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Brave Logan Fights Cancer

Wed, 15 May 2013 03:25:43 GMT

Bobby Robins Blog supports Team Logan.

A while back I wrote an article called, "Good Vibrations", about Logan, a little boy I met at the Hasbro Children's Hospital. I poured my heart into the article, and tried my best to describe what I was feeling after meeting Logan. Something changed inside of me because of Logan, and I have been in contact with him and his family over the months since our meeting. I'm happy to report that he is back home and feeling well.

Logan has cancer. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia to be specific and he has been fighting the good fight, enduring chemotherapy treatments, and beating this disease every single day.

I know that his family has had many ups and downs on this roller coaster ride to recovery, and I'm trying to inject positive vibrations, good vibrations, into their lives, as best I can.

Shortly after meeting Logan, we invited him to our hockey game, and the Providence Bruins were kind enough to do their part in making their experience a memorable one. Logan and his family were invited down onto the player's bench during our pre-game warm ups. I took a moment between dirty looks and grunts across the red line between opponents and adversaries, and said hello to them. Logan just smiled. He was enchanted, and had courage and contentment written all over his face. It was contagious, and everyone involved in that whole scene, from Logan, to his family, to me and my teammates, to photographers who were there--everyone was moved and inspired by Logan.

Hanging with Logan and his family after the game.

It's no wonder that the "Good Vibrations" article took off. There is something special about Logan. The article was the most-read out of any of my blog posts, by a long shot. The media picked up on it too. Newspapers wrote articles and the news sent a crew to interview to the rink for a video piece on the chance meeting between Logan and me, two fighters giving it everything we have. If you haven't seen the video, its on the upper right of the screen of this blog. I put it there proudly. If someone comes to my blog, and that's the only thing they click on, I'm ok with that. I'm content.

But then time passes, and the hockey season rolls on. The Providence Bruins ended up finishing in first place in the entire American Hockey League. We started playoffs. This is the first time I have ever played an AHL playoff game. We are now in the second round of playoffs, and sticking to the program, playing a lot of hockey, and existing in this moment as that well-oiled machine.

There have been updates here and there between Logan's family and me, and I'm always so happy to hear that he is doing well.

Today, I decided try something else.

I'm having a fund raiser for Logan and his family. I'd like to do something kind for them, and provide some sort of financial support. Maybe it will help with some medical bills. Maybe it will go to Logan's college fund. Maybe it will help Logan and his family in some way, and maybe some load will be lifted, and I hope that through all this, some spirits will be lifted.

I'm shooting for $5000. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know.

But, I do know:

Well over 5000 people read "Good Vibrations" and connected with Brave Logan and his story.

If we each donate $1, we are there.

500 people liked "Good Vibrations" on Facebook.

If we each donate $10, we are there.

I've never done anything like this before, but I'm excited to see the results. I've partnered with a fundraising company called Fundly, who are taking care of all the secure donation collection and payment to Logan's family.

Thanks so much for supporting my Blog, me, my art, and of course, thanks for supporting Brave Logan.

Make some good vibrations.

You can check out the Brave Logan Fights Cancer page at Fundly by clicking HERE.

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Busy Being Born

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:14:37 GMT

“He not busy being born is busy dying.” Bob Dylan sings this in It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding). This song takes me back to that pivotal year in my development (as a person and as a hockey player) when I moved out West to the middle of Montana after high school, chasing mountainous dreams and embarking on this path that I still walk to this day, some thirteen years later. Still chasing that puck. Still chasing that elusive destiny.

And on this Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring, I felt the death of winter, and I bade it farewell. I woke this morning and thought that today should mark a great change in our lives. Some great rebirth or resurrection. I don't know, maybe it's just one of those days. Maybe it's just one of those days where I wake up and feel inspired and inspiring. It was one of those days filled with symbolism and personal meanings. Visions and coincidences. They were all there today.

I went for a four mile hike this afternoon, through the forest and around a lake. I felt like I was busy being born as I walked around that lake. It brought me back to Northern Wisconsin, where rustic air hangs heavy atop goliath pines, and squirrels and field mice scurry beneath crackling leaves and underbrush. Feeling nostalgic as I walked, I thought back to Bob Dylan and that lyric, “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

That statement embodies what it means to live an inspiring life. It is how I want to live my life every single day. To me, busy being born means creating, embracing, and witnessing small miracles every day. And somehow if you adjust your eyes just right, you can put yourself in that mindset, where everything you see is a miracle. When you are connected to the world and people around you, and pouring out love and passion in whatever you do, then you are creating miracles. You are being born. When you look a stranger in the eye, and wonder what it's like to live their life, and realize that you already know, because we are all connected on some cosmic life-vein that we can never understand, you are creating miracles. And when you smile at that person and connect for that split second with glowing vibrational currents, you are creating a miracle. I guess what I'm getting at is you can be busy being born in the most subtle ways or you can chase your destiny and be king of the world, if that's what your destiny is. No matter what your destiny is, as long as you are chasing it, and living and breathing every moment of that pursuit, you are busy being born.

Never give up on your dreams. Never let anyone take those dream away from you. Then all that is left is death. Busy dying. Death comes to us all, but it can wait. We have a whole lot of being born to do before we succumb to that woeful appointment. And the only way to fight against time's eroding curse is to live every single day with conviction and passion. Don't waste a minute.

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As I stood out there in Montana when I was 18 years old, I looked out at a vast and mirrored lake. A crown of ethereal mountains and pines hung suspended in endless azure skies. I stood there and peered out into the abyss and wondered about my future. I thought about my destiny, and if I would ever make it there. I knew then if I lived my life with passion and conviction, and tried my best to be a good person, that good things would happen to me. I never could have foreseen the whirlwind adventure that I have been on since then. I never could have seen four years of Division 1 hockey at Umass Lowell, and then seven years of pro hockey, with destinations spanning half of the globe. Even though I never could have seen it, I had the belief, that part was always there.

And now I sit here on the first day of spring, on the cusp of new life, looking at another mirrored lake reflection; and it is somehow connected to that lake from so many years back. I still have that belief and it it stronger than ever. I watched some robins bobbing around on the damp grass at the park, and thought “that's me, I'm the Robin. I've been reborn and given a second lease on life. The wintered past is now dead and gone, and I must rise up this Spring.” And like the tiny green buds that glitter the Spring forest with a soft misty hue, I must dot my world with positive thoughts and actions. And each moment that I am busy being born, endless acres of blooming potential sprout and grow into thickets of foliage and strength.

I think it's time that we make this Spring one the represents us at our core. Spring means new life, rebirth, the death of winter, the death of old ways, and the rebirth of the new, starting anew, and putting our foot down on the first step toward our destiny.

Happy Spring!

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Related & Recommended Posts
Metamorphosis
A Hero's Quest
Beacon of Light & a Hockey Fight
Good Vibrations
The Best Version of You
How to Be Excellent
Excellence Revisited
Adirondack Thoughts
Thoughts: NHL Lockout, etc.
A Day in the Life Part 1
A Day in the Life Part 2

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Zen and the Art of Reinventing Yourself

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:29:42 GMT

Photo by Samantha B

I just read an article on Rich Clune, of the Nashville Predators that told the story of his battle with alcohol and drug addiction. Most importantly, the story spoke of redemption, recovery, and dream chasing. It seems like he needed to face his own demon/demons, and slay his greatest adversary before he could accomplish his goal of playing in the NHL. It seems that he had to slay this nefarious shadow that had haunted him for so many years before he could become the true version of himself, the one that had been in there all along.

I don't know Rich Clune, but I played against him when he played for the Manchester Monarchs. We had a pretty good battle once, and punched each other in the face a few times. Clune is one of those hockey players who plays with an edge. He is quick to shed his gloves. He knows he must fight for his team, his name, and his honor. Ice Hockey offers this noble position of bare-knuckle pugilist, and when the heart is exposed, and each beating ventricle reverberates and pulses to the admiration of adoring fans, something special happens. That player is embraced and loved, honored and cherished.

But like any volatile force, “as above, so below”, and a dark specter haunts some of the noble warriors who brandish this sword. We have heard the stories of fighters who battle addiction, depression, alcohol binges, pill-popping—savage living, in a savage world. Early in my career in pro hockey, a tough guy took me under his wing and showed me the ins and outs of hockey fighting. I worked with him after practices and discussed hockey fighting as an art, a philosophy. We went to the depths and attacked it from all angles. I remember one discussion about how to deal with the fact that you are going to be fighting a lot, against other grown men who know how to fight, and are good at it. There is stress and anxiety, and this comes with the territory. He told me that all fighters had to have some way to take the edge off. Unfortunately, a lot of these methods manifest as destructive tendencies and drug abuse.

And it makes sense. When you exist in a cloud of addiction, you don't think about anything except that addiction. And your thoughts rain down in a steady drizzle of dreary droplets, gathering in pools that rise higher and higher until you don't have to think about your problems anymore. But eventually, you reach the point of no return, the moment of saturation. And this is a truly drowning current, a white-capped rapid assault of your very being.

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I was there three years ago, submerged in the murky depths of some dark oceanic trench, frothing back and forth from one pinch of chewing tobacco to the next. That's how I dealt with my reality. What once started as an adventurous pinch stuffed in the lip, had somehow turned into a full-blown nicotine addiction, and an hour surely wouldn't pass without those toxic droplets trickling through my blood stream.

That was the adversary I needed to slay. It was my demon. The funny thing about embarking on such a valiant quest is that once you face your demon, and make your intentions known that you are here to kill it, you have an epiphany, and realize that the adversary is really YOU.

It's some vile version of you battling against the true version of you, who had been there all along but had been overtaken by this drowning force. And if you focus in on what you want and what you are willing to do to release the true and noble version of you, the adversary stands no chance.

I learned early on how dangerous the rocky cliff of drug addiction is. I beat it, and made a vow that I would never go back to that world, or that life, ever again. And three years ago when I came back to North America to play hockey, after two years overseas in Europe, I was an entirely different person. I was that true version of me that had been in there all along, somewhere in there, but covered in cancerous clouds since age seventeen when I first picked up a can of dip.

I had to relearn everything. I especially had to relearn how to deal with stress. It used to be such an easy fix. All I had to do was toss some finely cut shreds of tobacco into my lips, and the nicotine would seep through the delicate membrane of my inner lip, and like magic, enter my bloodstream and make everything seem alright, make everything tolerable, everything—it was my everything.

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But now I had nothing but my own raw, pure emotions and feelings. And I had to find a way to deal with it. I still felt all the same things anyone feels: fear, anxiety, doubt, you name it. And I remember back to my first year pro when my Fight Mentor told me that fighters needed “something” to take the edge off. I didn't want to ever be an addict again. I knew the next time would kill me. There could never be a next time.

So I got addicted to searching for positive, nutritious things to put into my body and my mind. I hopped on the internet and started searching, and I haven't stopped. My fiancee, Doll, would probably call it an obsession, and I can't argue with her, as I look at the shelf above the sink and see a snaking train of supplements and protein powders. Yes, she thinks I'm crazy because the fridge and pantry are stocked with strange roots, berries, vegetables, and herbs. And there on the bookshelf, are stacks and stacks of books that cover the whole spectrum.

I had gained my freedom. I had become the true version of me, and the true version of me has a particular trait: to constantly look for ways to improve and upgrade. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do after an 11 year nicotine addiction.

During my searching, I stumbled upon a YouTube video about a guy named Jon Kabat-Zinn and this is where I first learned how to meditate. At last, I had found my secret to “taking the edge off”. It happened on a lazy afternoon in the hot summer months, and I watched his video and learned how to meditate for real.

Like anyone, I had tried before. I had crosses my legs and touched my fingers together, focusing intently, like the Ninja Turtles huddled around the campfire as they summon the spirit of Master Splinter. I closed my eyes, trying to drift off to some cosmic plain, while I repeat a mantra, over and over until my ears rang.

I always thought that meditation meant focusing on something as hard as you could. For me, I always focused on my goals, pumping positive affirmations about my hockey ability, and that I can accomplish my dreams and ambitions.

It wasn't until watching the Jon Kabat-Zinn video, that I discovered that the true secret is letting go. Meditation is nothing. It is finding that empty, timeless space where only your breath exists, and your breath seems to have a life force all its own. It goes in, and goes out. In and out.

At first you learn to listen to the breath, to observe it, and get to know it. You pay homage to it, and feel it, and welcome it. Instantly my mind would drift off to my To-Do list, or ingredients I needed to pick up at the grocery store, but every time, I returned to the breath. After a while, I began to feel the ebb and flow of the breath, and it took on an aquatic property, a wave-like drifting mechanism. After some time. I felt my consciousness flash in and out of some kind of room. It was my sanctuary. There was a pool of water there and exposed wood beams and pillars. That's where my breath was. Every time I would lose my grasp on it, and think about an email I had to get out, I would return to the breath and to my sanctuary; the wooden room with the pool of blue water.

Unfortunately, I have fallen out of practice these days, and haven't truly meditated since the summer. But I'm back on board, and I'm going to give it another try tonight. Maybe you are looking for a way to take the edge off to. I'm sharing this video with you, and hope that it brings peace and tranquility into your life. Sometimes we get so caught up in the thick of things that we don't take time to sit and be quiet, and think about nothing, and exist for that time in that empty room, where only your breath resides. Somewhere in that sanctuary is a peace that is attainable with no drugs, chemicals, or destructive forces. This is where I want to be.

Leave a comment below and let us know how it goes. Or if you are a Zen Master, and have any tips for us, please share!

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A Hero's Quest

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 02:51:26 GMT

Photo by Samantha B

This one goes out to you, dreamer. This one is dedicated to the kid shooting pucks at a coffee can out in the back yard, while the rest of the world spins on. This is for that kid who they said would never make it. It's for the one they laughed at. It's for the one who wasn't afraid to be real, to be passionate, to be a hockey player. If you are reading this now, and thinking I'm talking to you, I am. This one is for you.

Take it from an old buck who has been grinding away for all these years. It's worth it. Chase your dream down like your life depends on it. Because it does. You have the ability to choose your own path in this life, and don't listen to anyone who tells you that you don't. Beware of bitterhearts. They are everywhere, and they will try to pull you down to the depths. But the depths are no place for a hero.

You are the hero of your own story now. This is your quest. It has already started, long before you even knew you were on it. But between me and you, your quest starts today. Now. You control the outcome. You can predict the future. You can see it. Clench your eyes closed, and in that tight darkness, peer out, and see that future version of yourself.

I did when I was sixteen. I was laying, flat-backed, staring up at twirling fans and florescent lights at the gym, and about to perform a bench press. Chris C. was there looking down at me, spotting me, and rattling off grunts and encouragement.

“You got this, man.”

“Breathe.”

“Down and up, comon now!”

All I needed to do was lift that bar one time, and I would bench press more weight than I ever had before. I closed my eyes and drifted off into some gelatinous space behind my pupils, and swam in ink-black water until I saw a reflection shimmer across rippling waves. It was me and I was in a hockey uniform. I was all grown up, a man. I was a pro hockey player. I saw it, fifteen years ago. I opened my eyes, took a breath in and exhaled, and performed the lift.

That memory has stuck with me for years. I have unforgettable and lasting thoughts during the brief seconds right before any difficult lift in the weight room. If I need to perform a set of five heavy squats for example, I dedicate each one to a different person. Some are to people I am trying to win over, people who I am trying to prove my worth. I will dedicate these lifts to coaches or GM's, or anyone who deserves those reps, or those to whom reps I owe. Other times, I give those reps to people who took something from me, or to people to tried to strip me of my strength and power. These people may be doubters, vampires, past coaches who cut me, or people who didn't believe in me. I dedicate these sets to them just the same.

Motivation is motivation, I suppose. Whatever works.

I have performed roughly fifty million reps of bench press, squats, pull ups, you name it, to one memory I have of when I was just a kid, just a young dreamer. Didn't we all dream of playing in the NHL? Of course we did. A group of the kids asked me if they thought I would make it to the NHL. I was 14 years old. What did I know? Of course I believed I would some day. That's the only thing I ever believed.

“Yes.” I said.

And then came the laughter. They laughed and laughed, but I didn't listen. I went and shot ten million more pucks that night and pictured myself streaking down the wing, it's game 7, five seconds left, four, three, two, Robins gets the pass, one, he shoots, he SCORES!

We have all been in those sold-out arenas in our mind, visualizing every movement and motion. This is all mental preparation, you are on the right track if you are seeing these things and saying this stuff, while you shoot those pucks to an audience of pine trees and a lazy Labrador, out in the middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin.

One day you will be there. Believe it and know it.

Photo by Samantha B

So now what?

It's day one of your quest. Now it's up to you. Where do you want this thing to go?

Be a good hero, and start by putting good things in your body. Fuel up! You are going to need it. And you'd better start pouring buckets of water down your throat, non-stop.

Start picturing every single day as a chapter or challenge in your quest. Win the day. Your goal is to improve yourself today. As insignificant as one day seems in the grand scheme of things, your destiny could come down to the decisions you make today. Why risk it? This is your quest, for you and you alone. Villains are always close behind, on the hunt. They prey on fear and regret. They will chase you for the duration of your quest, hoping that you fail; waiting, salivating, measuring each step you take, ready to pounce the instant you give up. It is then that they feed, and the hero is destroyed.

But that isn't in the cards for you or me. We are destined to complete our quest, and along the journey you will encounter many allies who will aid you and befriend you. Lean on these positive influences, take strength from them and give them strength. This story we are telling is interwoven and entwined among many heroes, past and present. Even you, future hero: you are a part of this story too.

So now it's time to shift your mind set.

(And in case you haven't noticed, this goes out to any one of us who is dreaming, any of us who is on a quest, in any form. Obviously I will speak of the Hockey Quest, and offer advice to young Hockey Heroes out there. But there are endless quests, of endless heroes, in endless worlds, and endless times. This sentence you are reading now is one small victory in a separate quest I am on, that just so happens to follow along on parallel lines with my Hockey Quest. Come to think of it, maybe none of this is separate. Maybe we are all connected in our individual quests in some way. Maybe we are meant to lean on and support each other, and build up this monolithic psychic tower of strength and determination; so that one day we rise up so tall and worthy that the villains disappear all together, and we all exist as content heroes—relics—because we all achieved our dreams, and now we are finally at peace. Maybe that is what life is, some cosmic quest we are all a part of.)

So starting now, live every day as a personal challenge on your quest. How are you going to improve today? For me, I'm going to write 2000 thousand words of honest prose, right out from the thickest part of my heart. I'm going to drink a gallon of water. I'm going to eat healthy meals made up of superfoods. I'm going to think positive thoughts about hockey, art, writing, my relationships, and my future. I'm going to mentally prepare for three games in three nights this weekend, and know that I will lay it on the line every single shift. I will spread this message to other Hero Allies across the internet, because something inside of me is telling me that I have to, and that at least one person will read this and make a massive shift in his or her life, and begin a noble quest. Is that person you? If so, let us know in the Comments what you are going to chase down like your life depends on it.

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Related & Recommended Posts
Beacon of Light & a Hockey Fight
Good Vibrations
The Best Version of You
How to Be Excellent
Excellence Revisited
Adirondack Thoughts
Thoughts: NHL Lockout, etc.
A Day in the Life Part 1
A Day in the Life Part 2

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Beacon of Light & a Hockey Fight

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 03:50:15 GMT

Photo by Samantha B

A long, long time ago in the middle of Montana, I played Junior hockey for a team called the Great Falls Americans in the now defunct America West Hockey League. I was eighteen years old, just a boy, and this is where I learned how to fight. The gap between an eighteen year old and a twenty year old was so vast and canyonesque during that eventful year out west, and so I learned to fight and compete against men. It was here in the middle of mountains that I found my courage, strength, and belief in myself as a person and as a hockey player. It was here where I became a man.

You run into many people during this lifetime, and you must embrace and cherish those who help or aid you along on your quest. Over the course of your quest, you will encounter certain people who exude positive energy which you are able to absorb, and this makes you a better person, through covalent bonds between atoms and humans. Maybe they make you look at yourself in a different light, and give you the ability to see the potential in yourself. Maybe they make you see the world from a different angle. Or more importantly, maybe they make you see your world from a different angle.

During my year in Montana, I encountered many influential people who led me on the path that I am on today, thirteen years later. Thirteen years later, and still playing this game and chasing my goals and dreams. I know that I was meant to cross paths with some of these people. Or at least, I know that I am very fortunate and lucky to have met them.

Number one on my list is Coach Rikard Gronborg, the Swedish Assassin; a conglomerate of brawn, toughness, intelligence, and sincerity. Looking back on it now, he was the perfect role model for me, and though I didn't quite know it at the time, he was the kind of man I wanted to be someday, and exactly the man I have become, and am still evolving toward.

It was the summer after my senior year of high school. I graduated, and now what? I didn't feel like I was quite ready to go to college. I knew I wanted to play Junior hockey, but at this point in my hockey career, I was so far off the radar that no spying drone or peering satellite could have possibly foreseen a Division 1 scholarship in my future, let alone a seven year professional career, and now standing on the cusp of my childhood dream to reach the top. And to be honest, I didn't see it at that time either. All I knew was that I wanted to play Junior hockey, and so I took the most logical step and went to my first Junior tryout with the Springfield Jr. Blues.

I tossed my hockey bag in the back of my dad's Ford Ranger and drove seven hours to meet my destiny in Springfield. The only advice that anyone gave me was from a local throwback, “if you want to get noticed, drop your gloves right away, and beat the piss out of someone.”

I had never been in a fight before, and I was scared to death.

I told myself I would do it, but for the most part, highly doubted that I would follow through with my plans. What did that guy know anyway?

Photo by Samantha B

When I got to the Springfield rink, all of the veteran players were already there, and you could sense the bond and camaraderie among them. I felt like an outsider. An intruder. I felt small. But somewhere inside of me was a BIG belief that I could do it, and that I had something special that no one else had, and I just had to show that, I had to make people see that, and everything would be alright, and everything would fall into place. My destiny was there for the taking.

We jumped right into a scrimmage on the first day. I played then the same way I play now. Go as hard as you can. Hit them as hard as you can. Lay it on the line. Smash em.

And so that's what I did. I was flying around the rink like a screaming buffalo. In my first shift, as I forechecked one of the skilled veteran players, I ended up cross checking him and knocking him to the ice. I got the puck, lowered my shoulder, and took it to the net. The goalie poked the puck into the corner, and I gave chase. The veteran whose puck I stole chased me down into the corner and checked me from behind. I wasn't wearing a visor or cage, and my face hit the glass, cutting me above my eye.

I felt warm blood meandering down the boyish curves of my face, and that's when I felt another cross check to my back and heard those fateful words.

“Comon, let's go. You wanna go? Comon, fight me, you piece of shit.”

I felt fear and anticipation swell up in my veins. My whole body felt heavy. The puck had since started its way up the other direction on the rink and it was just me and this bearded veteran, alone in our own world, with scouts scanning, watchful eyes poking up over clipboards and roster lists.

I spun off of his check and started heading up ice, ignoring his request for a fight. I skated five strides and stopped. I remember this moment in all its defining qualities. This was that moment in my quest where I chose to face my fear. This is that moment where molecules and energy slowly started to shift and form around me, electrons buzzing with excitement and energy The hair was standing up on the back of my neck, a field of tiny antenna connecting to the universe and transmitting the signal that something big was about to happen.

I slowly let my gloves fall off my hands and cascade to the ice. I unbuckled my helmet, and tossed it aside. I turned around to face my destiny, and saw my adversary drop his own gloves and run his fingers through his wet, flowing hair, and put his dukes up. I could take this guy. He wasn't too big. He was their skilled guy. He was beatable.

It is at this point that I should introduce you to Goony McGinty. He was the resident tough guy and fighter for the team, and from the minute we arrived at the rink for the tryout, you knew who this guy was, and you always had him in your field of vision out of the corner of your eye. You heard mythic stories about how he beat up this guy and that guy, knocked out this guys teeth, and dropped that guy with one punch to the face. He was the goon. The man. The alpha. The fear.

As I turned and put my own fists up in front of my face, I thought about the tips my dad had given me over the years of how to defend myself, and the countless hours spent in the garage banging away rad-a-da-tat rad-a-da-tat on the speed bag.

I focused in on my opponent and started inching toward him.

Then there was a commotion to my left, gloves and sticks went flying everywhere, and I heard, “You're fighting me.” It was Goony McGinty. He pushed his teammate out of the way, and now I was standing there with my gloves off, and looking at two of the Springfield veteran players in front of me, both with their gloves off, but now my main concern was the fact that Goony McGinty and his giant pumpkin head was signaling with his hands for me to, “come and get it.”

Everything that happened next seemed to exist in fragments. It seemed like it wasn't even me there, as I grabbed the collar of Goony's jersey. Time slowed down as I watched his thick arms throw slow arcing punches toward my face. I blocked three of his punches, and cocked my right arm back and threw a punch as hard as I could. I threw a right-handed prayer out there. Someone must have heard it because it landed flush in the middle of his face, causing an explosion of blood that shot out of his nose.

And then the fight was over. And then I was the talk of the town. I had beat up the unbeatable. The coaches talked to me after the game and explained that they wanted to see me fight again in the next game. And so I did. I didn't fare as well as I did in the first fight, but I did what they asked.

After two days of scrimmages, we had individual meeting with the coaching staff to learn our fate. I wish that I could tell you that everything worked out perfectly, and that I made the team, and that everything fell into place, that the fairy tale started here.

But it didn't. Far from it. I didn't make the team. They said their roster was pretty much full, and that they already had Goony on the team from last year. They wished me luck and I was on my way back home, shamed and lost. I gathered up my strength and went to another tryout with another team a week later.

Cut. I didn't make it.

I went to five junior tryouts that summer after my senior year and I got cut from each one of them. After five weekends in a row, I didn't know if I could endure another failure. At every camp, I fought twice. I picked the biggest guy on the first day, and fought him to let the coaches know I meant business. But it wasn't working. I kept getting cut.

Just as I was on my last breathe, I found out about a tryout in Wisconsin for some league out in Montana. I didn't know much about it, but I figured I might as well keep trying. Though everything was giving me the sign that it was time for me to give up on my dream, I knew I never could. I knew I would never stop.

Photo by Samantha B

On the first day of training camp, on my first shift, the big tough-guy in camp challenged me, and we had an epic battle. I ended up winning the fight pretty violently, and it was a bloody affair. On my second shift, I streaked down the wing, made a nice move toward the net, and put the puck past the goalie. The first period ended, and as I skated off the ice toward the locker room, I saw the coach run down from the press box where the rest of the scouts and coaches were.

He intercepted me as I was walking toward the locker room and pulled me aside.

“Hi Bobby, do you want to be on my team?”

I shook my head yes. “Yes coach, I want to be on your team.”

More than he knew.

“Good.” He said. “Well, you are on it. You don't have to fight any more at training camp. Just play your game. You're a hell of a hockey player.”

He looked me in the eyes, and maybe he saw something special in me. He was a person I was supposed to meet on my quest. Over the course of the next season, I truly became a hockey player. I learned and grew and started to believe that I could play Division 1 hockey someday. The next season, Rikard helped me get signed to a USHL team, the top Junior league in America. That year officially started this whole adventure that I am on today. It was the fledgling steps of this journey.

I see Rikard Gronborg as some beacon of hope and inspiration and light to a kid who was lost and looking for some path in life. He helped shape me as a man and as a hockey player. And I am grateful to have crossed paths with him.

So, I just wanted to say, “Thanks Coach.”

Who has made an impact in your life? Share it with us in the comments below. Reach out to that person, and say thanks and let him or her know the impact they made on you. And even more importantly, let's each strive to become one of those people in someone else's life. Inspire, motivate, teach, and nurture. Pay it forward, and keep close observation about which people come into your life and who you cross paths with. That person could very well be a great beacon in your life. And you in theirs.

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Good Vibrations

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 06:00:17 GMT

Photo by Alan Sullivan

We all experience our own lives through our own lens, through our own perspective. We get caught up in it, engulfed by it, and that is who we become, and that is who we are. But behind that veil of day to day motion and commotion, there exists an invisible vein that connects all of us on a much deeper level than anything physical or mental. I contest that it exists on a metaphysical level. It is something spiritual. Something vibrational. Something magic. It's something that I feel and have always felt, and I can only assume that other people in the world feel it too. It's that connectivity between human beings that transcends all other emotions, and exposes itself in the most human form: love.

Something happened to me last week, and it changed me. I'm not certain of how much or to what extent I changed, but change happened nevertheless. And it was on this day, more specifically on my drive home that I thought of all sorts of things, and experienced all sorts of emotions revolving around karma, and being kind to your fellow man, and paying it forward, and trying your best to be an all around good human being. And if you're thinking about how strange this sounds coming from someone who punches people in the face for a living, I don't blame you. But, I would argue that everything I do out there on the ice is rooted in love, but that's an entirely different blog post all together. I will say, however, that everything I do on the ice is for the love of the game, and for the love of my family, and the ambition to keep playing for as long as I can and to take it as far as I can to see if I can reach the top and play in the best league in the world and provide for my family while doing it.

I got to thinking these thoughts after a visit to the Children's Hospital where I met a very special young man named Logan. I don't know how a bright-eyed two year old had the power to teach me life lessons that burned so deep into my being that they settled in right at my core, and got me thinking about daily promises in the future about being the best person I can be every day, and spreading that out into the world, as best I can, starting with a smile to a Starbucks barista and culminating one week later, today, when I helped a woman who fell down at the Warwick Mall, and felt that electro-connectivity, as five other people rushed to her aide and made sure she was ok.

Let's get this story back on track.

Three of us P-Bruins visited the Children's Hospital and were quickly split up and brought to different rooms. Our media coordinator handed me a stack of pictures for autographs and a black Sharpie marker. That's when I first saw a fluffy thicket of blonde hair peek up from a seemingly empty hospital bed, make eye contact with me with two giant blue eyes, and shyly duck back down, disappearing back into the hospital bed.

I was still out in the hallway and remember thinking, “I've been spotted!” And while some adults talked and informed me of how things were going to happen, and what I was supposed to say and not say, and something about a hippopotamus, I nodded my head in agreement, all the while peering over into the hospital room, but all I could see was an empty hospital bed.

I had my Bruins jersey on, and now it was time to enter the room.

That's when I came face to face with this special little man named Logan. He was very shy. I offered a hand shake, and high fives, and brought my face down to his level to try and get a smile out of him, but he was curled in a ball of timidity amidst a nest of white sheets and pillow cases.

Photo by Alan Sullivan

His mother tried to get him out of this shell, “Logan, look who came to visit you.”

Slowly he began to look at me, and I saw the beginning stages of a smile. I pulled out a picture of me in action on the ice and asked him if he wanted an autograph. I signed the picture and handed it to him. He reached out his hand and held the picture. He looked at it for a second, placed it on the table, and extended his hand as if he wanted another one. And so I gave him another picture. Again, he took it from my hand, looked at it, and set it down next to the other picture on the bed table. We repeated this about ten times. I'm not sure how it happened but as some point, Logan flipped some of the pictures over to expose ten white, blank canvases.

And so I asked him if he wanted me to draw him a picture. I did my best to invoke the spirit of Salvador Dali, and drew a stick person holding a hockey stick. Logan grabbed the picture and laughed and laughed. Then everyone in the room laughed and laughed. Something happened in that moment.

And so I drew another picture: a bear holding a hockey stick. Again, laughter rang radiant. We repeated this process and a drew a few more pictures, and then Logan put out his hand and wanted the marker. And so we all watched as Logan drew his own pictures, and for that moment, for those twenty minutes, that kid wasn't sick in bed, in a children's hospital. He was somewhere else, and so was I. We connected on a level that isn't measured or documented. We went somewhere else, far away from that place, far away from needles and doctors and beeping machines, and entered the canvas realm, where anything is possible, and diseases are cured and conquered with the stroke of a paint brush, where colorful horizons and bright futures are the only thing we know. Shouldn't we all live in this world? Logan showed me this place, and I am changed because of it.

Photo by Alan Sullivan

I looked to Logan's mother, and as she smiled wide, she told me that it was a rough morning for him. She told me that he couldn't even get up this morning, that he couldn't get out of bed. She told me that she thought it was going to be a tough day for him. I looked over at him playing with his pictures in the hospital bed, and I saw a kid so full of life and energy, laughing and bouncing like a frog on a log in a bog. I couldn't even picture him sick and unable to wake. This is the Logan I know. Strong, powerful Logan. Inspiring, brave Logan. Laughing, loving Logan.

And when it was time to leave, he handed the pictures back to me. I told them that they were for him, but asked him if I could have one of his drawings for good luck. He gave me two. They are on my shelf of powerful artifacts and good luck charms above my desk, and always will be.

Photo by Alan Sullivan

I have thought about Logan often in the past week, and what it all meant. Why was this such a powerful experience for me? Of course I understand the position I am in as a professional athlete and the impact I can make on kid's lives. It is an honor to have that power, and I try to represent and harness it as best as I can. But there is something more to it, it's not just because I play hockey and swat a puck around and punch people in the face. It's something that everyone has and something everyone can do.

And then it struck me. It's the same idea that has been floating around in my head for the past few months regarding excellence. If you are excellent every single day, eventually you become that person. You become excellent. The same thing applies to altruism and spreading positivity in the world. If you do one thing every single day to spread positivity or one thing to make someone else's life better, you become that brush stroke that paints a better world for me, and for you, and for Logan. We are all connected in some strange way, and we all have the power to send ripples and currents of love out into the world.

So I'm doing an experiment. Starting today, Martin Luther King Day 2013, and lasting one week, I am going to give out five compliments every day. I'm going to try and brighten the day of five people every day for a week. Feel free to join the experiment and write a comment below to tell us all how it turns out.

Photo by Alan Sullivan

A big thanks to Alan Sullivan for taking these candid photos. And here's to you, Logan. I'm rooting for you little guy. -RRR

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Thoughts: NHL Lockout, etc.

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:46:02 GMT

Photo by Samantha Boice

Thoughts run rampant `round the skull, day in and day out, during a hockey season. The weeks fly by. We practice and we play. We rest for a day, and then we are right back at it. We are here now, right in the thick of things. It's approaching mid-January, and we are well into the season. But we are far from close to that end goal, that prize waiting at the end, that elusive trophy, that shining silver brilliance.

There doesn't seem to be much of anything going on during these mid-season months except for hockey. We are running on momentum now. We are building up speed, and we are rolling through games, and rolling through weeks. I like it like this. This is when I am at my best. This is when I am consumed with what I am doing in the moment. I'm only focusing on today. I'm only focusing on being excellent at practice today. And when games come in two days, I'll be consumed in that moment, trusting that I will be excellent again.

This is what I have known for years. I know how to get swept away into a hockey season. I know that after Christmas, the season flies by. I know that at the end of every season, I ask myself the exact same question, “Good god, where did the time go?”

Even though I become that robotic version of me, blending days into days, and keeping focused on that goal and that dream, my mind is always moving. Today I am thinking about hockey as I sit at my writing desk, listening to Mr. Tom Tom purr at the window sill.

The NHL Lockout is over! We all wondered if it would happen eventually. And just like a hockey season, the weeks passed, and then months, and I wondered if we would lose an entire season. Then, alas, the clouds parted. So what does this mean for me? What does this mean for the League? For Providence?

Obviously, there are going to be a lot of changes in the coming weeks with our team and the American Hockey League. Everyone is thinking the same thing. Everyone wants to be the guy. Everyone wants to get that call up to the Show. It should be that way. You should be hungry. Salivating. Starving.

Photo by Samantha Boice

With all the excitement, buzzing, whispers, and rumors, I take a step back and assess my life and my situation in life. I'm playing in the American Hockey League. I'm one step away from the NHL. I know what it took to get to here, and now after seven years, and trials and tribulations, and tests and quests, I know what it takes to stay. I know the level of dedication it takes. I know the time, sweat, and tears it takes to be here. I've been here since December 28, 2011, a little over one year, when I got called up to the Providence Bruins, and I've been doing what it takes ever since. I look back at who that version of me was one year ago when I got called up. It had been 6 years since I last played in the American League, and I didn't know if I was good enough. I didn't know if I could hang with these young bucks. I did the only thing I could, and set aside all fear and doubt. There was only one way to find out. I laid it on the line every single day. Every practice. Every game. I gave every ounce of me.

That's what I'm still doing today. Nothing has changed in that respect. But I have changed. I have become a better hockey player, a better fighter, better person, a better man, a better version of me. And that's the secret, but really no secret at all: if you keep being excellent every day, eventually you become that person. You become excellent. That's how I'm living my life now. And that's how I plan on living my life until the day I die. So with the NHL opening up, obviously I have taken notice, and I have sharpened my scope. I see my destiny clearly. I can visualize that dream that I am chasing. But for now, for today, I must will control what I can control. I control how hard I work today. I control what I put into my body. I control what I put into my mind. I control how positive I will be today. And when I make all the right choices, think all the right thoughts, and follow through on all the right actions, I have faith that my path and destiny will open up before me, and lead me where I need to be lead. And with these thoughts on my brain, I can rest easy at night, dreaming sweet dreams, and waking refreshed and inspired, every single day.

So tomorrow I will wake up and say “thank you”, and mean it. Then I will say “I'm going to be excellent today”, and know it.

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Adirondack Thoughts

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 05:46:41 GMT

Photo by Samantha Boice

I'm on the road right now. We forged through a vast snow storm, had a game cancelled, and ate giant steaks cooked perfectly rare, and now I'm banging away on the keyboard in a hotel in Glen Falls, NY. The snow is piling up outside of my window. We are in town to play the Phantoms tomorrow, and I wanted to get a few words down for you RRReaders out there.

If you are new to the blog, thanks for stopping by. Please take some time to browse around and do some reading. Check out some of my articles on Excellence. Or my article on getting called up to the Providence Bruins. Or if you want a glimpse of me at my core and want to know the events that led up to where I am in life right now, check out my Metamorphosis series, and learn how I stopped being a drug addict and started chasing my dreams.

Some of you might be here because of an article you read on the AHL website called “Robins Fighting More Than Just the Odds” written by Kathryn Uggerholt (@KathrynElise_), and if that's the case, thanks for checking out my page, and thanks to Kathryn for writing that article about me.

It's always nerve racking when you find out that someone is writing an article about you, because it will be written through that person's own lens, using his or her own skills in the craft of writing. You want the article to represent who you really are. You don't want to feel embarrassed You don't want to come off in any way other than how you truly are. You get interviewed with a handful of questions and try to answer them to the best of your ability and as truthfully as possible. The final product becomes a culmination of the writer's own research, my answers to the questions, and the perspective of the writer. It's scary to put yourself out there and expose yourself. There must be a high level of trust because you are offering a piece of your heart and soul to the writer, and in turn to anyone who will read the finished product. In the end, you are left in a vulnerable state, and can only hope for the best.

Those are some of the emotions I feel whenever I find out that I am being interviewed, or that an article is being written about me. Maybe I read into it too much. But I am able to see it from both sides of the table, both as an athlete and as a writer. It's strange and difficult to explain. But I'm so appreciative of Kathryn's work, and think that her finished product is perfect.

I don't think anyone can sum up a person's life with one article, and I don't think I can sum up my life with a handful of blog posts. But I do think that after reading Kathryn's article and some of my blog posts, you will have a good idea of what I represent, believe in, and am trying to accomplish. I'm trying to spread positivity. I'm trying to inspire people, and I'm trying to be inspired. I'm trying to do my part to inject some good into the world, because this is a world that needs it.

I know this blog has changed me. It has made me a better person. It has made me more honest with myself. It has made me more positive and passionate. I believe in and practice the “Pay it Forward” mentality. I try and pay it forward with every blog post, and sometimes I find myself wondering if I inspired anyone out there to do something good today, or if I inspired someone to be better today, or quit an addiction, or improve themselves in some way. I know I have accomplished this because of the response I have received through emails and conversations from all of you.

My advice for you today is this: chase your dreams. If you don't know what your dream is, listen to that voice inside of you. Find out what your calling is, find your passion. Pinpoint it, and chase it down like your life depends on it. Once you have your eyes locked on it, find out what you have to do to get there. You might have to make some big changes in your life. You might have to stir things up. Once you get to this point, you will encounter the “resistance”. You will come face to face with what ever is holding you back. Mine was the form of a demon/vampire/ghoul. It was my chemical dependency to chewing tobacco. It was sucking my life force, and once I slayed that demon, I became my true self. I became the man that I always had the potential to be. I became a dream chaser. Aren't we all destined to be dream chasers? Shouldn't we all be?

I will end this post by saying Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year. This has been a truly amazing year, and I know that the next will be even better. I have a lot of big things planned for taking the Bobby Robins Blog to the next level in 2013, and I am grateful for all of your support and love that you have sent my way.

Bonus Treat:

A few weeks ago I was interviewed for the Power Play Post Show Podcast by Bob Howard called
“The Enforcer's Special”. We had an in depth conversation about fighting, hockey, life, addiction, ambition, facing fear, and the good old days. Check it out and show some love to Bob Howard, as he is going some cool stuff over there at www.pppshow.net. My part of the interview starts at the 55:54 minute mark. You can stream it live right here or download the mp3. Or head over to the Power Play Post Show website and check it out there.

Stream Podcast Live

Download Podcast

ppps266.mp3
File Size:	68030 kb
File Type:	mp3

Download File

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The Bobby Robins Blog is sponsored by Onnit.com, the makers of AlphaBrain, ShroomTech Sport, ShroomTech Immune, New Mood, Hemp Force Protein, and many other awesome nutritional and sport supplements. I am sponsored Onnit Labs and truly believe in these products. Check out my sponsorship page here. I use these supplements every day. I take AlphaBrain before I write blog posts. Do some reading at www.onnit.com and order a bottle today. Use the code name ROBINS and save 10% off your order. By using my code name, you are helping to support this blog. I created, maintain, write, and pay for this blog all on my own, without any outside help or assistance. By supporting my sponsor and using my code name, you are providing me with monetary support that will keep this blog going strong into the future, always free, and always excellent. Thanks!
-Bobby Robins

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On Getting Sponsored (and Manifesting Your Reality)

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 03:47:06 GMT

Photo by Samantha Boice

I want to tell you a story about manifesting your own reality. The story dives right into dream chasing and striving for excellence, as expected. The story also involves a nutritional supplement company called Onnit Labs, which I am now involved with, since I officially became sponsored by them earlier this year. But before we start, I want you to know that I am invested in this company, I am promoting this company, and I have financial interest in this company. I believe in this company. I used these products before any talks of sponsorship. I believe in their products and supplements, and I use them every day. I wouldn't be affiliated with them if I didn't. And if I didn't, I sure as hell wouldn't be writing about them.

Two years ago, I was mid-metamorphosis. I was still coming clean off nicotine and chewing tobacco. I was off it cold turkey, but I was far from being in the clear. I still craved. I still stuffed non-tobacco herbal snuffs in my lip to fend off any sudden attacks from the Dip Demon. I was gaining strength and confidence every day. I had come such a long way, but still had an upward trek ahead of me. I knew where I wanted to be, I just didn't have a game plan. I needed a formula, a format, anything to point me in the right direction.

It was right around this time that I got into the TV show Ancient Aliens on the History channel. The premise for the show is that earth had been visited in the far past by extraterrestrials, and these aliens aided early humans in the formation of advanced societies and technologies. It sucked me in, and I became a fan. One of the presenters on the show, Giorgio Tsoukalos, is a wild-man, known for his in depth commentary as well as his giant head of hair.

One day I googled his name to find out what his credentials were, and I saw that he was going to be on something called the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “The dude from Fear Factor?” I thought. I had never listened to a podcast before. So that night I figured everything out, I opened iTunes and got my iPod ready, and during this particular evening, my life started on a new path. On this night, the early motions and movements of things falling into place started to shift and stew.

I will let you do your own exploring, but for me, personally, The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is now simply a fixture in my life. I rarely miss one, if ever. I was instantly a fan. Finally, people who think like me, and talk like me, and feel like me. The next Joe Rogan Experience podcast featured an author named Tim Ferriss. One door led to another, and my entire world view shifted. Then I bought and read Tim Ferriss' books, The Four Hour Work Week and The Four Hour Body. I wasn't even the same person any more. I knew more now about myself, my body, my business, my talents, my dreams, my ambitions, my flaws, my fears, my doubts, my beliefs, my everything. I just know now, and from that moment on, I wanted to know more and more, and have constantly tried to gain knowledge. We live in the information age. Shame on us if we don't quench that thirst for knowledge. The chalice is right there in front of you, it's flowing over, and bubbling with life and energy. I decided to drink it, and see how I could improve my life in every way possible.

I had time on my hands now. I wasn't sitting around chewing tobacco anymore. I wasn't sitting there and spitting brown juice into empty bottles. I needed something to pass the time. For me, it was training, and going on a quest to figure out how to re-balance myself after 11 years of nicotine addiction, and the ups and downs that come along with that lifestyle. Slowly, day by day, I upgraded myself and learned new things and spent hours googling “superfoods” or “what is lactic acid?”. And I was training like mad, and one door would lead to another, and I found out new techniques and theories about sports nutrition and performance. I tried a lot of them, and found out what works for me. I found out that if I drink a lot of water, eat a lot of vegetables, eat chicken breasts, eat brown rice, drink protein shakes, and take vitamins and supplements, my body responds positively.

I started reaching new heights, and tearing down any past notions of what I thought my body was capable of attaining. A body can attain great heights, only if the mind and spirit are balanced along with it, and believe the dream with undaunted passion and fury.

My sponsorship page at Onnit.com

It was during these Joe Rogan Experience podcasts that I first heard of Onnit Labs and Alpha Brain and Shroom Tech Sport, and a plethora of other strange sounding names, which are now such staples in my life; I can't believe I used to not know they existed. The Rogan podcast is sponsored by Onnit Labs, and Joe Rogan is a part owner in the company, which is run by a modern day mystic/businessman hybrid named Aubrey Marcus, who travels the world in search of the most potent extracts, herbs, minerals, and experiences.

Before getting to the actual podcast, you have to listen to a commercial about Onnit, which is actually just a conversation talking about the different supplements. It was here that I found out about Alpha Brain, the nootropic supplement that improves your cognitive function. It helps you formulate thoughts and sentences better. It improves your memory. It keeps you focused. But it is not a stimulant. It makes your concentration better. It makes your dreams vivid, and sometimes lucid. You know those days when you are firing on all cylinders and feeling it? Alpha Brain does that, every day, naturally.

And Shroom Tech Sport, a pre-workout supplement that isn't caffeine or stimulant based. It's based on the cordyceps sinensis mushroom from China that grows on caterpillars, which has been shown to increase your body's utilization of oxygen during athletic performance, naturally, without the crash or jitters, commonly found with pre-workout mixes.

Or New Mood, which is a natural seratonin boosting supplement based on 5-HTP and Tryptophan, which naturally boost your serotonin levels, and therefore boosts your mood. They make you feel better. They make you relaxed. You take them in the evening. Some people have started taking New Mood instead of anti-depressants and are seeing the same results, naturally and with no side effects. For me, New Mood takes away my anxiety. It allows me to relax and stop analyzing everything. My evenings are now stress free.

After listening to hundreds of Joe Rogan Experience podcasts and constantly being pounded with commercials for Onnit Labs, I finally bought one bottle of each of the mentioned supplements. I'm no stranger to supplementation, and I feel like I have a good grasp on how my body reacts to what it put into it, so I went into this with my guard up, skeptical and shrewd.

I was convinced after only a few days. This stuff really works. This stuff makes me better. This stuff is expensive! But then I broke down the numbers and realized how much I was spending every day on tobacco for those past 11 years. Somehow that made it acceptable to spend money on this stuff. Instead of putting finely-ground black leaves of tobacco into my mouth all day, I now put in different supplements and vitamins, constantly feeding the machine, and trying to make myself better and most importantly, trying to make myself feel better.

I'm better when I take Alpha Brain, New Mood, and ShroomTech Sport. I feel better and perform better. One of the biggest issues for me after I quit tobacco was anxiety. I worried about everything. In the past I would put a plug of tobacco in my lip and I wouldn't worry about much of anything for the next 40 minutes. But now I had endless eternities to fret and worry about everything and anything under the sun. And don't expect basking rays of light. These were searing, debilitating rays.

Burning rays.

After taking Onnit products, I don't have anxiety or paranoia anymore. New Mood was my answer. It cured me, and propelled me by giving me more confidence and bravery to keep chasing my dreams and not let myself get bogged down by trifles or terrors that are meaningless or malevolent.

A fully-stocked hockey locker

I started writing more after I got on Alpha Brain, and actually started the Bobby Robins Blog soon after. I became focused and driven. I saw the vision and went for it. I had the courage to do it now, the courage to put myself out there. And this has been one of the best things I have ever done in my life. This blog has brought such positivity into my life. But alas, this is just one step in the journey. This is just today. I did everything I could to be excellent today. I went right down the line and checked off all the factors made me excellent. Taking my Onnit products were one piece of the puzzle that made me excellent today.

I wanted to write this article for a while now, but always felt a little weird about it. I didn't want it to be some long, rambling infomercial for Onnit products. I didn't want to sound like I was selling out. I didn't want to sound like some greasy salesman. I wanted to keep my integrity and my blog's integrity. I thought long and hard about how I would address this whole Onnit blog post and realized that the strength of my writing, and the whole purpose of starting this blog in the first place is to tell the truth. I'm moving my fingers across a keyboard and I'm being as honest as I can be, about everything. That is my voice. My voice is honest and always seeks the truth. Everything I have told you today is the truth. These products from Onnit Labs have dramatically made my life better. I'm trying to get everyone I know to try them. My mother is taking Alpha Brain. My fiancee loves New Mood. A lot of my friends and teammates are using these products and seeing positive results. So there, that's my truth to you. I think you should try these products and see if they work for you. They work for me.

So what of this talk of manifesting your own reality?

In October 2012, I became a sponsored Onnit professional athlete. And I am proud to hold that sponsorship. Onnit saw what I was doing with hockey and with my writing and decided to take a chance on me. When it happened, I looked back a couple of years and thought about that night that I first happened upon Ancient Aliens on TV. One step led to another; and each step getting closer to making a dream a reality. But those are only the steps that led up to now. I'm interested in the steps I must take tomorrow, and am prepared to be excellent for whatever path awaits.

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Thanks to the Fans: Photo Blog

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 04:14:04 GMT

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you're not a stranger to this blog, I'm sure you are used to reading some long-winded posts by Yours Truly. So today, I will give your brain a break. Enjoy these pictures taken by Providence Bruins Team Photographer Intern, Samantha Boice, from the "Skate with the Bruins" night at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. It's our way of thanking the fans for the love and support. I'll throw in a few thoughts and observations along the way too.

I remember sitting in seventh grade and practicing my autograph all day on my notebooks during class. The autograph has changed over the years, and then you get to the point where you are signing them for real. And kids hold up that tee shirt and look at your autograph. I try and sign each one perfectly. Sometimes it ends up being a scribble, and sometimes it turns out perfect, just the way I pictured it would be, as I practiced for hours in my middle school notebooks.

I'm pretty sure that if you have a good enough soul and you are not afraid to show it, people can see it. I can see it in other people, and I only hope they can see it in me. Sometimes I think that kids have an unfiltered glimpse into people's soul. I see so much joy and happiness in their faces as they skate around the rink and get autographs. It is such an honor to be in this position, to be able to affect people the way we do, and the way we can. Embrace it, and you can truly make in impact.

A kind family talked to me about my Blog, and were proud of me that I was able to quit tobacco and spread the word and influence her kids in a positive way. I told those kids to stay clear of tobacco and that it was nothing but bad news. They agreed, and I could tell they meant it. I told them that if I caught them using tobacco, I they would have to answer to me. And then I smacked my knuckles into my hand and made a mean face. They knew I meant business.

When someone tells you that you are his or her favorite player, you feel many different emotions. You are honored and humble, maybe a little bit bashful and embarrassed. But most importantly, you are overjoyed that people are noticing. They see your hard work and determination. They see your heart on your sleeve. And they like it. How could you have ever doubted yourself before. No more doubts. Only undaunted belief from here on in. Undaunted belief, no matter what.

I met a kid in a wheel chair, and tried my best to make him smile, make him happy, make his day. I pretended to challenge him to a fight, throwing up my dukes. He laughed so hard. He made me smile. He made me happy. He made my day. I would take him on my team any day. I felt it in his hand, and saw it in his eye. He was strong and determined and amazing. I called him my brother, and meant it more than any thing I said during the course of that entire evening. Thank you, brother!

Usually we are out here on the ice and we are at War. We are doing battle during a game, or working right down to the bone at practice. We are warriors, chasing that elusive destiny of sports greatness. And we mean business. And we mean business every single day. But today, we get to let our guard down. Today we get to be normal. Today reminds me of opens skates back home as a teen, skating laps around the rink, meeting people, laughing, and skating just because.

I've never been thanked to many times by fans for playing hard and giving it everything I have. Bruins fans know what a hockey player is. Bruins fans can see a beating heart. The embrace it and appreciate it. They rally around it and nurture it. They take it in and call it their own. I see this now. We are supposed to thank the fans for supporting us and cheering for us. Here, it is the other way around. It was countless Thank You's from Bruins fans tonight, and I'm honored and grateful to give it everything I have for these fans.

One gal couldn't believe how calm I was during the skate with the fans. She commented on how impressed she was at my warm demeanor. She must have thought that I was going to try and beat everyone up. I told her that on game days, it's my alter ego out there. Out there during games, that's just me trying to survive, and trying chase my dreams with every single ounce of me, fighting and clawing, and giving it everything, every day. Aside from that, I'm a pretty calm guy!

Sometimes a parent will bring a youngster over to you, and you see the little one clam up and get shy. I always try my hardest to bring them out of their shell. I try to show a little bit of my soul, to show my heart, and let them know they are safe. Sometimes it works, and I get a high five out off it. Sometimes it doesn't. But it always makes me smile and I remember being a child, and seeing athletes, and being intimidated. Now I'm the athlete. I became what I always dreamed. And I must keep chasing. I must never stop.

My fiancee, Doll, came out and skated a few laps while I made my rounds signing things and talking with the fans and kids. She just whirled around the rink by herself, all smiles. Every so often, she would brush up against me or give me a well-placed pinch, and then skate away with a big grin on her face. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful woman in my life. I am thankful every day. After the skate she told me that I'm going to be a great father some day.

It is an amazing thing to make someone smile. How about making a whole family smile, and smiling back at them, and transmitting happiness through a pane of plexiglass. That happened to me tonight. There was something special about that baby. I wondered if she was destined for greatness. I knew she would be great, no matter what her path in life. I wondered if she saw something special in me. Why was she laughing and waving? Did she see something there?

I saw so many happy families tonight, and realized how important family is, and how important good parenting is. I know that when I have kids someday, I am going give every part of me to my children. My dad took my to skate with the Wisconsin Badgers when I was 3 years old. I ran as fast as I could on skates all over the ice, weaving in and out among giants. I still have a photo of that day with the Badgers. And so I take pictures with as many fans as possible today.

You can tell the the city and fans are Proud of the Providence Bruins. There is something special about the sports culture out here. It is a deep and passionate form of support from the fans. It is awesome to see, and an honor to be a part of. I feel indebted to try my hardest every single game and every single day. I feel like I owe to the fan here. I see the thousands who came out to the event tonight, and I see the passion and enthusiasm. I owe and will pay back the only way I know how: give it 100% heart and soul.

You just feel like you. Normal, old, everyday you. But to these kids, you are something mythic and heroic. You are a sportsman, and you must never forget that. You are a role model and something magical to them. I still remember seeing sportsmen when I was a kid. All you could do was stare up at them with eyes as wide as pucks. All you could to was squeak out an autograph request. I've become that person, and I try to make an impact, an impression, a positive.

Are you readers out there still being excellent every day? I'm still saying it every day. I still say it right when I wake up. "I'm going to be excellent today." I believe it every time I say it. It truly works. I said it before the skate with the fans today. I told myself that I would be excellent and represent the Providence Bruins excellently. The fans made it easy. You all were great, and it was a lot of fun meeting you all. Thanks for all your kind words and support. It made my day.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and skated with us! Thanks to all the fans who cheer for us! Thanks to all the kids who look up to us! We appreciate all the support from you guys and will continue to give it everything we have out there on the rink and try to bring glory and trophies to Providence. The fans deserve it and the city deserves it. Thanks to Samantha Boice for her wonderful, candid photographs, and for sharing them with me and all the readers here at the Bobby Robins Blog!!

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This Bobby Robins Blog Post is sponsored by Onnit.com, the makers of AlphaBrain, ShroomTech Sport,ShroomTech Immune, New Mood, Hemp Force Protein, and many other awesome nutritional and sport supplements. I am sponsored Onnit Labs and truly believe in these products. Check out my sponsorship page here. I use these supplements every day. I write all my blog posts on AlphaBrain. Do some reading at www.onnit.com and order a bottle today. Use the code name ROBINS and save 10% off your order.There is a money back guarantee on your first 30 pills. If you don't like it or think it doesn't work, just call and your money will be refunded and you don't have to return the pills. But these supplements really do work, and have made a definite positive impact on my life. -Bobby Robins

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