June 3rd, 2013
(Let it Go!)
Are you ready for things to get better for you? If you truly are then the first step is to let go of where you have been. Oh, I know, it’s a very juicy story and you’ve made it even more interesting in the retelling of it to yourself and others but if you want to move forward you have to let it go.
Often, we have so much pain and agony attached to a crisis that it becomes a part of us. Not just our history but who we appear to be to others and ourselves. After the five heart operations last year, I found myself becoming those five operations to myself and others. It became what everyone asked me when we met. It became all I talked about to friends and family. I constantly improved the story until I knew where the laughs were and where the horror was. One day I realized that my life, my experiences, my loves, my learning was so much more than those five operations. I had to let it go.
I had to let it go so that I could be more than just a crisis. Immediately I began changing the subject matter every time it came up. I refused to tell the story given the opportunity. I ceased to believe that those operations were the most important things about me. And you know what? I started to heal faster than ever. I started to focus on better health. I joined a gym. I ignored the scars on my chest and started focusing on building muscle again. I started talking about my dreams, hopes and aspirations again. I felt better on every level. I gained by losing. Who would’ve thought?
Sometimes our happiness is not about what we get but by what we let go. What should you let go?
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
April 15th, 2013
(You have a voice!)
“What’s wrong?” The answer to this question will change your life. Maybe.
When you are asked; “What’s wrong?” your typical first response is: “Nothing.” Why do you have this quick, patented answer? Is it because you believe that your “stuff” isn’t important. Is it because you believe that you already know the response and where it will lead? Or maybe because you don’t want to rock the boat? Or do you believe that the other person can beat you or belittle you with the volume of their voice or their command of semantics or debate?
Whatever the reason for saying “Nothing” it is a lie if you truly feel something is wrong and lying always diminishes your self worth. It takes guts to tell the truth. It takes guts to not sugar coat your response. It takes guts not to preface your answer with cowering phrases like “You probably won’t agree but…” or “I might be totally wrong but…” or ” I might just be crazy but I…” or “You’ll probably get mad if I say this but…” and all the variations.
Speak up anyway! If you feel something is wrong, speak up! If you feel you have been abused, speak up! If you feel someone has treated you badly, speak up! If you feel that you are being cheated, lessened, cheated on, demeaned, ridiculed, belittled or hurt, speak up!
It is very important to remember that as you speak up you get the courage to continue. Great courage never comes before you speak. When you speak up you are righting a wrong. When you speak up you are honoring your own personal integrity. When you speak up the feces may come in direct contact with the oscillating blades but you will have stood toe to toe with your biggest fears and said “Get out of my way. I’ve got something to say!”and a bigger, better you is born.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
April 1st, 2013
(Do it Beautifully!)
This morning I watched our dog, Jasper, run around the yard and I thought to myself that he runs beautifully. The thought struck me that we refer to certain people as being beautiful but how about what people DO? We can watch a person dance or cook or paint and say to ourselves that they are doing it beautifully but what about the man that pushes the shopping carts in the parking lot? He’s done it a thousand times and he knows how many carts act this way or that. Or how about the nurse that switches the IV bag without waking the patient.
There are actions being done beautifully all around us all the time. We are even contributing some of that beautifulness ourselves. Things being done beautifully aren’t just those practiced actions being done on stage and in classes and on film. Everyday actions are being done beautifully everywhere.
We don’t see the beautiful because we are not looking for what’s right, what’s working, what doesn’t need fixing. We have been raised as problem solvers and we get rewarded for solving problems and so we are always looking for problems to fix. If someone is doing something beautifully and right, we pass right over it to find the person who is doing it wrong so that we can present our solution and be rewarded with a pat on the back or a knowing smile.
Today, watch people uncritically, without judgement. Watch the way they walk or work or maybe the way they bag your groceries or the way they drive. Some of these things are being done beautifully. Much more than you have imagined.
(c)2013 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
November 19th, 2012
(You are Healing!)
OMG! You made a mistake! You said, did, wrote, acted out, unloaded, lost it, overreacted or just plain chose poorly and now you feel bad. It may have happened a minute ago or decades ago but you are still suffering. Nothing can make you feel as worthless or as crummy as when this mistake comes to mind and what’s worse, there’s a few of them!
Give Yourself A Break. Yeah, you. You have forgiven others over and over again but for some reason, it seems impossible to forgive yourself. Every time you refuse (that’s right, it’s not that you can’t forgive yourself. It’s that you refuse to do it!) to forgive yourself you add another link to the chain that you carry. Pretty soon any forward progress is impossible in your life because of the weight of all the links in your chain. Oh, you’ll say that luck isn’t with you or the right opportunities haven’t come your way but you know it’s the chain.
Today, right now, you can make that chain disappear. You can start by Giving Yourself A Break. You can decide right now to be kind to yourself. You can get rid of the strict teacher, father, mother, priest, minister voice and allow the the healing, loving, compassionate, caring, loving voice to be the dominant voice by simply listening to one voice to the complete exclusion of the other. (You’ve got some experience at that already)
Whatever mistake you made, it is in the past. You may still be paying for it in some way or another but you don’t have to hate yourself for it. It happened, you take full responsibility and you allow it to be an experience and not a whip. Close your eyes and mentally hug yourself. Soothe yourself. Tell yourself that as of today, the chains are off. Tell yourself that you can’t change even the smallest thing in the past but starting today, you are going to live the most loving, compassionate life you can lead and every time that you feel like beating yourself up, you’re going to mentally hug yourself and know that you deserve that break. Repeat and repeat and be free.
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
November 5th, 2012
(You are Grrrreat!)
Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
The answer to that question is the answer to most questions in your life. Are you looking for purpose? Well, what is the person in the mirror capable of if given a chance? Are you looking for a relationship? Well, what does the person in the mirror bring to the table? Are you looking for more money? Well, does the person in the mirror deserve more money?
Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
Do you see someone who needs more muscle or less weight? Do you see someone with glaring faults? Do you see someone who doesn’t quite match up to the ideal you have in your mind? Do you see someone who is too old or not old enough? Do you see someone who doesn’t fit in and has been hurt?
You’ve been looking in that mirror all of your life. You’ve seen you laugh and you’ve seen you cry. You’ve seen you sleepy and you’ve seen you wired. You’ve seen you sick and you’ve seen you not giving a damn. BUT what does the person in the mirror really want?
The person in the mirror doesn’t need your judgement, just your acceptance. The person in the mirror doesn’t need your snarl, just your smile. The person in the mirror wants you to be the cheerleader. The person in the mirror gets enough grief from the world, yours is unnecessary and unwanted. The person in the mirror wants to be loved more than anything in the world and the person in the mirror wants your love more than anything in the world.
The person in the mirror can and will accomplish anything with your support. The person in the mirror just needs you to believe that it is possible. The person in the mirror needs you, your attention, your kindness, your compassion, your love. How you see the person in the mirror defines your life, your world. Do you want a better, happier life? Give the person in the mirror forgiveness and love and a moment or two of calm reflection.
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
October 29th, 2012
(You are Getting Better!)
How do you get that feeling back again? You know the one where you feel like you’re listening to your favorite song on a perfect day after eating your favorite food. You know the one. How do you recreate that?
The answer is…you can’t. Just like you can never step into exactly the same river twice, you can’t duplicate any moment you have ever lived. When we try to recreate a perfect day, it always turns out different than we planned. Life is lived forward for a reason. If yesterdays could be lived again, we would never live a today or plan a tomorrow on the fear that it wouldn’t be as good as what we had.
Life isn’t about recreating. It is about creating and improving. Life is constantly unfolding beautifully in front of us but we spend so much time looking back with a sketch book in our hands trying to make a blueprint of our past happy moments that we miss the new ones. The secret is to remember the past good feelings but fall in love with the present moment.
Without exception, the happiest people are the ones that love the most. And the ones who love the most are the ones who have made the greatest amount of room for love in their lives. Like a playroom that no longer has any room to play in, we have to clear stuff out. We have to get rid of judgement both of our self and others. We have to put all complaining out with the trash. We have to bury old regrets and hurts. A fresh coat of forgiveness with a bright trim of positive expectations and we are ready to open the doors and windows of acceptance and invite in gratitude.
There are legions of brand new, better than ever, good feeling days ahead for you. They are coming. Have you made room for them?
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
September 17th, 2012
(You are Excellent!)
Are you living in the right place? Does where you live make you happy? I’m not talking about zip codes or states or provinces. I am talking about where do your thoughts live when you are not concentrating on something important. Are you living in the past? The future? What is it like there?
Is it a past filled with wonderful memories and remembrances of love and joy and carefree days? Is it a future filled with promise and health? Or maybe it’s a past filled with regrets and self recriminations. Or maybe it’s a future filled with scarcity and darkness.
Only a few of us can afford to physically live in the richest part of town but EVERY ONE OF US has the free will to live in a better mental place. Your thought are yours for the making and no one can limit them or destroy them or take them away from you. And since our every thought determines our happiness, we can literally move into joy no matter where we are or under what conditions we find ourselves.
How would today feel if you focused exclusively on whatever joys there were in your past? How good would you feel today if you painted a mental picture of the perfect future for you and kept adding details? How would you feel today if you mentally moved to a place of optimism and joy and lived there for the whole day?
The same way we take a break and go on vacation, take a break from worry and move to a mental place of upliftment and enjoy today. What you were worrying about today will still be there for you to worry about tomorrow if you decide to go back to it. Maybe, just maybe, you might decide to stay in that happy place and who knows, maybe, just maybe, things will start to change. Let’s face it, your worrying hasn’t exactly created miracles. How about living somewhere else today?
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
August 27th, 2012
(You are an original!)
There are quite a few monks and gurus and priests and rabbis and spiritual teachers that tell you that happiness is easy to come by. That is because they are usually single and have someone else to cook and clean and raise money and pay the bills and take out the garbage and walk the dog while they sit around generating happiness. Nice.
You and I, on the other hand, have to do most of the chores. It’s not all incense and peppermint. So what do we do in the real world? The answer is easier than you think. First, write down (really, write it down!) three things that you are most grateful for and read that at least three times a day for three days. If you don’t commit this to memory, anybody or anything negative can blind you to this list. It is guaranteed that sooner or later an attempt will be made on your happiness. Once you forget this list…hello darkness. Make it a priority.
Second, Want more. Want more for yourself, want more for your loved ones, want more for your planet, want more to love. Without wanting, we stagnate. Wanting is the oomph that gets us to take the next step. Wanting fires up our imagination. Wanting fires up our life. Be grateful for what you have and want more!
Third, Think more highly of yourself. We are all so afraid of being obnoxious or prideful because we are going to be punished in some way or fashion. Poppycock! You are an original and dare I say, a masterpiece? Okay some of us are weird pop art and some of us are traditional but we are all incomplete canvasses. Each day we complete a little more of the picture. You don’t like it so far? Not to worry, you’ve still got a bunch of canvass and paint left. Start making it better. Think better. Dress better. Eat better. Love better. Speak better. Pray better. And you will be better.
It’s tough to be happy in today’s world but it will never be impossible for you as long as you stay grateful, desirous and wonderful.
P.S. -You can start right now.
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
August 6th, 2012
(Today’s outlook ; Mostly happy with a slight chance of upsets.)
Who is watching you? Not in the creepy, peering through the blinds kind of watching but who in your life cares about you? Who looks to you to determine whether the world is a happy, mad or sad place today? Who is watching you to see how you deal with your problems? Who is watching you because they worry about you?
Nothing in our life stands alone. Everything we do, say and think has an effect on us and we in turn affect everyone we come into contact with even if it is but for a moment. Parents know that their own mood has an instant and formidable effect on their children. When they are feeling discombobulated and stressed, it’s a pretty good bet that the children will be bouncing off the walls simultaneously.
So, at this point you’ve got to ask yourself, am I influencing my world or is my world influencing me? The answer to that question is another question; Are you a leader or a victim? You see if you are a leader than you are the one that decides, come hell or high water, I’m going to be happy, caring and successful. If, on the other hand, you see yourself as a victim, then you are the one that says I am but a leaf in the wind and I hope I don’t get blown into the gutter.
When the people who love you, care about you and look up to you watch you, they want to see a leader. They want to see a role model, they want to see you turn your day around, overcome upsets and be happy in spite of what you face. If you really want to make a difference, you have an obligation to be strong and caring and happy. You can’t change the whole world but you sure can bring sunshine into your part of it.
So, what’s it going to be? You, standing on the top of the mountain telling everyone to come on up or you blowing down the gutter? Everyone you know is watching and waiting for your decision.
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
July 30th, 2012
(Thank You for your orders and donations! First Edition offer ends Tuesday July 31st www.SOL-Pics.com)
If Love knocked on your door, would you open it? Most of us would answer this question with a loud, resounding “YES!” but is it the truth? Oh, we say we want love. We say we want the bliss and the feel good feelings that love brings. We say we want to be surrounded by and filled up with love but would we even hear that knock?
If love was knocking at the door, would we be too busy looking in the mirror and complaining about how we look? Would we be too busy watching the TV for the latest news on what horrible thing happened to someone somewhere? Would we be be too busy finding out who’s at the gym or on vacation on Facebook? Would we be too busy playing solitaire or other games?
The fact is that Love is always knocking on your door. Love wants to come in and show you how it feels to have it around, the focus of your attention. Love wants to embrace you, protect you and enliven you. It wants to work through you to paint and write and sing and dance and make other people happy. It wants to heal you.
The fact is that we are too busy to hear the knock on the door. We are too busy to pay attention to the longing in our heart for that knock on the door. We are too busy looking for something to temporarily feel like love.
The answer is to turn off the TV, step away from the mirror, close the refrigerator, shut down the computer, take a deep breath or two and relax even if it is for five or ten minutes. In those minutes start thinking about all you are grateful for and I promise you will hear a familiar knock on the door. Open it and smile.
(c)2012 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com