Daily Motivator 2018

[majestyjo]

April 9

Opportunity of today

You have precisely one opportunity to live this day well. That opportunity is now, so act on it now.

If you want this day to bring value, then give it value. Now is when you start.

Right now you can establish positive momentum. And you can continue to feed that momentum with action.

Think of the most productive, successful day you’ve ever lived. As you recall and feel the reality of that day, commit to make today even more productive, even more successful.

Within you right now is the ability to make this the best day yet. Within you right now is the willingness to push your life to a higher level than ever before.

Act now with that ability, with that willingness, with your knowledge, skills, and resources. Now, embrace and enjoy the unique opportunity of today.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 10

Life changes

Life changes, circumstances change, and so can you. If you have been defeated, you don’t have to remain defeated.

Yes, accept that things are the way they are. But don’t be so zealous in your acceptance that you assume nothing will ever change again.

Change can be a great opportunity when you see it and make use of it as an opportunity. Otherwise, if you simply sit still and hope to avoid the changes, those changes are likely to destroy everything you care about.

Life is dynamic. To be successful in life, you must be just as dynamic, perhaps more so.

Accept that life is always changing, then find ways to get yourself out ahead of those changes. Be willing to change, open to change, enthusiastic about its benefits, and you’ll discover you’re quite good at it.

The dynamic nature of existence is literally what keeps you alive. Embrace change, expand on it, extend it, and you’ll create many new ways to thrive.

Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 11

Treasure every moment

Treasure every moment. Align yourself with the goodness, the value, the positive possibilities in every situation.

Your life is too precious to waste even a tiny fraction of it. The opportunity for richness is too valuable to let it slip away without making full use of it.

Say yes to each day as soon as it dawns. Then make it your business to fill the day with joy.

The beauty of all existence is yours to behold. Countless possibilities are yours to fulfill.

Do what you would do if you were the most fortunate, joyful person who has ever lived. Imagine new and creative ways to express the wonder of life’s limitless abundance.

Remind yourself in each moment of the great opportunity you have. Treasure it, love it, live it, give it everything you have.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 12

Keep going

You are a work in progress. Today, do the work, make the progress.

You are on the amazing journey that is your life. And the very nature of a journey is to keep going.

When you achieve some success, don’t be so smug and satisfied that you stop making any further effort. Keep going.

If you encounter disappointment, don’t be so dismayed and dejected that you give up. Keep going.

Realize how fortunate it is that you always have more to do. Embrace each opportunity to make a difference, to make new progress, to keep going.

Always there are the new wonders to see, new wisdom to be gained, new experiences to unfold. With ever-growing love for the journey and all it brings, keep going.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 13

One little thing

You can’t instantly make everything better. But you can quickly make one thing better, and then perhaps another thing, and another.

You can’t make the whole world perfect. Yet you always can make real, specific, meaningful improvements.

Even one small success is highly empowering. It establishes positive momentum, and gets you moving in a good direction.

Decide to stop feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the difficulties and the negativity you encounter. Choose to do something about it.

Just a small positive action can dramatically improve your attitude and your outlook. Even better, you can add another positive action, and build on it, and spread your beneficial attitude to others.

Go ahead, get yourself to act, to do one little thing that makes life better. Feel how great it feels, and allow yourself to expand that great feeling as far as you can imagine.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 14

Future vision

Any concept you have of the future is just a simulation in your mind. It can be extremely useful to consider how life could unfold, as long as you don’t let it overwhelm and disable you.

Go ahead, peer inquisitively into the future. Learn all you can, and then come solidly back into the present.

Sometimes you can anticipate very accurately what’s going to happen. You can make good use of that knowledge to guide your life in a more positive direction.

Many other times, events do not unfold at all like you thought. So don’t get yourself too invested in what, after all, is your own speculation.

Instead, seek to combine your vision of the future with the undeniable reality of now. Apply your best guesses about tomorrow in ways that make a positive difference today.

Don’t be dismayed by problems that only exist in your imagined future. Be inspired to create so much value right now that those problems never have a chance to appear.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 15

Fill life with great meaning

There is no such thing as something for nothing. Operating on the assumption that there is, can cause great pain, regret, heartache and despair in life.

When you invest yourself in anything, it has value to you. If you don’t, it doesn’t.

You can make your life great, fulfilling, joyful, satisfying. No person, organization, system or stroke of luck can do that for you.

If you ever seek something for nothing, you are seeking to steal from your own best possibilities. Instead, do the work to fulfill those possibilities.

The substance of your life has meaning because you work to endow it with meaning. You have the opportunity to do that in every moment, and as you do, life’s magnificence grows.

Don’t settle for a worthless imitation of life by trying to get it for free. Create the value you wish to experience, and fill life with great meaning.

-Ralph S. Marston

[majestyjo]

April 16

Thankful for now

Be thankful for this moment, however it may be. Be thankful for the way you feel, whatever the feeling is.

Be thankful, and put yourself in the best position to respond. Be thankful, and enable yourself to see the positive possibilities going forward.

Yes, you could be resentful, but your resentment would not bring you anything of value. Yes, you could be angry, but your anger would separate you from your best possibilities.

What’s done is done, what’s happened has happened, the reality of the moment is as it is. Fill your heart with gratitude and open your eyes to the value that’s now yours.

Be at peace with the past and the present. Allow yourself to focus all your energy on creating a bright future.

Be thankful for this moment and be empowered to make the most of it. Let your sincere gratitude for right now fill you with positive energy and illuminate the best way forward.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 17

Opportunity to act

If you’re having trouble taking action, ask yourself this question. Would you rather spend the next few hours creating regrets or creating value?

The opportunity to act is not some distant memory, not some future dream. The opportunity to act is now.

The value of that opportunity diminishes with every minute you wait. Stop waiting and start claiming the benefit of your own focused action.

Conditions may not be perfect, but your procrastination is not going to make those conditions any better. Go with what you have, now, and make of it all you can.

Now is when you can leave the excuses behind. Now is when your next achievement begins.

Remind yourself of the power and possibility in your opportunity to act right now. Without waiting another minute, take that power and make it yours.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 18

What’s right

It’s never the wrong choice to do what’s right. It may be painful, complicated, difficult, and inconvenient, yet your best choice is to go with what you know is right.

If your words or actions feel wrong, they likely are. Those feelings arise from a whole lot of living experience, so respect their guidance.

Many of your best so-called logical, rational decisions are actually just reasoned justifications for what you already feel. Accept that you have an emotional bias, and put it to beneficial use.

Whatever mixture of reason and emotion may be telling you what’s right, listen and follow your own highest guidance. You avoid much regret and create much goodness by doing so.

Your values are what hold your life together. Let them do their job by making the choice that aligns with those values.

Keep offering your life and your world the powerful, abiding benefits of integrity. Take every opportunity to do what’s right.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 19

Map of reality

What if what you’re hoping for, searching for, striving for, is already yours? What if the thing you fear the most does not even exist?

What if your biggest limitation is your habit of seeing yourself in terms of your limitations? What if you are being held prisoner by the stories you tell yourself?

What if you could embrace your most debilitating weakness and transform it into your most powerful strength? What if your most troublesome worry were to dissolve into quiet, humble confidence?

What if you could let go of your need to burnish your image? What if you would stop relentlessly pursuing your lifestyle and start mindfully living your life?

Your map of reality is of your own making, of your own choosing. Your priorities, your assumptions, the actions and results that flow from them are based on that map, on the way you perceive life.

What if seeing life in a little better light, would actually make it better? Perhaps that is worth a bit of thought now and then.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 20

By the end of this day

At the end of this day, you can be stronger than you are now. Live with that possibility in mind, looking for opportunities to fulfill it.

By the end of this day, some of the problems that now plague you can be gone. Identify the ones you can deal with, and get to work on them.

The clock has already started ticking on this day, and the moments will continue to relentlessly pass. Resolve now to make full use of them all.

There is value to be created, there are wounds to be healed, transgressions to be forgiven. There is beauty to be enjoyed, love to be expressed, kindness to be given.

Look toward the western horizon, where the sun will disappear after offering its brilliance all day. By the time that happens, you will have had the great opportunity to add new richness to life.

Think of how peaceful and satisfied you will be, at the end of this day, knowing you have given it your best. Think of how confident and enthusiastic you will be, knowing you can do even more tomorrow.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 21

Capability for achievement

Every past experience has given you something of value. Every new experience will do the same.

The triumphs, setbacks, delays, surprises, frustrations have built your character. Now the building continues.

Instead of wishing your situation were different, find what it has to offer you. See what new strength, wisdom, skill, insight you can gain from going through it.

Circumstances that block your progress force you to develop new, more effective strategies for making progress. Experiences that push you back give rise to fresh determination within you to push forward.

Not only is there a way to get beyond each obstacle. In finding that way, in working through it, you add to your capability for achievement.

Whatever the circumstance, whatever the experience, involve yourself in it fully, with the highest of expectations. You have great progress to make, and right where you are is where you can make it.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 22

Love is always willing

There’s something in you important enough to get you moving. Something in your life matters so much it will persistently push you into action.

Find that something. Connect yourself to it and stay connected.

It could be another person, a dream you have, something you want to achieve, some particular value you hold dear. It could be a feeling you like to have.

Whatever it is, bring it to the front of your awareness. Keep it there, and tap into its inexhaustible motivating energy.

You have a reason to bear any burden, to work through any challenge, to find your way forward no matter what. Think of what you’re more thankful for than anything else, of what you care about more than life itself.

Whatever you love without condition will push you ahead through any condition. Love is always willing.

-Ralph S. Marston

[majestyjo]

April 22

Love is always willing

There’s something in you important enough to get you moving. Something in your life matters so much it will persistently push you into action.

Find that something. Connect yourself to it and stay connected.

It could be another person, a dream you have, something you want to achieve, some particular value you hold dear. It could be a feeling you like to have.

Whatever it is, bring it to the front of your awareness. Keep it there, and tap into its inexhaustible motivating energy.

You have a reason to bear any burden, to work through any challenge, to find your way forward no matter what. Think of what you’re more thankful for than anything else, of what you care about more than life itself.

Whatever you love without condition will push you ahead through any condition. Love is always willing.

-Ralph S. Marston

[majestyjo]

April 23

A little more adventure

Get yourself into places, into situations where life can surprise you. Add to the richness, add to the adventure by not always knowing what will happen next.

Actively open yourself to what you never knew was there. Life on this day is too precious to live it just like any other day.

Exercise your courage to start something without being sure exactly how it will end. Discover wonder, beauty, and awe in places you’ve never found them before.

When you were very young, the world was an amazing place, filled with adventure, new things to learn, exciting experiences to be lived every day. In fact, the world still is like that, when you once again allow it to be.

For the place where adventure resides is within you. That adventure springs to life the moment you open yourself to its possibilities.

Right now, life is longing to experience itself in new and surprising ways through you. Let go of your constant craving for certainty, and let a little more adventure come to life.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 24

Slow Down and Live

Many of us rush through our days as well as rush through our meals. Often we let ourselves get so busy that we do not enjoy what we are doing or what we are eating. We swallow life in great gulps instead of savoring it moment by moment.

Hurry and busyness are forms of self-will. Deluded by an exaggerated sense of our own importance, we deem it crucial to perform all tasks and activities according to our personal schedule. Impatient with traffic tie-ups, other people's slowness, or unavoidable delays, we make ourselves tense and miserable by our refusal to accept life as it comes.

Time spent each day in quiet meditation can give us glimpses of God's timelessness. We see that our schedule is not that important after all, when measured against eternity. As the presence of God seeps into our consciousness, we relax into the fullness and peace of each moment. Trusting our Higher Power to order our lives, we can slow down and enjoy God's gifts.

May I exchange hurry and busyness for Your peace.

You are reading from the book:

Food for Thought by Elisabeth L.

[majestyjo]

April 25

Patience to achieve

Enthusiasm may get you started. Yet patience is what carries you to the finish.

Enthusiasm feels energetic and full of power, but it can quickly burn out at the first sign of trouble. Feel enthusiasm, and then go beyond it.

The real work of achievement is not glamorous, does not usually lend itself to enthusiasm. The real work of achievement is done with patience, with persistence.

Yes, be enthusiastic about what you’re doing. But don’t let enthusiasm be the only thing, don’t depend on it solely.

Be willing to put in the hours, the months, the years if necessary. Be willing to do the tedious work, the complicated, frustrating tasks, to persist and endure in your effort.

Then, even when enthusiasm wanes, you can get the job done. Because you still have the desire to make a difference, and the patience to achieve.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 26

Allow yourself to care

Do you feel you’ve become disconnected from what truly matters? Today gives you the opportunity to find your way back.

Purposeful living requires great effort, and it can be all too easy to avoid that effort. Yet the longer you go without any commitment to purpose, the more you find yourself yearning for it.

You may have every pleasure, every comfort, every convenience instantly delivered to you. Yet without purpose, without meaningful effort to make a difference, it all feels so empty.

Within that very feeling of emptiness is the desire, the determination to live, to act, with purpose. Go on past the emptiness, and connect once again to all you value, all you care about, all you love.

Today, allow yourself to care, because it is what you always long to do. Though it can be painful, requiring much work and sacrifice, it is who you are, it is what fulfills you.

You have great, meaningful work to do, and nothing will feel better, deep within, than devoting yourself to it. Today, remember what matters, and how it is worth all you can give it.

— Ralph Marston

[majestyjo]

April 27

Rise above the noise

Don’t just focus on what makes the most noise. Focus on what makes the most value.

Invest time and effort where they will produce a lasting difference. Apply the power of your thoughts to questions and issues that truly matter to you, to your world.

It’s ridiculously easy to get distracted, moment to moment, month after month. But it’s certainly not inevitable, and you always have a more powerful choice.

Though the minutes and hours pass quickly, there is so much good you can achieve with them, when you choose. Choose intention, choose disciplined focus, choose to rise above the noise.

Choose a meaningful direction and stick with it long enough to gain momentum. Feel the positive power you create when you let your intention do its job.

Fully embrace the opportunity of this day, of this life. Rise above the noise, and get your good work done.

— Ralph Marston