Daily Motivator - August

[bluidkiti]

August 1

Eager to be proven wrong

What is there that you cannot see? What is in front of you that you choose not to notice?

What you know of life is considerable, yet there is much more you don’t know. All that you don’t know provides an endless pathway for discovery and improvement.

Can you open yourself to the possibility that you might not be sufficiently informed? If so, you will right away begin to be better informed.

Humility makes you much smarter than smugness. It also makes you more enjoyable, effective, and interesting.

The point of knowledge is not to prove how much you have or how right you are. The value of knowledge is in applying it with useful and practical action.

Embrace the opportunity that exists in all you do not know. Be eager to be proven wrong, and learn how to live even better than you already do.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 2

Problems are not the problem

No situation is going to solve all your problems. But that’s okay, because the existence of problems is not really such a problem.

Much of what makes life good is the satisfaction of dealing with its problems. If there were no problems, such satisfaction would be impossible.

Go ahead and be thankful for the problems. Then get to work dealing with them in creative and enriching ways.

Let go of the fantasy that you can somehow make your way to a perfect utopia that’s free of all problems. Instead, use your creative energy to envision and implement ways to thrive and to spread joy even when problems keep cropping up.

Rather than letting the problems nag you and disappoint you, allow them to energize and inspire you. Appreciate the power they have to direct your focus toward what truly matters.

Look confidently out at life, and see every problem as an opportunity to enrich your experience. Then go out among those problems and reap the rich rewards of a life well lived.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 3

In your hands today

Think of how today will look from the perspective of tomorrow. Think of how this month will look from the perspective of next year.

Are there opportunities you will wish you had taken advantage of? Are there efforts you’ll wish you had made or destructive habits you’ll wish you had abandoned?

Today you have a combination of time and resources that you’ll never have again. Today you can envision a better world and actually move toward it.

The quality of your future is in your hands today. That’s a profound opportunity, one you deserve to fully utilize while you can.

Today you’re able to send good and valuable things ahead to tomorrow and beyond. You can give the rest of your life added confidence, satisfaction, effectiveness, and richness.

Imagine yourself looking back on today with gratitude and admiration. Now, do what you can do to make sure that really happens.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

Be the best you today, plant the seeds of love right now, and enjoy the beautiful flowers later. thank you God for the right now so i can have the later on.

[bluidkiti]

August 4

Do your part

Notice and understand the difficulties, the things out of balance, but don’t obsess endlessly over them. Instead, focus on what you can do to make things better.

When the outside world offers nothing but despair, that’s the time to fill your inside thoughts with hope. When the situation is going downhill, point your own intentions in a higher, more beneficial direction.

The negativity is bad enough on its own, so don’t add to it with your thoughts. Choose to center your thinking on positive alternatives.

That doesn’t require you to be unrealistic about what’s going on. On the contrary, it puts you in the best position to improve on whatever difficulties have arisen.

Clearly see those difficulties without letting them dominate your thinking. Call upon the power of your values, your vision, your faith and positive expectations.

No, you won’t improve the whole world on your own, yet you absolutely can improve yourself. So do that, and do your part to make life a more positive and fulfilling experience.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 5

Enjoy the goodness

Take time to see the beauty. Allow yourself to enjoy the goodness of being alive.

In every moment is the potential for new value, new fulfillment, new discovery. Keep your heart, your thoughts, your awareness open to the possibilities.

Bright green leaves dance gently in the breeze as clouds drift slowly across the sky. Treasure the opportunity to be a part of the wonder.

Life’s difficulties are real but they are far from unbearable. Though the challenges demand much of your attention, you also have many things to be thankful for.

Remind yourself often of those things. And make plenty of room in your life to enjoy them.

You’re deeply invested in the life you live. So live it well, and enjoy the goodness that is always with you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 6

Be for what you are for

Don’t get angry at those who oppose you. Get smart, get creative, get energetic, get busy.

When you fight against a person, an idea, an institution, you’re not fighting on your own terms. You’re fighting on their terms, putting yourself at a severe disadvantage.

Instead, dig deeper and connect with the positive vision behind what you support. Craft an authentic, compelling story that inspires you and attracts others to join you.

Be for what you are for, in full and passionate support of what you love and care about. Rather than getting drawn into fighting, put your time and effort into building, maintaining, strengthening.

Raise yourself to a higher level than those who would go against you. Create so much enrichment and affirmation that their negativity is rendered irrelevant.

If all you can think to do is complain and oppose, think some more. Zero in on what makes you care so much, on what you seek to lift up, and aim yourself solidly in that direction.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 7

Miracle of meaning

In a universe with infinite potential for chaos, there is order, there is beauty, there is love. It cannot be anything less than a miracle, and that miracle lives deeply within who you are.

The miracle has become so thoroughly ingrained, so widely expressed, that you rarely even think about it. But you wouldn’t want to be and you couldn’t stand to be without it.

In a realm that seems random there is meaning. You can see its light shine through the deepest darkness.

When you stray too far from the miracle of meaning, life quickly falls apart. What once worked flawlessly no longer functions, what you once understood becomes mired in confusion.

Yet the moment you immerse yourself in the truth of who you are, you reclaim the power that was there before the beginning. Love asserts its infinite generosity, hope emerges, and life rises to an even higher level of excellence.

What you seek will never be found in any scheme or place or thing. For what you seek is who you are, the miracle of meaning that is always there.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 8

Adventure

Adventure is a story that never gets old. When you make your way out beyond where you belong, you discover a whole new dimension to life.

Whether you experience it directly or vicariously, adventure puts you in touch with your vulnerability. That’s actually a very good thing.

The experience of vulnerability brought on by adventure brings a renewed sense of humility. That opens you up to gain new wisdom, to develop new capabilities, to grow stronger in the truth of who you are.

Adventure is rich in risk and reward, and that’s precisely its point. When you crave adventure what you are craving is life in its most meaningful state.

You have the power of purpose, the power to prevail through challenge in service of that purpose. Adventure makes that abundantly clear.

Adventure is when you know how it feels to be fully alive. And that’s an essential thing to know.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 9

Get good at challenge

Challenge energizes your life, pushing you to higher levels of creativity and resourcefulness. What can you do today to give yourself a nourishing measure of challenge?

Go somewhere you’ve never been. Learn something complicated and useful.

Engage in a friendly, substantive conversation with someone who disagrees with you. Undertake a task that requires more focus and discipline than you’ve previously been willing to invest.

The more challenge you experience, the more challenge you can handle. And that’s an essential skill for any kind of achievement.

Whatever you seek to create, to become, to acquire, to undertake, you’ll work through challenge to get there. Get good at challenge and you set yourself up to make great progress.

Willingly choose to give yourself more experience at working through challenge. You’ll develop strengths and skills that can serve you in every part of life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 10

Sleep on it

Ask yourself a question before you go to bed, and then set the subject aside. In the morning you will have an answer.

Your mind is always eager to answer questions. But if you try too hard, you diminish its power.

You self edit, you overthink, you introduce needless doubts. But there’s a simple way to avoid those things, and that’s to sleep on it.

Your mind is still working while you are sleeping. The big difference is you’re not interfering so much with that thinking.

The answer you wake up with may not be what you wanted to hear. Yet it will be authentic, well-considered, and something you’ll benefit from knowing.

When something in particular has you perplexed, give your mind a chance to do its best work. Sleep on it, and wake up with a valuable new perspective.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 11

Choose positive

It’s nearly impossible to change someone else’s attitude. It’s surprisingly easy to change your own.

A negative perspective will waste your time, blunt your effectiveness, ruin your day. Fortunately, you can get rid of it the moment you decide to do so.

Stop looking backward at the unfortunate, undesirable things that may have happened. Start looking forward to a future that’s open and available for you to influence.

You don’t have to automatically let the frustrating circumstances frustrate you. Decide instead to be amused by them.

Smile at the troubles, thankful that you’re able to recognize them and deal with them. Enjoy the fact that you’re alive and experiencing whatever you are experiencing.

Being positive is just as reasonable, just as accessible as being negative. Choose positive, and choose a more enjoyable journey to a much more favorable destination.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 12

Invite surprise

Life can become very predictable, yet it never has to be. Just a little bit beneath the familiar surface is magical surprise.

Look at what you’ve always looked at and see something you’ve never seen. Notice a detail you’ve never examined, and let it start you on a path to more.

It’s nice when life behaves as expected. But when that goes on too long you become sealed off from the wonder, the joy, the exhilaration of new discovery.

In your childhood, you made many more discoveries in a single day than you have in the last month as an adult. Make it your goal to reduce that imbalance.

Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, go where you will encounter what you have not experienced before. Open yourself up, set yourself up, for more surprises in your life.

Get yourself in the habit of going beyond your routine habits. Invite genuine surprise into your life, and its magic will enchant you in ways you never could have imagined.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 13

Authentic experience

What if you owned the most beautiful home in town but were unable to ever live in it? What if you had a magnificent yacht but were never able to go aboard?

What if you had dozens of fascinating friends but were never able to talk with them? What if you visited a magnificent destination but never left your hotel room?

What you really want is not what you want to have, to be, to do. What you want are the experiences you’ll gain from those things.

What you want is experience, and no one can give it to you, no one can do it for you. The experience at the heart of every desire is up to you.

Your fulfillment is not dependent on any particular possession, activity, or relationship. You can find many alternate pathways to whatever experiences you seek.

Whatever your goal, what’s driving that goal is the desire for authentic experience. Keep that in mind, and your options as well as your outcomes will be greatly improved.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 14

Go with the best

You have choices, in how to see the world, in how to respond, in where to deploy your efforts. You have choices, and the choices you make in every moment make a difference.

Go with what makes you strong. Go with what raises and expresses your competence.

Go with what gets you to work. Go with what brings you inspiration, passion, energy.

If it drains you, discourages you, distracts you, keep yourself away from it. Turn instead toward the good work you can do, the valuable results you can achieve.

Cut through the confusion and doubt, and ask yourself this. Which choice, which option will bring real benefit to the situation right now?

Go with that choice and give yourself fully to it. Today, every day, whatever the circumstance, go with the best you can be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 15

Authentic self

You know who you are, how you are, what you value. Refuse to let anyone tell you differently.

Some people who may not even know you will try to shame you, embarrass you, make you feel guilty. Anyone who does that has no special insight, just a self-serving desire to advance their own agenda.

You know what’s in your heart. You’re able to see for yourself what is true and what is not.

Respect the perspectives and opinions of others, and welcome their expression. But don’t allow anyone else’s opinion to define you or prevent you from living your truth.

To be a positive force in life, be your authentic self. There’s never any need to ask permission or forgiveness for that.

You have much good to offer life. Give that goodness, in whatever way you know to be best.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 16

Currency of life

Time is the currency of life. Spend it wisely.

You wouldn’t waste your money, dollar after dollar after dollar, on useless, meaningless purchases. Take care not to waste your time in a similar fashion.

Demand, from yourself, a meaningful and valuable return on the investment of your time. Choose to make every moment accrue to the benefit of what matters most.

You are surrounded by a world that’s eager to steal your time, and that’s very skilled at doing so. Make the decision not to let it, and support that decision with your passion, your discipline, your love.

With the intentional, focused use of your time, you can create an amazing and beautiful day, year, life. Do what it takes, inside, outside, with your thoughts, your actions, your choices, to do that.

Fall so deeply in love with your highest possibilities that nothing can steal your time away from them. Make time work for you by working to fill it all with what really matters.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 17

Best available decision

You always have the opportunity to make a good decision. Yet you’ll rarely ever be able to make a perfect decision.

You’re going to be confronted with conflicting considerations. You’re going to have to prioritize some desirable options over other desirable options.

Efficiency is a valuable thing to pursue, but not to the degree that it makes flexibility impossible. Safety is a very important consideration, but it is certainly not the only consideration.

Some amounts of risk and uncertainty are necessary if anything is to get done. Some trade offs and compromises must be made so that everyone can agree to cooperate.

You can be inspired and informed by your vision of a perfect world. Yet you must do your work and live your life in the real world, with its imperfections and conflicting priorities.

Instead of holding out for a perfect decision, seek to make and to implement the best available decision. Move toward perfection while recognizing and working with the realities you have.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 18

Go with truth

Abandon proven values in order to get a result and that result will be devoid of value. Compromise integrity to gain an advantage and that advantage cannot be maintained.

The fruit of honest effort holds its value, perpetuates itself and expands, as long as honest effort continues. Deception, on the other hand, consumes itself until there is nothing left to consume.

What happens when someone seeks to win no matter the cost? The cost will matter much more than the win.

In truth is great strength. That’s why so many people are so afraid of it.

And that’s why your best strategy, your highest hope, is to align with truth. Seek out truth, keep it alive, hold it dear, live by it.

You know what is true, what is not, what makes sense, what is nonsense. For the sake of your life, for the sake of all life, go with the truth you know.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 19

Power of change

Time presses forward. As it does, people change, conditions change, the world changes, constantly.

Life can never again be exactly the way it was before. What it can be, however, is better.

That won’t happen automatically. Indeed, it can require much discipline, massive effort, innovation and creativity.

Yet the fact is, there are ways to forge any new situation into a more fulfilling and life-affirming outcome. Just as surely as the world changes, you can change for the better.

Instead of longing for a past that is forever gone, work to create a desirable, beneficial future. Harness the power of change and point it in a worthwhile, positive direction.

Change is inevitable, and you can make good use of it. Improve upon the dynamic experience of life with each passing day.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 20

Make more options

When all your options have been exhausted, make more options. There’s always something else you can do to keep going.

When the obvious solutions have failed, get more creative. You owe it to yourself, to the situation, to life, to find a way to make it work.

If what has always worked no longer works, experiment, adjust, adapt, learn. Get yourself curious enough and persistent enough to figure out what will get the job done.

A single attempt is merely an attempt, not a result. To solve the problem, to reach the goal, continue your efforts until they result in the success you seek.

You never have to give up. You always have the option to give more.

Exercise that option, with faith in your abilities and the determination to put those abilities to full use. Make more options, keep going, and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 21

If not now, when?

If not now, when? If not here, where?

Do you really think things are going to get better without you taking any action? Will your progress really be enhanced by putting off your efforts until later?

Sure, there are problems and challenges. But, compared to when, compared to what, compared to who?

There are always problems and challenges, for everyone. Avoiding them is not going to make them magically disappear.

Now is the moment you have and now is your moment to act. The world is the way it is and this is your place to start.

Reach deep within yourself and get good and connected with the life you are meant to live. Now, get going and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 22

Break the pattern

If life has been disappointing you, break the pattern. If you’ve been disappointing yourself, break the pattern.

That doesn’t mean throwing everything away and starting over. It’s a matter of forcing yourself to adopt a new perspective.

It means connecting with the living energy that makes you who you are. It means launching yourself on a mission that excites you and compels you into action.

Visualize yourself as feeling sluggish and bored on a sweltering day. Imagine the refreshing change you’d immediately achieve by jumping into a pool of clear, cool water.

What could you do right now, mentally, physically, spiritually, to create a change like that? What would send a burst of fresh, positive energy coursing through your entire being?

Open yourself to the possibilities of breaking any negative or unproductive pattern you may be in. Jump quickly into a higher, more satisfying level of living.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 23

Make a start

Even if it’s not much, make a start. Make a start, and you’ll be inspired to build on it.

Get on your way, and suddenly you’ll have something valuable, something you didn’t have before. You’ll have the power of momentum on your side.

Take the first step, cross the first item off your list. You’ll find yourself motivated to get right to work on the second item.

Get the impetus of your life working in your favor, moving you forward. Get the ball rolling, and make yourself more likely to keep going, less likely to stop.

Whatever you wish to do, the starting place is here, the starting time is now. Signal the importance of your goal, to yourself and to the world, by making the initial effort, now.

Make a start, and make it real. Make a start, and you’re making it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 24

Live with excellence

What are you doing to add more excellence to your life? What are you doing to create new excellence in the world?

You spend a lot of time, energy, and resources on protecting and maintaining your life and your lifestyle. Make sure you’re putting it all to good use.

You have what it takes to create excellence right now, and every day. This is your time to transform that opportunity into reality, into value, into excellence.

What exactly would that excellence be? It’s whatever you sincerely choose it to be, whatever goodness you want to give to life.

Yes, the world is greatly troubled, and that makes excellence a challenging pursuit. It also makes excellence more necessary than ever.

Any moment you’re not creating excellence is a moment you can improve upon. Live with excellence, give to life the best you have, and work to make life the best it can be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 25

More focused than ever

Things will happen to interrupt your focus. Make it your business to quickly get that focus back.

It’s easy to blame the distractions for being distracted. It’s much better to let each one go, and to get right back on track.

Don’t be resentful of the interruptions, because that just gives them more power. Stay committed to your intention, to your focus, and let the interruptions burn themselves out.

Don’t be dependent on insulating yourself from life’s commotion and confusion. Instead, seek to make your focus stronger and more compelling than anything that might break it.

The interruptions will find you, but you don’t have to let them divert you. Your attention is yours to control and assign, so exercise that control.

You don’t have to let those interruptions and distractions become excuses. Transform them into reasons to be more focused, more intentional, more effective than ever before.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 26

Act on your possibilities

Many more possibilities exist than you can bring to fruition. That’s why clear purpose and resolute intention are so important.

You can easily become mesmerized by all the possibilities. In fact, you can be so obsessed with uncovering those many possibilities that you fail to act on any of them.

Possibilities enable life to move forward. Be careful, though, not to let them overwhelm you or paralyze you into inaction.

The whole reason possibilities have value is because you can act on them. So what are you doing today to act on your possibilities, to use your capabilities?

Be clear with yourself about where you want to go, what you want to do, the life you wish to live. Then select the specific possibilities that will take you there.

Don’t let your best possibilities go to waste because you’re not sure what to do with them. Instead, live to transform possibilities into meaningful experience, into achievement, into value and fulfillment.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 27

A little something new

If you feel like you need a change, that’s because you do. Give yourself one.

Do something different, observe something you’ve never paid attention to before. Look at the world from a point of view you haven’t previously considered.

Some habits are helpful, but others just keep you stuck in a rut. Being comfortable is nice, but being addicted to your comfort will sap the energy out of you.

Give your life a little novelty. Inject some fresh energy into your spirit, into your imagination, into your experience.

You don’t have to trek to the other side of the world or turn your back on all you know. Just add a little something different that challenges you to see life with renewed appreciation.

You’ve gotten where you are because of all the times you were willing to make a change. Keep that healthy, invigorating behavior going and inspire your life with a little something new.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 28

Transform frustration

Step back from your frustration and take a deep breath. Now is not the time to say or to do something you’ll regret.

Feel the power of your frustration and consider this. You can transform that power into disciplined, intentional, effective action.

When your frustration is begging you to do something right now, give yourself a little time to cool down. A measured response will put you in a much better position than an instant reaction.

Lashing out in frustration is likely to cause even more frustration and additional setbacks. Remind yourself there’s a better way.

Seek to do more than merely prove how frustrated you are. Channel that frustration into sustained positive efforts, into beneficial results.

Frustration is an unpleasant feeling, but it doesn’t have to lead to unpleasant results. Recognize the power in your frustration, and use that power to make real, lasting progress.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

It's progress rather than perfection. Keep Aiming High:169:

[bluidkiti]

August 29

All you can give

It is by giving value that you receive value. You experience meaning and fulfillment to the extent that you make your moments meaningful.

Yes, you can arrange various ways to obtain the external necessities and luxuries with no effort on your part. When you do, those things will add no real value to your life.

At its most fundamental level, life is about making a difference. That experience of making a difference is how you know you matter.

What can you do to give value to this moment, to this situation? At the heart of every desire you’ll find a yearning to give of yourself.

It’s common to keep score based on what you can get. But such an approach, on its own, inevitably comes up empty.

Seek instead to keep your focus on all you can give. And bring your life richness that never runs out.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 30

Working to improve

Take pride in the good work you’ve done. But rather than repeatedly congratulating yourself, challenge yourself to do even better.

Consider your latest achievement to be a stepping stone rather than the ultimate destination. Look for new and helpful ways to put it to further use.

Be thankful for the skills you’ve built and the knowledge you’ve accumulated. Demonstrate that gratitude by constantly seeking to improve your skills and add to your knowledge.

If you see yourself as the best at anything, that severely limits your ability to get better. Instead, adopt the perspective of a humble student, always learning from others, always working to improve.

If you consider yourself to already know it all, you shut down the possibility of learning more. Choose instead to find something new you can learn from every person you encounter.

Life still has much to teach you. So always be ready and willing to learn.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

August 31

The fortitude to act

Don’t wait until you feel better to take action. Take action, and you will feel better.

Don’t put off living your life until everything in the world is perfect. Go ahead, live fully in this moment, and give ongoing expression to your highest vision of life.

There always have been and always will be plenty of reasons for discouragement. And just as people have done for thousands of years, you can move forward anyway.

Even in the most serious of times, you can laugh, you can enjoy, and you can spread joy to others. That’s not a denial of reality but rather an improvement of it.

Avoiding your options will not improve or expand those options. Instead, take an active role in your own encouragement, enthusiasm, and sense of positive purpose.

Go forward with your life, no matter what may be standing in the way. You have the fortitude to act, to live well, if only you will use it.

— Ralph Marston