Daily Motivator - October

[bluidkiti]

October 1

Do the work

You find it difficult to turn away from the comforts of the moment to work on a future achievement. Difficult, yet the quality of your life demands it.

Compared to immediate gratification, everything else feels like work. Be strong, be purposeful, rise above shortsightedness, and do the work.

Enjoy each moment, be good to yourself, but don’t pamper yourself into a meaningless existence. You are able to do great things, so get your hands dirty and get those great things done.

There is no real joy in endless empty pleasure. If you’re not creating meaningful value, you’re accumulating bitter regret.

Great possibilities abound right now, so seize them, work with them. The opportunities, the challenges, the efforts strengthen you, energize you, fulfill you.

Substance and richness are what you seek. Let them come through your efforts, every chance you get.

-Ralph S. Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 2

Rise above comfort

Comfort feels good, but it can water down your best possibilities. Today, rise above comfort and make some real progress.

Put new excellence and value in the world with your eagerness to take on difficult challenges. Step beyond what is easy and familiar and into the realm of high achievement.

Embrace responsibility, action, commitment. Be willing to say what must be said, to do what is good and right.

Comfort is pleasant, but too much comfort will melt you into complacency. Too much desire for comfort will imprison you in a situation where nothing gets done.

Enjoy life’s comforts but be careful not to let them hold you back. Find occasional refuge in comfort, then step again into the challenging world where you can get plenty of good work done.

You have much to offer, much to do, much to give to life. Rise above comfort, and achieve great things.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 3

Recognition and attention

There’s nothing inherently wrong with getting attention. Yet there’s much potential for harm when seeking attention becomes the primary focus of a person, or of a culture.

There’s no meaningful value in being recognized when your sole aim is to be recognized. Recognition and attention are best when they are natural byproducts of making a positive contribution.

Life is too precious to compromise it in seeking attention merely for attention’s sake. When there’s no value or achievement to undergird it, attention is hollow, empty, tragic.

There is so much good to be lived, so much beauty to be experienced, so much joy to be shared. There are so many opportunities to genuinely lift up lives with love and care.

Be inspired by those who make a difference, and not obsessed with those who crave attention. Focus on who you can benefit, not on who is watching.

Let go of any need to prove yourself. And embrace the opportunity to peacefully, respectfully improve the magnificent treasure that is life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 4

Thoughts that serve you

Your thoughts are yours to choose. Choose the thoughts that serve you best.

Think of all you have to be thankful for. Think of the new possibilities being born in every moment.

Think of how great it feels to make a difference, to achieve, to get good stuff done. Think of what you can do, right now, of how you can take action to start moving in a positive direction.

Think of all you love about life. Think of how you can transform the energy of that love into actions to benefit what you care most about.

Think of the strength, the skills, the wisdom you’ve gained from all you’ve been through. Think of the good things you can now do with all that value.

Think the best thoughts, let those thoughts energize and empower you. Then feel the joy and great sense of fulfillment as you put those thoughts into action.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 5

Build new goodness

Some things you can control and influence, and other things you can’t. Yet you can always choose how to feel, what to think, and how to respond.

Fighting against what has already taken place, is useless. Put your energy, your focus, your unique creative brilliance into improving what comes next.

At times the ride will be slow and bumpy, and at other times it becomes smooth and easy. In all cases, in every moment, there is something beneficial you can do.

Fulfillment arises not from what life delivers to you, but from the actions you take to make life good. You always have the opportunity to care, to love, to make a difference.

Each moment arrives with a unique, never-before-tasted flavor. Instead of judging it or running from it, embrace it and build new goodness within it.

Build new goodness from the ups, the downs, the frustrations and joys. Build new goodness from it all.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 6

The more you give

What takes much out of you, adds much to you. Pour your energy into life and the level of your energy goes up, as does its quality.

The love you give, gives you the wherewithal to love that much more. Each effort you put forth motivates you to make even greater effort.

It would be foolish to ever give less than you are capable of giving. For the more you give of yourself, the richer your life becomes.

Get yourself out into life and grab some of its most arduous challenges. As the work flows out from you, value, achievement, and positive substance flow in.

When much is asked of you, respond with even more. If great things are expected of you, choose to exceed those expectations.

Step forward into this day, reminding yourself that you never can give too much. Because the more you give, the better life gets.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 7

Widespread influence

The work you do takes on a life of its own as it benefits the lives of others. Each positive effort you make continues to live and expand in influence.

After you have moved on to something else, what you do to make a difference keeps on making a difference. The song lives on in the hearts of those who hear it, long after the singer is finished.

Kindness you offer, gives birth to more kindness. The love you give, enables more and more love.

All of life is connected. Once your words are uttered, once your actions are taken, they begin spreading through the connections.

Life expands, amplifies, widens the impact of the way you choose to live. Choose goodness, truth, love, peace, and your influence lifts the world in ways you cannot imagine.

Visualize your actions cascading through the miles, through lives, over centuries. Make every choice worthy of the lasting, widespread influence it will have as it fans out through all of life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 8

Intention

Action creates achievement. Intention makes sure those achievements are meaningful and useful.

Intention alone does not achieve anything. Yet intention determines what the achievements will be.

You’ll get much more done when you start the day with a detailed list of what you intend to do. Intention immunizes you from the distractions and interruptions.

To achieve whatever you desire, you must begin by knowing precisely what that is. Intention directs your energy and activity toward meaningful results.

Today presents you with countless ways to waste your time. With intention, you avoid wasting such a precious, valuable, irreplaceable resource.

Give your life the respect and the fulfillment it deserves. Live it each day with intention.

-Ralph S. Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 9

Satisfaction and fulfillment

It’s powerful when you know precisely where you intend to go. But it’s not enough.

No matter how strong your desire is, desire alone will not achieve what you wish to achieve. That’s your job, and your great opportunity.

You must cross the distance between where you are and where you want to be. You must take action, with focus, with discipline, commitment and persistence.

You’re perfectly capable of doing all that. So go ahead, engage that capability, make the effort, reach the goal.

Yes, it will be difficult, challenging, uncomfortable, inconvenient. That’s what makes it worth doing, what gives it value.

Feel your desire to achieve, to go from where you are now to where you want to be. Then find great satisfaction and fulfillment in doing the work, in covering the ground to make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 10

As time goes on

Make the most of this moment while it’s here. Just be sure not to compromise the long-term quality of your life in exchange for fleeting, momentary pleasure or advantage.

You’ll spend a lot more of your life living all the moments, months, and years to come than you’ll spend living this day. So get the very best out of this one day without borrowing from the larger future.

Be good to yourself and all those around you today, in this moment. At the same time, be good to your future self.

Time gives you great leverage. A small action today can have a large impact a year from now.

Use that leverage wisely. Invest yourself in ways right now that will continue to benefit your world for years to come.

This moment will soon end, yet your choices and actions can extend its value indefinitely. Live well now, with consideration for the future, and live even better as time goes on.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 11

Move to a higher perspective

How can you change your life completely without changing it at all? Move yourself to a higher perspective.

Keep on doing what you do and being who you are. Yet choose to see it all in a new and more positive light.

Keep on doing all the work that must be done. Yet do it with love and gratitude, instead of with frustration and resentment.

Continue meeting the challenges and working through the obstacles that appear in your path. And do it with the confidecne that what’s truly important cannot be diminished by random circumstances.

Continue to pay attention to the details, while at the same time rising above the petty concerns. Persist in putting forth your very best efforts, while also living beyond the destructive worries and anxieties.

Keep on experiencing what you’ve always experienced, yet from a higher perspective on the inside. And without even changing anything on the outside, you can change everything for the better.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 12

Love empowers

Love is not possession. Possession contaminates love, renders love into what it is not.

Love loves, and allows. Possession wraps itself around, strangles, cuts off energy.

Possession brings on stress, anxiety, frustration, anger, resentment, jealousy. Love gives birth to freedom, hope, fulfillment, cooperation, peace.

Possession imprisons. Love empowers.

Take responsibility, commit yourself to love, offer your highest and best. And let go of any desire to own.

That is love. You know, and you can.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 13

Fresh, new positive attitude

If you’ve recently had a difficult day, congratulations. Now you’re stronger because of it, more capable, more experienced.

Now you can transform what was a negative experience into positive energy. Now you can be more focused, motivated, determined.

Sure, you could choose to feel angry, resentful or sad about the difficulties you’ve been through. But your negativity won’t change what happened, and won’t do you any good now.

Instead, you can decide now to be thankful you made it through. You can look at life with a renewed sense of purpose.

Don’t prolong the difficulties by continuing to lament them. Choose to quickly get over them and get on with living your life in more enjoyable, fulfilling ways.

Reward yourself today with a fresh, new positive attitude. You’ve got great things to do.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 14

Tomorrow will come

At the end of this day, what will you wish you had made a top priority? Now is your chance to do that.

At the end of the year, what will you wish you had done every day? Now is your opportunity to finish the year thankful instead of regretful.

The moment you’re in gives you great leverage over all the moments to come. Utilize that leverage while you have it.

It’s all too easy to get distracted, make excuses, waste your time. Remind yourself, though, that tomorrow will come and when it does, you’ll be thankful for making good use of today.

Tomorrow will come, and now is when you can maximize the value with which it arrives. Tomorrow will come, and with your efforts today you can position yourself to welcome it with confidence and enthusiasm.

Take the opportunity that’s yours today. Tomorrow will come, and there’s much you can do right now to make it a rich and fulfilling time.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

October 15

Face forward

Don’t let the difficult times drain your hope. Don’t let the good times melt your ambition.

Life changes, and you have a hand in making those changes. Time continues to pass, yet no day is ever exactly like the one before.

Be careful not to become too smug about the successes or too discouraged about the failures. Instead, direct your attention, your focus, your energy and efforts toward what you can do now.

You can be certain the world will change as you move through the moments, days and years. Within such a dynamic environment, you can always create new, positive value.

Briefly look back to learn, to be inspired, to fuel your determination. Then face forward and give life your best, most positive, focused, effective self.

Face forward, knowing you can rise above the disappointments and push beyond the victories. Face forward, with love, generosity, purpose and passion, and do all the great things you know you can do.

-Ralph S. Marston