One of the benefits of participating in a marketing program for socially-conscious entrepreneurs is that it has me slow down and really think about what I am trying to create; why, how, where and with who. Many of us have ideas or concepts of what we are creating in our heads. We even have a sense of how our heart feels. But there is an amazing power in writing these thoughts and feelings down on paper. (Okay.., in my case typing them out digitally!)

I have had this awareness that things were shifting and changing rapidly on the planet for about the last 10 years. I realize that this is not really a long time for those who have been attuned to the planet and her people for decades. However, it seems to me, that many of us began to sense that something was up and we began to hear the call to something new. A new way of Being.

Mind you, this does not mean I understood what this awareness meant, or where it would lead. It simply was a sense that something was different. The people, places and things that use to seem important, started to feel more malleable. What use to feel important, suddenly became okay, but didn’t offer the motivation or passion they had before.

I was sensing the energetic shift around me, and the shift was changing me. It affected how I interacted with my day to day world.

In the early stages of becoming more aware of the shifting energies, it felt personal. It felt as if it was happening to me. I started feeling like a fish out of water. And yet, much of the circumstances of my life were the same as they had always been. What was different was how I experienced these circumstances.

As I began to follow my intuition and place more credibility or gave credence to my senses; things started to morph. I was less influenced by what others thought. It was easier to journey by myself, in a unique way. You see, one major difference was setting down the need for approval from others.

I found program, workshops, retreats and trainings (like Lucid Living and CTI’s coach training program) that help me develop new ways of operating and experiencing life around me from a new perspective. They gave me the tools, practices, skills and awareness to interact in different ways with the everyday circumstances of life. I also began to build a community with others who were seeing, sensing and experiencing the energetic shifts. I began to see myself and these new comrades as Spiritual Magicians; capable of imagining, envisioning and actualizing a different experience and relationship with everything around us.

Suddenly my focus was living a spiritual life with more intention. The conversations that were most compelling were the ones where I/we embraced personal authority and responsibility. Instead of looking at the events, circumstances or people in my life, to place blame or give power to. Self-examination where being a victim, martyr or savior were explored for the sake of releasing them because of the limitations they create.

The energetic shift that I was sensing and feeling was calling me forth and asking me to show up authentically and securely. At the same time, I began having a deeper more expanded relationship with joy. I stopped looking for and expecting material things to bring me happiness. Instead, there was a new awareness that joy is always there and available, we simply have to be open and allow it.

The pursuit of a deeper relationship with SELF became the most important item on my to-do list. Which amazingly was easiest and most effective by being in open, direct and honest conversations with others.

There were many challenges along the way. Relationships that were out of balance were either rebalanced or released. Goals that had seemed so clear were now muddled. My own identity seemed to be in constant flux. The stories and memories that I had held onto and defined myself by, started to deteriorate and fall apart. It was as disorienting at times as it was compelling.

Yet, I wouldn’t change a thing.

In fact, it is why I created Storm Wisdom. The word “Storm” (for me) means BALANCE. When the elements (Fire, Earth, Water and Air) converge at the same time and place it creates a storm energy that is very balancing for the planet. Purging, cleansing, initiating and allowing; yet also sometimes uncomfortable, disruptive and even destructive.

Our spiritual journeys are much the same. We create storms along the way, to open and expand our awareness. We also have to destroy old beliefs and let toxic behaviors and even people go from our lives. Once we begin this process it is ever evolving and intensifying. Because once you find your balance (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual), it becomes to enticing and magnanimous to give up. It is almost impossible to revert back to old ways of doing/being.

And now, because I am in a marketing course I get to reconnect with and recommit to my vision and mission for myself and Storm Wisdom. Building a community that is committed to living intentional lives and experiencing our highest joy, as a way to bring balance back to ourselves and this amazing planet; our playground for evolving consciousness!

With Light, Love, and Laughter
Charles