Remember if you enjoy the subject matter of my blog, sign up on the right-hand side on the homepage. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

There Is No House Like The House Of Belonging!!!

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Rod's World

We had a training day for my Warriors of Love yeat long training program yesterday, that’s Sunday for the rest of my readers who don’t live in Australia. Embarrassingly due to lack of sleep, I fell asleep twice in the theoretical section of the day. But towards the end of the day, we did an amazing exercise on Belonging – as in what was our belief’s that had us not fully belong in a group of over 30 people and what did we think was the core belief of the group that prevented it.

There was an amazing range of reasons offered, some people spoke easily, others did not comment at all. For myself, my bugbear “If they truly knew how unlovable I was they would hate me” was my offering. Others covered I am afraid to shine because I will be cut off at the knees too, I can’t bring all part of my life here. They were as many and varied and unique as the diverse individuals in the group.

When we moved on to the group ethos it tied into fear of what would our lives be like if we actually achieved this. The thought crossed my mind that my worrisome and sometimes anxious identity would have to die. So what has the world said about belonging, what stops or creates a sense of community, let’s have a look:

1. Who else could we start this with but a classic Brene Brown quote?

2. As children, we will try anything because everything is a new experience, and we belong to them all: Adventure of a Lifetime.

3. British film director Anthony Minghella powerfully states the control these thoughts have over us.

4. I totally get where actor James Caan is coming with this statement: Hey Ho.

5. Not just students: children, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, girlfriends, boyfriends, lovers, ex-lovers, etc. etc.

6. I think William should have called them the superpowers: Superpower.

7. Wonder (curiosity), self-discovery, problem-solving, interaction, exploration, and play—that’s what Bev Bos taught me. Reading and writing come after these approaches to learning are established. Children learn best when they can make their own choices and set their own goals.

8. The entertainment industry is featuring heavily in this blog, musician Tom Petty directs us towards our freedom spot: Freedom.

9. That’s how powerful your story is – speak kindly to yourself.

10. More Brene, Self Love 101: Love Myself.

11. And from outside Western civilization comes proof this is a worldwide search.

12. Being the daughter of famous parents may have something to do with this quote, Gail’s mother was Lena Horne: Stormy Weather.

13. Belonging has many different meanings.

14. Being the best or most extreme example of its kind. “the ultimate accolade”: Ultimate.

15. The final lesson for today is this image because I loved it so much.

I like adding one of my friends Marc and Angel Chernoff, who wrote 1000+ Little Things Happy Successful People Do Differently lists at the end of my blogs, I have found them extremely useful on my healing journey. Todays is entitled 10 TIMELESS lessons from a Life Well Lived:

Happiness cannot be travelled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed.’
Be a student of Life every day.
Experience is the Best Teacher.
Your Choice, Your Actions, Your Life.
No one is “too busy.” It’s all about priorities.
Be patient and tough. Someday this pain will be useful to you.
It’s usually better to be kind than right.
You can become a magnet for good things by wishing everyone well.
Only you are in charge of your attitude.
Satisfaction is not always the fulfilment of what you want.

Today’s playlist features Rock, Rap and Pop Diva’s. We begin with the rock of Coldplay and the Lumineers. Beyonce and Hailee Steinfeld are split by a classic Woodstock anthem from Richie Havens. The penultimate song returns to the time of World War Two from Lena Horne and we finish with a grungey rap number from Denzel Curry: There Is No House Like the House of Belonging!!!

I was thinking as we were standing in the completion circle of our Belonging process that if we achieve this it would be possible for the whole planet to come from Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included, my heart shuddered. Remember if you enjoy reading my musings you can sign up to receive them on the right-hand side of my home page. Until we meet again on the airwaves, my dear friends.