Daily Motivation

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 5 2023 11:52 AM

  Tuesday, December 5, 2023

  Truth of who you are

  Your mind is too precious, your thoughts and values too hard won, to let them be stolen by trivialities. Yet that danger lurks every time you settle for mere pleasure or convenience when serious contemplation and effort are called for.

  Take care that you not lay to waste everything your discipline and focus have earned. It’s tragically easy to do when you select the easiest options in lieu of the best ones.

  Fortunately, your diligence can keep your indolence at bay. With humility you’re able to avoid the gravitational pull of arrogance.

  You have the tools with which to fill each day with positive purpose, with meaning, solid substance, achievement and value. Those tools are yours when you choose the challenge of truth over the convenience of lies.

  You can quickly learn again to love the rarefied air of authenticity. You can allow yourself to experience and express the truth that has always existed at your deepest level of perception.

  Insist on living as who you are, not who it’s easiest to pretend to be. Live the purpose that is always a challenge to articulate yet ultimately impossible to deny.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Dec 6 2023 11:31 AM

  Wednesday, December 6, 2023

  Room to run

  Your standards are already high. Raise them higher.

  You have accomplished much. Utilize what you’ve accomplished in the service of greater accomplishments.

  Every creation comes from other creation and facilitates more creation. Whatever comes of this, something in turn comes of that.

  Your work is not finished. The joy that arises from being able to create has much more room to run.

  Even with its inevitable setbacks, yesterday brought some measure of progress. Today offers the chance to expand on that progress.

  You’ve done what you can. Now you’re able to look forward to the incomparable fulfillment of doing even more.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Dec 7 2023 11:03 AM

  Thursday, December 7, 2023

  What’s difficult

  The fact that a particular undertaking is difficult is not a reason to avoid it. Not a valid reason to dismiss it as unattainable or undesirable.

  Yes, be realistic. But don’t let your realism descend into fatalism.

  Difficult is not at all the same as impossible. Not only is a difficult task possible, it has some advantages over things that are easier.

  A difficult challenge forces you to up your game, to call forth your best thoughts and efforts. The endeavor leaves you stronger, more capable and confident.

  If it’s hard to do, then few have done it, maybe even no one. Therein lies great opportunity to bring unique value to life.

  Choose to see difficulty as a feature of possibility, not as an indictment, not as an excuse to give up. Within what’s difficult, there is much fulfillment for you to create.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Mon, Dec 11 2023 12:10 PM

  Monday, December 11, 2023

  Treasure of now

  Now is what you have. Now is all you’ve ever had, and look how much you’ve done with it.

  Now there’s more to do, and now is when you can. Now comes with opportunity, so be careful not to turn it into regret.

  Now is what every person has in common. That makes now especially nice to share.

  You recall what was, you imagine what will. Yet when you live, when you touch the richness, when you breathe and feel and love, that’s now.

  Now the sun shines, now the wind blows. Now you make your way through the experience of being.

  The treasure of now fills your life. Give to it your full embrace.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 12 2023 12:26 PM

  Tuesday, December 12, 2023

  Start now, and continue

  You can’t do it all at once. But you can do it.

  You’re not going to master a new language, run a marathon, or build a thriving business the day after you decide to do so. Yet you’re able to accomplish all those things, and more, with small steps.

  You can put time on your side. You can use the hours, weeks, and years to make steady progress.

  That progress usually doesn’t occur in a straight line, or as quickly as you’d like. But it will come over time, and over time is better than never.

  The way to fill your life with achievement is to fill your moments with the efforts that build achievement. Several of those moments are immediately ahead of you right now.

  At this point it makes no difference whether you’re starting early or starting late. What’s important is to start now, and continue.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Fri, Dec 15 2023 7:45 AM

  Friday, December 15, 2023

  Value for your time

  There’s no time to waste, so what do you do? You hurry, and while all that hurrying can create much activity, it often produces poor results.

  Rarely is it a good tactic to put yourself into such a rush. In the effort to hurry because time is short, you can easily end up wasting even more time.

  Consider a couple of things. First, if you really don’t have time to focus and do a good job right now, could you wait until later, when there’s more time?

  Second, is that urgent next activity you’re rushing off to actually urgent, actually important? Or is it something that could be delayed, maybe even canceled altogether?

  If you regularly find yourself pressed for time, there’s an excellent chance you can benefit from a re-evaluation of your priorities and procedures. Rather than assuming that rushing is inevitable, challenge yourself to make your time more intentional and focused.

  Instead of convincing yourself you’re making progress by rushing around, look for a better way. Give respect and value to your time, and it will return great value to you.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Mon, Dec 18 2023 7:08 AM

  Monday, December 18, 2023

  Spark of hope

  Focus on the opportunities. Persevere through the difficulties.

  Remind yourself that those difficulties and opportunities are often two aspects of the same reality. Offer yourself the wisdom to consider differing perspectives on the same situation.

  As you do so, take good care of yourself. Nurture and engage your potential to bring good out of whatever happens.

  Your circumstances are never perfect in every way. Neither are they ever without hope.

  From a tiny spark of hope take a tiny step. Feel the power of doing so, of the difference it makes, then take another step, a little more ambitious.

  Even when the pains are more evident, the opportunities are still there. Continue to choose hope and to reliably act on it, for that’s what will bring you to a more positive place.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Tue, Dec 19 2023 9:05 AM

  Tuesday, December 19, 2023

  Refining your desires

  Value arises from effort, not from desire alone. Desire helps you understand what has meaning, but it is neither the source of meaning nor the fulfillment of value.

  Desires have great power and also much variety. Like every other powerful force, any particular desire can be highly beneficial or can lead to disastrous results.

  The desires that push you to bring real, lasting value to life are the ones that align with your long-term goals. While every desire involves feeling good in some way, it’s essential to identify which desires will lead to a sense of goodness that endures.

  Before you put energy into chasing a desire, put some time and thought into refining that desire. Seek to understand the desire behind the desire, and the even deeper desire behind that.

  Do you really desire a bag of potato chips? Or is that actually a superficial indication of a deeper desire for more nutritious nourishment?

  Every day you are motivated by your desires. So it pays to invest yourself in understanding where they come from, and where they’re likely to take you.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Wed, Dec 20 2023 11:09 AM

  Wednesday, December 20, 2023

  What you don’t know

  You don’t know it all, you won’t know it all, you can’t know it all. Free yourself to think more clearly by accepting that you haven’t thought of everything.

  Certainly your knowledge and reasoning bring great value to your world. Yet that value can be destroyed by arrogance.

  You know what you know, and that’s great. Yet there’s always more to know, factors you haven’t considered.

  And therein exists great opportunity for discovery, improvement, and deeper levels of understanding. Whatever you already know is your starting point, and the possibilities for seeking truth have no limit.

  From where you’ve never been, from those you’ve never agreed with, you can learn. Offer yourself sufficient confidence and curiosity to expand your levels of enlightenment and effectiveness.

  Be thrilled by the prospect of encountering someone who has knowledge different than yours, who sees the world from an alternate perspective. Because very soon, so will you.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 23,050 Posts

  Thu, Dec 21 2023 8:39 AM

  Thursday, December 21, 2023

  Know by being

  Know not only with your mind and your senses. Know by doing, know by living, know by being.

  Know with the whole of your existence. Know through the integration of your experience with your spirit.

  Some things in life are far too important to be mediated through the pages of a book or the pixels on a screen. Fully know the richness and the wonder by being an integral part of it all.

  Don’t settle for being two or three degrees removed from the essential values of life. Dive deeply into the experience of each moment so as to directly know the miracle of being.

  Know love, beauty, and fulfillment by allowing them to manifest through your focus, commitment, and persistence. Know truth by putting it into action from moment to moment.

  Go beyond thoughts, feelings, sensations, and representations, as valuable as they can be. Come to know the reality of your existence, of all existence, by doing, by living, by being.

   

  — Ralph Marston