Between the Cracks: A blog by Albert Clayton Gaulden

Everywhere you look, somebody has an opinion. Bill O’Reilly says that he is fair and balanced and then proceeds to pander to one side of the political and cultural aisle. Radio show host Rush Limbaugh spews vitriol hours a day in the name of saving the Republic but he sounds more like an inmate talking to himself than an intelligent source for insights you can trust. Even where I live, Sedona, Arizona-purported to be the spiritual center of the Universe-two sides of the City Council have drawn a line in the sand about how to replace a council member who resigned-appointed by Council or to be elected in a special election-and for how long the replacement council member will serve before needing to be reelected. Here in paradise there is a war brewing.

Will Rogers said opinions are like grudges, everybody has a few, best left to himself. I will weight in to say that opinions are really axes to grind with little room for sane and rational fair-mindedness. If all of us would pretend that we are back in school where we are learning about two sides of an issue, like in a debate, we would be able to come up with solutions that are more judicious and workable. Opinions begin with prejudices that are emotionally charged; oftentimes a reflection of what one feels is best for his enlightened self-interest, i.e. best for his pocketbook.

My commitment to those with whom I work is to clear away all the dirt and grime that they learned from childhood into adulthood-picked up from parents who don’t have a clue about being open-minded; how to look at both sides of an issue and then decide. We are all brainwashed about religion and politics and even hatred is inculcated dependent upon what region you were raised in. My suggestion to heal brainwash is to whitewash all the judgments that are floated as opinions and to start over with a clear mental pallet upon which to write your own balanced conclusions about things that matter.

The next time you have an uneducated opinion, you might want to keep it to yourself. Change you and you can change the world you touch. 

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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My dog tells me what to do. If I forget to take him for his three-times-a-day walk to do his “business” he leaves it on my carpet or behind a potted plant. When I call him he rarely ever comes. He is a fox terrier, a breed famous for having a mind of their own. Mr. Darby is ever so loving, especially to strangers like the waste management driver (remember when we could call them garbage collectors? Not any more. You know…politically correct runs the show now), owners in the Dog Park and my friends Diane and Jerry who always have a treat for my dog as they go about their morning walk.Some days I would like to send him back to the breeders from Iowa where I got him. They coo and ah over him to this day. When I step in his poo I want to wring his neck until I remember that I am the Alpha who is supposed to take him on his three-times-a- day walk to alleviate stress and get rest of his waste. I call my friend Scott and he reminds me of all of this and I settle down and reset my mental clock to take Mr. Darby on his unscheduled, scheduled walk.

I redid my large backyard just for my dog. He’ll let go of what he should relieve himself of on a walk, in the backyard, if he is on a leash and I am whispering that magic word for most canines, “Potty”. He loves his new backyard playpen, but I’ll be darned if I can let him run and relieve himself at the same time.

What calms my Mt. Etna about-to-erupt anger and stills my hostile butterflies and bees’ brain regarding his “won’t come when I call,” “poo-poo and tee-tee” surprises in the usual accidental places, is when he comes up to me first thing in the morning and wants me to pick him up and hug and hold him. Or when I say, “Mr. Darby, sit” and he does without exception. But it is when I watch him sleep or see him standing with that Westminster stance in the yard or on the street that I am thrilled to death that at my age I decided to make room for this adorable and sweet wire fox terrier. He gives me the best reason in the world to wake up and thank God I am alive every single day.

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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Sean Hannity of FOX-TV went on television last week to lambaste President Barack Obama for ordering a hamburger medium well with Poupon mustard-actually Obama said with “some of that spicy stuff…Poupon,” which set off Sean Hannity in a big way. After having had an international pandemic scare from swine flu (which turned out to be much ado about nothing), a tirade from ex-Vice-President Dick Cheney sneering that the Bush Administration did the right thing to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) and a lot of other negative brouhaha about the President from my former friends on the politically Right Side of the aisle, I am astounded that someone like Hannity would try to make something over the President’s condiment which I was eating as I read this nonsense. The Republicans are sinking faster than Dow Jones did a few months ago and all Sean can gloat about is mustard. Give me a break.

I don’t cover the waterfront as much as I used to but I listen carefully to what people are saying to me and in the media and general comments on certain Blogs-and I can tell you that more people are more interested in matters other than the yellow stuff.

What my carefully-honed intuition tells me is that there is a new day upon us; that the new day is a new way to think and believe and to act-that it is not all about me-it is all about all of us. My still small voice lets me know that there is a huge tidal wave of Consciousness Shift taking place in the here and now. My conscience reveals to me that there is a better day coming when we will give permission to ourselves and to other to uncover the Divine and to live as that High Holy One dictates. To pray and to be self-legislated by the spiritual principles that our better self will whisper to us when we listen is the endgame of Higher Thought Impressions.

I am not a Holy Roller, nor do I handle snakes or conjure up the dead. But I will tell you that I am so uninterested in the dark side media-pundits and air heads with an agenda that includes trying to convince me to jump from a sinking ship onto one that has already sunk-that I would be happy reading good novels and concrete transcendent thought that lifts my spirit and allows the true news to float in. I am signing up and signing in with the best New/Old Age thought that I can transmit in order to be who I say I am.

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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When Fareed Zakaria interviewed the Dalai Lama this week on CNN’s “GPS,” something hiding in plain sight, yet extraordinary at the same time, was uncovered. The Dalai Lama tells Zakaria that “he doesn’t think Osama bin Laden wished for violence when he was a child but that it grew out of hatred and frustration.” The interview is not only insightful and chocked full of inspiration with how the Dalai Lama responds to the oppression and genocide against Tibetan monks by the Chinese Government, but it offers another roadmap where we can find peace-within ourselves. I have a friend who is wont to say, “If you want peace, make peace.”

Another important aspect of the interview had to do with whether Tibet was seeking independence or cultural autonomy. The Dalai Lama said that as the spiritual head of Tibet he was not seeking separation, i.e., to break away from China, but rather to preserve the culture of Tibet and the right to practice their religion. China stands pat that it feels that Tibet wants independence and its policy is to deny Tibet what it wants.

From my point of view this is an argument that has cost millions of lost lives throughout history: religion-how a people believes, how they worship, to whom they pray and to what divine authority they cede their power-is what a government, a dictator, a king or queen-feared most, and still does. When the masses turn to religion and are entrenched with dogma or dicta that passes from generation to generation-that exerts a stronghold for which such religious or spiritual people are willing to die to defend, whoever represents the Head of State must try to obliterate this zealous fountainhead or risk losing power altogether.

Behold the famous (or infamous) discussion of 2012, or as most know, represents the timeline of the end of the Mayan Calendar. What I know to be true for me is that all of the oppression from friendly and unfriendly governments is coming to an end because the ultimate authority-whoever and whatever rules the earth-is going to take his world back and He will do it as the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King teaches: Non-violent.

I was not at all depressed and I did not wage war against God or whomever most feel caused the economic turmoil beginning in 2008 (but which began in the Garden of Eden or whatever that myth represents), I rejoiced that we are in a grace period of redemption-turning our will and our lives over to the Care of a Higher Power-in order that we might live as who we really are-a soul having a human experience.

“And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the Light of His Glory and Grace.”

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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I am always amazed at the hubris of politicians when they reference a military term when they talk about the staff of a political candidate as “camp”, i.e. ‘some one from Romney’s camp said thus and so.’ Recently Mike Steele, RNC Chairman stirred the fudge when he said that Mormonism and abortion issues sank Romney’s chance to get the Republican nomination for President in 2008.

Mitt Romney’s spokesperson Eric Ferhnstrom fired back saying, “When you shoot from the hip you miss the target.” What I want to ask Eric is “What happens when you shoot from the lip?” Ah, therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare wrote.

When people ask me what is going to happen around the scary 2012 timeline; they are always looking for some seer or latter-day Nostradamus to splash doom and gloom all over the books they write or their Blogs. I like to really make them wait for revelation by answering, “Nothing. Absolutely nothing is going to happen. Now go back to your golf game.” (or knitting, is my favorite). When the truth of the matter is that what is going to happen has already begun to happen.

I picked on the word” camp” today because we usually think of “camp” as a military term. “Camp” sounds like these people are at war but actually what they are all about is nonsense. So, one of the critical elements of the End of the Mayan Calendar (2012) is that politics as we know it will be diminished and/or disabled and crippled. The constituency (aka voters) will decide to opt out of the stupidity and rancor known as politics. We are going to have to restructure and retool what all the hot air blowers are trying to hoodwink us with: we must expose and refuse to believe half-truth or outright lies. Within ten years we will see a major shift and change in how we elect our public officials including the President of the United States.

The next time you hear someone refer to another’s “camp” tune out; turn off your ears and shut your eyes and stop processing the nonsense. It is just another bully using his pulpit to drive you and me either crazy or deeper into foxholes of fear.

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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Along comes a film at long last to take our minds off swine flu, ongoing man’s atrocities against his fellow man-hunger, war, massive unemployment, fear and hatred-which I highly recommend. Walt Disney Studios Disneynature Series opened on Earth Day, April 22^nd with the bigger than life, global coverage in Earth narrated by the rich and soothing voice-over of actor James Earl Jones.

Jones’ booming melodic voice reminds us Earth is one year in the life of creatures who share our planet-the only planet that we know that supports life. Earth is the amazing journey across the universe of three families-polar bears, African elephants and humpback whales, the latter who cover more than 5,000 miles in open seas and oceans to survive to thrive. I thought that we here in Sedona, Arizona had a paradise worth filming, but Earth shot with time-release cinematography with classical music, was so breathtaking at times I forgot to breathe.

I have a theory that sitting for an hour and a half with Earth is cathartic; cathartic because we are able to see the world from the top and across all continents and as voyeurs observe how the animal kingdom motors through life, caring for one another, able to overcome or to succumb to the laws of the jungle and oftentimes to be able to do so with instincts to survive against the greatest odds. To see the elephants reach the massive reservoirs of natural water supplies-their only goal for weeks upon weeks of odyssey; to see the polar bears leave their mother to become adults to make it on their own; to watch newborn ducks jump from their nest on first flight only to land upon tiers of leaves-you know from watching blue skies that one day they will fly.

I don’t always know how we do it but if you are anything like me, the combination of soul-stirring music and overwhelmingly beautiful photography and the guidance of a master voice like James Earl Jones, makes me glad to be alive with the same loving and merciful Overlord, God, who made the creatures of the good earth, including those just like you and me.

Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.

Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/

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