July 26th, 2010
In 1982, Rick Crain, weighing 165 pounds and after years of serious training set a world record of lifting 716 pounds. The lift took about 7 seconds. On April 14 of that same year Angela Cavallo in her fifties, with no training whatsoever, lifted approximately 1800 pounds and held it for a least five minutes.
As reported by Associated Press, Angela’s son Tony was working on his 1964 Chevy Impala when the jack slipped and pinned him under the car causing an immediate black out. Realizing that her son would die if something wasn’t done immediately, Angela grabbed hold of the car and lifted it four inches off her son while yelling at a neighbor’s child to get help. After five minutes two neighbors reinserted the jack and dragged Tony out. How did she do it? You see, Angela had a tremendous amount of love and a strong desire and that combination makes anything possible.
If there is something in your life that you want but it just isn’t happening you have to ask yourself “Do I have Angela’s level of love and desire?”. Don’t sit there and tell yourself that something is impossible. Don’t give up on your dream. Don’t think that the odds are against you. Fire up your enthusiasm. Fill yourself to overflowing with love and there will be no room for doubt. Remind yourself that God gave you the desire, the love and the ability to believe and all you have to do is put them together and energize them with your heart. Go ahead, you can do it!
©2010 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
March 22nd, 2010
Every one of us is looking for that secret additive, that one thing that if we add it to our life, our life breaks out in joy and possibilities that would rival the finale of any fireworks show on July fourth.We read books, listen to CDs, watch videos, attend seminars, quiz those who we think have found it and we plod onward, becoming more and more serious and a bit frustrated too until one day, by the Grace of God, there it is and our life lights up. It usually shows up in a quote but it can also come as a flash of inspiration. However it comes, you know without a doubt that EVERYTHING is now possible. Your dreams, your plans, your goals, suddenly you know that you can make them happen. What is this secret ingredient?
Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed it out when he wrote “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Walter Chrysler said “The real secret of success is enthusiasm”. Oliver Wendell Holmes made it clear “It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living”. There’s your secret additive!
We believe that we will have enthusiasm when we find something to be joyful about. Of course we will but if we don’t have it long before that we will never get to joyful! Look at those places in your life that have stagnated. Is there enthusiasm anywhere to be found in those places? Of course not that’s why they stagnated.
You don’t have to go out and find enthusiasm. You are the sole creator of your enthusiasm. If it is lacking it’s only because you are not producing it. Henry Ford stated it perfectly. “You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. With it, there is accomplishments. Without it there are only alibis.” The secret additive is sustained enthusiasm under any and all circumstances. BOOM! There go the fireworks!
©2010 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Focus on what you are becoming
January 31st, 2010
In 1964 at the NY Worlds Fair I was deeply impressed by many, many beautiful sights but the one that will always be with me was the Pieta at the Vatican pavilion. The Pieta is an incredibly beautiful sculpture created by Michelangelo in 1499. It is a sculpture of the Blessed Virgin and her dead son, Jesus.
If we could travel back to 1497 in his studio we would see the Pieta taking shape from a solid block of marble and all around the sculpture we would see a pile of rubble where the pieces that had been deftly chipped off now resided. This is exactly what is going on in our life. We are born like that great block of marble and God slowly and perfectly takes off what we don’t need in order to uncover the masterpiece that we really are. Instead of exalting at the masterpiece that is being uncovered, we spend our time wailing at the rubble. “How could God have taken that away from me?” we cry. “How could that relationship no longer be a part of me?” “I needed that house, that job, those dollars, my youth!” “There’s my regrets laying all over the place. They were such a part of me!” “There’s my fears. They kept me on alert!” “There’s my mistakes!” “There’s my difficult times!” Our tears spill over the pieces that once were a part of us but rarely do we look at what we have become without them. We focus on the loss unaware that a masterpiece is being created. All that is on the ground is of no use to us now and yet that is where we spend our time and thoughts. Everything that God takes away from us is because it is time for it to leave so that another part of our strength and beauty can be revealed. Put your focus on what you are becoming. Take your focus off what you no longer are.
In 1972 a crazed man took a hammer to the Pieta. He chipped off many pieces including Mary’s nose before he was restrained. In order to repair the Pieta there was no way that the marble could be matched perfectly so they had to take some marble from inside of the statue. In our lives there are many ways that we can be hurt and there is nothing outside of ourselves that will ever fix it. We too will have to go inside to find what truly repairs our hurt.
We are all works in progress and it is unfair to criticize any piece before the Master is finished with it. Have patience with others and keep your focus on what you are becoming and off the rubble that is no longer a part of you. Love and Blessings, Patrick