Daily Motivation

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Fri, Dec 2 2022 11:42 AM

  Friday, December 2, 2022

  Desire goodness

  The quality of your desires affects the quality of your life. Fortunately, your desires are not all arbitrarily imposed on you.

  Your desires have great influence on your life from moment to moment, decade after decade. And you have significant influence over which desires you grant prominence to.

  You are going to be captivated by and, in a sense, enslaved by some particular things. You can be intentional and strategic about what those things are.

  All desires have the power to reach into every part of your being. Yet not all desires are created equal.

  Some desires will compel your commitment to valuable, life-enhancing achievements. Other desires have the power to ruin your life and the lives of those around you.

  Respect the power of desire and express your respect by choosing desires that benefit your life and your world. Live with the desire for true goodness, and goodness will come from your thoughts, your actions, your life.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Sat, Dec 3 2022 11:42 AM

  Saturday, December 3, 2022

  When life talks to you

  Listen when life talks to you. And that is all the time.

  Watch what life shows to you. See its beauty in endless forms and iterations.

  During obscure as well as normal encounters, in the routine and in the unexpected, life conveys a wealth of wisdom and perspective. Take the trouble to pay attention, have the courage and respect to do so.

  What you know about is good and useful, yet it’s woefully short of all there is. Life always has more to teach you, to inspire you with.

  So watch, and listen, and learn, and feel. Remind yourself of the limitless opportunities ever within your reach, and partake, and share.

  Most of all, honor life by living it, immersing yourself fully in its wonder, challenge, tribulation, and joy. Open yourself to the richness as it continually unfolds at every level and in every dimension.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 6 2022 7:51 AM

  Tuesday, December 6, 2022

  Treasure the process

  The way to get there is to keep going. The way to keep going is to treasure the process.

  Even before you have reached the goal, you continue to have the experience of reaching toward the goal. That reaching is what creates the value you seek.

  The work to get there can be tedious, annoying, and frustrating if you choose to see it as such. Yet there’s a much more empowering choice you can make.

  You can decide to see the work in a positive light. After all, your perspective, your opinion of what you’re doing, is up to you.

  You can remind yourself that in each little task is the opportunity to add value to the final achievement. That every moment you put into the effort is a moment spent on a worthwhile endeavor.

  There’s a specific process that leads to whatever achievement you may desire. Treasure the process, and reach the achievement.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Mon, Dec 12 2022 8:40 AM

  Monday, December 12, 2022

  Overcome temptation

  How do you overcome temptation? You focus on the consequences.

  Anything tempting you is going to give you pleasure in the moment and painful regret in the future. Jump beyond the moment in your imagination and feel the intense pain of that regret.

  Realize that you can completely avoid that future regret with a simple choice in the present. Feel your own power and exercise it in a positive and life-enhancing way.

  Giving in to temptation is a compromise of your own integrity. Don’t do it, because it’s not worth it.

  Whatever momentary pleasure you might gain from what’s tempting you will soon be long gone. The negative consequences, however, are likely to linger for a very long time, forcing you to pay their price over and over again.

  Temptations can be powerful and persuasive, yet you are able to summon even more power. Exercise that power, avoid the temptations, and very soon you’ll be thanking yourself for doing so.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 13 2022 11:50 AM

  Tuesday, December 13, 2022

  Work your way through

  Don’t make your work more difficult than it has to be by resenting it or avoiding it or over-thinking it. The most frictionless approach is to just do it.

  Don’t add to the burden of what you must do by pushing it again and again into the future. Get it done now, get it over with, and enjoy all the benefits that come from timely action.

  Embrace what you must do. See the value and fulfillment in it all.

  Respect, be thankful for, and make good use of your capabilities. Realize the opportunities you’re able to access by putting forth effort.

  This day is now here and you have good, significant things you can do with it. Without hesitation, begin to work your way through them.

  Here is your chance to live at your most effective and purposeful level. Go for it, and get it done.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Dec 14 2022 8:45 AM

  Wednesday, December 14, 2022

  Respectfully disagree

  When you disagree say so, with respect, with precision, with confidence and a sincere desire to further understanding. Have the courage and the compassion to be honest and generous with your perspective.

  Truth becomes stronger and is clarified when it is subjected to robust and well-articulated challenges. As differing perspectives clash in a curious, respectful way, a stronger, more unified truth can emerge.

  Winning an argument is a hollow victory. Building a higher level of understanding and cooperation has far greater value for each participant, for society at large, for truth itself.

  You learn, you grow, you forge connections by doing the uncomfortable work of engagement. By respectfully voicing and examining specific disagreements you open a path to move toward agreement.

  Every person with a differing perspective has a reason underlying that perspective, and a deeper purpose behind that reason. With sufficient engagement you can go deep enough to find common ground.

  Respectfully disagree, with the goal of transforming disagreement into understanding. Seek what is true and useful and good, and employ plenty of honest effort to get there.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Dec 15 2022 9:00 AM

  Thursday, December 15, 2022

  More than you expect

  Expectations are powerful. Take care not to let their power blind you to the richness of reality.

  You see what you expect to see. That can put you in danger of failing to notice what you’re not expecting.

  As creative as your imagination may be, reality can be even more creative, interesting, surprising. There is much to experience beyond what you can imagine or expect, no matter how much previous experience you have.

  This is especially true of the people you encounter. No person alive can be reduced to a standard, one-size-fits-all narrative.

  Each person in your world has more depth and complexity than you can imagine. Recognize that, avoid jumping to conclusions, and everyone benefits.

  Be guided by your expectations, but don’t let them close you off from reality. There’s a whole lot more goodness and substance in life than you can ever expect.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 20 2022 8:46 AM

  Tuesday, December 20, 2022

  Finish the work

  You had the idea, you gathered the resources and put in the initial effort. Now see it all the way through.

  It probably won’t turn out exactly how you imagined. Even so, there’s value in it or you wouldn’t have started it in the first place.

  Yes, plenty of new, different possibilities beckon. But what good are possibilities if you never see them through to fulfillment?

  Just because you’ve run into obstacles and frustrations is no reason to give up. On the contrary, those challenges confirm the value of what you’re doing.

  Perhaps some adjustments are called for. So make those adjustments to your expectations, to your strategy, to your day-to-day tactics.

  Then give yourself a push forward with renewed energy and commitment. Finish the work, do what you have chosen to do, and bring to life the value that is yours to create.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Dec 21 2022 12:17 PM

  Wednesday, December 21, 2022

  Make more goodness happen

  The potential for goodness lives within you here, now, always. Each person you come in contact with provides you opportunity to offer kindness, a positive presence, genuine connection.

  Every choice you make is a chance to leave the situation better than you found it. Every thought, every word enables you to focus on what matters, on what can be beneficial and life-affirming.

  All around are opportunities for you to work toward fulfilling, valuable outcomes. In every direction you look, beauty and possibility are there to be seen, lived, and expanded upon.

  Do some corners of the world seem dark and hopeless? Find comfort, inspiration, and energy in knowing that your own actions can make things less forbidding and more hopeful.

  Goodness is always possible. What goodness requires, and always has, is active participation.

  Right now is another opportunity to make more goodness happen. Imagine what you can do, then go beyond merely imagining and give life the benefit of your own unique goodness, again and again.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Dec 22 2022 6:19 AM

  Thursday, December 22, 2022

  A little flexibility

  Sure, it’s nice to get your way. But it’s not an absolute necessity.

  You have specific preferences, and that’s great. But it’s not so great when those preferences put a severe limit on what you can experience or accomplish.

  Your interest is not well served by insisting on everything going exactly the way you want it to go. A little give and take can add a lot of value to your life.

  The situation you find yourself in is not always going to be ideal. But rather than fighting against its very existence, you can put your energy into working to improve it.

  Events are not always going to unfold the way you want. Yet instead of being offended by that reality, you can choose to be motivated and positively energized by it.

  Though you never have to compromise your deepest values, you can often benefit by compromising on your preferences and expectations. In a constantly changing world filled with all sorts of unique individuals, a little flexibility goes a long way.

   

  — Ralph Marston