Exceptions

May 12th, 2014

The way you act on MOST days is who you are. Every day we have different challenges and different resources. Every day there is a possibility that we will forget a workout or a meditation. Maybe we will be short tempered and cold. Maybe we will blow our diet or eat foods we shouldn’t. Maybe we will lie or exact some revenge. Maybe we’ll do things we wouldn’t normally do. What does that mean? Are we bad? Is there badness just lurking beneath our surface waiting to take over when we have a weak moment?

Definitely not! We are human! It is our nature to be complex. It is our nature to seek diversity in our experiences, to experience every facet of life. We are experience junkies. We crave different feelings. Some we experience only in our minds or fantasies. Some we experience briefly and some we integrate into our lives because they make us feel better.

We will always be remembered for how we acted MOST of the time. Sure, there will always be stories about “Remember that time when Uncle Harry got drunk and…” or “Remember the time Aunt Alice went up to that stranger and…”. Exceptions make for great stories but they don’t define people.

Yes, you’ll have bad days and days that you wish you could go back and change your words or actions but let it go. There will be days that you don’t live up to your own standards or the standards of those you love but let it go. There will be sarcastic instead of loving responses from you but let it go.

Most of the time, we will do, say and act according to our heart and our beliefs and that is who we really are. The moments that we don’t will be sudden and brief and will not permanently harm ourselves or anyone else unless we judge ourselves or others by those brief exceptions.

When you see someone else acting or speaking out of the ordinary for them and it is not abusive, realize and accept that they are experiencing an exception. What matters is how we and they act MOST of the time. So if it’s briefly not right, let it go.

(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life

 

Exceptions

March 31st, 2014

“Nothing will grow there. There’s no sunlight and it’s always damp.” And a mushroom grows. “We can only go as fast as the fastest ship.” And the airplane is invented. “This pill will have no effect because it is a placebo.” And someone taking it is cured. “This animal will be put to sleep in the shelter tonight.” And someone adopts her.

We live in an amazing world of possibilities and exceptions. There is nothing that is impervious to sudden change or reversal. Most of us can call to mind a person who recovered from a serious cancer, a woman who positively couldn’t get pregnant and did, a kid who had trouble in school and turned out to be a role model later on, the homely girl who turns out to be a stunning beauty. Are these the exceptions? Yes! And they do exist. There is no condition in life that is 100% certain and that my friends is the birthplace of hope and where there is life there is always hope.

Years back I had an old car that regularly wouldn’t start with just the turn of the key. Sometimes it did but most times it didn’t. When it did, all was right with the world. When it didn’t the cussin’ and the yelling would start and I would get out and push it for a bit and then jump in and pop the clutch and sometimes it would roar to life and all was right with the world again. Other times it wouldn’t. I’d get out time and time again and push it again and jump in and pop the clutch again and nothing would happen and I’d have to repeat the whole process complete with the yelling and the cussin’. The reason I kept trying was because I knew that if I just kept at it, one of those times it would start and all would be well. Sooner or later it always did.

Whatever you are trying to do, no matter how slim the chances or how many times you have to start over, don’t give up. It’s okay if there’s a bit of yelling and cussin’ but don’t give up. Yes, this world is full of possibilities and exceptions but they rarely just happen. Most often they happen because somebody kept trying and refused to give up. Be that somebody.

(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life