Change your mind

September 30th, 2013

It doesn’t matter that you surrender, give up, let go, forgive, move on or put it behind you. It’s going to remain in your mind. It’s going to surface every now and then, usually when you are at your weakest or most vulnerable. It’s going to duplicate inside of you similar feelings to when it was actually happening. What can you do?

Three steps. First of all you have to firmly tell yourself INHN. Shout it to yourself if necessary. INHN (pronounced in hin) stands for It’s Not Happening Now. Secondly, look around. What IS actually going on now? Focus on now. Breathe. Inhale to a slow count of four. Hold it for a slow count of four. Exhale to a slow found of four. Hold it for a slow count of four. Repeat if necessary.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to figure out what caused you to remember. That’s a trap that keeps you connected and keeps it very alive. You may come up with a truth but not necessarily the truth. You don’t need to figure this stuff out for the millionth time. You need to put your thoughts elsewhere.

Thoughts that disturb you have energy and passion to them. In order to displace them you need to have thoughts that are equally or better yet, more energized and passion filled. These are not just going to occur to you. You will have some homework to do. Thirdly, when you are feeling good, write down three or four thoughts that really floats your boat. From real incidences or from your imagination (your mind can’t tell the difference) find those scenarios that make you feel really, really excited. Keep that list with you and refer to it as often as you need it. Pretty soon, every time your past pulls a knife, you’ll pull a gun. You win every time.

(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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The Truth

September 23rd, 2013

Imagine for a moment that you are walking into Disney World and up ahead is the Magic Kingdom and new experiences and new people are all around you. Suddenly, you look over and see a candy wrapper lying on the ground. You look to your right and there is a bench with a broken armrest. You feel your agitation rising and finally you shout out “I’m outta here! This place is horrible and filthy and broken!”.

Pretty ridiculous scenario don’t you agree? BUT isn’t this very similar to what we do with many days of our life? Don’t we get up in a positive mood and see new experiences in our immediate future and don’t we proudly carry that buoyant feeling until….da da da dum, our pet starts fussing, our child spills the cereal, we forgot to do the laundry or pick up the dry cleaning, it starts raining, the check didn’t come, someone snaps at us?

Suddenly, the day is lousy. Maybe we go so far as to say that life is just one struggle after another, that nothing ever goes right, that we can’t catch a break, that we just want to give up.

Just because something is wrong does not mean that everything is wrong. Look around you. That’s your first blessing. You can look around. Now take a deep breath. Another blessing. Now say thank you and hear yourself saying it. Two more blessings. Now think about the people you love and the people that have loved you and the people that still do. Infinite blessings. Now think about the power that you have to change your attitude, how you are looking at things. Think about all that you do have, food, water, shelter and time to change for the better. Everything is never all wrong and if you look honestly you’ll see that almost everything is very, very right. That truth will set you free.

(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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Want to win?

September 16th, 2013

Would you be interested in a contest that costs you about fifty cents a week and pays off huge and you can’t lose? Sounds good but you are very skeptical I assume. Keep reading.

It goes like this. Every week you have a contest. That’s right, this is a contest that you run. Anyway, every week you search for a person that does something out of the ordinary. Maybe it’s you they do this for or maybe it’s for another person’s benefit or maybe they are just doing something really well.

You get this person’s name and you send a thank you note, a real paper and envelope and stamp, to the person themselves or to their boss or company. It will take a few minutes of your time but the payoff is huge. The payoff is that you will start going through your week looking for people that are doing something right. You will begin making a note of people who impress you with their dedication, expertise and kindness. Does this sound different from your regular week? For most of us, you bet it does!

The person that receives your note directly or through their boss or company is rewarded and their commitment is strengthened. Their positive impact on others grows. Personally, you will have a different outlook. When you start looking for the good in people, you will find it and be uplifted by it. And the world becomes a little brighter all because you spent about fifty cents and took a moment or two of your time to tell someone on a piece of paper they could cherish that you recognized their effort.

If you want to take this to a higher level, get together with a couple of friends and discuss your individual winners for the week. What a great focal point and conversation that would be. It’s a win, win,win for everybody.

(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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Are you Wise?

September 9th, 2013

Are you wise? That question begs another question. What is wisdom? Contrary to popular opinion, wisdom does not automatically come with age. It’s not like a welcome to AARP letter that magically shows up in your mailbox on your 55th birthday. Nor is it like some fancy font certificate that tells you that you that you have completed some academic or vocational milestone. It is actually much simpler than most people believe.

Ready? Wisdom is the realization that not everything that goes through your mind needs to come out of your mouth.

The person with a couple of drinks in them that wants to be “honest”. Not wise. The person that believes a convincing lie will make everything okay. Not wise. The person who says “I love you” when their mind is screaming not to be vulnerable. Wise. The person who says “I need help with this” even though their mind is telling them to be independent. Wise. The person that looks at themselves and says “I accept and delight in everything about myself” instead of repeating endless criticisms. Wise. The person that says “There is something greater than me.” Very wise.

The way to be wise is to pause before talking. Take a moment to filter what thoughts should make it from mind to mouth. Err on the side of love and compassion. Stop for a moment and ask yourself “Are my words coming from thoughts that are tainted by missed meals, missed sleep, petty annoyances or possibly just fodder for my ego?” Or “Are these words coming out of my mouth better than what I was thinking?” Very, very wise.

(c)2013 All Rights Reserved
www. PatrickInspires. com
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