A Strong Soul Shines After Every Storm!!

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Rod's World

I enjoyed the shamanic power of Kailash Kokopelli twice over the weekend. Kailash has been running Sound Healings and Cacao ceremonies around the world since the 1990s. The Link to Kalaish’s World. the first event was a short healing at an Ecstatic Dance experience and the second one at this joyous event called The Alchemy of Joy which was a full-blown experience. The event was organised by a true lover of community spirit named Ivanna. I arrived with my pillow and lay down on the ground and was instantly offered a yoga mat so I didn’t get cold from the floor and the cherubic soul who offered it to me said to make sure I did not miss out on the free springwater, chai and soup.

Kailash offered us all his knowledge and experience about cacao ceremonies and how important it is to bless all the directions before consuming it. We then sang heart songs for about an hour to open our heart for the Sound Healing, they were beautiful and definitely opened my heartspace prior to the main ceremony.

I am a known snorer and have been woken up many a time for the said crime of disturbing others during Sound Healings, Kailash set up the intention so powerfully that there was no way I felt like entering the snoring state but went on a profound journey with my soul.

This has made me ask how does humanity relate to the soul across our different cultures, here are some of the ways:

1. I love Mandi’s about details on her webpage:

HI.

I’m Mandi.

I used to be a U.S. Naval Officer. Now I am a hippy artist and body positive activist living in New Zealand.

This website is where I house my personal work. The work that bubbles up from the muse and me kind of just have to make it. I make it for myself. and as a way of looking deeper at something that has caught my eye or tripped up my imagination. I make it for the people of the world as a way of begging us to see past the superficial and to get down to the real meaty raw good stuff of our soul.

2. How does one turn off that ever-consistent chatterbox: The Instrument to Heal Is The Soul.

3. The beautiful sounds of the dual didgeridoos, the oldest wind instrument in the world sent healing vibes throughout the hall.

4. Sha has an M.D. and a degree in traditional Chinese medicine. He is also a grandmaster of Tai Chi, was the lead acupuncturist for the World Health Organization, has been named Qigong Master of the Year and in 2006 was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Award for his humanitarian efforts. He teaches his patients that chanting mantras in Mandarin Chinese can heal their ailments. He has also claimed to be able to replace organs using a technique he describes as a “soul software download”, and practices what he refers to as “soul healings”.

Sha’s practices have been deemed controversial in the west and their effectiveness has been called into question. An ophthalmologist who examined patients treated by Sha reported that none of their conditions was helped by his methods. He claims to treat cancer with “downloads”. A clear case of Eastern versus Western spiritual philosophies: The Voice Within.

5. From Little Things/Steps, big things grow.

6. On your tippy toes: Beautiful.

7. And what would a discussion of healing the soul be without some Rumi?

8. Each time I leave my city limits I am reminded of the power of nature: Colour of The Wind.

9. Forgiveness is the ultimate form of healing and release.

10. Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, he made no writings and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers writing after his lifetime: The Philosophy of Socrates.

11. Indigenous wisdom is barely understood these days.

12. All beautiful side effects: I’ve Got the Music In Me.

13. Don’t forget that the inner work is the important type required.

14. It seems that being your true self is magical and stuff these days: You Can Do Magic.

15. And a final message from your soul after it has been healed.

So keep listening and singing those heart songs, your soul is listening.

The playlist today has two spoken word pieces, the first is from Carolyn Myss, the next two tunes are from Christine Aguilera, then some indigenous wisdom from Pocahontas. Socrates is next. Kiki dee does the penultimate tune and we finish with America: A Strong Soul Shines After Every Storm

I think the more we have of these events across the planet the sooner the ethos of Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included will be able to rise. Until next we meet. my dear friends:

Incredible Things Can Be Done Simply!!

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Rod's World

Had a busy solstice weekend, crewed on Dancing Freedom Friday night, then Winter Solstice Chanting Meditation on Saturday but have chosen to reflect on the event I attended on Sunday that my friends Robbie, Maz and Paul ran called Own Your Desires. Here is the blurb for it:

Do you ever feel attracted to someone but fear rejection? Is it challenging approaching people you are attracted to? Do you struggle to ask for what you really want? We have all had these experiences….as human beings, we have hopes, needs, dreams and desires. This is a journey in exploring and resolving these situations in a safe, experiential space. This is an opportunity to dive deeper into these thoughts and emotions. A chance to unravel old habits and ways of being. There will be exercises and practices for you to discover and develop communications skills, a reframing of limiting beliefs and empowering you to own your desires.

What will this experiential journey give you?
-Freeing yourself from false expectations and imagination.
-Freedom and power to approach people and own your desires.
-Building courage and learning how to express how you truly feel.
-Developing self-awareness and harnessing your truth.
-Empowering yourself to express your affection for another.
-The opportunity to share your true self with another.

At 64 I was the elder of the group which had quite an age spread, the exercises were short and sharp experiences in asking for what you desired with time building up in each experience. There were also sessions were people could share their experiences. Confidentiality does not allow me to share anyone’s but my own.

I noticed I had judgements on what each person would be willing to do and was often surprised when this did not turn out to be the result of the request. Out, damn judgements.

Given this, how has society related to desires over the centuries, here are a few takes at it:

Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore was an 18th Century English poet and critic best known for The Angel in the House, his narrative poem about the Victorian ideal of a happy marriage. I think desires in the 21st Century may be a little different.

2. One distinction was to align your mind, your heart and your sex, all essential areas of your soul, methinks: Everybody Dance.

3. Desire versus Love, an eternal conversation!!!

4. Breath was an important part of the process, Dan Brule is a breathwork master who makes the following statement: Our Breathing is the only system in the body that is both completely automatic and also under our control. That is not an accident of nature, not a coincidence. That is an opportunity, an invitation, to take part in our own nature – our own evolution: Breathin

5. The long and windy road of placing your dreams and desires in the hands of others.

6. It looks like a scene from Marry Poppins so, that word: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

7. How often do we leave our desires out so that our lives appear organized without ripples on the water?

8. Do you purposefully bring your desires to life on a daily basis, you belong with these people if you do: Love Shack.

9. As I found out I probably fit in the latter group when it comes to my desires.

10. Grateful for both the Yes’s and the No’s, need to work on the latter: Kind and Generous.

11. A bucket is just another word, as are To-do lists, both can prevent you from actually living in the moment.

12. From the man who gave us the bliss distinction, here is another classic that points to why we may not be fulfilling all our desires: Staying Alive.

13. It’s in the tax area our desires live.

14. As Tantra came from India I had to include one image of a wise Indian guru or it would just not seem right: Slave To The Rhythm.

15. And Oprah points out in our final lesson, that desires should excite you at first as it is that, that will keep you focussed.

I feel sated after the experience and acknowledge that Robbie, Maz and Paul delivered full value with love and compassion, they worked well as a facilitation team, I will be back.

Today’s playlist contains some musical royalty: We begin with funksters Chic, then shoot forward to pop diva, Ariana Grande. Then that word and song from Mary Poppins followed by a jump around track by the B-52’s. The superb voice of Natalie Merchant is next, then pop royalty The Bee Gees. We finish with the always sultry Grace Jones: Incredible Things Can Be Done Simply!!

My major desire is that the world lives from this paradigm: Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

There Lies Hidden Love in Each Friendship!!

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Rod's World

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

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

1. I think they call it Mindfulness these days.

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

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

4. His Holiness rocks: Contemplate Impermanence.

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

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

7. One word, Boom.

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

9. The millennials take at it.

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

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

12. Now known as spiritual bypassing: Spiritual Bypassing.

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

14. Is this Enlightenment?: Young and Beautiful.

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

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

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

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

Until next we meet, my dear friends.

I like the Way You Make Me Feel!!

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Rod's World

Its Reconciliation Week in Australia, this is the official blurb for it:

At the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. To foster positive race relations, our relationship must be grounded in a foundation of truth.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long called for a comprehensive process of truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history. Our nation’s past is reflected in the present and will continue to play out in future unless we heal historical wounds.

Today, 80 per cent of Australians believe it is important to undertake formal truth-telling processes, according to the 2018 Australian Reconciliation Barometer. Australians are ready to come to terms with our history as a crucial step towards a unified future, in which we understand, value and respect each other.

Whether you’re engaging in challenging conversations or unlearning and relearning what you know, this journey requires all of us to walk together with courage. This National Reconciliation Week, we invite Australians from all backgrounds to contribute to our national movement towards a unified future.

Our local cancel has been showing indigenous directed films nightly, last night I saw a beautiful documentary named Connection to Country: Here’s the Trailer.

So how do you connect to your land, your family and your friends? Lets have a look at what the world has said about it:

1. The one that this is happening with liked my Facebook picture yesterday. Is this a call to action?

2. it is what it is: doesn’t work to wish it was another way: Chemistry.

3. I’ve got the music in me, literally.

4. I can’t hear what you are saying from the sound of the energy emanating from you: Good Vibrations.

5. They aren’t called the gateway to the soul for no reason.

6. The greatest thing you can say to someone: I see You: That scene from Avatar.

7. And they are free.

8. Our indigenous people have a Treaty with the land here in Australia: Treaty.

9. This is what is written on Victoria’s landing page, beautiful: When you remain in your own authentic rhythm and peace you can exist and thrive as both a strong and tender thing simultaneously. Like poetry. Or plants. Or breath,
moving through the body. This is where your power lives.

10. And to the animals and the plants as well: Say Something.

11. All hail a life long friendship, they know all your tricks and when you need to be loved.

12. I don’t want to talk about the hummus: Listen to Your Heart.

13. One word: Brene.

14. My favourite refreshment: Follow The Sun.

15. And our final lesson for today is that what and whoever you connect with, be it the land or a new lover, it’s not about you but how you leave them feeling.

So I hope this helps you strengthen your foundation of connecting with our planet and its inhabitants.

Today’s playlist begins with another unknown pop lad named Asher Angel. Then back to the beaches of California with the Beach Boys. Next is the scene from Avatar that always makes me cry. Then we have the biggest selling indigenous song ever by Yothu Yindi, you can dance if you wish followed by pop diva Christine Aguilera. Roxette is the penultimate song and we close with a live version of Xavier Rudd’s anthem: I like the Way you Make me Feel.

My wish is we all connect through the paradigm, Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until next time, my dear friends.

People Underestimate Their Capacity For Change!!

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Rod's World

Is there a right time to communicate something? I have been wishing to apologise to someone for a while as to how I had been relating to her based on her physical looks versus who she was as a person. I had held her as being far too beautiful to consider talking to someone as decrepit as me. It was meeting another member of her family that made me realise what a beautiful heart she had and how she showered unconditional love on her friends who did not make gross judgements like I had. I have run into her a couple of times recently but both times we have had our party faces on. Crowded rooms, dancing and interruptions every few minutes from people we both know. Comments like the cake is nice or that’s a great track is about the level of conversation.

How has society treated the right time to have a deeper conversation, or am I being precious. This is what they said:

1. That puts the question directly in my face, how much do I really want to do this?

2. An extended Nike quote: This Is How We Do It.

3. Known for his role of Col. Steve Austin, The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Major was definitely in the right place at the right time as this series as it ran for 5 years and was one of the most popular shows on TV at the time.

4. I am more and more being able to pick the moments: Hooked On A Feeling.

5. Michael Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, author, and philanthropist. As of April 2019, his net worth was estimated at $62.1 billion, making him the 6th-richest person in the United States and the 9th richest person in the world. He has joined The Giving Pledge, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their wealth. To date, Bloomberg has given away $8.2 billion, including his November 2018 $1.8 billion gifts to Johns Hopkins University for student aid — the largest private donation ever made to a higher education institution.

6. With the right time added in, miracles can happen: Anything Could Happen.

7. This is what happens when we live an identity-based life and do not listen to what the essence in our heart is telling us to do.

8. Unfortunately, this is not what we are taught in life, that every moment is the right moment, Fortunately, we have the chance to unlearn all the bullshit rules we are taught around this: Right Here, Right Now.

9. Have to agree with Nelson on this, often the mistake is in waiting too long and it becomes overripe leading to catastrophic results.

10. How often do we live these regrets over our lifetime: Mr Wrong.

11. Time is precious, better that you don’t waste it procrastinating.

12. Choose wisely: Perfect.

13. And Martin Luther King Jr did do what was right, he transformed a nation.

14. At 64, I’m not sure about this. Not sure how much time I have left: A Thousand Years.

15. Sometimes it doesn’t feel this way, but it has turned out to be true.

The further I got in writing this the more my head started to throb, this is always a sign that I am avoiding what I need to do to be in balance. Its time to get in contact.

The playlist is pretty modern today featuring only one song that has the number 19 before it. We begin with Now United then travel back to Blue Swede. Ellie Goulding is the first of three pop divas making way for Fatboy Slim, Mary Blige invites her friend Drake along for a sultry number then to the mega huge; Ed Sheeran. We complete with one of my favourite tracks about time by Christina Perri: People Underestimate Their Ability to Change.

I have to get past this there is a right time judgement of life if I am to have the world paradigm become Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

My Story Matters because I Matter!!

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Rod's World

Have you seen it, I’ve watched it five times, etc. etc.. I’m talking about the latest Netflix sensation, Brene Brown’s special The Call to Courage. I’ve watched it once but have viewed everything on Youtube several times over the years. The title of this blog is one of her quotes, and when her last book Dare to Lead was released I pre-ordered it three times by mistake, my two friends I gifted it to were rapt.

I have read every book she has written at least twice because she is a great writer and makes it easy to receive many aha moments per page. Let’s list them:

The Gifts of Imperfection.
Daring Greatly.
I Thought It Was Just Me: But It Isn’t.
Rising Strong.
Rising Strong As A Spiritual Practice.
The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting.
The Power of Vulnerability.
Braving The Wilderness.
Connections Curriculum – 12 Sessions.
Dare To Lead – Brave Work.
Women and Shame, Reaching Out.

Oops, I have not read them all after seeing the list, two to go. I put Brene Brown quotes in Ecosia Images, I use Ecosia search engine ILO Google because of the fact they plant a tree for each click, and there were hundreds, it’s like all of her words are a quote that can transform your life. These are the ones I have chosen, It’s time for some Brene bliss:

1. These days of the online world, they are called Trolls.

2. And the booby prize is …: Perfectionist Complex.

3. Don’t forget the little things, remember to stop and smell the Roses.

4. If you only do what you know what you feel safe doing, the word boring comes to mind. Time to step up to mistake land: Another Lifetime.

5. Happy, Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, Joy.

6. My marketing mentor laughed at me when I said I could do research for everybody. Andrew said, what about working with people you like working with, find the others: They must deserve It.

7. We are not Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, at the base of it all, we are all human.

8. Shadow and Light travel together, attempting to ignore the shadow is pure bullshit, the pain will remain and return tenfold until you are willing to deal with it: Growing Pains.

9. For me, it lives in the realm of what we don’t know we don’t know.

10. Kur-it. This is why my English students often stare at me with strange looks when I pronounce words for them: Reach Out.

11. Repeat after me, I am Enough. Repeat after me, I am Enough, etc. etc…

12. And at the base of it all, there is Love: Love Myself.

13. How do you respond when a beloved shares their life with you?

14. To be totally balanced in our bodies, we need to feel it all: Comfortably Numb.

15. And fro Brene’s final lesson, it’s a long one and a doozy. If all you get is the aha moment from this one then Brene has done her job.

My top three: Daring Greatly, Rising Strong and Dare to Lead. It is also worth checking out her website, her free resources are awesome: Access to all Things Brene.

The playlist begins with two newbies to me, Jubyphonic and Nao. The spoken word has of course to be Brene, that’s next. Pop diva Alessia Cara follows and then we go way back to The Four Tops. Then my favourite Self Love song from Hailee Steinfeld and Pink Floyd close the set: My Story Matters Because I Matter.

So that’s my love letter to Brene Brown. She would be a fan of my lifetime paradigm: Love and Respect for All: Everybody Included. Until next time we meet, my dear friends.

Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Rod's World

I crew on three drug and alcohol-free dances within our community so ever rarely come across toxic drug and alcohol abuse spaces. I attended one on Saturday night as I had been invited by a DJ friend of mine, Mickey Space to attend his birthday gathering at a place called Horse Bazaar. It was like a return to my dark secret past. This was the venue my wildest girlfriend and I used to attend to dance after taking Acid or Ecstasy over a two year period every Saturday night 15 years ago. I never thought I would return there.

Mickey plays great music, so I was enjoying the dance when this rather drunken, amazingly beautiful young women, most of them are young when you are 64, came up to me and said, “You are too transparent, you’re not allowed to be that transparent, it’s unfair.” I told her I was a Dancing Eros sister, an ISTA graduate and a Warrior of Love. I sat her down and showed her the Dancing Eros homepage, and said look it up when you are sober: Access to Dancing Eros.

What would life be like if we were all as transparent with each other as I was that scared the bejesus out of this young woman? I am an empath so often feel the effect we have on each other. Unfortunately, I feel the pain people think they are hiding that they don’t want people to see so often have to leave events early. What has society said about transparency over the decades? Here are the most relevant I could find:

1. This is one gift if you think of it as one you receive as you become more and more transparent.

2. Simply, His Holiness rocks: Dalai Lama’s Guide To Happiness

3. All you do is confuse others when you continually change directions.

4. Wikipedia thinks Himanshu is either an Indian Bollywood actor or a New York rapper, I’m not sure about that, but I really like the intent of this quote: There is So Much Magnificence.

5. I have discovered I have worn a lot of masks over the years: Shyness, Judgemental, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, it takes committing yourself to a journey to remove them.

6. Some words: Brene Brown, vulnerability, it’s worth it: Embracing Vulnerability.

7. Not greatly relevant, but I like it.

8. How often in our lives don’t we do this for the sake of keeping the peace: Honest.

9. Transparency may lead you here.

10. I think if you are living a transparent life, that the other two would just fall in place: I’m Your Man.

11. When I am writing a note to the woman I wish to be my beloved I write the following: Remember to Breathe next time we meet, my beloved. From your beloved, if that is what you have chosen. I am still waiting for a reply.

12. It’s all in the eyes. They say they do not lie as they are the gateway to the soul: Bette Davis Eyes.

13. Does this go along with Home is Where the Heart Is. Maybe.

14. This may be a fallout out if people are on different journeys towards transparency: So Am I.

15. And our final lesson comes from Bono, who points out powerfully the cost of not telling the truth.

There were quite a few definitions of what transparency means, this was my favourite: the quality of being done in an open way without secrets.

In tribute to being in Rise – Speaker Training the playlist contains two spoken word tracks. We begin with His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, then two of my favourites Deva and Miten. Then the current Netflix craze, Brene Brown. Then one of the many rappers around at the moment, Future. Two legends follow in Leonard Cohen and Kim Carnes, completing with Ava Max: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.

What I am transparent about is spreading the paradigm Love and Respect for All, Everybody Included. The more people I can have see this as a possibility, the merrier. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

Words aren’t Enough To Convey How Much I Miss You.

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Rod's World

I have begun an amazing journey with one of the best Spoken Word artists in Australia if not the world Fleassy Malay, it’s about public speaking and is called Rise: Access to the journey. Fleassy has a spoken word performance Witches, Fleassy’s inspiring poem on women’s empowerment, reached 1,000,000 views in 3 days. It currently sits at over 2,600,000 views in less than one year: Witches.

Truth is Fleassy’s power used to scare the shit out of me, as when she performed she stood in her power, something I had sought for over 60 years and until this year, failed to achieve. Each week of the course I am falling more deeply in love with what gifts she has to offer the world. Each week we have a group Zoom call, this week it was on giving and receiving gifts. I belong to the tribe of the Givers and am incredibly naff at the latter. Each person shared their own version of how they perform them, each one was unique.

So I went in search of my quotes on the subject, not surprisingly there are thousands more on giving than there are on receiving. I think the ones I have chosen display this quite well, let’s begin the journey:

1. It doesn’t say you have to create a cycle of giving and receiving that never ends.

2. The red words are the important ones: The law of Giving and Receiving.

3. Self Care is always an essential part of the recipe though.

4. Dame Freya Madeline Stark DBE was an Anglo-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays. She was one of the first non-Arabs to travel through the southern Arabian Desert. I imagine that she would have had to be a maven at receiving given the cultural conversations of the time in that part of the world: Sweet Child of Mine.

5. Love the name, Peace Pilgrim, and her ethos.

6. And yes, they rhyme: Treasure.

7. The names a little bit clouded, but what a beautiful quote.

8. This is exactly what we discussed today: Superwoman.

9. How good are you at actually asking for receiving help, let alone a gift?

10. From Little Things, big things grow: That magnificent song.

11. Yes, it can fulfil your dreams.

12. Bit obscure, but I love the colours: Singing In The Rain.

13. One of my top ten on the net, I have 5,000 groups, so that says something. if you don’t know him, Google time.

14. Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1947 film The Farmer’s Daughter and received an Oscar nomination for her role in Come to the Stable in 1949. Young moved to the relatively new medium of television, where she had a dramatic anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, from 1953 to 1961. The series earned three Emmy Awards, and was re-run successfully on daytime TV and later in syndication. In the 1980s, Young returned to the small screen and won a Golden Globe for her role in Christmas Eve in 1986: Nobody’s Perfect.

15. The final lesson, there’s that asking word again. Go on, you can do it.

I’m sure as I go through the excellent material provided by Fleassy to transform my listening and ability in the arena of Public Speaking I will fall more deeply in love with what this course has to offer, by the way, it is online so any of you can sign up, we have a few Americans already.

How could I not start the playlist with Spoken Word, so Deepak Chopra leads off followed by The Gunners. Some pop from Bruno Mars and Alicia Keys fill the next two slots. My most ever chosen Playlist song is next, an Aussie classic by Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins. We finish with two uniquely diverse artists, Hollywoods Gene Kelly, and the pop world artificially created Hannah Montana: Words aren’t Enough to Convey How Much I Miss You

So to our beloved group of humans on the Rise journey, I wish you Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until we meet again, my dear friends.

If you Haven’t grown up by 50, You Don’t Have To!!

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Rod's World

Birthdays, we have one every year, I have had 64 of them, something I did not expect to happen in my earlier wild, lost years. We are sort of given a list we are meant to fulfil by our parents: The partner, the kids, the house etc. etc. – I have failed dismally in adding a tick next to these particular things. Instead, I have my conscious community of friends, wild adventures like attending Confest, dancing regularly every week and making chai for two of the dances.

I am at that time in my life that I hear and read about aging gracefully, Fuck That – Its time to party and experience and provide all the things that our community offers and needs us to share our gifts with them. I was having such a conversation with two amazing women at a friends birthday who had broken the mould as well. On our journeys, we tend to find each other over time, firstly we must make some mistakes on the way but our passion and purpose finally get us there.

What does society say about aging with passion, here are a few of my favourite things:

1. Taken to the extreme in one of my all-time favourite movies, Scarface.

2. Especially if you suffered the same fate as the author of this quote, they shot him: My Baby Shot Me Down.

3. This looks like a good read, great title.

4. Fever means something different to those with passion in their bones: Fever.

5. Takes something to get here, but Fuck, Yes.

6. Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. Successful on stage in vaudeville and comic operas, she was also successful in film. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931. A career that rose and fell only to rise again because she did not buy the I am too old bullshit: Fly Me To The Moon.

7. Who wants to keep making those stupid societal errors anyway.

8. And they all came to celebrate my friend Jules at Naked for Satan on Sunday: That’s What Friends are For.

9. Hail the enthusiastic ones.

10. In 1970, after stepping down as NOW’s first president, Friedan organized the nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 people. Betty was 49 at the time: I Feel Shitty

11. Birthday today, time to break the rules.

12. Not just a presidents wife, one rocking mama: Hello.

13. Pick your favourite.

14. If you do this properly, dementia will never be a thing: In My Life.

15. For the final lesson, the first words are cut off, they are not really needed.

There are many ways to live ones live, your soul knows what is best for you.

Jules, the playlist is for you, Seven amazing female divas. Nancy Sinatra begins the journey followed by Peggy Lee. Dianne Krall and Dionne Warwick produce two absolute classics followed by the quirky Jane Friedman who you will not have heard of. The letter A features in the last two tracks with Adele and Allison Crowe. Jules, I expect to hear some of these at your next gig with Austin: If you Haven’t grown up by 50, You Don’t Have To!!

My life is dedicated to Love and Respect For All, Everybody Included no matter what your age, Until next time, my dear friends.

She slept next to the Fires!!

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Rod's World

It took just on a week to get back from the magical land that is known as Confest. The title comes from the glorious minimalist I meet on the last day who had decided to come the day before Confest began, she hopped in her car with a backpack and slept on the earth the entire time, could also do the most amazing earth sounds, I fell in love with her from the moment she shared her vision for the planet.

How do I feel after experiencing my first Confest in 30 years, a mixture of joy and sadness actually. The joy that I have come home again and sadness that I waited 30 years to return. There were hundreds of things to do, workshops, mudtribes, Temple rooms, Silent discos, I chose to hang around our firepit in Tranquility during the day: the drug, alcohol and smoke-free camping area and receive the connections that would come my way and must admit to a silent disco addiction garnered from attending similar events in the Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy. They were not the same, the evil energy of drugs and alcohol permeated the tent, still, I danced.

How did the connecting go, fucking magnificently: Saturday night this is the countries represented around our little fire: Finland, Chile, Argentina, Japan, China, The United States, and me as the token Aussie.

The United States started it all with Woodstock, Confest is Australia’s answer. Woodstock’s motto was Peace and Love, how did Confest fulfil that in my heart and how do we as human beings do that on an ongoing basis, let’s have a look:

1, Jimi performed at Woodstock, he would have loved Confest. Died too young at 27.

2. MLK Jnr. knew what was a need, they shot him: Love Your Enemies.

3. Just keeping it real.

4. Heartspace, way to go: Listen to Your Heart.

5. From the greatest of philosophers, Ms Unknown comes this pearl of wisdom.

6. Working together to make the change, Fuck Yes: Let’s Stick Together.

7. Self-love first, the rest will follow, there were 10,000 souls to share yours with.

8. His Holiness recognizes Love and Peace as the new religion that will make the difference, will you: Love is My Religion.

9. If you don’t know who Ram Dass is, check him out, pure gold.

10. Only one song: Stairway to Heaven.

11. Of course, we cannot forget the powerful morning potion after the few hours of sleep got each night.

12. I met dozens of these beautiful angels over the time I was there: Give Peace a Chance.

13. If you truly want to integrate the Confest spirit in your life, do this.

14. And, especially this: We are family.

15. And the final lesson comes from the divine one, Maya Angelou.

What was the most profound moment of Confest for me? When the indigenous elder ran up to me and said, it is good to see you again this lifetime, then performed a ceremony on my face for 15 minutes in the indigenous language, then told me to listen to the forest. Want to know what it said? It said why do these people come here and play the musical instruments of Africa and sing the songs of India, don’t they know we are the oldest surviving culture on the planet and we have our own sounds. We will heal when they leave. it feels like I can hear the Earthsong. By the way, I had never met him in my life.

The playlist of Love and Peace contains some spoken word and all-time classic anthems. We begin with Martin Luther King Jr, then the unusual combination of Roxette and Eminem. Back in time to Bryan Ferry, then Bob’s son Ziggy Marley. Two more old Love and Peace classics follow from Led Zeppelin and John Lennon. We finish all in the family with Chic and Sister Sledge, Lots of live versions because music is just better live: She Slept next to the Fire!!

Confest was a great example of how I want the world to relate: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. Until next time, my dear friends.