by Charles McAlpine | Mar 12, 2017 | Blog
This past week I hosted our annual staff appreciation dinner! Every year we gather to celebrate the year that has past and to look forward to the one in front of us. Every year the same thing happens for me. I am filled with gratitude. And as much as gratitude is a part of my life, I realize I also have it connected to a control switch. Meaning, if it feels like I am too grateful, it will trigger something that disrupts my gratitude. Or, that if I am grateful all the time.., my gratitude is diminished. So I attempt to keep my gratitude dialed into an acceptable range! Oh my… Now mind you, this is not all the time. But I catch myself doing it frequently enough that it puzzles me. I know better! Of all the generating energies we can embody, gratitude is probably the most potent. When we embrace and lean into our gratitude it expands and so does our ability to imagine, envision and create. So the more we are aligned with our gratitude, the easier it is to manifest and actualize our goals and desires. So why would I want to limit or control my gratitude? It makes me think about another situation that has me question the value of many spiritual teachings. The “I only experience Love” phenomenon. As if being able to feel and express only one emotion should be a goal. It kinda creeps me out. Saying “I only feel love” is like saying “I am always in neutral”. The real growth and expansion we seek is achieved by learning to...
by Charles McAlpine | Aug 28, 2016 | Blog
I am teetering between absolute hope and uncomfortable doubt. The vacillating between these two emotional perspectives sometimes leaves me perched somewhere in the middle. A place of almost no movement. A neutral zone where both possibilities exist and hold sway when given attention or weight. I read a short message from someone who has been a promoter of the awakening spiritual journey for some time now. Suddenly they are questioning everything. They feel betrayed by their beliefs in the ongoing journey of mankind to something more harmonious than what we have been able to muster in the last few thousand years. They doubt whether it is possible for us to save ourselves before the complete destruction of sustainable life (for humans!) on this planet. They are questioning their faith in their spirituality and their guiding principles. It is all up for grabs for them. Their message puts my own doubts on the loudspeaker. Their message resonates with the part of me that does not trust our ability to shift from war, greed, anger and despair to co-creation, co-existence, compassion and care. The journey between these two polarities seems so far apart. When I allow this aspect of myself to hold my attention, there is plenty of fodder in our news cycles to confirm our spiral downwards and commitment to violence and destruction. Still.., there is another part of me that believes we are at a crucial turning point. A tipping point that represents the final stage of our need for separation. Where we realize that our true differences has little to do with the color of our skin, gender,...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 17, 2016 | Blog
This week I finished a 60 day ‘self-healing’! I am not sure where the idea came from. But I know there were several things I had been thinking about for awhile. They all seemed to converge at this same time. So when I say self-healing, I decided to focus on mind, body spirit. Writing about what I was experiencing and doing with my body. My thoughts and emotions. Even my spirituality. I would also include what I was not doing. Everyday I wrote. Sometimes for an hour sometimes for 10-15 minutes. Each day was about capturing the where, what, how and why of my day. I started out with one idea. To pay attention to what I was eating. Most of us know what’s good for us. That doesn’t mean we choose that. This was the one structure I knew I could track. Am I making the choices that feel best and aligned for me. Other than that, this has been an open expedition! What I discovered is a new me. I am not the same person who started the writing exercise. I didn’t have a particular agenda. But, my experience was completely different than what I imagined. I feel like I caught up with myself. I learned who I am by focusing on who I am becoming. I learned who I am by letting go of who I no longer am. There are stories I have been telling myself. Stories about who I am. What is challenging. What is working and what isn’t. I have been telling stories about who I am as a spiritual being, business owner,...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 9, 2016 | Blog
I couple of weeks ago, I posted the image above on our Storm Wisdom Facebook page. I guess the whole subject was on my mind. I’d been in several similar conversations with clients and friends. They were asking my thoughts on how to fight off negative energy. They were feeling drained by situations or people who they felt victimized by. Perhaps someone who was being intimidating, threatening or just plain manipulative. One of them works in an environment that feels toxic and draining. Where morale around them is low, yet people can’t afford to leave and they feel stuck. Sometimes life is hard. People can be jerks. Unfortunately, there are people who are vindictive and mean. There are people who enjoy making other people miserable. Maybe because they are unhappy themselves. Maybe they’re upset that they didn’t get what they want! Yuck. Who needs all that!?! But here’s the thing. Even if you find yourself in one of these crazy negative situations, do you want to spend your time and energy fighting it? Think about it. It is so easy to feel like you are forced to engage. Required to stand your ground. Need to protect yourself from these energetic attacks. But engaging with these energies, fighting them keeps them alive. The darkness feeds off of itself. Darkness wants more darkness. Darkness breeds decay. It is heavy. It feels consuming. Darkness wants to draw you in so that it can smother your Light. When you enter the ring with darkness, you are in it’s arena. You are playing its game. Instead, let go of the fight. Accept it for...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 19, 2016 | Blog
There is power in storytelling. The ability to conjure a special setting or place. Characters come to life. An audience’s emotions in the palm of their hand. A storyteller transports you into another adventure. They can make you feel as if you are part of it, or certainly a witness. Someone who knows the inside and out of a situation by invitation of the storyteller. But what of the stories we tell ourselves? Today is day 34 of an exercise I am doing on self-healing. Self-healing that is focused on a balance between mind, body and spirit. An accounting of my spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health. Based on when, where, and how I spend my time with each. For 60 days, I have committed to writing and paying attention to who I am becoming. Being present with and for myself. And.., to be truthful.., to intentionally move into the next chapter of my life. (If you are curious about this last sentence, here is an article I wrote last week. The title is “Are We Living Multiple Lifetimes in One Lifetime” ) What stands out the most for me in this exercise is how the stories I am telling myself affect my day-to-day life. The stories where I tell myself I’m not ready. That I must (or must not) do something. Stories about who I am. Oftentimes the reflections, perspectives or recollection of and from my past. I have been telling myself for years that ‘fear’ is part of me. That even when it is quiet, it is always there. That fear rules my life. But by reflecting and writing...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 12, 2016 | Blog
I am in an amazing space! I continue to be present. I continue to be in a place of contentment. Hovering somewhere in the middle of my life. And I realize the middle is the perfect place to hang out! I think in some past thought process I might have believed I wanted to spend my time in the top end of life. In the high. That my goal was to always be up! Joyful, blissed out! Yet in this moment, that doesn’t feel quite right. At least not for me. I imagine the origin of wanting to live in the ‘high’ of life originates with an exercise I did back in 2004. A year of awakening and change. In fact I credit this as the year that I started my personal/spiritual journey. I was at a weekend workshop where we did an exercise that looked at how we spent our time and energy emotionally. Each participant had a deck of cards. Each card described different emotions or emotional situations. We were suppose to sort through these card and choose the five that we experienced the most. Which 5 felt the most consistent in our lives. The five words that I came up with at first seemed awesome! Happy, content, belonging, balance and peace. I was quite pleased that I didn’t have words like anger, depressed, scarcity or fear. But as I sat there in my state of contentment, I stated to notice other words that also weren’t in my five. Words such as thrilled, joyful, bliss and ecstasy. I knew these words but rarely (if ever) felt them....
by Charles McAlpine | Feb 28, 2016 | Blog
Let’s talk about Energy. I frequently mention that I find myself navigating my day by sensing, feeling, or simply knowing where, what, when, or with whom I have a connection. What feels right.., what resonates. This means I am either drawn to something or I am not. Sometimes I even feel repelled by something or someone. When this happens, I want to move away from it or them. These sensations are all based on energies that either feel harmonious, static, or discordant. Energies that are either bumping up against our own energies or blending with them. Never forgetting that there are significantly more energies that we are oblivious to, simply because they neutral for us. Each one of us has our own energetic field. Everything we do affects this field. The food and exercise choices we make, the people we hang out with, our work environments, our attitude, our behavior, our thoughts and our emotions. As we walk around, people may be drawn to, repelled by or oblivious to us. AND, us to them. Basic and simple to understand.., right? Well here’s the rub. For a long time, most of us suppressed or did not trust our ability to sense or interpret the sensations that we got from the people, places and things around us… Unless it was dramatic or intense. This means that in order for us to reconnect with our ability to sense, feel and trust energies, we had to amplify our awareness of them. We had to turn up the volume. The easiest way to do that in a dualistic world is to divide them into...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 18, 2015 | Blog
Mental hopscotch is apparently one of my favorite forms of entertainment! It seems there are a never-ending range of topics I will process, pull apart, re-imagine or simply allow my mind to jump around and through! I am sure that somewhere in all these mind games, there is actual stimulus for creating things in my life. Yet, I wonder, what would happen if I just took the time to get specific. Target what I really want. And let the other 5000 possibilities go? Would I create faster. Would I be less stressed? Would I get where I am going with greater ease? Our minds are our greatest gifts and can be our heaviest burdens. There is no rule book given when we enter this life that tell us how to master the mind. We are simply following the lineage of perceptions, ideas, trials and tribulations that have been passed down from the generations before us. Add to that our own fumbling experiences, and we are left with a map that only makes sense to one person. If it makes sense to us at all!! We of course know how to develop our intellect. Expansion of knowledge is constant. Wisdom is a possibility for all… Hopefully wisdom is something that we all get to enjoy someday as we reach the Sage years of our lives. Yet, our minds (my mind) goes wherever it wants! I may be planning to go grocery shopping, but my mind has me replaying a scene from a television show, or trying to figure out who the first person was to eat an artichoke. How many...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 21, 2015 | Blog
Watch out what you ask for! You’ll probably get it!! I tend to be a seeker. I want to understand how things work, how the pieces fit together. I like to explore the unknown. I want to chart my own course and choose my route. Often times I will carve out a new path, or attempt to venture where it feels no one has gone before (at least not in the same way!). Of course I am mostly referring to spiritual exploration… Our purpose, our connection to a higher source, what makes us tick, and how the heck did we get where we are? It is the pursuit of spiritual truths that motivates and propels many of our journeys. And if you are like me, then just following the pack isn’t all that inspiring. I want to experience for myself what it means to evolve, expand awareness or deepen the connection to consciousness. Hearing about someone else’s experience may be informative, but it is not enough to feed the hunger and longing of my spirit. So we open ourselves to change. We explore new territories and embrace transformation. Chaos feels like a constant companion. And then we ask ourselves “why”? You see, when we set these intentions to expand and embrace deeper truths or invite new levels of awareness; we think the answers or the insights will come to us in our dreams, meditations, or through our imagination. Yet, we live in a physical world. That which we seek appears in our day-to-day lives. We open ourselves to change and then assume that automatically the cells in our body...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 7, 2015 | Blog
Channeling has opened up a whole new world for me. It shifts my perspective and alters how I view things. Today I realize it helps me understand that we all have our limits. I think before I consciously chose to channel, I imagined that anyone who was connected to a higher source, entity or collective energies must have access to ALL information. From anytime, any place. Any subject; past present or future. Now all of that has changed for me. Instead, I am clear that there is no “all-knowing”. That is not how it works. Even All-That-Is, God, the Universe or any other name used to define the Origin and Source of all consciousness.., doesn’t have access to “ALL” information, because it continues to evolve and learn as each of us expands our personal awareness. And since we have the gift of free will; what we learn through our choices and our experiences can’t be known until we know it! All of this is to say that there is something humbling about the awareness that channeling brings. It helps me to see that I don’t have all the answers. It seems to me that because we see ourselves as intellectual beings, we think we should ‘know’. Because we are physical beings, we should know how to ‘do’. Add to that those of us who choose to look through the lens of spirituality.., and you have the pursuit of ‘Being’. Mind, Body, Spirit! But we are making it up as we go along. We create relationships and experiences that shape our attitudes, beliefs, values and desires. We study what intrigues...
by Charles McAlpine | May 31, 2015 | Blog
These days it seems as if most of my energies are directed towards letting go of something that I created in the past! Whether it is a painful memory, an emotional wound or a limiting belief; it seems they insist on being released, forgiven and forgotten! Don’t think this means I am being intentional about selecting these experiences or memories. Instead, out of the blue I realize I am mentally reliving or remembering them. Sometimes in my remembering or recalling of these life events, I am mentally reliving them in a new way. I get to say what I wanted to say or I stop the interaction before it goes to far. In my mind I am altering the past. Yet, it is not the mental gymnastics that is important here. It is that I realize that some event from my past is up for review. I can sense the part of me who wants to win, come out on top or avoid the sorrow or pain altogether. It is during the awareness of the replay that the realization comes to me, that this is a situation that is up for healing. By running the stories over and over in my mind, I use to think I was gathering resources for the future. Preparing myself for the next time I had a similar encounter. Or.., even more likely, building a wall around my heart or emotional body in an attempt to protect it from ever having one of these experiences again. These days, I still need my mind to create the distraction and bring the experiences forward. But not...
by Charles McAlpine | May 24, 2015 | Blog
What is your experience of our ever changing world? Does it seem dramatically different than it did a few years ago? Or, is it the same old status quo? Different day, same challenges and opportunities? To me, it feels really different! I feel different. And the majority of me loves the shifts and changes I sense or feel. While a part of me longs for the days of predictability and a time of stability. If you are like me and can feel or sense the energetic changes that our planet is going through; What are some of the ways that you notice these subtle shifts (or even not so subtle!). It seems like a good practice to stay aware of what feels like it is evolving. What no longer resonates, and/or what does. One thing that seems noticeable these days, for me (and for a number of people in my life) is our relationship with the authority figures in our lives. Doctors, therapists, lawyers, elected officials, police, clergy, financial or business leaders, and others who have a specialized area of focus or responsibility. We rely of them for their expertise. But the way that we have relied on them has become out of balance. We have given them too much authority, control or influence in our lives. For a long time we simply trusted what they said and followed their instruction to the letter. But many, if not all of these authority figures are losing their sway and influence over us. Their message or directions no longer feel aligned with us as individuals. This does not mean they are...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 6, 2014 | Blog
Ever since I opened Storm Wisdom, one of our visions and values has been collaboration and cooperation with other heart-centered businesses and practitioners. For us this means that we avoid the energies of competition and isolation, especially when it is based on fear, scarcity or lack. Early on, when a client or friend would mention another business or practice that offered similar products or services, I would go to these locations and introduce myself. I would see what they carried or what they offered. I would ask them what they wanted to be known for… their specialty so to speak. This way, when a client walks in (or calls for that matter) and we don’t have what they are looking for, we can refer them to someone who does. We have a resource book that we use and frequently share addresses and phone numbers for other local businesses or practitioners. We even keep other business’s cards on hand so that they can be shared with someone in need. For us, this makes good business sense. And, if Spiritually based businesses don’t model this way of operating.., who will? So what happens when this vision or value is not shared, even with those who are a regular part of your referral base? I can tell you for me it hurts, I get disappointed and maybe a little angry. Then my wounded ego begins to distort what is happening and I move into being entitled, martyred and a little victim-y. Then I have to catch myself and bring my thoughts and focus back to what we are trying to create. If...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 6, 2014 | Blog
Ever since I opened Storm Wisdom, one of our visions and values has been collaboration and cooperation with other heart-centered businesses and practitioners. For us this means that we avoid the energies of competition and isolation, especially when it is based on fear, scarcity or lack. Early on, when a client or friend would mention another business or practice that offered similar products or services, I would go to these locations and introduce myself. I would see what they carried or what they offered. I would ask them what they wanted to be known for… their specialty so to speak. This way, when a client walks in (or calls for that matter) and we don’t have what they are looking for, we can refer them to someone who does. We have a resource book that we use and frequently share addresses and phone numbers for other local businesses or practitioners. We even keep other business’s cards on hand so that they can be shared with someone in need. For us, this makes good business sense. And, if Spiritually based businesses don’t model this way of operating.., who will? So what happens when this vision or value is not shared, even with those who are a regular part of your referral base? I can tell you for me it hurts, I get disappointed and maybe a little angry. Then my wounded ego begins to distort what is happening and I move into being entitled, martyred and a little victim-y. Then I have to catch myself and bring my thoughts and focus back to what we are trying to create. If...
by Charles McAlpine | Apr 20, 2014 | Blog
News flash! Being “strong” is not defined by the ability to suppress our emotions and appear as if everything is perfect, when our world is falling apart! There is no “right way” to handle the complex situations that confront us on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter what the ad on television promises, there are situations that will be difficult and challenging to handle. We are human and we will experience emotions. There are emotions that are uplifting and expansive, some that are neutral, and some that are heavy and constricting. The game of life is not about seeing how many of the latter we can avoid. It is about developing the emotional fluency to dance with ANY emotion that we encounter along the way! And BTW… We will encounter them all throughout the course of our lifetime. Somehow we seem to have reached a time in our evolution where the emotions such as sadness, disappointment, fear, anger, loneliness, despair, humiliation and rage are to be avoided at all costs. That somehow if we are “hanging out” with any of these emotions, there is something wrong and we need to fix them (fix ourselves) as soon as possible. Put a smile on your face… think positive thoughts! However, this can end up being emotional and spiritual blackmail! You see, it is one thing to have the fluency and awareness to lift yourself from a constricting emotion. It is quite another to try and pretend it doesn’t exist or matter! When we try to cover it up or hide these emotions, it is easy to start judging them (and ourselves)...
