Note to Self : Stop Expecting!!

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Rod's World

” The reason many people in our society are miserable, sick , and highly stresses is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over.” – Steve Maraboli

Luminita Saviuc states that in every instance of transformation, the transformative insight was always one that led her to letting go , surrendering and giving up, in the best sense possible. And perhaps out of all the self-sabotaging habits of thought and behaviour, the one that’s far too common is our desire to control aspects of our reality that are actually beyond our control.

I can speak from experience that staying in control can be costly, as I have experienced several mental health periods in my life which I fought seeking the help that I needed to restore the balance in my life.

So how do we relate to control in our society. let’s take a peek:

1. This reminds me of the Activation work where we get in touch with our Essence in life I do with my mentor Arion Light: Link to the Source.

2. The history of psychedelics dates back tens of thousands of years, it is only in the past 100 years that there has been scientific and counterculture interest in these substances. They were originally used to obtain transcendental experiences: Purple Haze.

3. This is one form of control it would be a great thing to let go of, refusing to get back up.

4. The soul is harder to hear when you are controlling what enters your heart: Keeping Your Head UP.

5. To achieve this those mental controls of fear and anxiety must go.

6. When the controls are gone, we can sing relax don’t do it: Frankie sings it.

7. And yet, there are profoundly powerful acts of control that we need in our life.

8. We often lose control when we just don’t want to wait anymore, and say that’s enough. Remember that what people talk about on their death beds is what they regret usually, not what they celebrate: No Regrets.

9. What would our lives be like if we were so in control that we were incapable of giving back?

10. Sarah Dessen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen novels for teens, which have received numerous awards and rave reviews. Her books have been published in over thirty countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide: You’re the one that I Want.

11. Ah, the women who introduced the term The Work to the world. Another pearl of wisdom: Let Life live you – It does anyway.

12. Hard to drive your car of dreams with four flat tires, isn’t it.: Flat Tire.

13. Or even not knowing what you don’t know!!

14. A way to make sure that people stop relating to you from a position of power: Stop Complaining.

15. A possibility if we set our controls for the heart of the sun.

” So don’t be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than you have ever known, casting its shadow all over you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don’t know what work they are accomplishing within you? – Rainer Maria Rilke

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.

Don’t Squander Joy!!

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Rod's World

I went along to watch a friend do her graduation performance at a transformational program she had been participating in called The Voices Of. In it, Ally embraced the voices of her INNER CHILD, INNER WISDOM, FEAR, SHADOW, DO-ER & DREAMER, she had come to find her TRUE VOICE. It was one of the most joyous evenings I have been to in a long time. Here’s a link to the website for it if you wish to know more: Voices of Movement.

It made me think about what brings you joy in my life. Is it music, sex, food? There are many ways to feel it, let’s have a look at what they say about it:

1. From the author of the iconic novels Treasure island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson points to the fact joy is a feeling, not something that can be truly expressed in words.

2. Joy is a choice we must make daily, I made it last night by attending Ally’s graduation. To experience it today I must continue to choose it: I Choose You.

3. Can’t you feel it bubbling up just wanting to burst through, have a joyous day!!

4. Get out your fishing net of love, there is a soul full of joy waiting for you: Heart Full of Soul.

5. How do you have joy occur in your life, you focus on the things that make you feel that way.

6. What do you hold as holy, what keeps you warm and aglow? For me it’s music and blogging: Eternal Flame.

7. Your life is not somewhere to get to, It is a journey. Finding joy in that will make for a more enjoyable one.

8. It doesn’t change who you are when you get to your goal. If you are not joyful on the way there don’t expect it will change miraculously when you achieve it: Joyful Journey.

9. Until his final years, Wagner’s life was characterised by political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors. His controversial writings on music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment, notably, since the late 20th century, where they express antisemitic sentiments. The effect of his ideas can be traced in many of the arts throughout the 20th century; his influence spread beyond composition into conducting, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and theatre.

10. One of my favourite writers Wayne Dyer reminds us that we knew this when we came into the world, so how did it become something that we have to battle for as we get older: Be Natural.

11. If you lead a life of gratitude for the simple things joy will flourish in your life on a daily basis.

12. This is a list of joyful events I attempt to practice daily because it certainly would be a case of Incredible Joy: Singing In The Rain.

13. Joy is not a destination , it’s a state of being. There is a borough named Mount Joy in Pennsylvania though.

14. Thich Nhat Hanh says some mightily obtuse things at times. You will always get a huge amount from them. This song came up next on Youtube, I think it defines joy appropriately: A Spoonful of Sugar.

15. From the world’s most prodigious and famous philosopher, Anon. comes the reminder that when you are giving joy it cannot help but stick to you as well.

So joy is available in your life, if you want it to be, I say don’t squander the opportunities day by day.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

Make each day, a Story!!

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Rod's World

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

Lets look at what people have said on their storyboards:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time , my dear friends.

The best is yet to Come!!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Rod's World

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

definition of Halcyon –

ADJECTIVE

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

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

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

a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly coloured plumage.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste until next time my dear friends

Making Hope Possible!!

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Rod's World

My word for today is restorative, it’s interesting what quotes come up under that. When we restore something to its former glory we are doing a service to the planet as we do not have to build new structures, physically or mentally. we just make good what has become damaged.

So let’s begin our journey along the making hope possible trail:

1. By restoring Light and Love you have a much better chance of restoring the hope that has been lost from a situation.

2. Audrey Hepburn believed in the 5 R’s and that everybody was redeemable, imagine the world if we all thought that was possible: Wouldn’t it be Loverly.

3. This is one of the great pitfalls for perfectionists, do you start anything if you don’t think you are going to get it absolutely right. Problems are a part of life and for our lives to succeed we must learn to deal with them.

4.Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was the 5th Umayyad caliph. He was born in Medina, Hejaz, Abd al-Malik was a well-educated man and capable ruler who was able to solve many political problems that impeded his rule. The 14th-century Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun states: “`Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan is one of the greatest Arab and Muslim Caliphs. He followed in the footsteps of `Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Commander of the Believers, in regulating state affairs”.

During his reign, all important records were translated into Arabic, and for the first time, a special currency for the Muslim world was minted, which led to war with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II. The Byzantines were led by Leontios at the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692 in Asia Minor and were decisively defeated by al-Malik after the defection of a large contingent of Slavs. The Islamic currency was then made the only currency of exchange in the Muslim world. Also, many reforms happened in his time relating to agriculture and commerce. Al-Malik extended and consolidated Muslim rule, made Arabic the state language and organised a regular postal service: Soften Your Heart.

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5. When I was in the depths of my mental health crisis I use d to get on busses in the hope the problems would stay behind in the place I had left, they didn’t. Only when I started taking on board the love of my friends and family did the problems start to go away.

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6. Marianne and John both believe in this: Give Peace a Chance.

7. I have found lately that the solution for a problem lies in the heart not the head. By going into your heart and accepting what is so, it magically clears the situation.

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8. Risky behaviour is deemed to be that way if you haven’t worked out the way to get there. It may not be your normal path of action but there is always a way to get places: There’s no Other Way.

9. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. There is a broad variety of Yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Among the most well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga.

The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, it is mentioned in the Rigveda, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., in ancient India’s ascetic and śramaṇa movements. The chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist Pāli Canon,probably of third century BCE or later. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, but only gained prominence in the West in the 20th century. Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra.

Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise, it has a meditative and spiritual core. One of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics, and is closely related to Hindu Samkhya philosophy.^[

Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease. The results of these studies have been mixed and inconclusive, with cancer studies suggesting none to unclear effectiveness, and others suggesting yoga may reduce risk factors and aid in a patient’s psychological healing process.

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10. There is a new method of justice taking of in parts of the world. It is called restorative justice not retributive justice. It looks at redressing the issues that have caused people to commit crimes so they do not do it again: Clean This House.

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11. The daughter of artistic Italian parents, wife of a professor of philosophy, and an accomplished pianist, Vanda Scaravelli was accustomed throughout her life to meeting creative artists, intellectuals, and literati. The Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurti came to stay at the Scaravelli’s villa overlooking Florence every year. When Scaravelli’s husband died suddenly after World War II, she soon began spending summers with her children at a chalet in Switzerland, where she hosted Krishnamurti during his lectures there. B. K. S. Iyengar would come every morning to teach him yoga; he introduced Scaravelli, then in her 40s, to the ancient discipline, and “a new life came into my body.” Thus began her ongoing exploration of what she called allegrezza, “the intelligent heart.”

From T. K. V. Desikachar she learned breath awareness; she later formulated her own approach to yoga (in which “you become intelligent and at the same time you are happy”) and began to teach others. Her book Awakening the Spine (Harper San Francisco, 1995) became a classic. Since her death in 1999, at age 91, several teachers have carried on her work, most notably Toronto-based Esther Myers. “I practice because it is natural for me to practice,” she told Myers in a 1996 YJ interview. “There is no other reason.

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12. The restorative power of a visit to a major art exhibition or to a great movie cannot be paid for, it isn’t the money you put out: Art for Art’s Sake.

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13. I woke up with a bung knee this morning, after one hours sleep because every time I turned over I would wake from the pain. I hope the above quote has some credibility.

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14. In our social media madness that is called our lives these days always remember that our soul is there hanging out in the peace zone: Desiderata.

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15. Do we make our children think these days , or just rort remember facts so they are prepared for their careers that have been mapped out by society. MLK was not one to accept easy answers or half baked solutions.

The path to Possibility is what I have been aiming to address in this blog. Possibility opens up a new paradigm in our lives that allows us to restore all those dreams we had as children.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.

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Finding the Now!!

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Rod's World

There are so many schools of thought how to be in the Now emanating across the airwaves these days one does not really know who to believe or where to begin to find the most useful amongst them. I have tried many of them over my sixty years so I thought I would pass on a few I have found useful.

1. Calm Abiding Meditation

“There are many stages in mental development, but as soon as we are able to maintain the mind in a calm state, at that very moment there is joy and peace. This is reflected in the body becoming relaxed, and then the mind becomes more relaxed. As the mind calms down, the hidden enlightened qualities emerge more and more.”

—Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche

This statement sums up pretty much what you can achieve in the daily practice of Calm Abiding meditation, a practice I did for 7 years, and which I have recently taken up again after a break of 5 years. I trained to become a meditation Teacher during those 7 years and look forward to using those skills again after my practice is established again.

2. Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga describes the physical practice of yoga. In fact, sometimes the name Hatha is used interchangeably with “yoga.” The slow pace and simple breathing exercises make it a great place to learn basic poses and become comfortable on the mat. My breath cycle improved from 9 seconds to 44 while I was doing Yoga and only gave it up when I discovered the beauty of Tai Chi.

3. Tai Chi

Developed originally in China as a self-defense strategy, or martial art, tai chi—the “supreme ultimate fist”—is practiced in modern times primarily as a gentle exercise technique. Described as “meditation in motion,” tai chi consists of a standing person performing a series of postures or bodily movements in a slow and graceful manner, with each movement flowing without pause to the next. According to Chinese legend, the technique was created by a Taoist monk who was inspired as he watched a crane and a snake do battle. Impressed by the ‘snake’s ability to subtly and swiftly avoid the bird’s thrusts, he devised a series of self-defense techniques that do not involve meeting the opponent’s force with force, but rather stress evading the blow; causing the opponent’s own momentum to work against him. I do the Beijing 24 practice daily and am learning he Bamboo practice. I Also do a warm up called Qigong

4. Qigong

Qigong, literally: “Life Energy Cultivation” is a practice of aligning body, breath, and mind for health, meditation, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine and Philosophy and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi (chi) or what has been translated as “life energy”.^[1]

According to Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian philosophy, respectively, qigong allows access to higher realms of awareness, awakens one’s “true nature”, and helps develop human potential. This noble practice has helped me regain my well being and is my current practice.

5. 5 Rhythms Dance

5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s. It draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms.

Gabrielle describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential.

Getting back to this has allowed me to free my body and be much more present in the Now of my body.

6. Philosophers Notes

Brian Johnson made mega dollars in the I.T. industry then went to Bali and read all the great books. His gift to the world is he can summarise them beautifully.

PhilosophersNotes are like healthy, energizing snacks for the mind, heart and soul! This is such a superb idea, and Brian has such a natural, infectiously appealing way of making it relevant to just about everybody. For avid personal-development aficionados, Philosophers Notes serve as a sampler plate of the very best reads out there, making it easier to decide which new books to crack open next, and which classics deserve a fresh look.

I did one of these for about 60 days in a row then read the books that really touched my heart. They say the day you die is the day you stop learning, in our busy world this is an excellent way to get to access the best quickly. Here’s a link if you are interested https://www.entheos.com/philosophersnotes

7. Communing with Nature

We forget that Gaia has been gifted to remind us that we are all part of the greater plan. A weekend away from the chaos of the city in a forest , or near a beach or river restores our sense of Now. Leaving your phone, computer and work behind for this period has us focus on things like trees, animals and the fresh air that these places are filled with.

8. Growing and Cooking my own Food

Supermarkets are not even 100 years old, how did humans get their food prior to the existence of what is now the major supplier of Food for the human race. We grew our own and prepared and cooked it ourselves or brought it from our local producers. The joy of planting you own vegetables and having your own chickens is immeasurable and making your own meals from fresh, non toxic produce bought from a local farmers market is so good for your health.

Well, I hope this has helped you a little, Namaste until next time my Friends.

Its like swimming back to the sinking ship because its Too Cold

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Rod's World

There are hundreds of images of freighters sinking on Google Images but its not the same as a fully rigged ship, the grand masters of the sea during our formative exploratory years entering the murky depths. This is like the statement above that was made at our last session of Raw, there are no limits. I googled it and it seems its an original so kudos to the member who came up with it.http://changemakersfestival.org/event/raw-there-are-no-limits/.

It was prominent during the night and has stuck in my mind ever since, how many times am I guilty of this seemingly foolish practice. If I did not do this ever I would have lived a life full of wonder with no hiccups. But there are many masters modern and ancient who point to the fact that this sort of life leaves you short of a life well lived. If we are always sailing on a flat ocean with no storms how do we know if we have risked our all.

Helen Keller reminds us that “Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing ” Do we remember those days in our lives where we just got up went to work for 10 hours, came home and fell asleep or do we remember those days we spent realising a new possibility that could transform our relationship to life.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in everydirection, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than youever dreamed yourself to be.”
~ Patanjali – the author of Yoga Sutra

It helps to have a purpose in your live, as Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutra intimates, the forces that will become available to you are immeasurable and what you will be able to achieve is unimaginable to your mind, it is more located in your heart. My purpose is the ethos of Interculturalism Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ It took me 59 years of journeying through addictions, mental illnesses, Buddhism, meditation and banal Government jobs to get there but it was well worth the journey, I intend to transform the world with your help.

Zig Ziglar is considered one of the greatest American Success coaches and his quote ” People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing – That’s why we recommend it daily ” hits home as to what it takes. Get up, do stuff that has your purpose move forward, don’t expect it to magically happen, being in action is what it takes, the law of Attraction does not leave action out of the picture.

I couldn’t wish to be an astronaut as a child because they didn’t exist, I wanted to be a Ships captain because we used to go down to our Aunty Ruby’s farm outside Leopold and you could see the ships in Corio Bay, I’m not a Ship’s captain, the closest I became to a man of the trades was an apprentice French Polisher, the rest of the time I spent behind a desk. As I said I have found a purpose and I’m sure the child back in Pakenham when it wasn’t on the Metro line would be proud of me.

“I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.”
~ Roy Croft

Roy Croft is a little known poet who wrote a poem called Love which begins with the above line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Croft, I believe that this line applies to both friendships, self friendship and other friendship, heck you could probably replace friendship with love if you wished to. You will keep going back to the sinking ship if you do not have both of these in your life, the water will get awfully cold very quickly with out them.

“I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.”
~ Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is loved by millions of women worldwide for her earthy summation of day to day events and is a living example of the above statement. Willing to share it all she is also a disciple of Zig Ziglars statement “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” So if you do not wish to have to swim back to the Sinking ship take some of the advice that these modern and ancient thought leaders have to offer

Namaste until next time my friends