Daily Motivator - February

[bluidkiti]

February 1

Expect a positive outcome

Think of all the blessings that first arise as troubles. Consider how many opportunities initially appear in the form of problems.

If you give up the moment trouble arrives, you’ll miss out on the good fortune that it’s disguising. When you back off at the slightest disappointment, you deny yourself the chance to transform it into value.

What if you simply make the decision not to categorize anything as a problem? What if you choose to focus on the positive power of your response rather than on the negative aspects of your situation?

Whatever you may be experiencing, there’s some way to turn it to your advantage. Expect a positive outcome, then set about to fulfill your expectation.

No matter what happens or fails to happen outside your control, you can point your mind and your spirit in any direction you choose. You can push successfully through the challenges and transform difficult situations into positive energy.

As difficult as reality can often become, it’s never a reason to give up on your intended purpose. You have the will, the flexibility and resourcefulness to forge ahead, so put it all to good and meaningful use.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 2

Complicated mess

It’s a highly complex world out there. However, in that complexity you’ll find plenty of opportunities to live with grace, goodness, and fulfillment.

Various single, simple factors do exert their influences. But no one thing is going to cause or solve all your problems all the time.

Living with positive purpose requires navigating through the complexity with persistence, with fortitude. You must be willing and able to pick yourself up and win after repeated defeats.

Quick and easy answers make for powerful promises. Yet almost always they are a lousy strategy.

Set a clear and meaningful goal. Then be willing to work your way through the complicated mess of reality in order to get there.

Much opportunity exists in the complexity of life. Embrace that complexity, understand and appreciate your ability to deal with it, and live the success that is yours to achieve.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

February Prayer.
May my dear friend Tammy and her family
have a healthy blessed prosperous New Month.
In Jesus Name. Amen.

[bluidkiti]

February 3

Self kindness

Do something good, healthy, challenging, and wholesome for yourself today. Give yourself an enduring positive feeling that flows into your whole world.

Repeat the favor again tomorrow, and every day. Build within your life a momentum of favorable, real-world action.

Plenty of areas in your life can benefit from some time, attention, and wholehearted care. Offer yourself a gift that deepens your ability to give to all of life.

When you’re tired, discouraged, and disappointed, it’s difficult to be of any use to anyone. So consider what could transform you from down to up, in a genuine and sustained way.

Commit to making it happen by taking the first step. Then continue following through until you’ve raised yourself to a higher level of energy and effectiveness.

At any moment, you’re one act of self kindness away from a more productive, creative, generous and compassionate you. Step forward and bring that transformation about.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

Thank you willbe. I pray you do too.

[bluidkiti]

February 4

The courage to answer

Will you say yes or will you say no? You’ll have plenty of opportunities to say both.

When those opportunities arise, give serious consideration to your answer. Then choose that answer and decisively go with it.

If you never say yes, you’ll miss out on many of the best things life has to offer. If you never say no, you’re inviting others to take advantage of you and to indulge their own mistaken expectations.

Your choice of yes or no won’t always turn out to be the best one. But don’t let that stop you from making it.

Say yes, or say no, then set about to bring the best possible outcome from your decision. Decide in advance to live with your choice, and do what’s necessary to follow through.

No standard answer works in every case, yet you can work to offer the best answer and then to make the best of what you choose. Each time, whether it’s yes or no, have the courage to answer and to move positively forward with that answer.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 5

Beyond discouragement

It’s natural and understandable to become discouraged. The feeling of discouragement is normal and healthy in response to adverse, disappointing developments.

But as intensely discouraged as you may be, you never have to let it define who you are. You can choose to be a person experiencing discouragement rather than the walking, breathing embodiment of discouragement.

That’s a key distinction. Because it reinforces to you the truth that you have power over your discouragement.

Discouragement can all too often be a part of your experience. Yet it doesn’t ever have to become a part of who you are.

Who you are is someone with values, dreams, skills, opportunities, and resources. At any time, amidst any degree of discouragement, you can make use of all those things to work your way beyond whatever you’re experiencing.

You can feel the pain of discouragement, then take steps to transform that pain into inspiration, determination, and effective action. Though you may at times go through discouragement, you never have to stay there.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 6

Purposeful intention

Are there things you do every day out of habit that don’t accomplish anything? Let them go.

Are there choices you make again and again that you always come to regret? Allow yourself to choose differently.

Life is difficult enough without you needlessly adding to the difficulty. You’re in control of your own thoughts, decisions, and actions, so make smart use of that control.

In every situation, ask yourself this question. What, right now, would bring the most enduring value to you, to those you care about, to life?

Answer honestly, thoughtfully, and follow up your answer with action. Inject purposeful intention into your experience at every turn.

Escape the regrets and the long stretches of habitual ineffectiveness. Live with heightened awareness of all the good you can do, and you’re sure to make much of it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 7

Greater than you

Profound meaning does not come from obsession with yourself and endlessly accommodating your every whim. It comes in the recognition and service of something bigger than you.

You will not experience fulfillment by catering exclusively to your own desires. Fulfillment comes when you’re able to transcend your narrow concerns.

Life and existence are much bigger than you. To experience their most sublime dimensions, focus yourself beyond yourself.

Ego has its place, and is sometimes necessary to exercise in the interest of thriving and surviving. Yet so much more of life’s value and joy exist far outside the constricted domain of your ego.

When anything seems to challenge that ego, remind yourself that it’s probably not such a bad thing. What serves to direct your awareness beyond you, can also enrich you in ways you may have never considered.

Seize upon opportunities to think and live beyond yourself. Stay connected with the massive value and potential of all that’s greater than you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 8

Complain once

Complain once, with clarity and specificity. Then, armed with all the details about what’s wrong, work to improve the situation.

It’s a mistake to assume complaining is an effective way to distance you from responsibility. What’s actually true is the opposite.

If you’re involved enough to register a complaint, you have some interest in what you’re complaining about. That means you also bear a degree of responsibility for getting the complaint resolved.

You very well may not have caused the unfortunate situation, yet you’re the person calling attention to it. That obligates you to positively follow through to the best of your ability.

To do that, quickly transition from the complaint to specific plans for what to do about it. Instead of investing repeatedly in the complaint, put thought, energy, and action into moving permanently beyond it.

Once a complaint has been expressed, its work is done. After that, is your opportunity for working to make sure the complaint never arises again.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 9

Deeper perspective

The problems and disturbances are all near the surface. Go deep, and you’ll find your way beyond them.

The tumult and confusion can be overwhelming if you keep yourself in the middle of it. Take a step back, and give yourself some perspective.

When you become completely wrapped up in the comings and goings of your outer life, it can quickly wear you down. Connect often to your inner purpose, and let it revitalize you.

There is nothing to be gained by running away or hiding from your troubles. Yet there is everything to be gained by detaching yourself from them.

You are more than whatever is troubling you. Give yourself some distance and give yourself the opportunity to successfully address the causes of your problems, not just the symptoms.

Your difficulties do not define you, yet they do give you an opportunity to move powerfully forward. Go deep, to your most treasured purpose, and the storms on the surface cannot stop you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 10

Engage yourself

Don’t merely see what’s going on. Be what’s going on.

Look for how you can participate in a meaningful and significant manner. Then immerse yourself in giving unique value to what’s happening.

Keep yourself aware and informed about the world around you, but not just for the sake of amusement. Engage yourself in making positive contributions.

Though you obviously can’t do everything, you always can do something. Generously and thoughtfully determine what that is, and get yourself involved.

You’re at your best when you act, when you interact, when you join in, listen, speak, commit your time and skills. Doing so is beneficial for others and great for you.

Consider how you can be a part of what’s going on in a helpful and productive way. Participate, and expand upon the richness of life.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

Get involved

[bluidkiti]

February 11

Overcorrection

If you’re driving straight toward another car and fail to adjust, you’ll crash. But if you turn the steering wheel too far in the other direction, you’ll run off the road.

An essential part of safe driving is to correct your direction whenever necessary, while taking care not to overcorrect. The same dynamic applies to successful living.

Just because you regret going to one extreme does not mean it’s a good idea to go to the opposite extreme. In your fervor to back off from your mistake, don’t react so impulsively that you make an even worse mistake.

Sometimes a drastic change of direction is entirely called for. Once you make that change, however, seek steadiness and sustainability.

It’s tempting to push hard against and away from what has proven to be painful and disappointing. Remind yourself to channel your enthusiasm in ways that are sober, disciplined, and thoughtful.

There will always be times when you realize a big correction is necessary. Just don’t do it so thoughtlessly that you end up making things worse.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 12

Inspired by hope

Hope is nice to have, but it can disappoint when it’s based on a flimsy foundation. Hope works best when you work with it.

Be inspired by hope. But don’t make yourself dependent on hope alone.

Hope for good things to come. And combine that hope with purposeful, effective effort.

Begin with hope, continue with skill, discipline, and commitment. Let your hope drive you to do the good work that brings your hope to fruition.

Make your hope a daring kind of hope that pushes you into action. Let your hope for the best challenge you to be your best.

Go forward knowing that your hope is not empty because you are participating in its fulfillment. Feel the energy your hope can inspire, and use that energy to achieve great things.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 13

Seek to understand

You know the facts. Do you understand the reasons?

You know what it does. Do you understand how and why?

Knowledge is power. Understanding carries knowledge even further, to become transformative.

You’re eager to find out what’s going on. Let that enthusiasm inspire you to put in the work so you understand all that’s behind what’s going on.

It matters little what you have, if you don’t also have understanding. The whys of life extend deep and wide, and the more of them you’re acquainted with, the more effective you’ll be.

The story that’s obvious has many other stories supporting it. Delve into those stories and seek to understand all you can.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 14

Fresh inspiration

Don’t wait to be inspired before you do the work. Get involved in the work and your inspiration will begin to flow.

A lack of inspiration never serves as a good excuse for avoiding action. Because it’s action that will bring fresh inspiration into your life.

Get curious, get active, become involved, step up to the challenges. And you’ll soon find yourself with an abundance of inspiration.

Inspiration is not some mysterious force that randomly appears and disappears. Look back on your experiences, and you’ll clearly see that inspiration is the result of the way you live.

So when you feel uninspired, that’s your way of telling yourself to get busy. Start with gratitude for the opportunities you have, put some effort behind that gratitude, and new inspiration comes your way.

At any point in time you’re just moments away from being positively inspired. Act as though you’re inspired, and you truly will be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 15

More positive future

You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Yet you do know what you can get done today to keep yourself strong and prepared.

You cannot anticipate the exact details of all the challenges and opportunities that will come your way. What you can do is become skilled at working through different kinds of challenges and capitalizing on various opportunities.

The future will surprise you in unforeseen ways. The more capable and experienced you are, the better you’ll be able to handle those surprises.

Someday you’ll be thankful for the skills you’ve learned, the relationships you’ve nurtured, the wisdom you’ve accumulated. Though you can’t be sure about the days to come, there’s plenty you can do right now to make those days more positive and fulfilling.

What choices and efforts in your past have proven to enhance your life today? What actions and priorities right now are likely to bring similar value in the future?

The quality of your life is something that unfolds over time. What you do now has a lasting impact, so decide on it accordingly.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 16

Dialing down your desire

A certain amount of ambition is healthy and beneficial. But don’t let your ambition blind you to the value of what’s already yours.

Yes, you can always desire more, always think of ways to improve your life, your situation, and the lives of those around you. Yet it’s also good to enjoy, appreciate, and fulfill the potential of what you already have.

Perhaps today is not perfect, not completely ideal. Nonetheless, it is here right now, here for you to live.

Instead of obsessing over what would make it better, you could focus on what makes it good. You could dial down your desire and simply enjoy your reality.

Maybe you could simply let yourself be happy and content for a while. After all, you’ve put much time and effort into getting here, and you deserve a little enjoyment.

The challenges will continue to arrive, and it’s good that you’ll continue to have plenty of ambition to deal with them. Yet it’s also good, every now and then, to give that ambition a rest, and to enjoy being the beautiful person you are.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 17

Good connections

There are some things you can do well in isolation. Yet there’s so much more you can accomplish when you’re connected with other people, places, concepts, and forces in the world around you.

Whether it’s physical, emotional, intellectual, through finance or technology or countless other means, connection has great value. Consider all the connections you have, and the many more that are possible for you.

You benefit from connections to ideas, people, places, facts, processes, and so much more. The more richly connected you are, the more richness you have in your life.

The best connections require effort, discipline, time and resources. Yet as difficult as they may be to initiate and maintain, good, solid, honest connections bring great benefit to life.

Do the work to discover and develop new connections. Offer your time and energy to sustain, expand, and re-invigorate all the good connections you’ve already made.

The ability to connect is one of your most valuable abilities. Find and establish those good connections that make your actions more effective and your experiences more fulfilling.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 18

Enduring purpose

Following purpose is more work than pursuing pleasure. Yet a devotion to purpose can bring much greater value, particularly over time.

In and of itself, pleasure is desirable, enjoyable, and can be harmless. Yet the constant, unbroken pursuit of pleasure deprives you of opportunities for more valuable and productive activities.

With the future by its very nature filled with uncertainty, it might seem that living for the moment is the smartest choice. There is, however, an even better choice.

You can live in the moment, and indeed live very well in each moment, while also living for an enduring purpose that transcends the moment. You can invest in the future while also finding satisfaction and enjoyment in the present.

No matter how much you possess or experience, no amount of pleasure can sustain you. At some point you will be forced to call upon purpose, and the more of it you’ve seeded into your life, the better.

As you enjoy the blessings of each day, seek ways to employ them toward meaningful, purposeful ends. Give your life the power of endurance that can only come with purpose.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 19

Balance distraction and focus

Distraction and focus both have their places. Whatever you seek to do can benefit from a healthy balance between allowing distractions and imposing focus.

Distraction brings thoughts to mind that you would never otherwise think. Focus gives you the time and mental space to assemble those random thoughts into coherent ideas.

If you notice your thoughts circling repeatedly over the same ground, perhaps it’s time for some distraction. When your thoughts dance away in one disparate, disconnected direction after another, escape the distractions and seek focus.

Your mind thrives on stimulation and it also thrives on quiet nurturing. Offer it plenty of both, in balanced measure.

Provide your spirit with the thrill of excitement and discovery as well as the satisfaction of deep contemplation. Quench your curiosity with distraction and appease your purpose with focus.

A well-honed sense of balance is key to so much of life’s richness. Learn to mediate between distraction and focus, and reap the benefits of both.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 20

Good options

It happens to everyone at certain times. Even the most highly skilled and accomplished people have difficult, disappointing, unproductive seasons.

When it happens to you, whether for a few hours, a week, or longer, your best response is not to wallow in despair and self pity. Of course you know that, yet even so the temptation for such can be strong.

What you can do, though, is catch yourself before that temptation does, and provide yourself some sensible encouragement. Offer a reminder that although plenty of things have gone wrong, you have good options for moving forward.

It may take a while before your fortunes turn around. Nonetheless, you can spend every moment of that time going in a positive direction.

Discouragement might be warranted, but it won’t get you anything good. So turn your focus toward thoughts, actions, ideas and connections that do offer promise.

Wherever you happen to be coming from, you can point yourself toward where you want to be, and re-commit yourself to getting there. Today is an excellent opportunity to do exactly that.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 21

Being there

What gifts can you offer that no one else is able to duplicate? You can give your time, your presence, your attention.

In what way do you express how much you care? By being there, by listening, and doing your best to understand.

All the treasures in the world cannot equal the magic of human connection. Create more of it, personally, honestly, genuinely, and lots of lives will benefit, including your own.

It doesn’t take much, and at the same time it does take everything. You must be there, be real, be interested and involved.

It’s a superpower you bring to any situation. It’s an experience that enriches the lives of those involved.

So many times what matters most is being there. Because you can, because you care, because it makes more of a difference than almost anything else, be there.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 22

Maybe

Maybe the grudges you hold are not worth the pain they cause for you and others. Maybe resentments maintained so stubbornly have reached the time to let go.

Maybe there really is magic and wonder all around you. Maybe if you live as though life is good and worthy of admiration, it will be.

Maybe you were wrong about some things. Maybe it would feel really good to admit that, and to move on.

Maybe you have certain possessions, habits, and assumptions you’d be better off without. Maybe it’s time to be more intentional about understanding and supporting what truly matters most to you.

Maybe there’s more to fulfillment than just getting what you want as soon as you want it. Maybe honesty, integrity, responsibility, effort and discipline are more liberating than they are burdensome.

Maybe you have levels of courage, skill, generosity and love in you that you’ve never before discovered. Maybe today is a good day to see just what they may be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 23

Let the minor things go

A minor aggravation is just a minor aggravation. Don’t fall into the trap of magnifying it into something bigger than it is.

Most likely you can simply forget all about it and everything will be fine. Plus, you’ll free your time, energy, and awareness for more meaningful pursuits.

But it gets much better than that. Because the more you’re able to let the minor things go, the stronger, more purposeful, more resilient you become.

That doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means you choose to invest your attention and your effort in what truly matters, in what will make a difference.

By being less easily annoyed, less easily offended, you become much more effective. By letting go of your seething and frustration, you’re able to engage in real, transformative action.

The next time you’re tempted to obsess over some minor issue, remind yourself of the option and the benefits of simply letting it go. Enjoy the freedom, the power, and the intentional energy that gives you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 24

Wish toward the future

Wishing will not change your past actions or present circumstances. What it can do is motivate you to improve your current behavior and future outcomes.

Rather than harbor your regrets, harvest them. Allow thoughts about previous misguided choices to push you toward much better choices going forward.

Transform wishes for what you could have done into specific actions you can now undertake. Though it’s too late to avoid past mistakes, today is the perfect time to steer clear of future regrets.

You can’t go back and go to bed earlier last night, yet you absolutely can do so tonight. You can’t go back twenty years and save more money, but from now on you can spend less and invest more every month.

With every wish for what could have been, you have an opportunity. You can learn from that wish and apply its energy to positive, productive habits and actions.

When you consider the ways time has worked against you, you’ve also identified how you can now use time to your benefit. Point your best wishes toward the future, and do what you must to make them real.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 25

Positive paths

Be wary of quick, simple, easy solutions. Resist the temptation to hack your health, your finances, your life.

Be willing to gather the necessary knowledge, and invest time to forge that knowledge into understanding. Then let that understanding drive your endeavors to achieve goodness and value for yourself and those around you.

Instead of merely conducting transactions, build relationships. Don’t settle for worthless junk that’s handed out for free when you can work to create and experience actual value.

Life is too precious to waste it avoiding effort, commitment, discipline, and purpose. Find meaningful ways to embrace the challenges and fulfill the opportunities that fill your world.

Life’s richness is yours to the degree you invest yourself in it. Your thoughts, your time, your words, actions, habits, preferences, all represent pathways to unique and rewarding fulfillment.

Follow those positive paths, seize the best opportunities and do the work of bringing them to fruition. Do what’s best, what’s most valuable and meaningful, not merely what’s easiest.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 26

Expand the goodness

Today the world is beautiful. You make it even more so.

Your thoughts, words, perceptions, and actions all have influence and impact. Point them toward truth, goodness, love and fulfillment.

The way you live each moment creates energy that flows into your own experience. Plus, it plays a role in the quality of the world around you.

Your own integrity contributes to the integrity that exists throughout life. Every choice you make echoes far beyond you.

Live, give, care, and share as if you are part of a whole, as if the whole is part of you. For that is surely the case.

Treasure and be mindful of the connection you have with all that is. See the beauty, be the beauty, and expand the goodness of life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 27

Getting the job done

It’s going to require time and effort. As time comes to you, get the effort to come from you.

You can do this. You’re experienced at reaching objectives and you’re able to do it again.

Expect to encounter hurdles. Expect to work your way past them.

You know who you are, what you seek, what you are able to give. Focus that all on getting the job done.

It really doesn’t matter that one task is easy and the next one difficult. What matters is making progress, creating value, reaching the goal.

Time will pass and you have the opportunity to make something worthwhile out of it. Now is when you achieve.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

February 28

Aligned with truth

You have no need to pretend. Because it is good to be you.

There’s value in what you care about. There’s value in what you’re able to do.

Yes, the truth can often be difficult. But rejecting, ignoring, avoiding the truth is always worse.

Accept and embrace the reality of what is, about you, about others, about your circumstances, about the world. By working from that perspective you’re able to achieve optimal results.

Don’t waste your time denying reality. Invest your time understanding it and making good use of it.

Continue to keep yourself aligned with truth. In what is true, in what is real, you’ll always find a way to move forward.

— Ralph Marston