March 6th, 2017
One of the questions I am asked often is “Patrick, What is my purpose in life?” Maybe you have pondered this question yourself from time to time or, like some, this question greets you every morning and stays with you throughout every day.
Like threads in a giant tapestry, some lives go straight and some twist and turn and go backwards or upside down for awhile. Every single one of the threads is a necessary piece of the whole. Every twist and turn is absolutely necessary for the whole. Any tapestry would be incomplete if you removed but one thread. Your life too is an indispensable thread in the great tapestry of existence.
No one just throws millions of threads on the ground and expects a beautiful tapestry to appear. It takes the hand and the imagination of a Great Power. Awareness that there is a great power and it is not just you alone in the wilderness gives you the opportunity to relax into a guided life.
You are never, ever alone. You are part of the whole and always will be. Your mistakes, your regrets, your achievements, your breathless moments, your caring, your fears, your loves and all that you are influences everyone you come into contact with in each and every moment. Sometimes they influence your color and sometimes you influence theirs and sometimes you deeply influence each other.
Throughout your entire life you will change and you will change others. Along the way you will be helped by unseen hands of course until that day comes when you leave this physical body and the colors of your physical life will be set never again to change and at that moment the thread that your life created will be perfect because you have been guided and your life will fill a unique spot in the tapestry of existence.
So what is your purpose? Your purpose is to live. Your purpose is to explore your mind, body and soul. Your purpose is to experience everything with confidence because you know that you are developing a unique thread. Your purpose is to experience all that you can in order to give depth and richness to your colors. Your purpose is to come to the understanding that there is neither good nor bad but merely different hues and shades. Your purpose is to come to the liberating realization that you have guidance and not shackles.
Your purpose is to live and to love and to act and to react and to create and to laugh and to cry and to take all that life gives you with immense gratitude for the gift of having a life like no other and yet connected to all others.
Enjoy. You cannot get it wrong.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
February 6th, 2017
Is this relationship worth it? All throughout our life we are in relationships. We have relationships with people, companies, governments, etc. Today, let’s talk about our people relationships.
Whether we are in a work, friend or significant other relationship with another person there are constantly millions of dynamics at work. Sometimes they work seamlessly and sometimes they don’t. When they do, it’s a little slice of heaven. When they don’t, the upsets can be catastrophic to your well being on every level.
If you are going to walk away every time a relationship upsets you, you are going to have an infinite number of very, very short relationships and you will never know the joy of a deep, give and take relationship. However, if you are going to put up with upsets let’s have some rules.
Rule#1- Physical violence or even the threat of physical violence is instant termination, no warning necessary.
Rule#2- Bullying, verbal abuse, outright or in the guise of “I was only joking”, instant termination after one and only one warning.
Rule#3- Being drunk or high is never an excusable reason for treating you badly. Instant termination after one warning unless rule #1 is breached than no warning is due.
Rule#4- You don’t have permission to be a jerk because they are a jerk.
Rule#5- You may be real, real close but you are not them and they are not you.
Rule#6- People change. That includes you.
Rule#7- Sometimes it is nothing in particular. It is just time to move on.
Rule#8- NEVER count on changing someone else! You will never get a cat to bark and trying only frustrates you and pisses off the cat.
Rule#9- When it is really LOVE, you won’t have to talk yourself into it.
Don’t expect or, heaven’s forbid, demand perfection in a relationship and remember that all relationships should be beneficial to both people. One-sided relationships are awful. If it’s good, enjoy every moment. Who knows, it could last a lifetime. If it’s bad, don’t wait too long to jump overboard. It is never a good idea to go down with the ship.
Review your relations every now and then to make sure that you haven’t gotten too comfortable with less than you deserve. Reviewing also helps to know if you are getting lazy and taking the other person for granted. Ask yourself often “Am I loving and present to my full potential?” and “Is our relationship as good as it can be?” and “How can I be better at this?”.
Relationships are everything you can imagine and so much more. Be realistic about your role and what you want in the other person. Be as loving, caring and supportive as you can be all the time and never, ever, ever expect the cat to bark.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
January 30th, 2017
You go to the theater, get a good seat and wait to be entertained.The movie starts and five minutes into the movie Superman and his arch enemy Lex Luther confront each other and Lex turns to Superman and says;
“How do you like playing the part of Superman?” and Superman turns to Lex and says;
“Not bad really. I thought I would develop this part a little differently but the director said to do it like this and so I’m warming up to the idea that it’s okay.Oh, by the way, how are your kids doing in the new school?”
You sit bolt upright in your theater seat staring incredulously at the screen. You look around to see if everyone else in the theater is as outraged as you. You turn to the person next to you and say; “What is going on? I didn’t pay to see two actors talking reality to each other. I want them to act. Not to be themselves! This is not entertaining!”
If you don’t like this scenario then you are going to love living on planet earth. It’s a place where everyone is playing a part. Of course everyone is the same on the inside but on the outside OMG! What a diversity of characters.
Of course most people here are so good that they get totally into their parts and seem to actually become their part. After all, “the mask the actor wears soon becomes the actor” is an old maxim and it is very true on this planet.
It all starts when we are born here and at first we smile quite a bit because we know who we are and we know the truth about everyone else too. Slowly we are taught to identify with our name and our family and our neighborhood, our school, our city, our state, our country, our religion or lack thereof, our socioeconomic level and a host of other features. So we start becoming our mask and not ourselves.
We never feel quite perfect about who we are but we are sure who other people are. We judge them and ourselves. We try to add more to ourselves as if something was missing as if we would soon become whole if we found the missing pieces. Many of us never understanding that we need less and not more to feel complete.
The truth is that we are whole. We are complete. We are eternal. We have passed our audition and come to play a part in the greatest play in the universe. We have a great Director who knows how this develops and how we contribute to it all. We really don’t have to know it all. We just have to concentrate on our part by listening for direction.
The secret to enjoying all of this is that every now and then when the day is done, we need to relax, let go, remember who we are and smile. We need to step back and watch the play with seven billion cast members and appreciate the Director and have gratitude for our good fortune to be picked to be in this crazy, funny, touching, heartwarming, action packed blockbuster. And above all else we need to always remember…it’s a love story.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
February 22nd, 2016
Look in a full length mirror and what do you see? Do you see the imperfections? Does what you see fall short of the ideal picture that you have in your mind? Do you see a body that has been wounded by a lack of sleep?
Let me tell you what you don’t see. The mirror doesn’t tell you that your lack of sleep is due to your worrying about your friends and family. It doesn’t reflect the loss of sleep because you didn’t have the money that you thought would help someone. It doesn’t show you the many nights that you stayed on the phone listening to someone who said they had no one else to call. The mirror can’t show you how very much you care.
What you see in the mirror does not reflect the ideal in your mind because the ideal in your mind is a two dimensional figure found only on screens and magazines and you are and always will be a multidimensional being who has lived a roller coaster of a life. You are undeniably real and that is priceless.
The so called imperfections you see in the mirror are the real you. A Rembrandt painting does not have the same brush strokes as a Van Gogh painting. Is one of them imperfect? If you walk into a museum of priceless works, are they all the same? Yes, you are as unique as any fine work of art.
Look in that full length mirror again. Do you now see a work of art with depth and character and a hundred incredible stories? Do you see a body shaped by time, love and a lack of love? Can you look long enough to really see yourself because when you do you will find that the real you is looking back at you and thanking you for finally understanding and not judging. Your smile will be the signal that you got it.
Patrick McBride’s Sundrops On Life
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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February 1st, 2016
Every change we attempt to make is going to be judged, influenced and battered by the ghosts of our past. So how do we make effective changes in our life?
If you go on certain rides you are going to get scared. If you go into a haunted house you are going to get scared. If you watch a horror movie you are going to get scared. How do we stop getting scared from these things? Answer – we don’t go on rides that scare us. We don’t go into haunted houses. We don’t watch horror movies.
So how do we stop being battered, judged and influenced by the ghosts of our past? Answer -we don’t unnecessarily go into our past. There is more than enough in this present moment to keep you occupied. Only in this present moment do you have the power to begin anything you want. You can take a step in any direction. In this present moment there is opportunity, choice and a blank canvas. In the past there is only an unalterable history.
Effective change requires presence, your presence. Any change you want to make can start right now. Start thinking about it and it begins. It will continue in a positive way UNLESS you look back. The lessons of your past have made you more than capable of having an amazing present. The lessons have been learned. A review is unnecessary. A comparison is unnecessary. Leave the past in the past. Embrace new beginnings right now and stay with them.
We don’t have eyes in the back of our head because we were made to always be looking forward.
Patrick McBride’s Sundrops On Life
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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October 26th, 2015
You are not great and maybe you never will be great. Blasphemy! Cruel! Horrid! How could you say such a thing?
The fact of the matter is that we are all pretty average. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! I’m so tired of hearing and reading “experts” lie and say that everyone can be great and wealthy and problem free. It just ain’t so.
So many people today have low self esteem and are upset with themselves because they can’t get rich or they can’t manifest great things. They feel like failures because they “only” have a regular job. They have a three star life and they feel like failures because it isn’t a five star life.
The unhappiness you feel after all the seminars and all the CDs and DVDs and workbooks and workshops haven’t produced greatness is misplaced. You learned a tremendous amount from all your searching and you learned or will learn at some point in time that it’s okay to just be you.
You don’t have to be better than anyone else. You don’t need great wealth. You don’t need to be any better than you are right now. You don’t need to be skinnier. You don’t need to be more popular. You just need to be satisfied with you. That and a bucket full of love and gratitude will get you through this life very well.
In this life you will find people and animals to love and who will love you back. You will always, always have an opportunity to make someone else feel loved. You will have good days and bad days. The good days will make you smile and the bad days will give you something to talk about.
There may not be Oscars and yachts and embassy balls in your future but if you can look at yourself in the mirror and say “Yes, It’s Okay” and mean it, you can have a peace that escapes most people. Fill your life with love and… Just live.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
September 21st, 2015
Be informed they say. Know what’s going on all over the world they say. Find out who’s covering up this or that they say. You are being lied to they say. Be filled with gratitude they say. Eat this and not that they say. Believe us and not them they say. Do this to live longer than say.
How about we stop listening to “them” and we start listening to ourselves? How about we decide today, right now, to just live?
Years ago we got input from our family, neighbors and teachers and a few books. From that we decided who we liked and what we wanted and we just lived. Television connected us to more people wanting to make a buck and get some followers. The internet followed and more people tried to make a buck and get more followers. Suddenly great numbers of people wanted us to think like them for their own profit or for power. We stopped just living and everyone started to enroll in the camps of “one of us” or “the others”.
It’s time to just live. It’s time to reconnect with your heart. It’s time to be you, the real you. The you that conforms because you want to or the you that doesn’t conform because it feels right. It’s time to stop getting upset with countries and to start understanding that the world is filled with different people and it’s not your job to “fix” them. It’s time to just live without judgement or animosity. You know in your heart who you want to be around and who you don’t. Honor that.
The past is not the answer. You’ve grown so much since then. It would be a shame to waste that. The present is where you get to say “I’m going to do my own thinking and make my own choices and as long as no one else jeopardizes the safety of me and my family, I’m just going to live”. The future is your place to dream. That’s important too.
It’s time to turn down the cacophony of voices wanting you to do this or believe that. There is a power inside of you that knows the way. It lives in a beautiful, powerful place past your conditioning and your ego. It’s who you are. Be quiet. Meditate if you can. Connect with the real you and just live.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
June 8th, 2015
Love. Do we use the word too casually? Do we lessen the value of the word when we say things like “I love the color of that wall” or maybe “I love chocolate” or how about “I love the way that feels”.
Does all of this take away from looking into someone’s eyes and saying “I love you”? Is the word love now cheapened somehow by overuse or by using the word too often on frivolous things?
The truth is that LOVE is the most amazing word in the world. No matter the language, the word LOVE cannot be cheapened or overused. The word LOVE is a superlative. The word LOVE says that something or someone is due the highest praise. The word LOVE says that something or someone ignites a passion for a moment or a lifetime in us.
Use the word as often as you can. Use it in every situation. Look for places to use it. The more you focus on the word LOVE, the more you will stay close to the feeling of love. And if you are close to the feeling of love, life will have that special vibration that makes even the mundane feel special.
LOVE your chocolate, your car, your jammies, your hot showers, your coffee, your tea, your bed, your pillow, your couch, your food, your music, your yoga, your TV, your books, the ocean, the sky and everything else in creation. Then when you look into the eyes of a pet, a child, a friend, a loved one and you say “I love you” they will know that you are quite familiar with that word and you know exactly what it means. I love 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
April 13th, 2015
Can you feel good when you are feeling bad? It is vitally important to your growth to feel bad when you are feeling bad. To try to sugar coat loss or betrayal or hurt is counter productive to growth and learning.To stand in quicksand and visualize that you are standing on a sandy beach in the Caribbean is foolish at best.
When something hurts, acknowledge that hurt. Take some time to ascertain if there is anything you could have done to avoid the hurt. Take some time to ascertain what is to be learned from this hurt. Take some time to ascertain when and where your healing should commence and then act upon those answers.
Every physical hurt from a paper cut to major surgery will, if you stay alive, heal. Every mental and emotional hurt will, if you stay alive, heal. The key words here are “if you stay alive”.
Staying alive is not just having a pulse. There are plenty of people walking around with a pulse but are not really living. Staying alive means that you feel everything but you are selective in what feelings you hold on to for a long time. Feelings of hurt have lessons that last forever but all hurt has an expiration date. To hold onto a hurt past its expiration spoils staying alive.
Feel the hurt, feel the pain, feel your world upended. Feel it fully and completely. Accept the gift of growth. Make the necessary changes and move on. Having been hurt says I have lived. Letting go says I am stronger than any hold that any hurt has on me.
(c)2015 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life