Daily Motivation

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Oct 24 2023 8:39 AM

  Tuesday, October 24, 2023

  Get in the flow

  What do you do when you’re serious about getting the job done? You get in the flow.

  Take one step, then another and another. Early on, many of your steps won’t be in an ideal direction, yet even those missteps serve to get you going.

  Very quickly you’ll get your footing and the quality of your efforts will improve. You’re in the flow, well-positioned to ride that flow all the way to the results you desire.

  Momentum can actually make it feel easier to keep going than to stop. Get in the flow and get momentum working in your favor.

  If you’re not sure exactly where to start, what to say, how to act, that’s completely understandable, so here’s what you do. You find a way, any way at all, to get in the flow.

  Once you’re in the flow, you’ll adjust, you’ll adapt, you’ll figure it out and be motivated to continue. Get in the flow, and discover how much great work you can do.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Oct 25 2023 11:03 AM

  Wednesday, October 25, 2023

  Appearing foolish

  Don’t seek to appear foolish. But don’t be afraid of it either.

  Do whatever, in your best judgment, the moment calls for. Have the courage to speak the truth, to be enthusiastic, to ask what might seem like stupid questions.

  If you appear foolish because of the misguided judgments of others, let that be their problem, not yours. You’re perfectly able to prevent yourself from acting foolishly, yet you have little control over what others think of you.

  Don’t let someone else’s possible impression stop you from doing what is good, what is right, what is necessary. Give reasonable thought and consideration to your words and actions, then confidently go ahead with them.

  What’s truly foolish is to pass up the opportunity of living your best in every moment. No matter what others think, that’s a useful reality to keep in mind.

  If you happen to appear foolish, so be it. Let it go, even laugh about it, and move on ahead with living a great life.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Oct 26 2023 8:55 AM

  Thursday, October 26, 2023

  Own your time

  You can’t make more time in the day, the week, the year. What you can do is make your time more productive and fulfilling.

  That happens when you take greater ownership of your time. It happens when you take greater responsibility for what you do with the time available to you.

  Start by making a commitment to getting each day’s necessary tasks completed as early and effectively as possible. Doing so frees the remaining time in each day for you to spend as you choose.

  When you have earned the luxury of that choice, choose wisely. Remind yourself how much value it’s possible to create in each moment, set your standards high, and work to meet those standards.

  Invest your time in the people, the values, the dreams, ideas, and possibilities you care about most. Use the present time to create meaningful goodness that endures far into the future.

  Time passes quickly, yet you can inject plenty of great life into each bit of time along the way. Take ownership of your time, take responsibility for its use, and live the full potential of every day.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Fri, Oct 27 2023 8:55 AM

  Friday, October 27, 2023

  Appreciating the limitations

  When the possibilities are unlimited, when you can do anything, too often you do nothing. You become so overwhelmed with all the choices that it seems impossible to choose.

  When some particular option is free and easy to access, it’s also easy to take for granted, no matter how valuable it may be. You can easily do it anytime, which means you can always do it later, and so you never end up doing it.

  Limitations are difficult to live with, yet they do serve a positive purpose. They provide structure, and can force you to focus on what’s valuable, meaningful, and achievable.

  If you have a one-week vacation planned, you’re likely to maximize the experience of every day. Contrast that to having six months off from work, when there’s a good chance you’ll be aimless and unfocused on many of those days.

  Diamonds are expensive because they’re extremely difficult to find and to extract. In the same way, the options that are more difficult to exercise are the ones most likely to bring great value.

  Rather than wishing for a life without limitations, find value in the structure and focus that limitations provide. By understanding and appreciating what you can’t do, you gain more meaningful rewards from what you can do.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Mon, Oct 30 2023 9:23 AM

  Monday, October 30, 2023

  Beautiful experience

  Let the experience be as beautiful as it is. Then let it go.

  Don’t ruin it by clinging to it, or trying to make it more than it is. Treasure forever its good feeling in your heart by letting it be.

  As beautiful as it is, you cannot ever make it happen again in exactly the same way. But then you don’t need to, because it’s always yours, as close as your next thankful thought.

  What you can do is open yourself to new experience, to what can possibly be even more beautiful. That takes faith, courage, and much work, yet it is in giving yourself fully to the ongoing moments that new beauty arises.

  Time passes, conditions change, people come and go. Nonetheless, the investments you make with your heart will always retain their value.

  Have the confidence to accept that each beautiful experience has been enough. And you’re sure to have many more.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Oct 31 2023 9:00 AM

  Tuesday, October 31, 2023

  Good advice

  Many times you tell yourself what you must do, and then leave it at that. But what if you were to actually follow through on your own good advice?

  There are reasons why you’re telling yourself these things. You’re well positioned to know what’s best for you and what isn’t.

  So don’t be satisfied with just knowing what must be done. Give yourself the benefit of actually doing it.

  Sure, it’s easier to merely scold yourself and make promises to yourself. Yet you have what it takes to make good on those promises.

  You deserve the full benefit of your own perceptions. You deserve to act on those perceptions.

  What have you been telling yourself you ought to do? Today is your opportunity to make it happen.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Nov 1 2023 12:21 PM

  Wednesday, November 1, 2023

  Your instincts

  Your instincts are not perfect. Yet they do have value, and deserve your attention.

  When you know, even though you’re not sure how or why you know, trust that you do indeed know. Not all truth can be distilled into facts and logic.

  If you can verify what your instincts are telling you, great. But even when you can’t verify them, respect the truth they’re sure to contain.

  Challenge your instincts honestly, and as thoroughly as you can. But don’t let other people with their own agendas cause you to doubt what you know in your gut to be true.

  You know more than you’re aware of knowing. Just as your thoughts and sensory perceptions inform you, so do your feelings.

  Wisdom resides in the full spectrum of your awareness. Make good and confident use of it all.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Nov 2 2023 9:04 AM

  Thursday, November 2, 2023

  All the richness

  Take a walk in the sunshine. Have a long talk with a treasured friend.

  Play silly games with your children. Sit quietly and watch stars fill the sky.

  Feel the cool breeze on your face. Enjoy a good meal with those you love.

  Your time is precious. Spend as much of it as you can on what fulfills your deepest sense of living.

  Many activities masquerade as urgent that really don’t matter. Whenever you notice time is passing, let it be a reminder to focus on what you truly care about.

  You have the great fortune of being able to experience today. With your thoughts, your priorities, your actions, live all the richness available to you.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Fri, Nov 3 2023 9:15 AM

  Friday, November 3, 2023

  The work you do

  A special form of happiness it is to do a job well. You prove to yourself that you can, that you exist, that you make a difference, that you matter.

  Leisure has its place and can offer certain pleasures. Yet it is work that resonates most deeply with the enduring reality of who you are.

  That reality is one of great creativity and usefulness. Every effort advances you toward a future in which more value exists than in the present.

  During each step along the way, work adds its positive dimensions to your experience. You start with purpose and intention, you continue with strength, and you finish with well-earned satisfaction.

  As you apply focus, discipline, and persistence you gain new appreciation for what is, new confidence in what can be. You are engaged by the challenges, energized by the progress.

  Throughout your existence is the ever-present magic of what’s possible. Continue to do the work that brings great possibilities to life.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Mon, Nov 6 2023 8:43 AM

  Monday, November 6, 2023

  Show up

  Don’t overthink it. Don’t worry about what might or might not happen.

  Just show up and give your best. Deal with the ups and downs as they come, and work your way through.

  So very much is possible and pretty much nothing is guaranteed. Stay alert and aware as the situation unfolds and respond accordingly.

  Make reasonable plans and be prepared to revise them. Learn from all you’ve done but don’t be so arrogant as to assume you know it all.

  Sometimes you’ll do great, at other times you’ll get it wrong. Nonetheless keep showing up, keep giving your best.

  Show up and do the work. Show up and earn the rewards of a rich and fulfilling life.

   

  — Ralph Marston