∞ Rob McBride ∞

If so, I’ve got a solution!
It can be as simple as 1, 2, 3…

If you are like most people, you don’t have one problem, you have many. Often our only wish is to have no problems at all, yet they are inherent in life. Have you ever stopped to think about this?

The only people who don’t have problems are those who are dead. If we really think about it though, they too had problems, it’s just that when they died, likely they left them to someone else. Will there ever be a time in your life when the telephone and electricity bills won’t have to be paid, or that you won’t have to replenish the food you just ate?

Many of us are addicted to “To Do Lists”. We write down all the things we have to get done and somehow believe accomplishing each item on the list will make our problems go away, and those on the list do! But just as quickly as we take care of one set of problems, have you ever noticed how others seems to pop up?

Being this the case, having problems means one thing. It means we are alive, and this is certainly a great place to start! For now anyway, it certainly seems to beat the alternative. So be glad you have problems, for the day you don’t will likely be the day when you pass yours on to someone else.

In terms of the problems themselves, there is always a solution. We may not like it or may not be willing to implement it, but there is a way to solve any problem we might have. It isn’t necessarily “easy” to solve, but in most cases doing so is a fairly “simple” process. Follow these straightforward steps to find solutions to your problems:

1) Get Busy – Don’t just sit there looking glum thinking about what’s wrong, get busy to find out how to make it right. If a call needs to be made, make it; if a change needs to be implemented, implement it; if you don’t know what needs to be done, find someone who does. Don’t wait for the problem to go away because it rarely does, and the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.

2) Be Useful – Most things we do in life somehow involve other people. Not many of us can get along for too long without somehow relying on others. For example: if your problem is not having enough money, think of how you can be useful to others in order to generate the cash flow you need. Everybody has a variety of needs. If your need is money, you simply need to find something you can do to fulfill the needs of others and you will be well on your way to solving your money problem.

3) Be Grateful – This seems to be a given, but in so many cases it is not. We are quick to complain about the weather, our aches and pains, or whatever it is we don’t like about our clients and neighbors. It is fairly easy to find things that are “wrong” with our current situation, but when you start going down this path, do an about face, change your direction and begin enumerating all of the things that are “right” with your life. Are you breathing? That’s one. How about your heart, is it beating? There’s another… I think you get the idea. When we begin to look around our immediate surroundings there is generally an incredibly long list of things for which to be grateful.

Take each day one at a time. Rome was not built in a day, and while many problems can be dealt with in a relatively short period of time, others take longer. Don’t lose heart when problems mount up. Take each in turn, doing what can be done today by being busy, useful, and grateful. Doing so can help you solve your problems as simple as 1, 2, 3!

∞ Rob McBride ∞
4 May 2021
LL V 11

Have you ever thought about how much money people spend to try and look younger? People subject themselves to surgeries, harsh diets, and killer workouts often in an attempt to shave a few years off of their appearance. But I wonder, should we really be concerned with how we look or how we feel?

No doubt that a scalpel can make us look better in a heart beat, but how long will the results last? The same can be said for radical diets and exercise, often quickly forgotten after the desired results are attained, or tossed to one side if they don’t work immediately. For the long run, doesn’t make sense for us to change our lifestyle and our habits, so not only will we look better, but more importantly, feel better as well?

Since my ride on an airplane in the early 1990’s with a very fit man who was almost 80, I have done exercise pretty much every day. He explained to me the virtues a workout he had done since being in the Royal Canadian Airforce, called the Five Basic Exercises (5BX RCAF). The only exception to my exercises was a time period between 2018 and 2020, when after slipping and falling, I hurt my back. Because of my pain, I justified not doing my daily exercise, first for a few days, but which then led to weeks and months. While I made a pretty good case to myself as to why I wasn’t exercising, the overall result affected not only my energy level, but also my attitude.

I had what Zig Ziglar refers to as “Stinking Thinking”. I was lethargic and found myself moving around like a little old man. About a year ago, I decided to see if I could find some exercises that would help me to strengthen my back, and fortunately, I found several. After several weeks of doing them and working on my core, my back got stronger and was no longer hurting as it once did. Several months later, I realized I had not gotten back into my daily routine of exercise, so I made an effort to do so. Since that time, my energy levels have increased and my attitude has gotten better.

Better yet, my new exercise routine now incorporates several things I like. I call it Juventus. Besides being the name of one of the most famous soccer teams in the world, also means young or youthful (coming from the ancient Roman goddess named Juventa). It combines the following:

• Radio Gold Instrumental (morning)
• My Music on Shuffle (evening)
• 32 Roga Yoga Moves (they include Yoga, Tai Chi, calisthenics, and even some dancing and air guitar if the music is right)
• 5 Tibetan Rites (from the book the “Eye of the Revelation”)
• 3 additional stretching moves
• Seeds of Success (a series of quotes I have memorized from different sources)

You can click on any of the links above to take you to examples of each. While it seems to me that just about any type of exercise will do, this combination works for me.
Our lifestyle, with all of its conveniences, has led many of us to be lazy and subject to obesity. In terms of diet, there are many different opinions and each can sound convincing. Some tout high protein or high carbohydrate based diets. Others claim being a vegan or a vegetarian is the right way to go. My overall favorite, which I have put into practice also since the early 1990’s, is the Anti-Diet.

Regardless of the exercise and diet plan we choose to follow, most important is to follow a routine that works for our body type and schedule. Exercise does not have to be done in a gym, and a proper diet isn’t always to lose weight. Walking briskly is said to be one of the best overall workouts and a diet consisting of all food groups can provide tremendous results (when combined properly and eaten in moderation).

If you find yourself either over or underweight, and/or with problems maintaining your energy, the good news is that you can start a program today which will can have you feeling better as soon as tomorrow. Discover what kind of exercise you enjoy and a diet that works for you. When you do, you can begin not only to look younger, but more importantly, feel better.

∞ Rob McBride ∞
28 Feb 2021
LL V 10

Have you ever considered how many things our body does without us even thinking about it?

Our heart beats, our lungs breathe, and the rest of our body does its thing as we go about our daily deed. I don’t know about you, but I find it fascinating how all this gets done. We are able to walk upright without falling down, eat and the digest our food most of the time, barely aware of all our bodies do just to accomplish the simplest of tasks. Yet all this is all somehow done, usually without our conscious knowledge.

I propose: we must have little guys inside who take care of all these things. Do you remember Biology? I suppose these little guys are really called cells, but to me they certainly seem like a whole bunch of workers, all moving in a coordinated effort to do one primary thing: to keep us alive and well.

We know that we have many different kinds of cells. Sometimes they work in harmony, and others in opposition. Some of our cells keep our vital functions going, others are in our brain, controlling virtually all our thoughts and actions. Still others are in our blood stream and in our skin. Each of these cells is constantly in a process of evolution and change, very similar to our own life process. As new cells are born from the existing ones, the older ones die or are no longer viable. Through all this magnificent concert of action between and among our cells, we are largely unaware of all that is going on, yet its song continues within us 24/7, when we are awake, when we are asleep; from the day we are born, to the day we die.

I imagine our cells to be workers, each belonging to a different part of our body. Some of our little guys belong to vital organs, assuring each keeps doing what it’s supposed to do. Many of our little guys are in the brain, likely with separate committees for our emotions, actions, and other basic functions. Some work on the surface of our bodies, forming protective barriers against intruders and fighting off enemies through movement, as well as promoting blood clotting to keep us from bleeding to death.

As we consider all our little guys inside do for us: shouldn’t we do our best to keep them healthy, enabling them to better do their job? Isn’t it the food we eat, the things we drink, the air we breathe, and the thoughts we keep what gives our little guys the “nutrients” they need to operate at peak performance?

Seems to me we often complicate health matters far too much. If we have learned anything in our existence here on the planet, it’s that there seems to be a grand scheme of things providing each living being with what it needs to survive. In our case, food, water, air, and thoughts are what our little guys need to accomplish their mission. While it’s not always possible: what about if we put in our bodies only things that grow out of the ground, fly, swim, or walk around? Must we put so many chemicals in our body?

When we treat our bodies as if they were temples, exercising them and only allowing good things inside, our ability to fight off physical and mental disease, as well as negativity becomes much stronger than if we fill them with garbage and so much other rubbish.

∞ Rob McBride ∞
29 Jan 2021
LL V 9

Turn ON Life

Stop, look, and listen to the world around you, there is so much to see, feel, and experience!
Have you noticed how these days our phones seem so insistent on giving us notifications?

They come to us in a grand myriad of ways, each designed to take us to a different place, and often in a different direction. Telecommunications and social media have become an information warehouse where we are the merchandise. We are itemized, categorized, and packaged into convenient little boxes, ready for use.

These days we can be talking about something one minute and the next receive an advertisement to buy it. Big Brother is indeed watching! George Orwell wasn’t too far off with some of his predictions, except that rather than being monitored to be rewarded or chastised; our habits and movements are being tracked to sell us things. Everywhere we turn there is something else to buy, a new promotion, a new idea or a different approach.

Maybe this isn’t a bad thing, after all, if we are sold what we want, perhaps it saves us time. Yet sometimes it seems the electronic nature of our world can become a bit too much. We are constantly inundated with offers to buy things or to make a new investment. Between radio, television, telephones, and billboards, we are bombarded with offers, each vying for our attention, and ultimately wanting our money or participation in something or another.

While it’s tough to turn off the visual barrage of information as we go about our way, we can control our “electronic exposure”. We can decide to be in control of what we see and when we see it.

We can do so by doing the following:

First, and most importantly, simply turn OFF all notifications on your phone, except for those that are vitally important, like phone calls. As soon as you do, I guarantee you will feel a sudden sense of relief from all the bells and whistles normally being emitted from the device. Instead of constantly looking at your phone whenever it pings or pangs, you can do something more important with your life than following advertisers links from one place to another.

My second suggestion is to establish a time when you are ON to the world, and a time when you are OFF. I like 8 am to 8 pm to be on, since most things can generally be taken care of during those hours. From 8 pm to 8 am, I sometimes have the phone on, but I generally stay away from social media and messaging, using it only for listening to music, taking pictures, or watching movies.

How long does it take for you to grab your phone and check your messages in the morning?

If you are like many people, it’s the first thing you do. Instead of starting your day with your phone, what about starting your day by reading a good book, talking with your mate, or simply having a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise?

This may sound okay except that you may want to say good morning to a special someone somewhere. If that’s the case, by all means do it! Maybe you can even have a virtual “cup of coffee” with them. Turn on your phone, call them up, and video if possible. Not a problem, but after you do it is there something else you can do rather than simply scrolling through the endless stories, posts, tweets, and e-mails which have become such a part of our lives?

Unless you have some vital information you are waiting for first thing in the morning, how about giving your mind a break for awhile before turning on your phone, using it when you are ready to start your “electronic day”, rather than grabbing it automatically as you wake up?

Our phones are vital to many of the things we need to get done in today’s world and we should use them to be more productive. But, instead of letting them dictate how much time we spend on them and what we do with them, we can be their masters rather than their slaves. Instead of automatically picking your phone up every little while to see what has happened in the world whenever it dings, instead you can decide when to pick it up and how long to spend on it.

There is so much to see, feel, and experience in the world which is not contained within the small screen of our mobile devices. Take the time to stop, look, and listen to the world around you by turning OFF notifications and turning ON life.

∞ Rob McBride ∞
30 Dec 2020
LL V 8