Today on 22C+ I proudly present the first of my interviews on conscious leadership, with Rob and Trish MacGregor. I asked them what role they thought a spiritually informed leadership can play in the twenty-first century. Rob and Trish are veteran writers and bloggers, and their work tends to focus on esoteric and spiritual experience in the modern world. Their blog, synchrosecrets, covers the mysterious concept of synchronicity - deeply meaningful coincidences.
Rob and Trish
Rob, I believe that there was something of a ‘negative’ synchronicity involved in your meeting Trish. What was that?
Rob: I had an editor I shall call Rick, who treated his reporters horribly. If something was relatively straight-forward and easy, he would intentionally make it difficult. He was typically nasty, but he was most dangerous when he was friendly. That's when you might let down your guard and he would shift personalities and attack. He was roundly despised and many reporters left after a short time because they couldn't stand working with him. He was very Catholic, uptight and moralistic, but ironically he was eventually arrested when he propositioned a police officer through a 'glory hole' in an adult bookstore.
I managed to last a year and a half at that daily newspaper, which was considered a long stay. The ones who remained longer usually worked in other editorial departments. All that said, that experience was crucial in my shift from a mainstream reporter to a freelance writing career and an exploration of mystical and spiritual realms. I've silently thanked Rick many times over the years.
The little tyrant pushed me out of journalism, but before he did so, he gave me the assignment of my life. It was one in which I interviewed a woman teaching English to Cuban refugees at Florida International University. A seemingly mundane assignment about whether Cubans were integrating into American society or remaining in their community speaking their native language. That teacher was Trish and, like me, she wanted to quit her job and take up a career as a freelance writer. She had just completed his sixth unpublished novel, which ultimately I edited and which sold as In Shadow, her first novel.
We quit our jobs, got married, and followed our dreams and are still doing so.
Did you feel drawn to your current position as a leader? Was it a rational or intuitive decision? Explain.
Rob and Trish: We were interested in telling stories of our experiences related to meaningful coincidence and by doing so attracting others to tell their own stories. In a sense, we’ve served as guides, particularly for people who would never relate their psychic experiences for fear of ridicule. In that sense, we’ve opened doorways for others by creating a comfortable environment to discuss such matters.
Do you use intuition in making professional decisions? Can you give one or two solid examples?
Rob and Trish: We not only use intuition in our decision-making, but we look for ways to develop those abilities in a way that will further our own goals. We recently decided to pursue a project to create a new divination system, based on words, numbers, colors and elements, and called The Power of Attraction Oracle. We use our intuition extensively in creating it. The oracle began with a creative writing workshop back in the early 90s that Trish developed as a way for writers to intuitively evaluate their own manuscripts. We then expanded and refined it so anyone can use it.
When I (Rob) began teaching meditation workshops two years ago, it came about not as act of ‘doing,’ but simply by ‘being’ in the right place at the right time.
What’s the biggest professional decision you ever made using your intuition, and what was the outcome?
Rob and Trish: Without a doubt it was leaving a full-time job to strike out as a freelance writer. We had very little savings, but a strong sense that if we pursued our great desire to write we would find success. Indeed, we have done so. We have published more than 60 books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Do you have any sense of higher agency in your life? Is it personal (e.g. God, spirit guides), impersonal (e.g. a general universal consciousness)?
Trish: Like Rob, I consider myself a spiritual individual – not religious. When I write, fiction or non-fiction, I often feel a guiding presence.
Rob: I consider myself a spiritual person, not religious. In essence, I’m a spirit being experiencing physical existence. I intuitively sense that I’m involved with a group of spirit beings working on similar goals. I’m in the physical world, but also aware of an existence in another realm.
Do you think more conscious leadership is important for the future? Why?
Rob and Trish: It’s the greatest challenge we face. We need leaders who are aware of a larger picture of reality, who accept that we are part of a multi-dimensional canvas of creation. While we are a minute part, we are also a reflection of the whole. As above, so below. That said, we must move beyond the dogmas of religion that hold us back, that are dividing us.
Who do you consider to be a genuine or even great leader-sage, and why?
Someone you have worked with;
Someone from history or current affairs.
Trish: Seth, definitely. Without exposure to those books by Jane Roberts, I’m t not sure what shape my life would have taken. Esther Hicks, yes. Gandhi, Mandela. Dali Lama
Rob: From the non-physical world, I was influenced when I was in my early twenties by Seth, whose ideas were channeled in two dozen books by Jane Roberts. I’m also impressed by the current work of Esther Hicks, who channels a group of entities known as Abraham. Historically, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela come to mind as evolved leaders.
Do you use any specific decision-making tools or processes which incorporate the intuitive mind?
Rob and Trish: Meditation and dream work go hand-in-hand to help guide us in decision-making. We also make use of a variety of divination systems from astrology to I Ching and tarot to nudge our intuition.
Finally, have you had any defining life experiences that have shaped who you are today, and that contained some kind of spiritual or intuitive aspect?
Trish: (see Rob’s answer to the first question) Meeting Rob changed my life. He was working at a newspaper at the time, I was teaching English to Cuban refugees through a government program at Florida International University. He was assigned to do a story on our program. As soon as he walked in the door, my soul recognized his. I knew we were going to get married.
Rob: One day two decades ago, I walked into the gym and it occurred to me that there should be yoga classes in the gym. At the time, the practice was not widespread in gyms. The next week, a sign appeared for a yoga class. I joined the class and within a few months became a yoga teacher, which changed my life.
Is there anything else about conscious leadership that you feel is important to mention?
Rob and Trish: We need to abandon the idea of traditional leadership in which the masses are considered sheep and leaders direct followers. We need to recognize that we are all creators, that we don’t need intermediaries between our everyday reality and higher reality. We can all make direct contact with Spirit. As we do so, we evolve as a race, heading toward an existence in which humankind eventually becomes less physically dense and moves easily between physical and non-physical existence as light beings.
Trish and Rob's latest book is called Synchronicity and the Other Side.
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Trish and Rob's latest book is called Synchronicity and the Other Side.
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