September 19th, 2016
There is a certain sweetness to life. It doesn’t mean that every day is a day at the beach but there is a certain sweetness in every day. Maybe it’s a glimpse of a white puffy cloud or maybe seeing a butterfly in the city or maybe it’s some distant laughter or the smile of a child. Sometimes it just surprises you and sometimes you have to search like a pearl diver running out of air to find it.
Imagine a tightly sealed jar of honey and imagine that you put it into a big vat of sour pickles. Wait a couple of hours and then take it out, rinse it off and open the jar and take a spoonful. Does it taste like pickles or honey? Honey of course! But why? The sweet honey was sealed in a glass jar. Nothing could get in no matter how many hours it stayed in the sour brine.
You have the ability in every moment of your life to put a non porous barrier between you and your surroundings. We do it often. Walk through any tourist area amongst the panhandlers and aggressive vendors. Get squished into a crowded elevator or subway car. You instinctively put up that barrier and you turn your thoughts inward and many times you find sweetness inside in your thoughts and memories and everything becomes bearable.
If you find yourself surrounded by sour circumstances, leave if you can but if you can’t, then put up that barrier and intentionally search for the sweetness in your thoughts and memories.
Let the sweetness come in and savor it and always make it more important than any sourness outside.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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September 12th, 2016
A fellow wrote to me this morning and told me, when I asked how he was doing, that he was doing badly because it was Monday. He said his health was fine and his family was fine but that he was miserable because it was Monday. He said that he had always felt this way.
Math is not my forte but I figured I could handle this calculation. Figuring that the Mondays between ages one day and five years probably weren’t that much of a burden and the fact that most people live to about eighty years of age, then seventy five years times fifty two weeks would give you three thousand and nine hundred Mondays to be miserable on. Divide that by three hundred and sixty five days and it would be over ten years of life to be in a state of miserableness.
Now I don’t know what your limit for being miserable is but I have a zero tolerance for being miserable. I have railed against authority most of my life and so I am certainly not going to let the calendar tell me how to feel. I don’t love more because it’s Valentines Day. I don’t get more grateful because it’s Thanksgiving. I don’t wait for New Years Eve to make new beginnings. Every day is a day to be maximally loving, maximally thankful, maximally celebratory, maximally happy.
Stop feeling bad because it’s a day to pay bills or to exercise or work or travel. It is a precious gift! It is a day, in a limited amount of days. It is twenty four hours of possibilities.
We know that any life can be adversely changed in the blink of an eye and most of us expect it sooner or later. Did you know that the opposite is also true? That any life can be positively changed in a blink of an eye with a thought, a touch, a look, a word, a sound, a scent, an idea, a desire, a prayer, a sight, a laugh and most of us don’t expect it?
Don’t look to the calendar to tell you how to feel. Don’t look to the folks around you to know how to feel. Don’t look into your past or future for guidance.
Right now say to yourself – “This is now. I am alive and capable of having better thoughts. I can and will enjoy this day because I deserve happiness and I know that I am the only one who can increase or decrease my happiness.”
If you are in charge of your happiness (and you are) than open wide those gates of happiness. Let it rush in and wash away doubt and fear and anxiety. Never let a day go by that you wouldn’t want to live over again. Yes, it can be that good. You know it can.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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September 7th, 2016
Today I started to be happy. To those thoughts that hindered my happiness I gave the eviction notice of “Go in peace, thank you”. Without an eviction notice they would become squatters and soon they would be confirmed as permanent residents.
I know now that my happiness needs to be fed, nurtured and protected. I cannot just expect to go somewhere or buy something and be happy forever.
I cannot expect some Divine entity to check on me and see if I am following some ancient rules to the letter and only if I am, grant me happiness.
I cannot expect my good works to absolve me from thinking thoughts that drag me away from happiness. I have found that it is quite possible to do good things and still think worrying thoughts.
Like hot water on a beautiful ice sculpture, I have found that my dreams disappear when I become overwhelmed with what is wrong in this world.
Today I started to be happy. I will not turn my eyes from the suffering in this world or from the pain of its inhabitants but I will strive to shine brightly regardless.
It would be a terrible excuse for a lighthouse to be only dimly lit because there was a raging storm going on. It is in the storm and in the darkness that its brightest output is required.
Today I started to be happy and to begin to let my happiness fuel the light within me. Today I know that I cannot calm all the seas but that I can make the seas around me brighter.
Today is a very good day.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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August 29th, 2016
When it’s time to make a change you’ll know it but the knowing isn’t the first step. It isn’t any step at all. It is a realization. Knowing that you have to make a change is just looking down and realizing that you on not on the path you thought you were on.
You can sit with that realization your whole life. You can go to your grave never have taken any action on that realization and it’s totally understandable. Because taking any action whatsoever on that realization will move you off of that comfortable place you call the present.
Your present might be filled with problems but they are known problems. Your present might be filled with pain and loss but they are familiar. Your present might seem empty but it’ll do for another day.
When you decide to take action and change your whole life (you will never just change one thing. Everything is connected) the unknown will be your foe, your fire breathing dragon. It is ready to awaken and turn your new courage to ashes for the audacity of wanting to change.
Before it incinerates your courage it will berate you. “Don’t you know how lucky you are? You should be grateful for what you have!” And when you are brought to your knees by doubt, indecision and procrastination the fire will commence to destroy what could have been. And the calendar will start flipping its pages faster than ever.
If you slay the dragon you are not done. The “What If?” fog will quickly roll in and disorient you. Should you do this or that? Should you go this way or that way? What if you go in the wrong direction? What if you disappoint others? What if you lose everything? What if the next step is off a cliff? Maybe you should just wait until the fog disappears. It. never. does.
So, you say you still want to change? I applaud your decision. You may not make it but at least you got into the arena. If you got as far as the arena, you best chance of making a change is to follow these rules:
1) Get physically stronger than you are. Eat, sleep and exercise. Change your body and your courage grows.
2) Meditate. Doubt can find no room in a peaceful mind.
3) Write it down. Writing down the change you want to make begins the transformation. This step is crucial.
4)Begin each day with a knowing smile.
5)Reduce your little pleasures. They are killing your appetite for larger ones.
6)Step away from toxic people, places and thoughts.
7) Love everything but most importantly yourself.
This may be the time to go for it or it may be the time to seriously plan. Either way, I’ll always have a supportive word or two for you.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
August 22nd, 2016
The percentage of people who will die is astounding. It has stood at about one hundred percent for quite some time now. So how does one go about preparing for something that seems like such a certainty?
The short answer is you can’t. Oh, you can buy life insurance but it’s not life assurance. In fact it’s not for you at all. You can build something like the pyramids but it probably won’t be completed in your lifetime and whoever is in charge after you leave might change it to a theme park and put their name on it. So how does one prepare for the inevitable?
Well you could try to put it off for as long as possible. You could go up into the high Himalayas and find the immortal nectar and live forever but it only works if you stay in the high Himalayas. You could keep getting new organs but who knows if they are going to like their new home. You could put your brain in a solution that feeds it forever but it makes dating awkward.
The only viable option is to just live. Live every minute of every day. If your time is indeed limited than don’t hate a Monday or a workday or a sick day or any day. Each one is precious. If it’s a great day, fill yourself with its greatness. If it’s a not so great day, sift through every second of it to find a small gem. There is no day that doesn’t contain at least one.
You’ve got today, maybe some of it or maybe all of it. Whatever you’ve got, make it count. Life is way to short to stay mad or stay sad or to worry. Find something good about yourself and focus on that without allowing any thoughts to the contrary. Bring to mind your favorite song. Imagine your favorite color. Plan a trip. Reread the most uplifting book you have. Take a walk and really look around. The sky is yours. The air is abundant. Understand that each moment is perfect. Understand that you are alive. Life is your gift. Unwrap it and use it.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
August 15th, 2016
Every Sunday we meet for a guided meditation, a talk and for the pleasure of being with each other. There is usually a few minutes of guided meditation and then several minutes of silent meditation. It’s easy but yesterday it was the easiest ever. It started with a small joke and then another and then another and soon there were great tears of laughter and belly laughs. When the laughter finally quieted but the smiles remained we closed our eyes for the meditation and beautifully slipped into a blissful state. When I checked the clock we had gone several minutes over the allotted time and no one, including myself, had noticed.
I bring up this wonderful meeting because it is a fact that everything is better when we laugh. The plague of modern society is not our overwhelming busyness but our apparent need to dwell on what we deem the serious side of life. Our talk is infused with judgements of people and conditions. Our entertainment is rife with gladiator type sports and movies that blow things up.
Are we happier because we are aware of the ills of the world? Do we spread news of suffering and injustice because we are doing something about it or because it makes for an “interesting” topic for our conversation?
We all have to admit that there are dark places and people on this planet but to focus on them exclusively excluding the lighter places and people is to bury ourselves in a mire of negativity.
Find something or someone that makes you laugh, not at the expense of other people but because there are many, many things in this world that are really funny! Embrace the lighter side of life for a while. Shed a tear of laughter and share a tear of laughter. Remind yourself to lighten up. Give yourself permission to feel good. Look at the bright side, the beauty, the funniness of life, of pets, of children. Do something every day that lightens your spirit.
When you laugh, when you lighten up, life becomes easier and this world becomes a little brighter. You were meant to be a lighthouse and not a shadow.
Sundrops On Life -Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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August 1st, 2016
Where is your happiness? Is it in your dwelling? Is it in your yoga mat or gym? Is it in your friends or lovers? Is it in nature? Is it in your memories, your books? Is it in your food? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
Your happiness is all around you all the time. Anything can trigger the happiness you want to feel. For instance, everything you own you cherished when you desired it and obtained it. The little amulets and books and clothes and hundreds of other objects you own elicited your happiness at one point. That happiness trigger is still in every piece you own. Everything of yours is imprinted with your original happiness.
It is your perception that has cast a shadow on all your happiness. What was once “OMG!” is now “Oh, that old thing”. Like an abandoned pet, all your possessions now just sit and wait. Maybe a visitor will bring attention back to it. Maybe it will be given to a friend or grandchild and it will once again be loved and cherished.
We are okay with the earth being alive and thoughts being real things and plants and animals and trees having feelings but somehow our “things” are just there.
Ask any scientist and they will tell you that all matter is energy. Ask me, I will tell you that all energy is love. You and I and all of our things are made of the same energy.
Forget about generating happiness or finding happiness. When you are home look around at your stuff, your things, and tap into the memory of when you first received them. Feel that feeling again. I guarantee that you won’t have to go looking around for happiness because you will realize that everything that you have is a happiness trigger.
While you are recapturing all this happiness with your fresh perception, don’t be surprised if a whole bunch of gratefulness rushes in with the happiness. Just look around with a fresh, new vision and be happy.
Sundrops On Life – Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
Facebook – Sundrops On Life
July 25th, 2016
Tomorrow morning, if you are lucky, you will wake up. Within minutes you will form expectations for your day. Maybe those expectations will be formed by your health or your job or what happened today or your to do list or maybe even the weather.
Those expectations will be a pretty good indicator of how your day will go. Your expectations are the blueprint for your day and for your life. Sure, some days will vary from what’s in your expectations but most days will stick pretty close to it.
Well, if we have expectations and our days go along with those expectations, it should be pretty easy to have great days by creating great expectations. Right?
Not so fast. Our expectations can take us to better days but the problem is that our expectations are so low that greatness in any area is far away. As we age, every time our expectations are not manifested we lower our expectations. When a relationship falters, lower. When a health crisis hits, lower. When a gamble turns into a loss, lower. When we don’t realize success in any area, lower.
Pretty soon our expectations are so low that we feel like we are doing okay if we are merely surviving.
It can be better. It will take a serious amount of effort but it can be much better. When I was in boot camp in the Marines some recruits were astonished that when they got hurt or tired or sick they were forced to continue. Their expectations and the expectations of the drill instructor were not the same. The higher expectations of the drill instructor is what caused them to grow, to persevere, to attain goals that they thought impossible for themselves.
We need to be our own drill instructors. If you want to succeed in dieting or reshaping your body or having better relationships or more money you are going to have to have bigger and better expectations for yourself and you will have to WRITE THEM DOWN AND FOLLOW THEM WITH NO EXCUSES ALLOWED!
If you are lucky enough to wake up tomorrow morning and if when you awaken you immediately bring to mind a positive expectation and follow your blueprint without excuses….you’ll get the life that you dreamed of but have come to think of as impossible. Bigger expectations + no excuses = Everything you want.
Sundrops On Life – Better Thoughts. Better Days.
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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July 5th, 2016
Change how you look, change where you live, change your job but nothing really changes until you change what you consistently think about because what you consistently think about is the biggest influence on your life.
If you consistently think that you are handicapped by your looks or your age or your health or anything else, that self imposed roadblock will pop up every time you try to step out of the confines of your life as it is right now. You will be unable to take even a baby step forward and you will live with frustration.
Right now you could scan the internet and find people who are handicapped in every imaginable way and you can read about their adventures. Why can they do what they do? They are not that different than you. They just think differently than you do. They think they can so they are willing to try. Thoughts are the key.
“Woe is me” breeds more woes. “I can’t do that” breeds more cants. “I could regret doing that” breeds more fears of trying. “I’m not strong enough” breeds more weakness.
BUT
“Sometimes you just have to go for it” breeds more courage. “I will find the strength ” breeds more assurance. “I am Divinely guided” breeds more faith. “I am ready for this” breeds certainty.
No one is going to show up at your door with pompoms and a marching band. You are going to have to be your own cheerleader. And you are going to have to be your own cheerleader every single hour of every singe day.
Change the thoughts you consistently think and you will open the gates to the dreams and desires that have been waiting at those gates for you. You can do it. Think about that!
Patrick McBride’s Sundrops On Life
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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June 27th, 2016
We see the world and everything in it with the eyes of love or with eyes that are devoid of love.
Eyes that see through love see people just like us. They are not our identical twins but they feel loss and they feel pain, both physical and emotional much the same as we do. Loving eyes see but do not judge those who are reluctant to ask for help because we have seen those times. Love sees people who put on a very good front while a dark storm rages inside of them and tears at their souls and we have seen those times too. The eyes of love see through all the false fronts and the overblown fears and looks for a way to help, to care, to support. The eyes of love see clearly.
The eyes that are devoid of love see only the differences between people. They judge based solely on the pretenses, the facades,the armor and the circumstances. The judgements come swiftly and mercilessly and the eyes move on. The eyes that are devoid of love become colder and more cruel the more they see. Turned inward, the eyes that are devoid of love become their cruelest. The eyes that are devoid of love see only the flaws.
How do we know if we are seeing with love or not? We look into the mirror. If our sight is devoid of love the mirror will let us know because there we will see someone who is full of flaws, someone who is aging, someone who is not perfect, someone who is unacceptable, someone who is afraid.
If we look into the mirror and we see someone there who is not judging but rather just peacefully accepting, someone who is strong, someone who is a little bit indecisive, someone who smiles easily, someone who allows the reality of the moment and is not adverse to change but not driven by it either then we know that those are the eyes of love.
You will see the world the way you see the mirror. Look into the mirror and learn to accept the figure there. If it makes you smile, you are seeing clearly.
Patrick McBride’s Sundrops On Life
(c)2016 All Rights Reserved, Patrick McBride
www.PatrickInspires.com
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