Small can be better

April 30th, 2012

How do we feel better when we are not feeling good? The key is inside of you. No, not your heart and lungs and pancreas! It is inside the way you think. The key is to utilize your imagination, that nuclear reactor of stored energy. That same energy that constructed Disney World and Rome and Build-a-Bears. Seriously, I know first hand that if you are not feeling good, the world looks awfully gray and uninviting but imagination, your imagination can change that at any time and any place .

When things seem dark and neither candle nor match can be found, imagine you found them. Imagine, just for a moment, any improvement in any area of your life. It doesn’t have to be real or even possible but go ahead and attempt to see anything in your life as different, as better. I know it’s not easy but all we are looking for is to poke one tiny little pinhole in the dark box we are in when we don’t feel good. That one tiny little hole can bring light to where we are and can also let us see that there is light outside the box. It can be life changing.

When we want our life to change the biggest mistake is expecting that it can all totally change at the same time. Start small. Start infinitesimally small. You can build on that. Flex your pinky finger. It’s working! Feel your earlobe. It doesn’t hurt! Hooray! How’s that eyebrow feel?

When a big ship wants to tie up at the dock, they don’t even try to throw the big rope onto the dock. It would be impossible. They throw a small rope that’s connected to a bigger rope that’s connected to an even bigger rope that is connected to the great big rope that will tie the ship to the dock. Imagine something small that feels good and keep focusing on it. Imagining one small bit of light will get you to places that focusing on a giant amount of darkness never will. Go small and be happy! You can do it if you try.

(C) 2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com

 

Alone?

April 23rd, 2012

The moment you were born no one held you up and yelled “This child is incomplete! Quick, find another child to make this one complete!” It didn’t happen like that because it wasn’t the truth. You were born into this world complete. You didn’t need any one to complete you. You still are complete but you have forgotten.

On a heart and soul level you are connected to all of life and nothing is lacking. On a physical and emotional level you have a desire to bond with others but is a desire and not a necessity. There are times when you really need to be alone and you should. The problem is that we have terribly confused aloneness and loneliness.

Loneliness is the feeling that we are somehow incomplete without the presence of someone else. Aloneness simply means that there is no one else physically around at the moment. Aloneness can be remedied by reaching out to any one of the seven billion people on this planet. Loneliness can only be remedied by understanding that you are perfect just the way you are.

You are complete and whole. You are one flower in an endless field of flowers. Your leaves and blossoms may not touch another flower until the wind blows just right but you are always touching and connected through your roots to every other flower in the field.

If there is someone in your life, they don’t complete you. They join you as divine company on the journey. If there is no one in your life right now it does not mean that you are incomplete. It just means that you have some space to grow and blossom before the wind blows just right.

(C) 2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com

 

Sunny

April 16th, 2012

Mostly Sunny With A Chance of Showers

Imagine waking up in the morning and planning your day, you listen to the weather and the forecast is “Today will be mostly sunny with a chance of showers”, what would you do? Would you write the day off? Would you refuse to go outside for fear of being soaked? Would you tie down all the patio furniture?

Of course not! If you made any adjustment at all, maybe you would change your jacket or grab an umbrella. You, like everyone else, would feel pretty good at the prospect of sunshine. If you had a chance to eat al fresco at a cute little lunch place, you’d probably go for it especially if the sky looked clear. You would keep an eye on the sky and be ready to adapt if clouds came but you would enjoy the sunshine for as long as you could.

Every lifetime is sunny with a chance of showers. Oh, make no mistake about it, the rain will come on occasion and sometimes it will be a great big gully washer but the sunny days will always outnumber the rainy ones. The stormy days will be worth experiencing for one reason or another and of course the sunny days will be great to experience. The only days that you want to stay away from are the days that you don’t enjoy because you are waiting for a storm and it doesn’t show up. Those are the wasted days and you really don’t want too many of those. Better to be caught in the rain than to miss the sunshine.