by Charles McAlpine | Feb 17, 2018 | Blog
You’ve probably noticed I don’t really edit my writing. It is a bit of a thought dump…, and if I really took the time to edit for grammar, punctuation and spelling, it would be too much of a task or burden. It would take me so long to “get it right”, that I probably would have given up on writing a long time ago. I do usually take one good look for those glaring mistakes – which I still sometimes miss anyway. The process is like this… I write…, I read it out loud to myself or Fito. Fix any obvious problems and then send it off to my trusty tech-guy Paul, who then gets it into the right template/format. When the entire newsletter is done, I get it back and do a review and approval… and send it off for publishing. What I found last week when I re-read the article (Ebb and Flow) after it was in the final format, was that I feeling ‘guilt’ while reading it. As if my present circumstances seemed too luxurious or like I wasn’t doing enough. I wasn’t “working hard enough”. Or maybe I was just being lazy. I have to say I was a bit surprised. I hadn’t noticed the guilt before that…, but once I did, I realize it has been there since I made the decision to step back and take this time for myself. So on the one hand I am thrilled about giving myself this time to be… on the other I feel guilt. These two are incongruent. They actually work against one another. The thing...
by Charles McAlpine | Aug 18, 2017 | Blog
I want to tell you why we are here. Why we do what we do and why we exist. And it is quite simple: We are here to connect and create connections. Here is what I mean. Life is busy, hectic, distracting, and demanding. Most of us are being pulled in multiple directions, most of time. We have family, work, health, relationship and social commitments that are all vying for our attention. And if that is not enough, we are saturated with global information, news and content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anything that is happening, anywhere in the world is or can be known within minutes if not seconds. As we go about our days juggling our ‘to-do-list’ amidst the buzz and noise of a technology-based world.., it is often hard to get our own needs met. We are eating on the run. Checking in with loved ones between meetings. Trying to get home early enough to relax or catch-up on rest, before starting it all over again. We have become experts at multi-tasking.., yet at the same time it can be hard to connect with the most important person in this equation. Ourselves. Believe it or not our connection to Self Is the first and most important connection we are here to make. We are naturally evolving Beings. We are crafting and creating our lives from moment to moment. But when it feels like time is flying by, how do we slow down enough to connect to any given moment. It is a challenge for many of us. You may have a sense...
by Charles McAlpine | Aug 14, 2017 | Blog
Energetically this is an amazing time to experience a deeper level of present moment awareness. To intentionally enhance our ability to ‘Be in the Moment’. As a result, the following combination of Crystals may be ideal to work with during this time. To help with our continued awareness AND with incorporating these new energies. Rose Quartz, Fuchsite with Ruby, and Amethyst.., and here’s why. Rose Quartz is considered the ultimate Crystal for connecting to the energy of unconditional love. It does this by establishing a stronger connection to our Heart Energy Center. It is this connection to our Heart that is important in the desire to be more present or in the moment. You see the Heart does not recall or tell stories. That is the domain of the mind. The more we can stay connected to our Heart Center, the less likely we are to be pulled to stories of the past or to attempt to predict or control the future. Allow the Rose Quartz to open your heart and quiet the mind. Then the Fuchsite with Ruby can do its work of birthing something new. In this case, for many of us, the desire to live in the present moment is not new. In fact, it is foundational to many spiritual practices. However, there are new levels of ‘present moment awareness’ that are available to all of us. Fuchsite helps strengthen the hearts desire, while the Ruby works with our Root Energy Center and grounds that desire into our physical body. Our physical body wants to support our highest transformation. When we align our body with...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 11, 2017 | Blog
Years ago, when I first started exploring Spirituality and a deeper connection to internal guidance, I was introduced to the concept of the various ‘Aspects of Self’, that we all have within us. If you look at archetypical systems, you can find many different versions of this. In different cultures, religions and societal structures. This is the one I first worked with and therefore is easiest for me to relate to. ‘Aspects of Self’ such as the child, adolescent, nurturing parent, indulgent parent, negative ego, healthy adult, etc. All of these are voices in our head, that depending on the situations or circumstances, come forward and begin to raise their voice. They get our attention and influence our behaviors! Especially in situations where in the past, we were heavily influenced by similar events. Learning to quiet the noise of our monkey-minds, so we can hear and distinguish how these different voices or ‘Aspects of Self’ present themselves takes focus. We begin to start seeing the patterns that trigger them to come forward. Developing relationships with all ‘Aspects of Self’ is important integration work. It is valuable personal growth work. I know for me it has been a central part of my own process. YET! Here I am discovering another layer of one of these ‘Aspects of Self’ that I didn’t know was at play! My adolescent HATES rules. Words such as never, always, should, shouldn’t, must, can’t and have to… send them into rebellious defiance. And man, are they stubborn! Now mind you, I have had a lot of awareness about this resistance as it relates to organizations, systems...
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 | Feb 19, 2017 | Blog
I belong to a small group that meets once a month to provide support and insight to each other. It never ceases to amaze me how often our processes seem to mirror one another. The circumstances and situations maybe different, but way we are experiencing them is uncanny. We had a great conversation this past week that has really stuck with me about ‘following the energy’. I think what we realized through this dialog was that we are really good at following the energy when it is what we want to do. While things are going the way we want them to. However, as soon as it seems different from what we expect or imagine… the first thing we do is try and change or alter the flow of energy. In other words… we begin to fight against it. Even as the conversation was unfolding, someone experienced a visual metaphor of floating down a river. Everything is great, but then we are suddenly locked in on something or view a different possibility as a distraction. The flow has changed but we are still trying to keep our momentum going. Even if that now means swimming upstream or toward the shore. We want to move in a different direction than the current naturally wants to flow. I think for me personally this is very true when there is a bend or obstacle in the river that prevents me from seeing what is ahead. I want to shift my vantage point and try and get a better view, so I know how to prepare. As if I am going to be...
by Charles McAlpine | Jan 15, 2017 | Blog
I have a huge appreciation for the spiritual journey I have been on and all of it’s gifts. And I still find myself questioning how to incorporate it more fully into my daily existence. Many people think that meditation, yoga or other mind-body-spirit practices are done for the experiences you have while developing or participating in the practice itself. But the truth is, it is much more about how they affect or alter us as we go about our daily lives. I spend a good deal of time thinking about how to live my life in a more intentional way. In fact it is a big part of how and why I do what I do. How and why I would create a business like Storm Wisdom. YET.., this doesn’t mean everything is easy! There I times I really feel off track, or wonder if I have learned anything at all. The last couple of weeks has been like that for me. My beloved has been sick for two weeks. He is dealing with shifting and moving symptoms. We focus on one area of illness only to have it replaced with another. We get insight, information, direction and diagnosis/treatment on one thing and then something else takes its place. It is really hard to watch. It is really hard to know what to do next. And although he is much better than he was, he is still not feeling back to himself… and in fact today, is having similar symptoms as he had when this all first started on New Years Day. WTH!! I have been thinking a lot...
by Charles McAlpine | Sep 4, 2016 | Blog
This past week I had a dream about the metal sculpture that is right inside our front door at Storm Wisdom. It is a work of kinetic/assemblage art created by an artist out of Utah. If you have been to the center, you have probably noticed it. On the one hand it has a very industrial look because of the 8.5′ collage of found metal, steel and iron that forms the structure of the piece. At the same time, it also has a very light and airy modern feel to it because it hosts an acrylic clear tube. The tube is filled with water which bubbles constantly because of the built-in air pump. The tube is lit by an LED bulb that makes the entire tube radiate at night! About a month before I opened Storm Wisdom (over 7 years ago!) I went to an exhibit at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale. I wasn’t really in the market for a piece of art, but I have always admired Jason (the owner) and his eye for art. So I was there to support him and the gallery. Of course as soon as I saw this piece, I immediately associated it with the transformation my life was going through at the time. The heavy, intertwined, dense and stable structure of the steel represented the corporate world I had been apart of and was in the process of leaving behind. The radiant bubbling elements of water, air, fire, and earth that was symbolized by the more streamlined and fluid acrylic tube mirrored the new world of spirituality and intentionality I was stepping into....
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 29, 2016 | Blog
This article was originally published in Journey Magazine (Issue 84 | Summer 2016). There is room in Heaven for everyone. It is a place that is so loving that it accepts each of us, exactly as we are. It is a place where anything can happen. Magic is all around. As you think a thought, everything around you begins to move and shift in order to align with that thought. If what you imagine or desire is large or requires a big stage, then people and things, appear just as you need them. They will bring you gifts, insights, opportunities and more. They will offer to assist you in creating your dream. Sometimes they will offer ways to either simplify or make your vision more complex. All as a part of the magic of Heaven. For those who prefer to do things on their own, they have it their way too. Heaven values hard work and dedication as much as it does magic. The people and things around them will still realign themselves and be ready for them if they choose. But they will let them make the first move. They are happy to be a cheering section that marvels at their tenacity. Yet ready at a moments notice to pitch in and assist. There of course is entertainment in Heaven. All forms of music, art and dance. So many that it becomes obvious that everyone in Heaven is an artist of some type. Even those who think that there is not an artistic bone in their body. They don’t see or call what they do art, but everyone...
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 | 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 | Jun 5, 2016 | Blog
A couple of days ago, while doing some writing, I realized there was something I needed to do! I was writing about “Who I am becoming”. There is so much happening right now and many of us are feeling the intensity of all this activity. The world around us is shifting and changing. Some people are adjusting and adapting to these changes. Some are disconnecting and finding new ways of being. Others are still holding on to their old ways and wondering why they are not working like they use. I a lot of what I was reflecting on while writing was about being more intentional about who I am moving forward. If you are like me, you have spent a long time being a student of Life. This means looking deep within to discover your truth. To discover your passion. Even your purpose. I know it seems like we would/should know these things. Aren’t we are the ones who have lived this experience or adventure we call our life? But what many of us don’t realize is how much others have affected our perspective. How our perspective influences how we interpret the events and circumstances we experience. In truth, most of us need to slow down. To become the Observer of our own life. To hear the internal messages from various aspects of ourselves. Then we begin to realize we are running old stories that no longer fit or apply (if they ever did!). So this is where I was in my writing, when I had this thought. “I need to create a meditation/visualization for myself”. To focus...
by Charles McAlpine | May 29, 2016 | Blog
I am obsessing right now with this idea of living as the me I am becoming – not living based on my past! I know there is something powerful here and yet we are so conditioned to use the past as a guide or navigation tool, that it almost feels impossible. When I think about what it would be like to live into who I am becoming, I begin to realize how much we live based on our past. Even sitting down to write this blog, I am aware that 99% of the time I write the article for my newsletter Sunday. It is a routine, a habit, and a structure. It is what I have done. It is based on my past. When I began to think about what I wanted to write about, my first thought was “okay, what happened last week?”. I look to the past to decide what these musings will be about. There are so many ways that we reference the past as a way to navigate the present or to direct us to the future. We are on auto-pilot. And you know what I realize? This is a good thing. It give us structure, safety, routine, even simplicity in our lives. We know the best way for us to do something because we have already figured it out. Our minds help us to establish habits and routine. They maximize our effectiveness in many ways and these habits are inherent. So what I recognize is that “living as the me I am becoming” is less about the routines and habits formed in my past...
by Charles McAlpine | May 1, 2016 | Blog
Fito and I have both been having a similar experience, but not necessarily sharing it with one another. Finally on one of our nightly walks, it came up. We have both been feeling the energies of ‘expansion’. The energy of flow, abundance; the energy of more. Yet prior to our conversation we had both been dealing with it in different ways. Fito was not talking about or sharing his experience of these energies of expansion because he “didn’t want to jinx them”. He thought that somehow, if he talked about what he was sensing or feeling.., those energies would go away. I on the other hand have shared with you, through this blog, that I have been feeling these expansive energies since the beginning of the year. However instead of being afraid I would cancel them out somehow by sharing them.., I have spent a lot of time looking for proof or evidence of this expansion in the 3-D world. Do we have more clients, transactions, workshops, etc… Or is their more money in my bank account. What we decided was that both of us are putting barriers in our own path. If you feel a new flow or rush of energies and then refuse to acknowledge it for fear it will go away; it is your fear that disrupts the flow. On the other hand, if you don’t trust it and begin to search for proof or start collecting evidence; that too can disrupt the flow. Instead, you have to simple bask in the energies that are flowing in and around you and be willing to “RECEIVE” 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 | Oct 25, 2015 | Blog
Decisions, decisions, decisions! I guess no matter where we find ourselves on this journey through life; we are constantly presented with options. A variety of directions. Multiple choices! This is where a crystal ball that predicts the future would really come in handy! You see, there is change coming my way. I feel it and sense it. I know that something is stirring and wants to be revealed. Probably in many areas of my life, but right now, I am think about my business. I know we are moving into or towards something new. There are choices to be made. Options to choose between. Possible new futures. As I ponder these and try to decide what feels right. I realize I want some guarantee! I want to know that of the things I am considering; I will know which of them is “right”! Yet I also know.., this is not how it works! In some ways – there is no wrong choice. The end results may not look as I expect or assume it will. But even that is an opportunity to learn and grow. So it becomes (for me!) a guessing game! If I do ‘this’.., will X happen? If I choose ‘that’.., will Y be next? And, what if there is another option I am not even considering? You can see how these mind games get started! I get all caught up in weighing the possibilities and start to panic! I want to know the impact or results of any of these decisions before they are even made. I want to know I will be successful. I...
by Charles McAlpine | Oct 18, 2015 | Blog
We have movement! I mean that both figuratively and literally! If you have been following along with my journey lately, you know I have been hanging out in the unknown! Passing through one of those thresholds that is a demarcation between “what was” and “what will be”. We all have them.., my latest one just seems to have lasted a LONG time! Personally, it feels like I handled this time of not knowing really well! There were certainly times of confusion, boredom, frustration and even a little bit of worry. But for the most part, what I want to celebrate was that I just stayed in the discomfort of not knowing. For a ‘control-freak’.., that’s a big-darn-deal! I spent plenty of time over the past few months internally observing my own situation. And, I have to say, I have a new appreciation for taking the time to develop “The Observer”. The ability to witness what you are going through (thinking, feeling and experiencing), with detachment and acceptance; knowing and allowing it to be okay. Experiencing your own journey not only from the path you are on, but also from a perch somewhere above. Where the ups and downs are not as dramatic. With a knowing that even though you can’t see what is around the next corner, you know you are right where you are suppose to be! It feels like this past few months (which at times felt like YEARS) of “observing” my own dance with the unknown, has been about ‘trust’. Trusting that everything will work out exactly as it is meant to be. Trusting that my...
by Charles McAlpine | Oct 1, 2015 | Blog
We are responsible for our own evolution. We decide how far and how fast we progress in our journey toward fulfillment; whatever that means to each of us. For some it might mean actualizing and manifesting something we desire. For others it might be about physical health. Still for others it will be creating loving, supportive relationships. Beneath whatever personal fulfillment means to us, there is a deeper desire to know and connect with our true SELF. What is it that lights me up? What is my purpose? How do I live the a meaningful life? The answers are unique to each person that asks these questions. Yet many of us are trying to answer them by observing, mimicking and repeating what others are doing or what they are telling us we ‘should’ do! “They” can be anyone from a family member, to a boss, church, magazine or corporation (or MANY others). We are bombarded with messages daily about how we are suppose to groom, dress, weigh, drive, believe, avoid, feel, etc… And even though this makes navigating and connecting with our personal truth more challenging; in reality it is an amazing opportunity to develop your own intuition and unfamiliar senses. A way for each of us to grow and evolve. Consider using this combination of crystals (Almandine Garnet, Honey Calcite & Amazonite) to support expanding your intuitive and unfamiliar senses for the purpose of evolving and personal expansion. Here’s why I like this combination! Almandine Garnet: First of all we need to be grounded and connected to our physical body whenever we want to shift of change anything....
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 26, 2015 | Blog
We are getting ready to launch a web-store for our in-house developed product line called ‘The Magic of Crystals’. You are probably already familiar with most of these products (Energetic Mysts, Hand & Body Lotion, Crystal Knowledge Deck, Infused Sage.., etc.), and now whether you’re near or far, will be able to purchase them with ease online (US sales only) as well as at the center. The retail version of the site will be open soon, and within a month or two, we’ll have a wholesale web-store too! Isn’t that exciting! The reason I wanted to write about this is not so much about what will happen going forward, but how we got here in the first place! Now that it is almost here, I marvel at our ability to create. Anyone who has spent anytime in the past 10 years following the human potential movement, law of attraction or visualization techniques for manifesting and creating via your thoughts, emotions and imagination; has heard all the suggestions, promises and possibilities. So without a doubt, I believe in the power of aligning our thoughts and feelings around a future dream or outcome. It makes sense to me that the more we can visualize and imagine something, that the Universe starts to realign and create events and circumstances to bring these dreams into fruition. I think these are all positive things to do, along with our own actions or steps in the direction of what we are trying to create. But… There is also something here about honoring time, space and energetic flow! You see, we actually tried having a web-store...
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 | Jul 12, 2015 | Blog
I am tired of negativity, discrimination, divisiveness, fear-mongering, hate-talk, racism, misogyny, homophobia, bigotry and classism. Actually, to be truthful, I am worn down by them. Theses are tedious, never-ending energies that seem to be hurled around ad nauseam. I get it, we all have biases. We have preferences. We are drawn to some people and things, while we are repelled by others. But these days, it feels like we are being manipulated by some external force that wants to increase these hurtful and harmful prejudices. “They” wants us to feel and be isolated from one another. It is as if we are all part of a large marketing experiment, where if we all get isolated into our assigned group.., a market research group sort of. Each group is then reinforced to believe that their position, issues, concerns, traits, and perspectives are right and good. Each group is fed regular doses of information that categorize, reinforce and support their rightness. We are led to believe that if our segment does not achieve its goal, we will lose, possibly even cease to exist. We become so focused on the group that were sorted into, that we begin to lose the perspective of the other groups. Those groups become ‘them’. If any of ‘them’.., are not aligned or don’t share our perspective, they are viewed as the “other-side”. They become the bad guys. They are the enemy. We are good, they are bad. Us against Them. Justice against Evil. This means each group has been successfully separated from the whole. This means they have been reduced in size. Yet, because members...
by Charles McAlpine | Jul 5, 2015 | Blog
Intuition plays an important part in my day-to-day life. Actually, I believe it plays a big part in EVERYONE’S life.., some of us just have the volume turned down so low, it is harder to hear! But.., that’s another story! What I am noticing this week is that sometimes, when we need it the most, our intuition has a tendency to hide! Okay, the truth is when I get excited and start exploring possibilities, my intuition takes a lunch break! That is what is going on right now. I am considering a new project that has lots of possibilities, some unknown, some risk, some rewards. Basically there are several possible ways I could see this project going. When I talk to some of my closest allies, they all ask the same thing: “What is your intuition telling you?” Aaahhgh… I don’t know! Instead, my mind wants to make-up what my intuition is telling me! My mind barters, makes deals and contrives multiple ‘what if’ scenarios. My mind knows nothing about intuition! If it did, it would know that ‘intuitive hits’ are definitive! They are yes or no. ‘Maybe’ is not an intuitive hit! That is until I remember that there are always multiple ways for us to grow, learn and evolve. And isn’t that where our intuition really supports us? It points out open doors when there are new opportunities; or tells us when it is time to close one. It tells us when the path we are on is leading us in a circle. Our intuition points us towards (or away from) those people and experiences that are...
by Charles McAlpine | Jun 28, 2015 | Blog
What a week it has been. Marriage Equality is now the law of the land! Trust me, this is a BIG deal when you have experienced the desire to take that oath of commitment with someone you love and have been denied. To see other family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers.., hell, even strangers celebrate the magic of their relationship; yet be denied that same joy. This is a BIG deal for a lot of us! And yet, there is another side to this story. There are also many people, some who are reading this, that aren’t celebrating this decision. Some who know and even love me or other gay people, who are trying to reconcile this against religious or cultural teachings and beliefs that they have held for a long time. For others, they are so opposed to it, they feel as if they have been hit in the gut. Life will never be the same for any of us again. And the impact and adjustments will play out over time. Much as they have for other significant human rights and social changes. This is the beginning of a new chapter. For me, I typed the hashtag #LoveWins so many times the last couple of days, that it became a mantra. I was celebrating. Feeling recognized. Feeling equal in the eyes of the law. Probably even gloating over those who worked so tirelessly against this new law. Maybe even a little superior for being on the side that won. Yet the entire time, I also realized this came down to a difference of one person’s position. I also felt...
