April 15th, 2019
Of all the things you could do to improve your life there is one that outshines them all. It is readily available no matter where you are and it doesn’t cost a dime.
It is an integral part of everyone we hold dear in our hearts. It is what we remember with fondness when they are gone. What is this incredible, inexhaustible, inexpensive piece of magic?
It is your smile.
I know, your first thought is “a smile? really?That’s like taking a baby aspirin to fix a broken leg”.
Is it really? Have you ever looked down into the crib of a baby and when that baby saw your face that baby smiled? What happened then? You smiled!
A sincere smile is always interpreted as something very pleasing by everyone in nearly every culture. What we often lose sight of is how a smile affects the person who is doing the smiling.
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
There are countless studies showing the benefits of a sincere, not fake, smile. It improves our outlook, our immune system and our stress levels among other things.
Babies smile naturally. No one taught them. As we age we actually smile less and less. There are far more smiling babies than there are smiling senior citizens. Why is that?
The sad and simple answer is we learned not to smile. We learned to be serious. We learned that our smiling could get us into trouble or even be seen as a weakness.It was common knowledge that if we were smiling we were “up to something”.
It’s time to bring smiling back into your life. It is a truly magical remedy to what ails us. Try smiling while watching the news. Most of the news will seem preposterous. Try smiling while talking on the phone. It improves every conversation in a beautiful way. Try smiling when you are alone and watch your mood and thought patterns change. Smile before you exercise or before you meditate or cook or do a monotonous chore. It is a game changer!
Smiling changes everything for the better, anytime, anywhere. It costs nothing and at the same time it is priceless. Set a timer to remind yourself to smile a few times each day.
You said you wanted a better world. This is how it starts.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2019 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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April 8th, 2019
The other day I was hugging the beautiful love of my life and while I was hugging her I thought to myself “wouldn’t it be great if we were at the beach”. I answered myself in the affirmative and continued on with my day.
It wasn’t until later when I was remembering that hug we shared that I started thinking why did I want to be at the beach in that moment? Yes, I love the beach but my chances of being at the beach anytime soon were nil.
It was then that I realized that in truth I wanted to be at the beach because I wanted to feel carefree and happier and at that moment I felt both were not within reach.
Personal and family health issues had been overwhelming for awhile and what I wanted was escape. I wanted to go someplace devoid of problems.
The fact was I could not go to the beach. I could not be devoid of problems and guess what happened next? I took one more step and fell into a black hole. “If I had more money I could go to the beach now. If I didn’t have all these responsibilities I could just jump in the car right now. If I had…blah, blah, blah!”
Now let’s rewind for a moment. In that hug if I had let the thought of escaping alert me to the fact that I was not in a state of gratitude for what was going right (there was plenty!). I would have realized that I needed to adjust my thinking, my outlook and my mood. Had I done that, my life would have been less dark and definitely more beach-like right where I was.
By the practice of meditation, you will find that you are carrying within your heart a portable paradise.
Paramahansa Yogananda
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is up to you and I to confront our shadow, our darkness and to boldly draw upon the light within us. We can respond in an infinite number of ways to every event in our life. Make sure your response echoes the light within and not the circumstances outside. That is our true freedom. That is our indomitable strength. That is our beautiful birthright.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2019 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life