My Grandmother Used to Say

By David van Zanten

In 1915 my Grandmother had her life turned upside down by the death of her mother. At age 14, with no father to rely on she was left to raise her 4 younger siblings by herself. She came through the school of hard knocks with a caring heart and a tenacious spirit and learned a great many things. Her experiences became the foundation of her wisdom. This wisdom was passed onto me in her sayings which I heard repeatedly throughout my childhood.
My life, like yours, has had many twists and turns. I have grown to learn how wise her words were. The deeper philosophical meaning and message behind them can help transform and repair life paths that may seem broken.
All her sayings are probably well known to you but they are fully expanded and explained in their individual chapters. Together they offer a remarkable insight along with practical and effective ways to truly change, mend and empower your life and your world.

BOOK REVIEW 1 BY Paul Brooks,
Editor,Wanganui Midweek

"Self-help books abound. They offer advice in varying forms and degrees of usefulness. David van Zanten's book is accessible common sense.
What he has done is use his grandmother's universal sayings to provide solid, useful counsel which can only lead to a better life.
It's not about riches in a material sense, although there's no reason why wealth would not be a by-product of the goals achieved through the guidance offered by this book.
Written in a straightforward, and sometimes humorous way, My Grandmother Used to Say ... delves beneath the obvious face of each saying to discover the real meaning and, therefore, real direction.
The message within is huge, gigantic even. Non of it conflicts with any religious beliefs you may hold, nor does it lead you along airy fairy paths of new age mumbo-jumbo, and I say that in a caring way. Some self-help messages are presented in such a manner that, for many people, the flight response is immediately triggered. This book welcomes its reader through the author and his personal approach.
David's understanding of the human condition has permitted him to amass knowledge and information pertinent to the betterment of people. His attitude and insight has enabled him to access that store of wisdom and his teaching skills have allowed him to direct it easily to the reader. By picking up this book you are not embarking on a journey of sharp rocks and fearsome tempests. David gives practical, easy-to-understand insights, written in a way that
makes the reading pleasurable. For the reader there is discovery and lots "Oh, I get it!" moments.
Positive is a great way to describe the content. Finding and developing the best in people and helping them to understand things relevant to everyday life.

It's a fine book, this work by David van Zanten, and I'm happy to recommend it. I think his grandmother would concur."

Review 2
Mayor of Wanganui. Mrs Annette Main
It is a common thread amongst us all that we desire to leave something to be remembered for, something positive and empowering when we leave this world.
Each chapter of “My Grandmother Used to Say” took me to such a place of understanding, hope and potential.
We have all heard the sayings but to read about them in a deeper more profound way allows more thought to their meaning and how it has, or might have, a connection in one’s life path.
It is a book that could easily be returned to if an aspect of your life seems to be a little difficult - this is the perfect guide to help find inspiration and a way forward.
I genuinely recommend reading this delightful book to anyone who has pondered on aspects of their life but hasn’t known where to start.
Some of the wisdom contained in it will seem obvious when you read it, but some will make you say to yourself, "of course!"
The first step you need to do is get this book; the second step will be to take action.
I have done this, and I hope you w

• Language: English
• Publisher: David van Zanten
• Release date: Jan 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9780473205577

David van Zanten

My name is David van Zanten. I am a father of three and a secondary school teacher (13-18 year olds). I am also a counsellor. The subject of empowering and empowerment has been of huge interest to me all of my life. I believe that we can all determine and achieve our life goals. To do this we must recognise that current patterns in our lives may be preventing good health and good outcomes. My book helps one to recognise these patterns and to alter them so that positive outcomes result.

Book preview

My Grandmother

Used To Say . . .

David van Zanten

ISBN: 978-0-473-20557-7

Copyright© David van Zanten 2010

Email: [e-mail]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission

from the author.

Printed by PublishMe, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Assisted in publishing by www.publishme.co.nz

Published at Smashwords

Contents

FOREWORD

Every journey begins with a single step

CHAPTER ONE

God and the Universe are absolutely benign

CHAPTER TWO

A place for everything and everything in its place

CHAPTER THREE

Waste not, want not

CHAPTER FOUR

You learn something new every day

CHAPTER FIVE

If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well

CHAPTER SIX

Do the corners and the middle will look after itself

CHAPTER SEVEN

Summary

CHAPTER EIGHT

Watch out it doesn’t spring up and hit you

CHAPTER NINE

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all

CHAPTER TEN

If you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself

CHAPTER ELEVEN

What doesn’t come out in the wash, comes out in the dry

CHAPTER TWELVE

The person who has their health is a millionaire

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I would hate to see you in a fire

Foreword

Every journey begins with a single step

Welcome to this, your journey’s initial step. You and your words share a great secret. Both have a power which is mostly hidden. Most people do not realise their inner power, just as the depth of meaning behind most commonplace sayings is also unknown. This book is all about some very special sayings.

We are all aware of sayings. There is one available for most situations but why do we have them? What is their purpose and where did they come from?

Many of mine came from my Grandmother. In reality my Grandmother had no intellectual property rights to them and many will be familiar to you. Their origin, like the origins of many other sayings in this book are lost to antiquity.

So why have them? In an advancing technological world sayings, parables, and words of wisdom – which is in fact what they are – offer us principles to live by, modes of thinking to employ and paths to follow.

My Grandmother used to say, If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Life is worth doing well. After all, here we all are on this open stage endeavouring to do the job of living. The trouble with the game of life is that there are no clear rules and for many there are no clear objectives either. But is this true?

The principal problem underlying the lack of clarity in one’s life is twofold – a general belief that one is powerless to effect any change and, that those who do seek for the answers to life look too hard.

All through my childhood I would watch and study people. As I became a teenager I was continually frustrated by the number of strangers who would sit next to me and tell me their life stories. But when I was 16 I saved a friend’s life by being there for him to hear his life’s story and help him through his challenges and depression. I realised that maybe there was a point to me being here. However, my true search for more knowledge and true understanding didn’t start for three more years. I was 19 and experiencing severe depression through a series of stressful events. I remember imagining many different scenarios for a final solution. I look back now and am so thankful that I never acted any of them out as my search for answers, questions, knowledge and information about life beyond our three dimensions started in earnest from that time.

I read many books, studied ‘mystery’ schools and became a counsellor through the training of Ancient Healing Alchemy. This is a study of the energy levels and layers which surround our bodies. These layers, our aura, are made up of our belief structures and philosophies and they attract our life experiences. So I discovered that the answers to life’s questions and the reasons behind our current individual circumstances lie in us, in ourselves. Looking too hard is usually done by looking everywhere other than at oneself. The path of return, the path of enlightenment and the path of empowerment are all the same path – the inner path. For people who feel powerless it is obvious to see why the inner path is not even thought of. The truth is it is the only way to empowerment, to conscious control over our lives. Constantly seeking this elusive power by taking it from other people or waiting for it to come to us cannot ever work. We must see the power coming from us. All of us are connected to a universal force which is so immense and loving, but we don’t realise it is there.

Another of my Grandmother’s sayings was, If you want a job done right you have to do it yourself. The important word here is if. If you want your empowerment done right you have to do it yourself. Life isn’t a gravy train or a free ride. What mankind has been given since the beginning are principles, simple principles to live by which lead one to empowerment, responsibility and enlightenment.

Life is simple but not always easy. Most people don’t see the way to life as simple. Most of us also do not realise that we are connected to greater energies and that true power comes from within, not without.

Once you tap into the centre of your being, that which is connected to the universal, it raises your vibrational being into alignment. We all have access to this power whether we are aware of it or not but to be connected we must be conscious; conscious in our minds and conscious of the existence of this energy.

Learning this is easy, understanding it should also be easy, so where does it become complex? We make it so by thinking only of ourselves as separate beings. We must focus on the whole. The ‘whole’ refers to all of humanity connecting and flowing this energy out into the world, our world. If we don’t think of the whole, then we tend to focus on just ourselves, the separate self. Self creates disconnection and fear, which makes our lives difficult and empty. As most people focus on themselves they make a habit of it, their frequencies lessen and they live unconscious and complex lives.

My Grandmother and her sayings will surface throughout this book. In fact most chapters are dedicated to one of her sayings at a time, including the ones already mentioned. I hope that her wise words and principles highlight the simplicity and longevity of simple wisdom. Her sayings were given to her by her Grandfather and these sayings will be familiar to many of you. They are but simple truths, words and principles known by mankind and shared from one generation to the next to help the recipient simplify their life.

The main theme or focus throughout all of the chapters is ‘responsibility’. You are responsible for your words, thoughts and actions and as such are totally accountable for all the events in your life concerning you. This focus on one’s own responsibility is so difficult to take on board for most, being that it is the antithesis of their life’s philosophy. We become so inured to attributing blame for the events and circumstances in our lives that the idea of accepting total responsibility for us is too big an idea to grasp. We will look into this theme throughout the book, with the intent being that by the end your views on individual responsibility will be clearer.

Chapter One

God