Table of Contents  
Title Page  
Copyright Page  
Introduction  
Nine Changes That Can Change Everything  
Author’s Note  
Part One  
1. The Just -in-Time Book  
2. The First Change  
3. Once Upon a Time . . . 4. The Normal Response to Change  
5. It’s Jump Time  
6. The Second Change  
7. The Third Change  
8. The Fourth Change  
9. There is Only One Emotion  
10. All About the Aftereffect  
11. Notice the Moment  
12. Where Our Truth Comes From  
13. Of Snakes and Lions and Humans, Too  
14. And Now, a Life -Altering Question  
15. The End of Part One  
Part Two  
16. The Answer to Everything  
17. The Fifth Change  
18. The Sixth Change  
19. The Eternal Journey of the Soul  
20. The Power of Perspective  
21. The Seventh Change  
22. The Eighth Change  
23. Life’s Wonder  
24. The Ninth Change  
Afterword  
Acknowledgments  
Dedication   
WHEN E VERYTHING CHANGES CHANGE 
EVERYTHING  
IN A TIME OF TURMOIL, A PATHWAY TO PEACE  
NEALE DONALD WALSCH  
 
www.hodder.co.uk  
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Mobius  
An imprint of Hodder & Stoughton  
An Hachette UK company  
Copyright © Neale Donald Walsch 2009  
The right of Neale Donald Walsch to be identified as the Author of the Work has been 
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of th is publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission 
of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that 
in which it is pu blished and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent 
purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library  
Epub ISBN 978 -1-84894 -699 -6 
Book ISBN 978 -0-34099 -847 -2 
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd  
338 Euston Road  
London NW1 3BH  
www.hodder.co.uk  PLEASE SIT DOWN . No, really. Please. Sit down. There’s a better than even chance you’re reading these first few words standing up (in a 
bookstore someplace, or maybe in someone’s home), scanning these lines to see if you 
want to read any further. If you are, please sit down. You’re not going to want to read the first few paragraphs and 
then just walk away. You’re going to want more time with what’s written here. So “steal ” as 
many moments as you can with this book before deciding whether to buy it —because I 
want you to know what you’re getting yourself into. This book is not just a book. It is meant to be a conversation during which we will 
conduct an extraordinary investi gation into how life works at the mental and spiritual 
level, out of which will emerge a surprising revelation about ways in which we can change 
our experience of change itself —which means, of course, our experience of life. The conversation we are about t o have will thus offer you a pathway to get help and to 
find peace if you are struggling right now with changes  in your life. Why I wanted you to sit 
down is that I wanted you to be in a better position to hear all of this, to really take it in. What I’m g oing to share with you here is not something that you can just pick up “on the 
run,” as it were, in little snippets and snatches and bits of reading grabbed here and there. This is a book you’re going to want to sit down with. I also wanted you to be seate d when you hear the news. So here it is. Sitting or standing, 
ready or not, here it is:  
The changes in your life are not going to stop. If you’re thinking about riding things out for a while, waiting for things to settle down a 
bit, you may be in for a sur prise. There’s going to be no “settling down.” Things are going to 
be in a constant state of upheaval on this planet and in your own life for a good while now. Actually . . . yes, well, I might as well tell you. . . . actually, forever. Change is what is —and there is no way to change that. . . . What can be changed is the way you deal with change, and the way you’re changed by 
change. That’s what this book is about. We are going to be talking here about how to deal with major change, not just minor 
change. I mean change that emerges from collapse, calamity, and catastrophe —or at least 
what we label as these. So if your life is collapsing right now, if you’re in the midst of a 
calamity, if a catastrophe has occurred, what you’re going to find here could save your life. I 
mean, emotionally. But heck, you know what? Maybe even physically. Here you will be given Nine Changes That Can Change Everything. This little list will 
alter all that appears in your reality. Unless it does not. The choice will be yours. But it is a 
list that you may at least want to read. You may at least want to find out what it’s all about. I hope that you will make these Nine Changes as quickly as possible. Not just because the 
changes in life that you are experiencing (that we all are exp eriencing) are not going to 
stop, but also because the pace  of change is only going to increase. Someone noted a few years ago that it was possible for my great -grandfather to live an 
entire lifetime without having anything come along that seriously challe nged his 
worldview, because very little happened that he heard about that altered his understanding 
of how things were. My grandfather had a different experience. He was able to live thirty or forty years, but 
not much longer, before some new piece of info rmation was unveiled that seriously 
confronted his notion of the world. Perhaps half a dozen times during his life such a major 
event or development occurred that he heard about. In my father’s day that window of change dropped to only fifteen or twenty ye ars. That’s 
about as long as my dad could hold on to his ideas about life and how it works and what is 
true about everything. Sooner or later something would happen to disrupt his whole 
mental construction and require him to alter his thoughts and concepts . In my own life span that time has been reduced to just five to eight years. In the lifetime of my children it will be reduced to something like two years —and 
possibly less. And in the lifetime of their  children it could be reduced to thirty or forty 
weeks. This is no exaggeration. You can see the trend. Social scientists say that the rate of 
change is increasing exponentially. In the time of my great -grandchildren the period of time 
between changes will be reduced to days. And then, perhaps even hours. In truth, we are already there —and have always  been there. For in actuality, not hing has 
ever remained the same for even a moment. Everything is in motion, and if we define 
change as the altering of configurations, we see that change is the natural order of things. So we’ve been living in a constant swirl of change from the beginning. What is different now is the amount of time  that it takes for us to notice the changes that 
are always occurring. Our ability to communicate globally about everything within seconds 
is what has changed the way we experience change. The speed of our commun ications is 
catching up with the speed of our alterations. This condition in itself sponsors an increase 
in the rate of change. Today our languages and expressions change overnight, our customs and styles change 
by the season, our beliefs and understanding s and even some of our most deeply held 
convictions change not with, but within , each generation. Because change is happening all around us and within us so rapidly, what is needed now 
is a guidebook, an “operator’s manual” for human beings facing dramatic ally shifting life 
realities. This book is, therefore, more than a collection of anecdotes or “real life stories” 
about people who have gone through changes in their life, or a once -over -lightly treatment 
of something that deserves deeper exploration. The text that follows offers some peeks at 
the experience of others (including my own), because there can be value in that, but it also 
provides a much -needed explanation of the mental and spiritual basis  of change —and 
specific instructions on how to use menta l and spiritual tools to change the way change 
changes you. What the Nine Changes empower us to do is not stop change (I hope I’ve already made 
the point that this is impossible) or even slow the rate of change, but rather, make a 
quantum leap in our appro ach to change, in our ways of dealing  with it —and in our ways of 
creating  it. One final word. The ideas here are based in ancient wisdom, modern science, everyday 
psychology, practical metaphysics, and contemporary spirituality. The invitation here 
presume s that Divinity exists, that life has a purpose, that human beings have a soul, that 
our body is something we have and not something we are, and that the mind is under our 
control at all times. A rejection of any one of these notions removes the underpinni ng from much of what is 
shared here. On the other hand, if these concepts feel valid to you, you could be holding in 
your hand the most useful, the most helpful, the most powerful book you have read in a 
very long time. NINE CHANGES THAT CAN CHANGE EVERYTH ING  
1. Change your decision to “go it alone”  
2. Change your choice of emotions  
3. Change your choice of thoughts  
4. Change your choice of truths  
5. Change your idea about Change Itself  
6. Change your idea about why Change occurs  
7. Change your idea about future Change  
8. Change your idea about life  
9. Change your identity  AUTHOR’S NOTE  
THE EXPLORATION THAT FOLLOWS  is divided into two parts. The first deals with the physical 
aspects of how we experience change, while the second deals with the metaphysical 
aspects. In other w ords, we’ll look first at how the mind works, then at how the soul works. By mastering both aspects of our being we remember not only how to think, but what  to 
think. What I’m clear about now is that the mind is a tool, a mechanism, and the soul 
provides t he fuel for that machine. The less fuel you use, the more inefficiently the engine 
will operate. On the other hand, if your soul fills your mind with spiritual energy, you will 
be Mind -Full—and the workings of this engine can produce miracles. PART ONE  
The Mechanics of the Mind  
And how knowing about that can help you change your experience of the change you’re 
experiencing  1. THE JUST -IN-TIME BOOK  
IF SOMETHING IMPORTANT  around you is changing right now, I’m sorry. I know how comforting it can be to final ly get some things into place. I also know how it 
feels to yearn to have those things stay  in place. And I know how upsetting it can be when 
they don’t, when they won’t, when they just can’t. It is obviously more than “upsetting” if what has changed are si tuations and conditions 
affecting your SAFETY. If you suddenly find yourself without a livelihood, unable to find work, desperately 
behind in your bills, maybe even losing your home, you are dealing with more than just the 
feeling that “things have changed .” You’re dealing with feeling that “everything is lost.” This 
is not simply a feeling of being disrupted or discombobulated, this is a feeling of being 
threatened. Even if you’re not facing change on that order of calamity, but a significant change in 
your life nonetheless, threat  could be very much a part of your experience. Most of us feel 
that our very way of life is threatened when we face any kind of major change, especially if 
it is around the Big Three:  
RELATIONSHIP  
MONEY  
HEALTH  
If one of these thin gs is changing, it can be very challenging. It two of these three are 
changing, it can be incredibly difficult. If all three  are changing at the same time, it can be 
utterly devastating. I know this. I’ve lived it. All three. I’ve lived through all three. At once. Talk about feeling threatened . . . . . . I broke my neck in a car accident (Health), had to stop working through months of 
rehabilitation while an insurance company tried to figure out every way possible to reduce 
or eliminate compensation (Money ), all the while I was working through the pain of 
separation from my life partner and our children as our lives dramatically changed course 
(Relationship). Talk about feeling threatened . . . I wound up homeless for a year, living in the weather, walking the streets panhandling 
for pocket change and collecting soda cans and beer bottles to scrape together enough 
money to eat (some days it didn’t go so well), with a sleeping bag and a tent, two pair of 
jeans, three shirts, and a few odds and ends as my only  possessions. I know about losing one’s sense of safety. I know about standing by helplessly and 
watching life fall apart, changing utterly and completely in two weeks’ time. Yeah, I know about that. Trust me. And I know a little something about how to deal with it, too. Not that I did such a good 
job at the time, mind you, but then again, this book is about what I’ve learned since. We’re going to talk here about what I’ve picked up from some very authoritative sources 
on how to deal with change . Because  that’s what this is all about, at the bottom line. It feels 
like we’re dealing with collapse, calamity, catastrophe . . . but those are all outward effects 
created by a single cause: Change. Something is not the way it was before. Something has 
been alter ed. Irrevocably, immeasurably, fundamentally, and absolutely. A lady who is going through huge turmoil in her life sent me an e -mail today. She is 
aware that I’m writing this book and she said, “I don’t know that I would even have 
identified what is happen ing to me as ‘change.’ When you are in the middle of it, when 
everything is falling apart around you, you can’t identify it or name it as ‘change.’ It feels 
more like THE END . . . everything you know is coming to an end and there is nothing after . If you’ d asked me before I heard about your book if I was experiencing change, I would not 
have defined it that way. I don’t know what I would have called it, other than to say that life 
was ruined, finished.”  
This lady, whose name is Leah and who gave me permiss ion to quote her in this book, 
added something very insightful. “Change is scary,” she said, “but that’s different from feeling like it’s ‘Game Over.’ I 
looked up ‘change’ in the dictionary. Change indicates that something new is coming. This is 
a very dif ferent perspective from what some people (who are facing calamity in their lives) 
might have, and it might be helpful to first assist them to even identify with the fact that 
what is happening is CHANGE; to understand the very definition of change.”  
That’s  good, Leah. That’s good stuff right there. So I tore apart the first chapter that I had 
written and came back with this one. I realized Leah was right. So I’m going to define 
CHANGE as I am using the word:  
Change is the shifting of any circumstance, situa tion, or condition, physical or 
nonphysical, in such a way that the original is rendered not merely different from 
what it was, but altered so radically as to make it utterly unrecognizable and 
impossible to return to anything resembling its former state. In other words, we are talking about a major shift here; we are not talking about 
changing one’s clothing or the menu for lunch or the evening’s TV agenda. We are talking 
about life -changing events —the kind that hurt, the kind that do damage, the kind that  kill 
dreams and ruin plans and disrupt futures —and we are talking about healing  them with 
equally life -changing events. We are saying that when everything changes, sometimes the 
best thing to do is to change everything. Not only everything in the physical , but everything 
in the non-physical . This would include your emotions, your thoughts, even your truths. We’re talking about a complete overhaul here, from top to bottom, inside and out. After 
all, your life has been turned darned near inside out anyway, s o why not finish the job? Only now, in the way that you want it to feel, rather than in the way that it feels you are 
being forced to accept. . . . As we embark on this exploration I hope you can feel that I understand at least a little of 
what’s going on with you, so that you know that you’re not hearing about all this from 
somebody who has no idea what you’re going through —some “fix -it guru” sermonizing at 
you from the mountaintop who has never been anywhere near where you are right now. I 
hope you can fe el that even if nothing else is going right in your life, your having picked up 
this book is at least one good thing. One good thing has happened today. We can start with that. We can begin from there. We’re going to stand side by side, you 
and I, and put your whole life back together again —in a new way, in an even better way. Dare I promise that? Well, I’m saying, “Let’s try.” Let’s see what we can do. You’ve got 
nothing to lose, right? So let’s try. Let’s make your having picked up this book be not only 
one good thing that happened today , but one of the best things that’s happened in your life! What do you say? Want to do it? Want to try? If you’re too tired, too beaten down, too exhausted from the battle of life to even try, 
would you just do this . . . ? Would you just try to try? If you’ll try to try, I think we can make it. And I’ll promise you this. You don’t have to go 
any faster than  you want, any faster than you feel comfortable with. I’m going to give you lots of stopping points, lots of breathing spaces, so that you can 
“take a break” whenever you’d like. There’s nothing worse than a Feeling -Good -Is-As-Easy -
As-Pie book when you’re experiencing just the opposite. I hate those. I hate those  
Rah! Rah! Ciss-boom -bah! books. Yeah, right, just throw up a cheer and everything will be better , I say to myself. Sure . Then I start feeling even worse, because I can’t seem to get it right —even t hough the 
person writing the book says it’s so easy. . . . So let’s see if we agree on something here. It’s not easy . Not without the tools. And who 
has the tools? What school taught Calamity 101? Where was the class in Elements of 
Change in Modern Day Lif e? So dealing with major change, monumental change, has not 
been easy for most of us. Yet it can be. You can undergo change, stand in the middle of catastrophe, and be okay. You can be very  okay. I know that feels counterintuitive, but it happens to be tru e. 
That’s all I wanted to tell you in these first few moments we’re together. I just wanted to 
give you a reason for going on. And I don’t mean just with this book. You know what I 
mean. Okay. That may be enough to think about for now. You can go on with y our reading if 
you want, but you don’t have to. I mean, this is a perfect place to stop, to put the book down 
now and take a break. Like I said, I’ve designed the book with lots of stopping points. Lots of places to just “take 
a breath” and be with yoursel f and the ideas we’re looking at. You’ll find these breathing 
spaces not just at the end of chapters, but right in the middle of them. (I hate that feeling that you just want to at least make it to the end of the chapter or you feel like some kind of 
dropo ut, some kind of ninny who can’t even finish a chapter , much less a book . . . .) I’ll actually be happy  if you don’t finish a chapter without stopping. That means you’ve 
felt the impact of what I’ve just said and want to stop and think about it for a while . Terrific. Terrific. So feel free to stop right here  and think about what I just said. I just said, “You can 
undergo change, stand in the middle of it, and be okay. You can very  okay.”  
That’s a nice thought to gulp down. You can come back to the rest of this later. Whenever 
you choose. If ever. Heck, you ma y choose to just throw this book away. You get to decide. That’s the second good thing that’s happened to you today. You get to take control again. Yes, yes, it’s a small thing —whether you’re going to continue reading this book or not —
but that’s how it sta rts. That’s how the rebuilding starts. . . . So stop right now if you want to and give yourself some  
Breathing Space  
Breathe into what you’ve just read, then decide now if you want to go on, or rest with it 
for a while and meet with me here later . . . or not at all. If you’re ready to go on, drop down to . . . WHAT YOU AND I ARE DOING HERE  
If you have this book in your hand I’m assuming it’s because the ground is shifting 
beneath you. Something is changing in your life —or already has changed —and it’s 
somet hing pretty important to you. It may even drive to the place of your personal safety or 
security. And you may be just beginning to confront the emotions that are coming up for 
you around all this. Or perhaps you’ve been facing those emotions for quite some  time and 
can’t seem to get past them. Either that’s the reason you were attracted to this book, or you bought it for someone 
else —a friend or a relative, a client or a member of your congregation . . . in which case, 
hurry and finish it  and get it to that  person immediately! So now that we know what you’re doing here, let me tell you what I’m doing here. I’m 
here because I have  been where you are, and I want to help you. I’m here because 
something happened to me that helped me, and I want to pass it on. I’m also here because I’m watching some pretty weird stuff going on in our world, the 
same stuff you’re watching, and I see everything changing all over the place so fast that we 
can hardly keep track of it. I’m here because I know that unless we all find a way to deal 
with this changing pace of change —both collectively and individually —we’re not going to 
be in a very good place. So I’m here to extend to you an invitation. An invitation in nine 
parts, to change the way you experience change forever. I’m here to see if I can engage you 
in “changing change.”  Okay, so those are my reasons for being here. Now let’s talk about what we might co -
create here together. I was chatting about this with my wife, Em, and she said some things 
that really struck me. She said,  “I am not seeing this book as a book. I am seeing it as a 
commitment . I see a person’s picking it up as a commitment to opening to a whole new way 
of approaching life and of living each moment. This is like taking up a martial art, with the 
understanding that it will change the way you move through life. Or choosing to learn a 
foreign language until it is known so intimately that it one day feels like your natural way of 
speaking. These are lifelong pursuits that change your very ground of being. “We live in an immediate -gratification society, where everything has to be delivered in 
fifteen minutes. But this isn’t instant oatmeal. There are some really essential, important 
understandings that have been given to us through the ages and those can’t be laid ou t in 
pamphlet form. “This is a turning -yourself -inside -out so that you can be available to all of life again, so 
that you can actually feel alive in life again, which is what some of us haven’t known since 
we were four years old —or maybe ever. “The cover of this book says When Everything Changes, Change Everything . So I hope that 
people will sit down with this book, turn off their cellphone, and commit to at least a half 
hour at each reading and really make it their practice.”  
I couldn’t have sa id it better myself. I told her so. “Well, nothing is more important than how  you’re experiencing life, honey,” she smiled. “What else is there?” Then she brushed her dark hair to one side in the way that she has of 
stopping my heart, and I watched her fac e become very soft. “Nothing is more sacred to you 
than how you experience You, as an expression of life. What else is there? ” 
I agreed with her again. So now I invite you to take a look at how you’ve been 
experiencing and expressing life, and then ask tha t perfectly wonderful question that Dr. 
Phil has put into the global lexicon: How has that been working for you? If it hasn’t been working all that well, maybe you’ve brought yourself to the message 
here just in time. Maybe your soul has led you to this bo ok so that, in Em’s words, you can 
be available to all of life again. (You know what? I think that’s exactly  what’s happened. . . .) Now what I’m going to do here is engage you on a personal level in a way that may be 
somewhat different from what you’ve en countered with other books. I don’t want to talk at 
you, I want to talk with  you. I see you right in front of me now, and I see myself just talking with you quietly, hanging 
in there with you like a friend, walking through all that is happening to you thes e days, 
right alongside of you, and offering some gentle suggestions. I know, I know . . . this is just a book, but it can be more than that if you’ll let it be. Precisely because I have  gone through much of what you’re going through right now, I think 
we can create something together that could not only do what most books do —bring you 
information —but get to something very few books do: produce an actual, living, in -the-
moment experience. So I’m going to invite you to join me in eliminating the distance in time and space that 
exists between us. Now here’s the remarkable thing about that. I don’t even have to be alive for us to do this. You have to be, for sure, but I don’t . I mean, you can’t read the book if you 
are dead. But you could  be reading this many y ears after my death . . . and we could still 
connect  at the level of Essence, through the shared experience of being human. Remarkable when you think about it, isn’t it? I’m right here, writing this, now . . . and 
you’re  right here, reading  this now. Our nows don’t have to coincide for our experience to. In this way, minds accordion Time. So, whether I’m still alive when you read this or whether I’ve celebrated my 
Continuation Day, I’d like to co -create with you here an interactive experience that can 
change your life. From experience I can tell you that the most important thing for you rig ht now is to not 
allow yourself to be alone. I’ve been there in that aloneness, and I don’t want you to ever 
have to be there. Ever. So this book is my way of being with you. This book is our 
conversation. Do not pretend that The Longing  
has not also lived  in You,  
swinging, like a pendulum. You have been lost,  
and thieved like a criminal  
Your Heart  
into the darkness. But life is tired, Deep Friend,  
of going on  
without You . It is like the hand of the mother  
who has lost the child. And if You are anything lik e me, You have been afraid. And if You are anything like me,  
You have known your own courage. There is room in this boat:  
take Your seat . Take up Your paddle, and all of us  
- All of Us - 
shall row Our hearts  
back  
Home. —‘The Longing’  © 2005 Em Claire  2. THE FIRST CHANGE  
OKAY, SO LET’S ASSUME  that my guess is right about why you’re reading this book. If it is, 
you’re going to be happy to know that there is a way to turn things around, and make of 
your life what you’ve always imagined i t could be. There are many ways, actually, not just 
one. There are many paths to the mountaintop, and I want to be careful never to come off 
as the guy who thinks he has The Answer. I do have one answer, though, and I know it’s an answer, because it worked  for me —and 
I’ve already told you what I’ve been through. So, here I am to tell you that one way to turn 
things around is to make . . . NINE CHANGES THAT CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING  
Now, in the conversation that follows I’m going to discuss these changes with yo u one by 
one. The changes will give you a way to deal with calamity , with tumultuous shifts  in your 
reality, with the collapse  of what you thought was going to be “so.”  
Should you choose to embrace the Nine Changes I am suggesting here, I believe you will 
be able to make even more changes in the way you move through life. Specifically, I believe 
you will be able to change Fear into Excitement, Worry into Wonder, Expectation into 
Anticipation, Resistance into Acceptance, Disappointment into Detachment, Enrag ement 
into Engagement, Addiction into Preference, Requirement into Contentment, Judgment into 
Observation, Sadness into Happiness, Thought into Presence, Reaction into Response, and a 
Time of Turmoil into a Time of Peace. All of this seems almost too good to be true, I know. But it is true, and it can happen, and 
it can happen in your life right now. Now I really am sounding like one of those  
Rah! Rah! Ciss-boom -bah! guys. So let me repeat: Facing change is not easy. Not without tools. Yet there are tools, and 
that’s the good news. There is a way out of this forest. There is a light at the end of this 
tunnel. How fast you get over and get past what is happening right now depends on what 
path you take —and with whom you take it. That gets me back to my first p oint —and the First Change. Let me say again that my 
experience has shown that in this it can be extremely beneficial to not go it alone here, but 
to have some support on this journey. That’s why I’m here with you now. That’s why I 
talking with you like thi s. If you’ll stay with me here, you should be able to make it. So take 
all the “breathers” you want. Move through this exploration at your own pace. But 
whatever you do, keep moving . Don’t let your mind get you stuck in some dark place. Okay? Now if you wa nt to, this might be another good time to take some  
Breathing Space  
Breathe into the experience of what you’ve just read, then decide now if you want to go 
on, or rest with it for a while and meet with me here later. When you’re ready to go on, drop down t o . . . AN INVITATION TO STOP RECOILING  
The first change you are invited to make is a change in the way you deal  with change. Most people recoil from change. They don’t like it, because change is about stepping into 
unfamiliarity. It is about leaving somet hing, or someone, behind and venturing forth into 
the Unknown. For some, it is about facing deep uncertainty, and even a threat to survival 
itself. And for many people, it is about doing this all alone. This is the single biggest complaint I hear from peop le who have come to me through the 
years with sadness about the changes they’re experiencing. I’ve worked as a spiritual helper with more than 10,000 people, individually, through the 
years, and after talking with that many people for that many years I can  tell you that you 
begin to hear and see the same things over and over again. And loneliness —emotional 
loneliness —is what I saw the most. Now let me get back to my lady correspondent, Leah, who so kindly said I could use her 
e-mail messages in this book. As I mentioned before, Leah is going through some emotional 
turmoil right now. She wrote to my wife about it and I would like you to hear what she had 
to say. (I should, perhaps, first explain what Em does in the world, so you understand why Leah 
even wrote to her. Em is a poet and uses her words as a balm from her medicine bag. She is 
finding as she presents her poetry in capitals around the world that it reflects the dramatic 
changes her life has undergone in the last five years —both the vistas and the valleys, the 
challenges and the breakthroughs. People have told her over and over again that after 
hearing her poetry their feeling is, “Oh, my God, I am not alone.” They realize that she has 
experienced the same dismantling, and the same call to the r ecreation of self in a new form, 
that they have. And so, many people have visited her website [ www.EmClairePoet.com ], 
and there, deeply touched and opened by her art, they connect with her.) Here’s what Leah s hared with Em. . . . “When I am feeling without hope and so very lost, I feel utterly alone. Yet I know that 
there are other people who hold this same dark sadness within them. When people are 
happy, they congregate and so share that energy. When we are in  great pain, we cut 
ourselves off and the feeling of being isolated in the darkness and left out of life is so 
prevalent. Knowing I am not alone is so helpful to me, and maybe it will be helpful to 
someone else.”  Leah’s experience is not unusual. Her e -mail was just another in a fifteen -year string of 
evidence that demonstrated to me that self -isolation is just what we do when we feel the 
loss of something important to us through the changing of circumstances or conditions. We shrink back into ourselves whe n the ground beneath us starts shifting. I’ve done it, 
haven’t you? I don’t do it anymore, but I have done it. That’s why I recognize it so fast. Even 
people in committed relationships, even people in marriages or long -standing business 
partnerships, often  turn quiet, reclusive, self -isolating (and sometimes, self -loathing). So right now I’m hoping that you’ll do everything in your power to make sure that you 
don’t go through this critical time of your life by yourself. Reading this book is a good start. A great start, actually. But it’s only the beginning. So let’s explore. . . . CHANGE #1:  
Change your decision to “go it alone”  
This is a simple change, but it requires something from us that many people —I’m going 
to say, most people —are not used to, and not always comfortable with. It requires 
transparency. The reason that so many of us tend to self -isolate when we are facing big problems —and 
by the way, have you noticed that almost every really big problem you’ve ever faced 
emerged from something that change d?—is that we have never given ourselves permission 
to be seen as less than perfect, or as someone who does not have it all together. We’ve also been taught as children that we should not “burden others” with our 
problems. And finally, we’ve been told that  most everything is our own fault anyway, so 
why would we go to someone else with it? It was made very clear: we made our bed and 
now we have to lie in it. None of the above teachings have any value at all. The people who raised us were wrong 
about all of that. Every single bit of it. The need to be “perfect” and to “have it all together” is a manifestation of a larger need: 
the need for approval. Most of us learned as children that to get the approval of our parents and other elders 
around us, we needed to  be good little boys and girls. Some of us were told about a person 
named Santa Claus who is “making a list, checking it twice, going to find out who’s naughty 
and nice.” And some of us were told about a God who loves us and watches over us . . . but 
will also judge us for everything we do “wrong” and will condemn us to everlasting 
damnation if that list is too long, or contains particular items. So, we’ve poured love and fear into the same bowl and mixed them together pretty well. Our fear of losing love i s what causes us to love ourselves with the same conditions with 
which others love us. It is easy, then, to be self -condeming and self -loathing. We’ve gotten 
so good at it that we’ll do the work for others even when they have no intention of doing it. This  work of self -condemnation, self -recrimination, and self -disapproval must be done 
in private, of course, lest others disapprove of us for this. So we hide our emotions, and 
sometimes our very selves, from others when we are facing difficulties and problems . The irony of this is that these are precisely the times when those who love us want to be 
there for us. Wouldn’t you want to be there for someone you love who is hurting? Of course 
you would. It is, in fact, your first impulse. What we have to do is trus t that it is the same with others . People want  to help us. They 
do not feel “burdened” by doing so. Quite the opposite. They feel uplifted. Knowing that we’ve helped others brings us value, skyrockets our feelings of self -worth. Life suddenly begins to mak e sense. Or at least to give us, in that moment, a sense of higher 
purpose. When you think about it, every occupation is nothing more than a way of helping others 
have something they want. Singers, dancers, painters, police officers, doctors, teachers, 
plumbers, actors, firefighters, stripteasers, priests, baseball players, photographers, flight 
attendants, waitresses, chairmen of the board . . . everybody  is just doing something that 
helps someone else get something they want! That’s all we’re doing here. We’re not doing anything else. We’re all just running around 
trying to help somebody. Knowing this should make it easier to accept  help —from a 
professional or from a loved one —when our own need is particularly acute. Why would we 
make it more difficult for  someone to help us when help is exactly what we need, and 
exactly what others want to give ? So much for “don’t burden others.”  
Okay? You got it? So much for don’t burden others. . . . So I’m going to invite you to make a commitment right now to reach out to another and 
share with that person how you’re feeling about the changes that are occurring in your life. Tell them you’re reading this book if you want to. You might even invite them to read it 
along with you. I don’t care whom you connect with, but con nect with somebody . Connect with a relative. Connect with a friend. Connect with a professional counselor. Connect with a rabbi or an 
ulama or a priest or a minister. Connect with a member of the Changing Change Network. Connect with somebody . Because when  you connect with somebody else, you connect with 
yourself. I just said something very important there, and I don’t want you to just skip over it. So 
please, let me say that again. I said . . . . . . when you connect with somebody else, you connect with yo urself. Talking with another person, communicating with a mind outside of your own  mind, 
puts you in touch with the part of your Self that is bigger than your mind, larger than your 
thoughts. That’s because the act of connecting with another pulls you out of your ongoing 
internal dialogue and into an external one. In an external dialogue, another person can bring you fresh energy, provide a different 
perspective. They can come to the subject with a clear head, free of the self -judgment 
through which you are looking at everything. They see you as you really are, proving the 
irony t hat sometimes you have to get out of yourself to get into yourself. Sometimes you 
have to stop looking at yourself to see yourself. To Love yourself, start here:  
take your own hand —put it to your lips  
then  
lay the soft of your cheek, to the round of your s houlder  
where  
the faint musk  
of the enduring dreams and the labors of your life  
perfume you. It’s a start. It’s a beginning. Now the ache of your heart  
has a surface. —‘To Love Yourself’  © 2006 Em Claire  3. ONCE UPON A TIME . . . IN ADDITION TO SEEKING  dialogue with others, it is also very good to “go deep within” and re -
companion with your own soul. This is not the same as what you might have been doing 
lately . This is an engagement with the soul, not with the mind. What often happens when people are sudde nly faced with really life -impacting change is 
that they disconnect  from their soul by burrowing deep inside their story . Your story does 
not live in your soul, only in your mind. Now, you would think that going deep within would produce ultimate clarity —and you 
would be right. In fact, my favorite axiom is: If you don’t go within, you go without . Yet 
“going within” and “burrowing deep inside one’s story” are two different things. A story is a tale you tell yourself about yourself. It starts off, “Once upon  a time . . . ,” and 
it tells about everything that has happened to you, how and why. It is your internal 
narrative, a summary of the conclusions you have come to about yourself —conclusions 
that are rarely based on the truth about you and almost always inc lude your harshest 
judgments about yourself. Burrowing deep within that  mess rarely produces clarity. In fact, I will say that it never 
does, because your story is not real. It exists only within your mind. It may seem very real 
to you, but it is not reali ty. “Going within,” on the other hand, is the taking of a journey in which the Self leaves  the 
mind and travels to the soul —where one’s Personal Story does not exist. This allows you to 
come from a totally different space as you look at what is happening t o you. You go to a 
different space so that you can come from  a different space. This can be accomplished in many ways. In the end it’s just about being quiet with 
yourself, but in a different way. The irony is that you’re already  being quiet with yourself. You’re probably in the midst 
of lots of self -reflection right now. But this is about exploring reflections that truly mirror 
who you are, rather than standing in front of one of those carnival house mirrors that make 
you look grotesque. Again, this is abo ut being quiet with your soul, not with your mind. Do not go to the mind for self -reflection! You’ll lose track of yourself there. People lose 
touch with their own Best Self —or what I call their True Identity. (Yes, I’ll explain that 
later.) The biggest pr oblem with “burrowing” in the mind is that not only do we confront our 
Personal (and not very flattering, as we tell it) Story, but we add to that story our own 
version of What Is Happening To Us Right Now, and why. This, too, we see reflected in that 
carn ival mirror. Or, as Leah put it when I shared with her today how we all get caught up in 
our Personal Story. . . . “For me, my story is intricately entwined with the external things happening in my life: 
having no income, being homeless, wondering how I wi ll eat, being unable to find work. These circumstances ‘inform’ me about who I am —I draw conclusions about myself 
because of these external facts.”  
Indeed. So do we all. (Until we don’t anymore.) When really big things change for the 
worse in our lives we often think it is our fault. It is something we did (or did not do) that 
caused it. We assume that we failed in some way. And in times of failure we recriminate 
against ourselves, we make ourselves wrong for everything we have done that “brought us 
to this ,” or everything we have failed to do, and we show very little mercy in that. Or, if we don’t go to self -blaming, we go to self -questioning. We burrow into our mind to 
figure out why  what is going on is going on. When I was sharing about this book in a return 
e-mail with Leah she responded:  
“What I want to know is, why  do we do this ? Why are these things happening? Why am I 
about to be homeless? Why am I unable to find work? Because I am ______? Because I did 
______ and did not do ______? “For me, personally, it would be helpful to understand why we, as humans, have this 
need to know  the WHY of what is happening to us. It must be some fundamental, basic need 
to make sense of things around us —? “Or maybe I need to better know here how to separate that from the external 
circumstances of my current situation: having no money and no immed iate way to ‘fix 
things’ —because those external things are very real right now.”  
Either way —whether we fault ourselves for being the cause of our unwelcome change, 
or fault ourselves for not knowing what the cause is—we can’t imagine how anyone could 
love us (we think they must be “just saying that”) because we can’t imagine loving 
ourselves, and we get lost in our own minds. We lose track of our True Selves, of our Best 
Selves, as we wander around inside our now -expanded story. Was there ever a worse 
perso n? A bigger failure? A more unable, unreliable, undesirable, worthless human being? What’s funny is that we know that we are doing this . We can feel ourselves condemning 
ourselves —and so then we condemn ourselves for doing that . This pushes us even further 
away from our True Selves. And if others who know us well ask what’s going on with us, we 
say, “Oh, nothing. I’m just not myself today .” 
Nothing could be closer to the truth. And, as I said, we know it. Deep down inside we know this is not Who We Really Are —
but we don’t know how to get back  to that; we don’t know what to do about it. So we head for the mind and go back to the inner chatt er. We keep talking to ourselves 
about what’s going on. The only problem is, we can’t reach  our selves —not our True Selves, 
not our Best Selves —because our story  is blocking the way. We begin thinking we are that 
story, that this is the truth about us, and  that everything else is The Show. For us now, there’s The Show and there’s The Story. We convince ourselves that all the 
Good Stuff is part of The Show that we’re “putting on,” while the Bad Stuff is the Real Stuff. That’s the Real Story on us. Any of thi s sound familiar? It does to me, because I’ve done every one of these things. And 
still do some of this today . . . until I pull myself out of it. This book is about how I do that. So if you’re “not feeling yourself today,” I’m going to suggest that you ta ke Suggestion #1 
and change your decision to “go it alone.”  
Make this change today. Not tomorrow. Today. Decide to connect with your soul, and then decide to reach out . Find someone who does 
not operate inside your story. Someone who knows you well and doe s not see you as you 
think you are, but as you really are. Have a conversation with that  person and you may find 
that this one change alone has changed a great deal about how you experience the change 
that is now changing your life. If you have  no one else  in your life right now who can bring you this opportunity for 
external dialogue, I have a little surprise for you. I’m going to make this a two-way book . I’m 
going to invite you to talk with me, and with others who have already read this book, even 
as you  make your way through this material. I’m saying that you can put the book down and connect with someone right now . Someone who knows what you’re going through. Someone who’s been there. Is that a 
terrific idea, or what? It might even be a revolutionary wa y to experience a book. Perhaps you just want to connect with someone because you have a question about 
something you’ve read here, or want a fuller explanation, or want to know how others have 
experienced what’s being discussed. Fair enough. Just get onli ne and head to the special 
website that has been set up just for you, to help you change the way change is being 
experienced in your life. Just go to . . . www.ChangingChange.net  
Now get this . . . you can n ot only write to us and receive an answer, you can even talk 
with us, in real -time conversations via regularly scheduled group conference calls and 
teleclasses. You can explore with the network what you’re experiencing and reading even 
as you’re reading an d experiencing it , and ask network members any question that you 
wish. At this same website you can watch videos of others who have moved through great 
change in their lives, as they answer questions and discuss how they did it. And it need not end there . You can also receive private life coaching  from certain 
members of the Network, attend one -day Changing Everything workshops that I present, 
and even participate in the extended long -form spiritual renewal retreats that I facilitate. The point: You can hav e as much help as you want. The important thing is for you not to 
feel alone. There’s no need for you to handle what’s happening to you right now all by 
yourself. There are others who can assist you. People who care. I’m one of them. And there 
are more. Te ammates who have joined the Changing Change community and who have 
created the Network. Folks who will gently and lovingly walk you through what’s 
happening right now and bring you out on the other side. So . . . if it feels good to do so, get right to a c omputer, go to www.ChangingChange.net  
and post an entry there. Someone who is going through, or has gone through, exactly what 
you are going through right now will send you a reply before too long. Please, d on’t be too 
closed off, or timid, or embarrassed, or stubborn, or whatever , to share about your situation 
with another. Connect. Connect . CONNECT. If nothing else . . . if absolutely nothing else . . . keep reading this book . You’re connecting 
here with me, and I’m connecting with you. And that’s great. So, would you like to move on? It’s a beautiful time to be alive. And the long walk home is peopled — 
We, are everywhere . Yet the struggle to surrender is where we walk alone. So the next time you fall  
look  
to either side where you lie  
and take the hand  
of your dear Sister or Brother  
whose own face is muddied. We can rise together,  
even if we fall  alone — 
for it’s a beautiful time to be alive  
even  
on this long walk home. —‘Rise Together’  © 2007 Em Claire  4. THE NORMAL RESPONSE TO CHANGE  
UM . . . WELL  . . . hold it just a bit. I need to warn you about something. I say things more than once. Please do n’t go crazy as our conversation proceeds, thinking, “Didn’t he just say that 
before?” I probably did just say it before. At the advertising agencies in New York they claim that the average person does not 
totally absorb the total content of any message un til it’s heard five or six times. I don’t 
know if that’s true, but I do know that I, myself, rarely pick up the whole message about 
anything —much less its nuance and its real impact —the first time I hear it. So I just wanted 
to tell you that I’m going to b e saying some things a couple of times here. Maybe three 
times. Heck, maybe even four. I’ll try to make my restatements interesting . . . but I’m going to ask you to have some 
patience with me around this; to indulge me a little. This book is written in a circular 
fashion, not in a straight line. That’s the style I’ve chosen here because I want to be sure 
that I’m being as clear as I can be about all that I want to share, and sometimes repetition 
helps me to feel assured about that. Okay? Now . . . as I sai d earlier, I don’t know what has changed in your life, but I do know that 
the change has been disruptive. That much I’m sure of. Why? Because all change is 
disruptive, even change for the better. So don’t be too upset with yourself if this situation is “re ally getting to you.” It’s very 
normal that it would. In fact, very often change can create more than disruption. It can 
bring up a lot of emotions. How you experience change —as a time of turmoil and distress 
or a time of peace and creativity —depends on wh at emotions you move through. Nearly all change produces fear. Did you know that? I mean, not only the “bad” kinds of 
change, but even change for the better. You decide to get married —and immediately move into fear. What if the love doesn’t 
last? What if y ou chose the wrong partner? You take a new and much better job —and immediately move into fear. What if you can’t 
do what you said you could do when you applied? What if it doesn’t work out? You rearrange the furniture in your living room —and immediately mo ve into fear. What 
if your partner doesn’t like it when he or she comes home? Maybe you should put it all back 
the way it was and talk about it first . . . Some people can’t even change their hairstyle  without moving into fear. What if this 
looks silly? Wi ll I lose what little I had going for me? It’s crazy, but this is how we think. We do this. You do it and I do it. All of us do this kind 
of stuff. Because Sameness is comfort. Even Sameness that’s killing us, even Sameness 
that’s boring us to tears. Yet s omeone once said: Life begins at the end of your Comfort 
Zone. That’s a good thing to remember. Life begins at the end of your Comfort Zone. So if you’re feeling uncomfortable right now, know that the change taking place in your 
life is a beginning , not an  ending. All right, it’s an ending. Let’s not kid ourselves. Something important has ended. Something meaningful has stopped. Something that was very present in your life has 
disappeared, vanished, evaporated, just like that . Maybe it’s a person. Maybe it’s a dream . Maybe it’s the end of your safety, of your security . Maybe we’re talking about more here 
than the loss of a boyfriend, or changing jobs. Maybe what’s happening in your life right 
now is much more threatening than that. Okay, so let’s call it what it is. Let’s not try to fool around here. You know what’s going on 
in your life, so let’s say it like it is. But, having said that, here’s what I want to say . . . What ever  has just ended . . . it’s also a beginning. Now remember, you’re hearing from a guy who sp ent a year on the street. You’re talking 
to someone who lost everything. Job. Wife. Family. Every possession he ever had or held 
dear. Even my car was stolen. Right off the streets of Portland, Oregon, in the middle of the 
night. I already had no home. I w as “camping out” for a while in the apartment of a friend 
until I could get myself re -situated . . . when I went outside one morning to find my old, 
beaten up Chevy Impala gone. Gone. The last of my personal possessions was in that car. Now I had nothing. Nothing . I had 
the clothes on my back. A few shaving things and stuff that I had taken into the apartment. I 
mean, that was it. So I know about endings. And I have seen what I absolutely thought and felt was the end 
of everything  turn into the beginning of  a life of which I could only have dreamed. So I feel 
I’ve earned the credentials to at least plant that seed in your own thinking. Maybe it’s too 
early —maybe way too early —to talk in terms of getting on with new beginnings, and 
maybe the conditions of you r life won’t even allow that right now, but it’s not too early to at 
least plant a seed. We’ve all heard it a hundred times, and it seems incredibly trite to say it 
again, now, but . . . here we go anyway. . . . “For every door that closes there’s another one that opens.”  
I don’t care what  you’ve lost —your job, your house, your spouse, your credit, your 
dream, your hopes, even your health . . . I don’t care what  you’ve lost or what  has so 
drastically changed, you can start your life all over again, and achi eve even greater heights. I promise you. That has proven to be true so many times in my life that I have ceased to become upset 
when things are changing. I just look to see what’s next. The idea of something different 
intrigues me now. It no longer scares me. Even scary things no longer scare me. Like losing virtually my entire retirement account 
during the financial meltdown of the Fall of ’08. People were running around going, “Oh, 
my! Oh, my!” and my only thought was, “Easy come, easy go. It’s all  perfect. Life will go on. I’ve been on the street once, I can do it again.”  
I have to admit, when you’ve lived outside for a year your point of view gets changed. But a person doesn’t have to experience such an extreme in order to bring wisdom forward. It ’s there, back there, in the subconscious of all of us. We all know all we need to 
know —and we all know  that we know it. Some of us just don’t believe it. It’s “too good to be 
true,” so we don’t believe it. My “belief” has turned to “knowing.” I’ve lived l ong enough to know that most of the 
things I worried about never happened, that most of the things I felt bad about turned out 
to be for the better, and that most of the things I hoped would stay the same couldn’t stay 
the same if they wanted to, because c hange is the Process of Life Itself. I touched on this earlier. Let me reiterate it here. Life is change, and when there is 
nothing that is changing, there is nothing that is living. Everything that lives, moves. And 
that means everything that is. Even a r ock moves. Put a microscope to a rock. Peer inside its 
molecular structure. You will find a small universe down there, displaying an interesting 
characteristic: everything is moving. Life is movement. Movement is change. Every time a sub -molecular particle  swings 
through time and space, something is changing. Change, therefore, is inevitable. It is the 
nature of life itself. The trick in life is not to try to avoid change, but to create  change. (That’s what part 2  of 
this book i s all about.) Then it is the kind of change you choose. But right now, you’re in the 
middle of a moment of great change in your life that you did not create (not consciously, 
anyway), and you’re dealing with your emotions around that. Those emotions includ e fear, 
most likely, at some level. And sadness, perhaps. And maybe even a little anger. Hell, maybe 
a lot of anger. I have to believe you’re dealing with at least one of these three. So let’s explore this. Let’s 
look more closely at fear. You want to have  a little break first? Okay, if you need a good place to put the book down 
for now, this would be it. Give yourself a little  
Breathing Space  
Breathe into what you’ve just read, then decide now if you want to go on, or rest with it 
for a while and meet with  me here later. If you’re ready to go on, drop down to . . . NOTICING THAT YOU’RE PERFECTLY NORMAL  
Nice way to take care of yourself. Looking at what you’re doing —stopping and just 
looking at what you’re doing —then actively deciding what you want to do nex t, is a 
wonderful way to take care of yourself. You’ve done that just now, and that’s great. That’s a 
good habit to get into. Okay, so we’re talking about fear. Fear is ubiquitous —and understandable. What we’re afraid of, after all, is the unknown. That’s the biggest fear that most of us face. Fear of the unknown. And most change throws 
us into the path of the unknown. Not all change, but most of it. Some change takes us to a place to which we’ve been before —and that’s  what we fear. But most change i s not that predictable. Most change leaves us in the Space of Unknowing 
what will be. And so, we walk with apprehension. (That’s just a softer word for fear.) Sometimes what change brings us is the fear that we will never get to where we wanted 
to go; that  life will continue to do nothing but take away our hopes and our dreams, rob us 
of our opportunities, kill our spirit, and strip us of raison d’être. All of this is normal. It’s understandable that you would feel that way. After all, life has 
done some of  these things. And always the damage has come in the form of something that 
has changed. So it’s good to be aware that a certain amount of fear is going to accompany every  change 
in your life —a change for the worse or a change for the better. Knowing this can stop you 
from moving into fear about change itself . If you start fearing change generically  you could 
wind up shrinking from ever making any kind of change at all for the rest of your days —
even a change that obviously should  be made for your own good. You’re not going to stop change from happening simply by not making any changes 
yourself. All you’ll do is stop change from happening the way you want it to happen. The 
world on this very day is evidence of that. As is the case with Us,  
I make, and You bre ak asunder  
whatever comfort I had  
constructed. Never certain  
what You want from Me;  
believing all I am told  
about how it is that  
Life is supposed to be Our Unfolding Joy  
I cower , sometimes  
God  
in the corner, like an animal  
who doesn’t understand the thunde r; 
who doesn’t understand the lightning. Who doesn’t understand, Enlightening. —‘I Cower’  © 2007 Em Claire  5. IT’S JUMP TIME  
IT MAY BE HELPFUL  to know that what’s going on with you in your personal life is going on 
all over, in the collective life on this planet. That may make you feel a little bit less “picked 
on” by the universe —and therefore a little bit less isolated. Right now so much is changing for so many people. The world’s economies are 
undergoing radical alterations, causing all of humanity to re align its basic life priorities. The world’s politics have changed, and we are seeing things we never thought we’d see. The world’s medicine and science and technology are uncovering amazing secrets that are 
shifting our understanding of the very basics of  life itself. The world’s newest thoughts 
about relationship and marriage have moved many people beyond their comfort zone. And 
the way so many people are handling conflict today has brought sheer terror into our lives. On a personal level, people are losi ng their jobs, their savings, even their homes. As a 
larger and larger segment of the population grows older and older, more of us are watching 
family members make the transition we call death. Marriages and partnerships are ending 
more frequently, and ove r far less, than ever before. Between these last two developments, 
we are losing loved ones from our lives at a frantic pace. Our approaches to parenting and 
to education are shifting so dramatically that they are impacting the dynamics of interior 
family relationships in ways of which we could not have dreamt just a short time ago. All of this is part of a larger process now going on in the world. The whole of human 
society is in the throes of reinventing itself. Yet most of us are doing it without a diagram, 
without a road map, without any tools. That’s why what I’m sharing with you here can be 
so helpful. The point of my telling you all of this is not to depress you even more, but to help you get 
clear that this is not something that is just happenin g to you . The good news is that there is a 
way to grab the reins of this runaway stagecoach, at least on a personal level. There is a 
way to control and alter your reaction to change —and, going on from there, to control, 
direct, and create the changes them selves. I’ve been setting the stage now for a bit, because I want you to have a context —a really 
rich context —within which to hold all that we’re going to be looking at presently. We are moving through what anthropologist and social scientist Jean Houston calls Jump 
Time in her remarkable book by that title. Jump Time, Jean says, is a moment in the eternal 
cycle of life when we monumentally shift every aspect of our experience, much as humanity 
did during the 300 years of the Renaissance (a blink of an eye on the clock of eternity), 
when everything from art to politics to culture to governance to commerce to education to 
religion to human sexual experience to partnerships and parenting to how to eat, drink, 
and talk, for heaven’s sake, changed so fundamental ly that nothing —literally nothing —was 
ever the same again. The heart -stopping characteristic of this, our new Renaissance, is that it is not taking 
place over 300 years, but thirty. Yes, I said thirty years . This owes to that breathtaking tenfold increase in the width, breadth, scope, and speed of global intercultural 
communication that I spoke of earlier. We are already living on the edge of what I call The Time of Instaparency , when 
everything is instantly known, transparently. Such moment -to-moment aware ness of all 
that’s going on everywhere produces alterations in perspective that start dominoes falling 
all over the place. Humanity is not going to be able to deal with this —you’re  not going to be able to deal 
with this —unless The Answer to Everything is revealed. That’s what we’re going to do 
here. We’re going to unlock the secret. You and me. Right here, in Chapter Sixteen. No, no, don’t jump ahead to that chapter now! We need to talk first about why the 
changes in your life have been so painful. Then I’ll share with you that truly astonishing 
truth, so that change never has to be painful again. Not even calamitous change —like losing 
everything; like being out on the street. Yet un less you have the foundation that we’re 
laying here, the secret itself will seem hollow, shallow. So let’s rest here for a bit, if it feels good to do so, and contemplate the speed with which 
you and your world are encountering change. Just . . . breathe i n and  
Relax for a moment  
Be right here, right now. Thinking about all that’s been said, try not to “do anything” 
with it. Just “be” with it, breathe into it, and be grateful for this moment. Then . . . . . . when you’re ready to go on, drop down to . . . EVENTS VS. REALITY . . . WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Look, I know that I’ve placed before myself a big task. I’m hoping to convince you that 
the changes in your life right now do not have to be painful, and I’m clear that your life so 
far has demonstrated to you  that change is painful. Yet the key to ending the pain is 
knowing what causes  the pain, what causes  the hurt. The key is knowing why  you feel the 
way you feel. And here’s the news about that . . . . It is not the change itself. It’s not the losing of the j ob or the end of the relationship or the 
sudden inability to pay the bills or whatever else is occurring in your outside world. It is 
how you are thinking about it. This is the same thing that causes sadness. This is the same thing that causes anger. It is  
never an exterior event, it is always an interior process. An event and your reality about  
that event are not the same thing. Oh-oh, here we go again. That’s important enough to say twice. An event and your reality about that event are not the same thing. An event is one thing; your reality of it is another. Events are created by conditions and 
occurrences outside you.
When_Everything_Changes_Change_Everything__In_A_Time_Of_Turmoil,_A_Pathway_To_Peace.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Table of Contents  
Title Page  
Copyright Page  
Introduction  
Nine Changes That Can Change Everything  
Author’s Note  
Part One  
1. The Just -in-Time Book  
2. The First Change  
3. Once Upon a Time. 4. The Normal Response to Change  
5. It’s Jump Time  
6. The Second Change  
7. The Third Change  
8. The Fourth Change  
9. There is Only One Emotion  
10. All About the Aftereffect  
11. Notice the Moment  
12. Where Our Truth Comes From  
13. Of Snakes and Lions and Humans, Too  
14. And Now, a Life -Altering Question  
15. The End of Part One  
Part Two  
16. The Answer to Everything  
17. The Fifth Change  
18. The Sixth Change  
19. The Eternal Journey of the Soul  
20. The Power of Perspective  
21. The Seventh Change  
22. The Eighth Change  
23. Life’s Wonder  
24. The Ninth Change  
Afterword  
Acknowledgments  
Dedication   
WHEN E VERYTHING CHANGES CHANGE 
EVERYTHING  
IN A TIME OF TURMOIL, A PATHWAY TO PEACE  
NEALE DONALD WALSCH  
 
www. hodder. co. uk  
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Mobius  
An imprint of Hodder & Stoughton  
An Hachette UK company  
Copyright © Neale Donald Walsch 2009  
The right of Neale Donald Walsch to be identified as the Author of the Work has been 
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of th is publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission 
of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that 
in which it is pu blished and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent 
purchaser. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library  
Epub ISBN 978 -1-84894 -699 -6 
Book ISBN 978 -0-34099 -847 -2 
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd  
338 Euston Road  
London NW1 3BH  
www.
Neale Donald Walsch
Who is the author of the book "When Everything Changes, Change Everything"?
The purpose of the book is to help readers learn how to deal with major life changes and make a quantum leap in their approach to change.
What is the purpose of the book, according to the author?
The author's goal is to help readers find a way to change their experience of change and make it easier to deal with the constant changes in their life.
What is the author's goal for readers of the book?
The author is taking a personal and conversational approach, encouraging readers to engage with him and the material, and to feel comfortable sharing their experiences and emotions with him.
What is the author's approach to discussing the book's content?
The author emphasizes that change is a natural and inevitable part of life, and that it is not possible to stop or slow it down, but rather, it is possible to learn how to deal with it and create positive change in one's life.
What is the author's message about the nature of change?