Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life - Clive

1 1 ChangeYour thinking , Change your LifeA spiritually-based guide designed to stimulate the thinking of peoplewho want to get on with living and not just to re-find yourself and your disillusioned or depressed individuals, couples,parents, families, corporations and spiritual seekers on all Simpkins(AuthoroftheConcise Communicator)CSSC PublicationsPublished by CSSC PublicationsP O Box 783861, Sandton, 2146, South international + 2782 774 4011 Mobile local 082 7744011 First published 2003 Thisfr ee,Internete-bookversion made availablefor1stOctober 2005to commemoratethe Mahasamadhi(passing on, October 1st1994)of my beloved and revered spiritual Preceptor,His Holiness Swami ShivapadanandaCopyright Clive Simpkins 2003onwardsAll rights reservedThe moral right of the author has been assertedISBN NUMBER 0-620-29930-4 Hard copy version:Typeset in Times New RomanPrinted and bound by Creda Press21 School Street, CityandSuburban, Johannesburg, South AfricaCover layout by (local)2 ContentsPagenumberDedicationand acknowledgements4 Foreword by Psychiatrist Dr.

2 Dora Wynchank5 Preface9 The seven things you need to acknowledge11 Setting the Change Truth scene16 Change Truth # 127 Truthfulnessandsincerityare the foundation Truth # 242 Seek balance not Truth # 352 Fulfilment requires living your Truth # 458 Motivation by anyone else, isa Truth # 566 Know where you re Truth # 682 Don t blame your Truth # 796 Responses are habits, not Truth # 8107 Pain produces bad Truth # 9121 Emotional Intelligencemeans relationship Truth # 10142 You can only lead where you have Truth # 11165 Most vulnerable means Truth # 12176 Many people, as many Truth # 13188 Perfectionism is perfect Truth # 14199 Beyond independence lies Truth # 15212 You don t learn from the experience of Truth # 16220Be worthy of learning and # 17232 Perceptionis Truth # 18239 Don t fight the old focus on the Truth # 19252 Let go of Truth # 20265 Fire pseudo-mentorConclusion276 Rehearsals areover.

3 Now start living!4 DedicationToSrimati Jayanti Devi, my revered and beloved Mummy. Twameva Mata, cha Pita twameva.(Thou art my Mother and Thou art my Father)AcknowledgementsTo Tim Sikyea and Ndithembile KonqobeNative Canadian Yellowknife Medicine Man. Helper, as he his South African counterpart,Sangoma(traditional healer),Ndithembile the soul-refreshing mountain experience that re-kindled the spark for this fellow wordsmithCathy ParkWho reada few pages of this draft manuscript and a few pages of a parallel projectand suggested including some autobiographical materialin this ve done so. I hope it will add to your experience in the You arecalled by the ancestors to heal will heal them through what comes out of your what comes out of your mouth, will remove their confusion. Ndithembile Konqobe during a bone-throwing, prediction ceremony for the author,at Rustler s Valley in the Maluti Mountains, South Africa, February started writing this book in 1997.

4 Having completed a sizeable chunk of themanuscript, the project wentontoa back burner. Partly because a Publisher read thedraftand said, It s superficial. Like many authors I suppose, I simply decided she didn tunderstand the true intent of the book. But the gods conspired. I had a computer harddrivecrash, forgot that I had the manuscriptbacked up elsewhere and couldonly find areally bitty version of the original. I abandoned the was delighted when fiddling with my computer on the full moon day of 28thDecember2001, to discover the full manuscript, vintage 1997, backed up under another file name. Iset to working immediately. What started out as a business book on communication andchange withsubtleunderlying spiritual principles, is nowexplicitlya book on spiritualityin life and business.

5 I think the passage of time will have added value. I hope youenjoyreading it as much as I have enjoyed being the instrument for writing is this book?It s asharing ofsome insights and thoughts,forpeoplewho havean interest in spirituality andself-development,andwho want to live combines muchof what I ve learned with a littleof what I ve does it cover?Look at the visual covers mostly the items on the right hand to as the intrinsic part of us, which others seldom get to are the objectives of the book?It s intended to stimulate thinkingandencourage meaningful purpose tolive,not simplyto convey thatonlySpiritual Awarenesscreates authentic things you need to are seventhings you need to acknowledge if you hope to live your life with anydegree of serenity:1st:Few of us are destined to live this life free of problems or tragedy.

6 I have a simpleprinciple in my life : Not without His permission. Meaning,that for me,whateverhappens, God is permitting it to happen for my best belovedgodmotheralways says, Don t pray for the problem to be taken away. Pray for the grace andfortitude to endure it. What s important is that wecope(preferably calmly) day to day,with what life serves up. As somedelightfully wacky woman said, If lifeserves up alemon, break outthe Tequila and salt! Now there s a practical :Let go of the idea that you can be whatever you want to be. That spatentnonsense. You may beborn with a withered leg, anddesperatelywishto be the top 100metre sprinter in the s unlikely. Put the word Para in front of Olympics and you might stand a chance. You will become and bewhat is best foryourspiritual evolution in this life .

7 your path may not be what youwant. It willmore likelybewhat :Don t have expectations of people, relationshipsor circumstances. You re settingyourself up for quote mygodmotheragain: Don t judge others byyourownstandards. 4th:It will take a commitment tocompletetruthfulness and sincerity to Change yourlife. If you re in the habit of wearing masks and putting on an act or performance forthose around you, and you re notwilling to stop doing so, you ll neverattain orsustainmeaningful or permanent :You need tohaveorfinda sense of purpose, for your life to have relevance. Ifyou just exist, you llalmost certainlyslip intoa clinical :At the heart of Change lieEmotional IntelligenceandSpiritual Awareness. Ifyou re able to manage your mind, you ll make Change . If not, Change will manage : Change is impartial and forest fire is not a catastrophe for all.

8 Certainseedscan t germinate until they ve been exposed to fire. Youmay have planted a field ofmaize and it rains. You consider ita blessing. You ve just painted your house, the paintisn t dryand it rains. You consider the raina curse. It s a man should conquer in battle a thousand, and a thousand more,and another man should conquer himself,his would be the greater the greatest of victories isvictory over oneself;and neither the gods in heaven above nor the demonsdown belowcan turn into defeat the victory of such a DhammapadaYou don t get to decide your part in the school play,but you do get to decide whether or not you play it Copeland Lewis Really important stuff my kids have taught meHow to use this bookIt s not intended that you read this book in one fell swoop, or even the end ofthe Setting the Change Truth Scene first.

9 Thereafter,if you re soinclined, open the bookanywhereandbrowse,pause, contemplate, studyorthinkabout whatever snippet may capture your Meditation Moments the quotations arehighlightedthe way this section may wish to writedownon a piece of paper or card, a particular quotation thatseems to speak to you, and read it several times during the meditation moments contain quotations from a variety of sources andculturesaround the world. Someare from children. These wise, little-league observationsare inthe main, from Cynthia Copeland Lewis heart-warming compilation,Really importantstuff my kids have taught s published by Workman Publishing in New York. Goand buy it!Some of the quotations are my own. Not egotistically intended. I simply follow thesanctionof George Bernard Shaw, who said, I often quote myself.

10 It adds spice to theconversation! Three thoughtsI revisitednumeroustimes, the temptation to give you neat chapter of my own journey on the spiritual path, I have yet to findanysummaries. SoI m leaving you to draw your own conclusions from what you read and the order inwhich you choose to read it. This is not a how-to book. This writing is a catalyst foryour brain and for your of the Change Truths are dealt with injusta few pages. What follows is then aphilosophical meander along a spiritual forest path. Leaving you to experience the walkinyour ownparticularway. Having satthrough numerous sessionsofearnest spiritualdiscussion anddebateover the years, there was mostly, in my experience, noexplicitlydefinedt hread or neat take-away. Instead,I walked away with a brain teeming withstimuli and ideas, whichneededprocessing and digestion at leisure.