Change Your Thinking

New Insights Africa held its Advanced Coach Training workshop (or ACT) over the course of the weekend just passed at a place called Monkey Valley.

The setting is one of great beauty although it has now been seriously impacted by the massive swathe of fires that have swept through Cape Town’s south peninsula over the past few days.

On Saturday morning my wife, Jenni, led a mild exercise session that was followed up with an opportunity to meditate or reflect while listening to Sir Laurence Olivier reciting a powerful and inspiring poem from the theme of the musical play, Time.

The play, a West End production that premiered in 1986, was derived from the 1970s musical The Time Lord and focuses on a contemporary rock musician who has been transported, from a concert with his band, to the High Court of the Universe in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Olivier plays the voice behind a supposed hologram, called Akash (represented in the show by a huge floating head) who acts as the narrator throughout the show.

The theme of the poem is that if you want to change your world then you must  change your thinking. It’s truly thought provoking stuff – and for that reason I have chosen to reproduce the poem in this week’s post.

If the words resonate with you, go online and find the Laurence Olivier narrated original that is set to gentle yet dramatic background music. Then turn up your speakers, close your eyes and experience the magic!

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

Time – as performed by Sir Laurence Olivier

Stand before me on the sign of infinity,
all you of the earth.
With the granting of the law of provination
comes the application of change.

I will give you the key.
And with this knowledge, please realise,
comes the responsibility of sharing it.
I will show you the way.

It’s very simple.
Throughout the universe there is order.

In the movement of the planets, in nature
and in the functioning of the human mind.
A mind that is in its natural state of order,
is in harmony with the universe
and such a mind is timeless.

Your life is an expression of your mind.
You are the creator of your own Universe –
For as a human being, you are free to will whatever
state of being you desire through the use of your
thoughts and words.

There is great power there.

It can be a blessing or a curse –
It’s entirely up to you.
For the quality of your life is brought about
by the quality of your thinking –
think about that.

Thoughts produce actions –
look at what you’re thinking.

See the pettiness and the envy and the greed and the
fear and all the other attitudes that cause
you pain and discomfort.

Realize that the one thing you have absolute
control over is your attitude.

See the effect that it has on those around you.
For each life is linked to all life
and your words carry with them chain reactions
like a stone that is thrown into a pond.

If your thinking is in order,
your words will flow directly from the heart
creating ripples of love.

If you truly want to change your world, my friends,
you must change your thinking.

Reason is your greatest tool,
it creates an atmosphere of understanding,
which leads to caring which is love.

Choose your words with care.
Go forth … with love.