September 14th, 2015
We all know the problem with clutter. It stifles creativity and it overwhelms But how about the clutter inside of us? How about the endless unresolved issues? How about the thoughts that are piled up in every corner of our mind? How do we declutter that???
There are three essentials for clearing mental clutter. Number one is gratitude. Be thankful that you have a mind that works. Be thankful that in all those thoughts there are some real gems. Be thankful that you can take control and think what you want to think.
Number Two is exercise. Your mind is housed in a physical body. They are connected. Anything good that you do to benefit your body will benefit your mind. A little exercise pays big dividends.
Number Three is repetition. Anything that you think over and over will strengthen. Choose wisely. If you constantly think about your unresolved issues you will make them stronger. Make decisions! You cannot make a wrong decision. There is an amazing amount of guidance in your life. What we call bad decisions are just lessons that we couldn’t or wouldn’t learn any other way.
Our minds are an infinite source of thoughts. Think the ones that make you feel better. Cut short any thoughts that make you feel bad. Make a list of thoughts that make you smile, that make you feel really good. Refer to it often!
Think about what feels good. Think about what sounds good. Think about what looks good. Think about what tastes good. Think about what smells good. That’s right, your senses are ready, willing and able to cut through the mental clutter and deliver a good feeling to you any time, any place.
A better feeling is one thought away.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
July 13th, 2015
What follows you around like a giant mosquito, always buzzing so you know it’s around and when you think it’s gone the familiar sting tells you it’s not? It’s guilt.
Some people feel guilty about everything regardless of whether or not they are at fault. “I’m sorry the ocean is so salty and it ruined our vacation” “I’m sorry that I didn’t know what you were thinking” .
Some people hide their guilt and walk around with a perpetual hundred pound weight on their chest. It doesn’t matter whether or not they were actually at fault. The only thing that matters in both cases is the perception that somehow it was their fault.
Guilt is a powerful feeling that can help us to change for the better or paralyze us into inaction. How can we see it in a positive light when we believe, right or not, that we did something wrong? Forgetting is an impossibility.
We hear about forgiving yourself but in order to forgive you have to take a higher position and pass an order of forgiveness to yourself. How can you take a higher position, in other words act as a judge, when guilt has laid you so low?
Guilt will weaken you and it can only be tamed one way. You have to become stronger than the guilt. If the guilt is pervasive “I’m sorry for everything!” you must rein it in and see it in the light. Is it really, really, really your fault? If so, take responsibility and apologize ONCE. If it is not your fault, stand your ground FOREVER.
We all make mistakes or we haven’t really lived. We cannot change one iota of the past. If you have done wrong, rectifying it is sometimes possible. Learning from it is always possible. Learn and move on. Get strong, not arrogant. Be the door that only allows love to enter and not the doormat. Be strong, wonderful you.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
June 1st, 2015
No matter how honest, transparent and authentic we may believe we are, in truth we are all actors. We act differently in front of our parents. We act differently with our best friends. We act differently with our boss or teachers or strangers. Let’s face it, we act differently with different people.
How about conditions? Do you think you act the same way when you haven’t had enough sleep or when you don’t feel well or when you are upset?
How about the positives? Do you think you act the same when you are in love or when you are praised or when you win a game?
Most of our acting happens unconsciously. Somebody says or does something and once that button is pushed we act in a certain way. Our thoughts and emotions can trigger a complete change in how we act in mere seconds.
None of this is wrong. It is just the way human beings act every day BUT if all is acting than all is changeable. Like suddenly being handed a different script or a different prompt, we can act differently in any moment we consciously choose to make a change.
We are not puppets of our programming. They are merely our default settings. The truth is we can act any way we want to at any given time and circumstance. That’s right, we can actually choose how we act.
If you don’t like the feeling of how you are acting, change it right now. If you do you will begin to understand what liberation really means. You are free the moment you begin to consciously choose. Welcome to choice. It is all yours.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
May 25th, 2015
How do you thank a soldier who gave up his or her life? How do you pay back the daily torture of PTSD or the agony of life long pain many soldiers live with every day? Just how do you say thanks?
A soldier becomes a soldier for a hundred different reasons. When I enlisted in the USMC back in ’67, truthfully, I didn’t even consider that I was helping my country. Patriotism was low on my list. Being John Wayne and having an incredible adventure was tops.
Reality rocks everyone’s world sooner or later no matter what path they take. The reality of serving with friends who die or are horribly wounded comes like a thunder clap.
Regardless of the reason a person joins, many give up their health or life as an indispensable pawn in a power struggle that has lasted for eons. Their death or their wounds do count. They count because the “enemy” this time has to be assured that the battle will continue regardless of the casualties.
This country is far from perfect but there are men and women out there who are the reason we can still go forward and not backwards. Whether they joined for the adventure or for a hundred different reasons, they are the wall that protects our progress. Every time one of the bricks in that wall crumbles, another takes its place, thank God.
How do you thank a soldier who died or was wounded? You exercise your freedoms. You vote. You volunteer. You help. You send a prayer to his or her family. You live in gratitude for that wall.
There is no such thing as Happy Memorial Day. There is only Memorial Day, Thank you.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
February 23rd, 2015
Into every life, indecision will descend like a thick fog completely obscuring our clarity. We beg, plead and pray for a sign, any sign. We ask friends, loved ones and Google to help us make the right choice. Paralysis starts to creep in. Weeping may come but won’t help. A full range of emotions comes but the fog persists.
It seems that the more important the outcome, the stronger the indecision becomes. Do I? Don’t I? It consumes you after a while and finally you reach that moment when you must decide and ….you still don’t know!
First of all, know this. You CAN’T make the wrong decision. Even no decision isn’t the wrong decision. EVERY decision you make or don’t make is another building block in your life. You are going to make decisions that don’t turn out the way you expect and you are going to find strength you didn’t know you had in order to make it better (Growth). You are going to make decisions that turn out right but you are going to brag about it and lose friends (Growth). You are going to forego making a decision and regret it (Growth). You are going to make decisions and they will be the best thing that ever happened to you (Growth). You are going to influence the way others see you with the way you decide(Growth).
Life is all about growth and growth is the product of every decision. When faced with a decision, go ahead and make it. Make it with gusto. Make it with certainty whether you feel it or not. If you are wrong you’ll learn humility. If you are right you look like a boss. Either way you’ll grow. Every single person, pant and creature on this planet is born to grow. You will never be an exception to that. Go ahead make a decision. You can’t get it wrong. On your mark, get set, GROW!
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
September 29th, 2014
Imagine you go to the gym and hire a trainer and his plan is for you to never struggle even the slightest bit in any exercise. How fast would you reach your goals? Imagine that you come upon a friend when you are out shopping and they tell you that they have worked out every single day for several years. They also tell you that five years ago they couldn’t lift three pounds and now they can. Is that progress?
Most of us have this terrible equation embedded in our thoughts. That equation is struggle, struggle, reward and finish struggling. It may sound good as a fantasy but it isn’t life. The correct equation is struggle, grow, struggle, grow. That’s life!
You struggle with a cold as a child and your immune system grows strong enough to defeat a more serious one years later. You struggle through a bad relationship so that you can grow in wisdom. You struggle with finances so that you can grow in your vision of the worth of things. You struggle with school so that you can grow your earnings.
Seeing someone moaning and crying at the gym because they have to lift a weight would lead you to believe they weren’t serious about growth. On the other hand, watching someone struggle and then smile at their reflection in the mirror tells you that they are pleased with their results of their struggle.
Don’t moan about your struggles. Gratitude isn’t just for the bright, shiny things in your life. Gratitude is also for the struggles that make you a better, stronger person. Embrace your struggles. Give thanks for your struggles. Reap the wisdom and strength that you know is coming from your struggles. They are not knocking you down. They are building you up.
(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
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
May 5th, 2014
When we think of power we think of nature or maybe people in high positions. We have seen the power of a storm. We have read enough history to know that some individuals can hold incredible power. There is another kind of power however that is different from all the rest.
It is the power of a smile. I know, it seems like we are comparing kittens to wild beasts of fury but think about what a smile means to you. How do you feel when you know you screwed up and you are waiting to be chastised but instead you receive a smile of understanding? How do you feel when you are looking at a baby and trying to connect with them by making faces and preposterous sounds when suddenly the baby looks at you and smiles?
In fact there probably wouldn’t be any babies if it weren’t for the power of a smile. People rarely frown at each other when first meeting and decide to have a baby. A smile that communicates love and kindness is really what keeps this world growing. How many times have you bought something due in part to the smile of the person who helped you?
A smile is power. It is the power to communicate what is in your heart better than any word or group of words in any language. A smile is a universal communication. We are drawn to people who smile from their heart. A smile given to another person or to the mirror feels good.
Practice smiling when no one is around. A smile when you are alone can open doors of optimism and creativity for you instantly. Feel the power it has upon you. Even the briefest smile feels rejuvenating. There is an old saying (about two minutes old) that says “A smile communicates that whatever is going on, I can handle it.” Be powerful, smile.
(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
April 21st, 2014
We all want to know our purpose. We all want to know what we should really be doing with our lives. The answer is that our life, our destiny is in the hands of a Creator who is much more than we are. Our life’s purpose is being guided unerringly in a certain direction. Otherwise it would be like putting a hundred small children in a playground and expecting a city to be built. Not going to happen. There is guidance in every moment of our lives. There is a plan! You and I don’t have to worry about the thing we most worry about!
When we surrender to a higher power it doesn’t mean that we throw our hands up in the air and give up. It doesn’t mean that we suddenly become a puppet of some celestial being. It means that we agree to flow in the direction that we are beings guided. Which direction is that? It is the direction that makes us feel better.
When we are cruel or mean, we feel bad. It’s a sign that we are thinking and acting in the wrong direction. When we help someone, when we do a kindness and feel good, it is the right direction.
There is guidance for us every step of the way. We can ignore it and make our journey one of suffering or we can accept it and realize that all is well. It may not seem like it in every moment but all is always well. Have faith in that. Faith is not a memorization of words but a commitment to ignore the clouds because you know without a doubt that there is a sun shining behind them.
Your road is laid out for you. You can’t fail. Your only job is to hold as many hands and paws as you can along the way. Lighten up, stop worrying and start enjoying.
(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
April 14th, 2014
We didn’t all win the spelling bee or the ball game. We never got singled out for our great thoughts and our love and caring like we thought we should. And so we gave up on feeling special and we tried to think of ourselves as just like everyone else. We started to practice fitting in and being like everyone else or at least trying to be like the people we liked. The truth of the matter is that as hard we tried, we didn’t fit in. Oh, we tried. Boy, did we try. It just didn’t work for us like it seemed to work for everyone else.
The estrangement comes from the fact that we know our inner world and we compare our inner world to everyone’s outer projection. We think that their projection is who they are on the inside. We are wrong. They are just trying to fit in too.
It’s hard to see the oneness of people when everyone acts so differently and believes so differently. It’s hard to see us all as one big family unless you also believe in extreme limits of being dysfunctional. The truth is we are all one on the inside not on the outside. The outside is where we act as cops and robbers and protagonists and antagonists and strangers and lovers. The inside is where we love.
Whatever part you are playing or projecting right now, know that your heart beats in harmony with over seven billion others and that long after your physical heart stops beating, the pulse of life that is common to all of us will continue to beat in you. That’s our oneness.
On the outside you and I will have moments of being special and moments of being not so special but that is just the parts we are playing. Don’t take it so seriously! It is the inside that keeps us eternally connected and eternally special. Have fun with the outside, with what you can create and what you can experience but if you want to feel special look nowhere but inside. Search for the source of love within you and you will be amazed at how special you really are in every moment.
(c)2014 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life