November 25th, 2013
Thanksgiving here in the states is always about family, about friends, about Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine et al. How about if this year we make it all about you? How about we make it about what you like and what you want to eat and what you want to watch on the TV? How about we all go out of our way so that you have a really great day? How about we all go out of our way to make you happy? How about you work on it too?
You see, what family and friends and even Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine want more than anything else in this whole world is for you to be happy. You can have the house perfectly decorated, you can cook the perfect meal, you can look perfectly dressed but if you are not happy, everything else suffers.
How about this year along with giving thanks for what you have, you find a way to be not only thankful for what you have but HAPPY with what you have. Happy for the family. Happy for the friends. Happy for the relatives. Happy for the food. Happy for the day off. Happy because you are alive. Happy just because.
We want the people we love to feel happy because it makes us feel happy too. And guess what? When you are happy, they get happier because someone they love (you!) is happy. So the best thing to bring to the table this Thursday is not the cranberry sauce or the green bean casserole, it is your happiness. Yeah, let’s make this Thursday all about you. Remember, we don’t wish each other a Thanksgiving. We wish each other a HAPPY Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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November 18th, 2013
Sometimes you look around and you know that you should just be grateful for all of your blessings. You know you should feel satisfied with all you have but there seems to be a something that isn’t there, something missing. Maybe your health isn’t exactly perfect or maybe it’s your relationship or your job or your dreams. You can’t exactly put your finger on it but you know there is something that you need to add to your life.
With that in mind, you set about adding. Maybe some shopping will do it. Maybe a new book will do it. Maybe a seminar, a therapy session, a massage or maybe a new friend will do it. More often than not, none of this does it. There is still that nagging sense that things could be better and you know what? YOU’RE RIGHT! You are absolutely, positively right.
You are not greedy or selfish by wanting more than you have because the fact of the matter is that there really is something missing. That missing something is zest. You need zest. No, not the outer layer of a citrus fruit! You need enthusiasm. Every segment of life is improved with the addition of enthusiasm. You can’t buy, beg or borrow enthusiasm. You generate it.
You say your generator is broken? Or maybe you misplaced it? Balderdash! Your intent to be enthusiastic is all that is necessary. Your generator is automatically turned on the moment you decide that you are going to be more enthusiastic about your life.
So go ahead, fantasize, dream, imagine. Think about anything that excites you. Thought always precedes manifestation. Get excited about the possibilities in every area of your life. Enthusiasm gives you the strength to attempt the impossible. Enthusiasm is the boredom destroyer. Enthusiasm is the stress destroyer. Enthusiasm is the super hero of emotions and it’s yours any time you want it. Get excited about something and then about everything and don’t look back.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
November 11th, 2013
“What do I need a paddle for?” I asked the whitewater rafting guide. Right before me was the fastest flowing water I had ever seen. I planned on getting into the raft and holding on for dear life and letting the raging river carry me downstream. “There are times when you are going to have to paddle really hard so you don’t smash into something and capsize” he said.
I have thought about those golden words more times than I ever thought about the actual ride down that raging river. Many times I have found myself facing a crisis and all I wanted to do was hold on and let life just carry me through it but that’s not a good plan for living and it certainly isn’t a good plan for whitewater rafting either.
When we are faced with trouble, when the roar of the problem is intimidating us and we know a rough time is ahead in our health or our relationship or career or finances we can just close our eyes and hold on and hope we don’t capsize OR we can take control of our thoughts (our mental paddle!) and steer ourselves away from the worst of it.
It is our thoughts that allow us to go around the whirlpools of fear and insecurity. It is thoughts of our Divine connection that reminds us that we are not alone in the raft. It is our thoughts that steer us away from being capsized by unnecessary drama. It is our thoughts that remind us that sometimes life flows quietly and sometimes life rages and that sometimes paddling or thinking a little better can make all the difference.
Whitewater or life, it’s a thrilling ride. A good paddle or good thoughts can make all the difference if we use them. Are you ready to do more than just hold on? It’s not too late to create an epic ride.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
November 4th, 2013
Most of us hit the ground running every morning. If it’s going to be a busy, busy day, we crank up our energy and plow through it. Children get dropped off, pets go to the vet, dry cleaning gets picked up, meals get bought, appointments made, people are contacted, Facebook is checked, work gets done, kitchen gets cleaned and finally we get into bed and our minds say “Now that you’re not busy doing stuff and I have your attention, let’s figure EVERYTHING out!”.
The house is quiet, the street is quiet and yet your mind feels like the starting line at the marathon after the gun goes off. Thoughts, dozens of them, vying for your attention. Even though you want to sleep, there are always one or two that you think need your attention before morning and if you should be so uncaring as to slip off to sleep, those thoughts will wait a couple of hours and then shout in your mind “Okay, you’ve had enough sleep to contemplate us so let’s get back to where we were before you decided to nap. Now where were we? Oh yeah, you might as well get up and go into the kitchen. We’ve got some thinking to do or maybe we’ll read or watch a little TV first and then we’ll think some more.” Familiar?
The answer to this madness is found in our day and not in our night. Our habit of staying “on” all day keeps us that way at night too. To counteract this we need to learn to relax. Not by running off to the beach but by becoming totally present several times a day and in those moments intentionally dropping our shoulders, sitting up straight, taking a deep centering breath or two or three and for that brief moment, recalling one of the great blessings in our life. Those are called “golden moments”. If your blessings don’t come easily to mind, make a short list and use it.
By intentionally taking charge of our mind in that state of temporary relaxation, we begin to create new neural pathways that make it easier and easier with each repetition. Then, when we want to turn off our mind as we slip into bed, it is the same process. When we are awaken at night, it is the same process. The “Golden Moments” during our day soon turn into a golden sleep at nighttime. Go for the gold!
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life