August 29th, 2016
When it’s time to make a change you’ll know it but the knowing isn’t the first step. It isn’t any step at all. It is a realization. Knowing that you have to make a change is just looking down and realizing that you on not on the path you thought you were on.
You can sit with that realization your whole life. You can go to your grave never have taken any action on that realization and it’s totally understandable. Because taking any action whatsoever on that realization will move you off of that comfortable place you call the present.
Your present might be filled with problems but they are known problems. Your present might be filled with pain and loss but they are familiar. Your present might seem empty but it’ll do for another day.
When you decide to take action and change your whole life (you will never just change one thing. Everything is connected) the unknown will be your foe, your fire breathing dragon. It is ready to awaken and turn your new courage to ashes for the audacity of wanting to change.
Before it incinerates your courage it will berate you. “Don’t you know how lucky you are? You should be grateful for what you have!” And when you are brought to your knees by doubt, indecision and procrastination the fire will commence to destroy what could have been. And the calendar will start flipping its pages faster than ever.
If you slay the dragon you are not done. The “What If?” fog will quickly roll in and disorient you. Should you do this or that? Should you go this way or that way? What if you go in the wrong direction? What if you disappoint others? What if you lose everything? What if the next step is off a cliff? Maybe you should just wait until the fog disappears. It. never. does.
So, you say you still want to change? I applaud your decision. You may not make it but at least you got into the arena. If you got as far as the arena, you best chance of making a change is to follow these rules:
1) Get physically stronger than you are. Eat, sleep and exercise. Change your body and your courage grows.
2) Meditate. Doubt can find no room in a peaceful mind.
3) Write it down. Writing down the change you want to make begins the transformation. This step is crucial.
4)Begin each day with a knowing smile.
5)Reduce your little pleasures. They are killing your appetite for larger ones.
6)Step away from toxic people, places and thoughts.
7) Love everything but most importantly yourself.
This may be the time to go for it or it may be the time to seriously plan. Either way, I’ll always have a supportive word or two for you.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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August 22nd, 2016
The percentage of people who will die is astounding. It has stood at about one hundred percent for quite some time now. So how does one go about preparing for something that seems like such a certainty?
The short answer is you can’t. Oh, you can buy life insurance but it’s not life assurance. In fact it’s not for you at all. You can build something like the pyramids but it probably won’t be completed in your lifetime and whoever is in charge after you leave might change it to a theme park and put their name on it. So how does one prepare for the inevitable?
Well you could try to put it off for as long as possible. You could go up into the high Himalayas and find the immortal nectar and live forever but it only works if you stay in the high Himalayas. You could keep getting new organs but who knows if they are going to like their new home. You could put your brain in a solution that feeds it forever but it makes dating awkward.
The only viable option is to just live. Live every minute of every day. If your time is indeed limited than don’t hate a Monday or a workday or a sick day or any day. Each one is precious. If it’s a great day, fill yourself with its greatness. If it’s a not so great day, sift through every second of it to find a small gem. There is no day that doesn’t contain at least one.
You’ve got today, maybe some of it or maybe all of it. Whatever you’ve got, make it count. Life is way to short to stay mad or stay sad or to worry. Find something good about yourself and focus on that without allowing any thoughts to the contrary. Bring to mind your favorite song. Imagine your favorite color. Plan a trip. Reread the most uplifting book you have. Take a walk and really look around. The sky is yours. The air is abundant. Understand that each moment is perfect. Understand that you are alive. Life is your gift. Unwrap it and use it.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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August 15th, 2016
Every Sunday we meet for a guided meditation, a talk and for the pleasure of being with each other. There is usually a few minutes of guided meditation and then several minutes of silent meditation. It’s easy but yesterday it was the easiest ever. It started with a small joke and then another and then another and soon there were great tears of laughter and belly laughs. When the laughter finally quieted but the smiles remained we closed our eyes for the meditation and beautifully slipped into a blissful state. When I checked the clock we had gone several minutes over the allotted time and no one, including myself, had noticed.
I bring up this wonderful meeting because it is a fact that everything is better when we laugh. The plague of modern society is not our overwhelming busyness but our apparent need to dwell on what we deem the serious side of life. Our talk is infused with judgements of people and conditions. Our entertainment is rife with gladiator type sports and movies that blow things up.
Are we happier because we are aware of the ills of the world? Do we spread news of suffering and injustice because we are doing something about it or because it makes for an “interesting” topic for our conversation?
We all have to admit that there are dark places and people on this planet but to focus on them exclusively excluding the lighter places and people is to bury ourselves in a mire of negativity.
Find something or someone that makes you laugh, not at the expense of other people but because there are many, many things in this world that are really funny! Embrace the lighter side of life for a while. Shed a tear of laughter and share a tear of laughter. Remind yourself to lighten up. Give yourself permission to feel good. Look at the bright side, the beauty, the funniness of life, of pets, of children. Do something every day that lightens your spirit.
When you laugh, when you lighten up, life becomes easier and this world becomes a little brighter. You were meant to be a lighthouse and not a shadow.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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August 1st, 2016
Where is your happiness? Is it in your dwelling? Is it in your yoga mat or gym? Is it in your friends or lovers? Is it in nature? Is it in your memories, your books? Is it in your food? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
Your happiness is all around you all the time. Anything can trigger the happiness you want to feel. For instance, everything you own you cherished when you desired it and obtained it. The little amulets and books and clothes and hundreds of other objects you own elicited your happiness at one point. That happiness trigger is still in every piece you own. Everything of yours is imprinted with your original happiness.
It is your perception that has cast a shadow on all your happiness. What was once “OMG!” is now “Oh, that old thing”. Like an abandoned pet, all your possessions now just sit and wait. Maybe a visitor will bring attention back to it. Maybe it will be given to a friend or grandchild and it will once again be loved and cherished.
We are okay with the earth being alive and thoughts being real things and plants and animals and trees having feelings but somehow our “things” are just there.
Ask any scientist and they will tell you that all matter is energy. Ask me, I will tell you that all energy is love. You and I and all of our things are made of the same energy.
Forget about generating happiness or finding happiness. When you are home look around at your stuff, your things, and tap into the memory of when you first received them. Feel that feeling again. I guarantee that you won’t have to go looking around for happiness because you will realize that everything that you have is a happiness trigger.
While you are recapturing all this happiness with your fresh perception, don’t be surprised if a whole bunch of gratefulness rushes in with the happiness. Just look around with a fresh, new vision and be happy.
Sundrops On Life – Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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