Daily Motivation

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Tue, Jan 18 2022 8:19 AM

  Tuesday, January 18, 2022

  Life’s demands

  Your job demands much of you. And the people around you routinely hit you with their demands.

  Your health, your finances, your household and community impose demands upon you as well. The experience of life is often a demanding experience.

  You cannot magically make life less demanding. What you can do is make the demands less burdensome by cheerfully accepting and dealing with them.

  Remind yourself that a big reason life is so demanding is because you are so capable. Indeed, one way to gauge your competence and capability is by the number of demands on your time and efforts.

  Life is demanding because what you do makes a difference. Life is demanding because you are able to meet those demands.

  Every demand is a confirmation of the good work you can do. That’s a reason to be thankful, not resentful.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Wed, Jan 19 2022 9:03 AM

  Wednesday, January 19, 2022

  Quiet celebration

  You can celebrate life without making a big show of it. You can enjoy the moment without turning it into some kind of big extravaganza.

  The loud celebrations can be fun and exciting. Yet the quiet celebrations are perfectly good celebrations too.

  A quiet celebration doesn’t need a lot of space or planning or cooperation. You can initiate and enjoy one as often as you wish.

  At whatever scale you celebrate life, you remind yourself of what makes life good. You reconnect with and refocus on the things that matter.

  By bringing those good things to prominence, you encourage and enable more of them. By taking the time to celebrate life, you set the stage for having even more to celebrate.

  As often as you can, spend a little time in quiet celebration of the goodness in your world. Then step forward with renewed inspiration to expand that goodness.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Thu, Jan 20 2022 8:26 AM

  Thursday, January 20, 2022

  Blind acceptance

  It’s important to acknowledge and accept reality. But reality can change and so can you.

  Furthermore, reality is not always accurately represented to you by others. So you can end up resigning yourself to realities that don’t even exist.

  Are there situations you’ve blindly accepted that were never real in the first place? Or have they become a whole lot different than they were?

  Are there values you’ve compromised, sacrifices you’re making that are not even necessary? Don’t be too quick to accept what can crush your dreams and mute your purpose.

  Acceptance is essential for dealing with reality. Just be sure you’re not using it to avoid reality.

  Accept what is true, make the best of it. And for the sake of life’s goodness, find the courage to prevail against what is not.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Fri, Jan 21 2022 8:25 AM

  Friday, January 21, 2022

  Do what you can do

  How do you move forward when you’re gripped by fear? Focus on doing what you can do.

  What’s your best response when you’re overwhelmed by events beyond your control? Focus on doing what you can do.

  Direct your attention and your efforts where they will actually accomplish something. Although whatever you can do may seem small, it is not nothing.

  Do what you can do, for it is a start, and that start can provide positive momentum. Take the actions you’re in position to take, make the difference you’re able to make.

  Don’t waste your energy wishing for powers you don’t have. Use the significant skills you do have.

  Do what you can do, and you can work yourself toward being able to do even more. Do what you can do, and step by step you’ll get yourself moving ahead.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Sat, Jan 22 2022 7:35 AM

  Saturday, January 22, 2022

  Internal encouragement

  You deserve encouragement, you benefit from encouragement, but encouragement doesn’t always come your way. When it doesn’t, or even when it does, you can also encourage yourself.

  The other people in your life may not often be forthcoming with their encouragement. Yet you can always offer real and effective encouragement to yourself.

  You know yourself better than anyone else knows you. So you’re well versed in which thoughts and expressions encourage you and which ones don’t.

  It’s not selfish to encourage yourself. Because doing so prompts you to become more useful and to offer more value to all the people around you.

  Think of all you’ve accomplished and remind yourself of how much more you can do. Recall how good it feels to make a difference, and offer yourself that good feeling again and again.

  Though it’s great to receive external encouragement, internal encouragement can be just as powerful. Encourage yourself today to do all the good things you know you can do.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Mon, Jan 24 2022 11:30 AM

  Monday, January 24, 2022

  Time and effort

  Every achievement is built with time and effort. Be willing to make the effort, be willing to put in the time.

  Getting something in an instant is getting something that has negligible value. Instead of expecting to get anything instantly, choose to put every instant to work.

  No matter how far you wish to go, the way to start is always the same. Take the first step in the direction of your desired destination.

  No single step will get you all the way there, yet every step moves you further along. Get good at taking steps, reliably, repeatedly, with enthusiasm and the highest of expectations.

  The more you do to benefit your life, the better your life will be for you. The more you do to benefit the lives of others, the better others will be to you.

  Choose your direction and go, then keep going. Every effort counts, every moment makes a difference, and here is one right now.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Tue, Jan 25 2022 9:21 AM

  Tuesday, January 25, 2022

  Take another look

  Look at the world and see what’s actually there. Then take another look and see what could be there.

  Look at a problem and see all its difficulties. Then take another look and see its many opportunities.

  Look at the people in your life and see their obvious traits and preferences. Then continue looking and interacting, and learn deep truths about who they really are.

  Your first impression is necessary, useful, important. But don’t let that first impression be your only impression.

  Don’t be so impressed with what you’ve already observed that you fail to see any more. Keep your mind open and take another look.

  Take another look, and another. Even when you see clearly and understand well, there’s always more to know.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Wed, Jan 26 2022 9:29 AM

  Wednesday, January 26, 2022

  Attention and intention

  You go about your life each day immersed in an attention economy. Wherever you are, physically and virtually, marketers, advertisers, and self-styled influencers use every trick they have to grab your attention.

  Their goal is to alter your behavior, compelling you to do what you otherwise would not have done. Once they get your click, your like, your view, your comment, your purchase, your recommendation, your data, that transaction is over and another begins.

  Over and over again, as long as you choose to continue, you give away your precious time and attention to all sorts of people doing all kinds of things. In exchange you receive disjointed moments of empty amusement, heated outrage, eye candy, and various cheap thrills that add negligible value to your life.

  How do you avoid being sucked into such an enticing and life-wasting vortex? You moderate and control the valuable asset of your attention with the power of your intention.

  You focus on a meaningful purpose for your life, for the day, for the hour and moment you’re in, and you stick with that purpose. You remain aware enough to notice your surroundings while intentional enough to avoid being deterred from the task you have chosen to do.

  This is your life, your attention, your action, your effort. Remind yourself constantly to invest it all in what is truly meaningful and valuable to you.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Thu, Jan 27 2022 8:20 AM

  Thursday, January 27, 2022

  Push through

  Pushing through a physical challenge strengthens your body. Pushing through a mental challenge sharpens your mind.

  It’s often preferable to choose your own challenges. Yet no matter where a challenge comes from, treat it as an opportunity to increase your competence.

  Your attitude is what transforms obstacle into opportunity. Make the commitment to push through, and reap the rewards that await you on the other side.

  You are specifically designed and equipped to push through life’s most meaningful challenges. In the past you’ve found great fulfillment in doing so, and an even more promising future beckons.

  Push through, because it’s what you’re good at and it’s what makes you better. Push through, because it benefits and advances all you care about.

  You can keep going, you can continue achieving, you can make a difference again and again. Push through, and discover how very much more you’re able to do.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,058 Posts

  Fri, Jan 28 2022 1:11 PM

  Friday, January 28, 2022

  Decide to enjoy

  Yes, you could complain. But it’s better when you find a way to enjoy.

  Sure, you can focus on how much of a struggle life is. However, wouldn’t you rather focus on how enjoyable life can be?

  The world is the way it is, and your outlook won’t change the big picture very much if at all. Yet your outlook can completely change your own experience of the world.

  What do you truly enjoy, and why, and how? What could you do to make more of it, to do it more often, to share it more widely?

  By very definition, what you enjoy feels good. There’s likely an excellent reason for that, even though you may not always see it.

  Discover today how much more of life you can enjoy just by deciding to do so. Give yourself and all those around you the benefits of enjoyment.

   

  — Ralph Marston