Daily Motivator - September

[bluidkiti]

September 1

Your most important time

A brief moment of weakness can lay waste to months or years of strong, steady progress. Elite athletes know this all too well, as do recovering addicts, dieters, and anyone else committed to a goal.

Each moment is important not only in its own right, but also because of all you’ve invested to get to it. The harder you’ve worked to arrive here, the more tragic and costly would a mistake be.

The same dynamic applies even more so in the other direction. For each moment is not only a culmination, but an opportunity.

What you do or fail to do right now, is amplified by the future. So whether you’re looking back or looking ahead, the stakes are undeniably high.

Your most important time is now. Your past and your future are begging you to be strong, appreciative, and innovative with what you do in the present.

Remind yourself often of all the ground you’ve covered in the past and all the possibilities ahead in your future. Choose your present actions accordingly.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 2

Letting go

Some of the actions you take, some of the thoughts you think, have not been helpful to you. Are there any of those thoughts, any actions, you can let go of forever, right now?

Life is a series of choices, and your choices play a major role in the quality of your experience. Are there any choices you can improve upon going forward from this day?

You swim each moment in a vast sea of possibilities. Yet you must swim in a specific, consistent direction or those possibilities have no value.

You must choose a few things over all the other things. Making progress involves letting go of whatever hinders that progress.

Habits and comforts feel good and reassuring, yet they can block you off from a rich and fulfilling life. By selectively letting go of what holds you back you free yourself to move forward.

Don’t burden yourself with anything that has no real meaning or purpose. Let go, lighten your load, and make more space, give more time, to all that truly matters.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 3

Strength in the little things

Be unrelenting in your strength when addressing the little things. Those are the things that most reliably lead you into either great despair or great achievement.

Even when the matter seems to be nothing of significance, stand firm. Be true to your conscience, to your values, to your sense of what is right.

For if you let it slide you establish a negative momentum. Soon enough, your betrayal of your own best judgment surpasses your strength and ability to change course.

It is by attending to the details as you are able, to the discrete steps, that you make real progress. Conversely, neglecting the small things results in the big things falling into disintegration and uselessness.

Saints know this, and live by this. So do tyrants.

The little things are here and now, and the little things matter much more than a little. By investing your strength in the little things, you accumulate the strength to do anything.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 4

Live the beauty

Feast your soul upon the beauty that’s in each moment. Be drawn into the beauty stretching out in every direction.

Beauty’s purpose is to be experienced, to be appreciated, to be loved. Give beauty its fulfillment by opening yourself to it, by finding joy in its sublime presence.

Listen to the beautiful songs being sung. Watch as stories of new and unique beauty unfold.

Draw energy from the beauty. Let it carry you away from your own tiny assumptions and give you a taste of the infinite.

Stop striving so earnestly to zero in on a clever purpose. Allow beauty to fill you, to move you, inspire you, and authentic purpose will engulf your whole being.

Experience truth in its most compelling and magnificent form. See the beauty, live the beauty, be the beauty.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 5

Courageous competence

When you neglect to take action you open yourself to fear. When you back away from the challenges, fear gains the power to overwhelm you.

The way forward is not to wait or wish for someone to solve all your problems and make you safe. The way forward is to get innovative and ambitious, to actively do everything you can.

Each effort makes you more familiar with what you can do. You grow more effective, more confident, more courageous.

Sure, there are limits to what you’re able to do. Yet by taking every positive action available you begin to exceed those limits and expand your possibilities.

Acknowledge the risk, respect the danger, and act with focus, care, and competence. Take the reasonable, prudent actions available to you, and soon you’ll be able to do even more.

Be fully informed by the challenges but not stopped by them. Do everything you can, and let your courageous competence move life forward.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 6

Magic of persistence

You’re not likely to find a simple, brilliant answer that will instantly make everything better. But that’s okay, because you have persistence.

Step after difficult, imperfect step, you can make progress, with persistence. You can learn, you can adjust, you can improve, and you can steadily push your way through each task.

There’s nothing you can do to stop the passage of time. What you can do, however, is harness the power in every moment of time, with persistent effort.

With persistence, you can do the work that others consider to be beneath them. And by so doing, you will rise far above your present circumstances.

There is no magic bullet at your disposal. Yet you do have the living magic of persistence.

There’s nothing stopping you from putting persistence to work right now. Keep going, keep going, keep going, and you will get yourself wherever you want to be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 7

More than mere activity

Just because an activity is demanding doesn’t mean it is productive. Just because you make a lot of noise doesn’t mean you’re communicating anything meaningful.

Is your activity making a difference or is it merely filling time? Are your efforts bringing results or are they just keeping you busy?

You owe it to yourself to do more than just chasing off boredom. Every day you have the opportunity to fill your moments with focus, with purpose, with efforts that bring new value to life.

Today, tomorrow, and the next day will all too soon be over. Don’t let yourself emerge from them empty handed.

Challenge yourself to fill the time with more than mere activity. Harness your efforts in the service of a clear purpose, something that makes a positive difference in your world.

Sure, some action is better than no action at all. Yet if you’re going to spend the time, choose those activities that endure beyond the moment, and leave a beneficial impact on life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 8

Storms will come

Whether you’re careful or careless, rigidly disciplined or loosely organized, here’s something you can expect. Every now and then, storms will come your way.

Sometimes you’ll see them coming a long way off. Other times they’ll pop up out of nowhere.

They will blow, they will disrupt, they may leave some damage behind. And then they will go.

The storms won’t care whether you’re prepared or not. They will not accommodate any prior plans you may have had.

Yet life’s storms will compel you to grow stronger, more capable and resilient. You’ll gain experience, wisdom, confidence, and respect.

Occasionally the storms will come, so do what you must do to get through them. And deepen your appreciation for the clear, beautiful days that arrive after the storms have passed.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 9

Attentive

Don’t leave yourself wishing you had been more attentive. Give your full focus to what you are doing.

The time to get it right is while you are doing it. Anything else sets you up for regret.

Clear your mind of distracting thoughts about what could have been, what should be, what might happen later. Direct your attention to what is, to what you’re doing, and to doing it well the first time.

You have exactly one opportunity to live each moment. Exercise that opportunity with care, with gratitude, with attention and competence.

Give your best to the moment while you are still in the moment. You have the power to make great progress if you’ll utilize that power each time you have the chance.

Be attentive to life as it happens. And you’ll give yourself increasingly valuable and meaningful matters to attend to.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 10

One of those times

What if now is one of those times you’ll look back on with gratitude for having been through? What if this is one of those situations you’ll someday wish you had made better use of?

Many of your most valuable experiences didn’t seem so great at the time. Perhaps this experience will one day join that list.

Certainly you’re faced with difficulties you’d rather not have. Yet in each of those difficulties, there is also opportunity.

Imagine that you could focus more on the opportunities and less on the difficulties. What would that look like, and how would it feel?

Think about putting more of your energy into positive action and spending less of that energy on worry and resentment. How would that affect your current attitude, and what impact would it have on your future?

Maybe this is, in fact, one of those times you’ll end up being very thankful for. Or if it’s not already, you can make it one.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 11

Unseen goodness

Life’s goodness is precious. Like other precious things, goodness is often hidden.

There is much goodness you can see. There is more goodness you cannot see.

You appreciate and marvel at the goodness that’s apparent to you. You benefit greatly from goodness you never even know about.

Extending all over the world and throughout history, unseen goodness brings value into your life. You’re able to enjoy and thrive in this moment because of countless positive choices, past and present.

The vast majority of those choices aren’t announced with loud fanfare. They are simple, humble acts of ordinary people, adding to life’s goodness one step at a time.

You live upon a legacy of unseen goodness. Treasure it, respect it, make good use of it, add to it, and pass it on.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 12

Merge expectations with reality

Expect the best of what can be. At the same time, embrace the reality of what is.

Your expectations exert a powerful influence on the way you interact with life. Use that power wisely, and don’t let it become a burden on your experience.

Let your expectations lift you, inspire you, illuminate the possibilities. But don’t allow them to set you up for disappointment.

Keep in mind that your expectations are there to point you in a desired direction. They cannot serve as an exact, detailed map of reality.

Your job is to integrate the hope and intention of your expectations with the actual truth of your situation. Be ever mindful of where you have chosen to go while also being fully present and aware of where you are.

Make your highest expectations more than mere fantasy. Work to merge them with reality, so that you can bring them fully to life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

September 13

Let gratitude lift you up

For every single thing that troubles you, there are dozens of other things for which to be thankful. Always, you can summon more than enough gratitude to overwhelm and overpower your sorrow.

Even within those matters that get you down, are aspects you can be thankful for. Go ahead, and let gratitude lift you up.

When sleep has been restless and morning has come too soon, be thankful for the warm water you can splash on your face. As the sun disappears after a challenging day, be thankful for the opportunity of tomorrow.

Feel the transformative power of gratitude as it directs your focus away from problems and toward solutions. Allow your thankful perspective to populate your awareness with new possibilities.

Embark on journeys of thankful imagination. Envision all the good actions of people all over the world who contribute to the enrichment of your life.

In every situation, seek to be thankful. And discover how reliably and how profoundly your gratitude will lift you up.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

Always put some gratitude in your attitude, grateful
alcoholic and addicts belong to the no matter what club,
that means no matter what we don't use.

[bluidkiti]

September 14

Find the positive

Unless you are a multi-billionaire, pessimism is a luxury you cannot afford. You owe it to yourself to find something positive in even the most distressing situation.

Negative thoughts waste your time and drain your energy. If you find yourself consumed with pessimism, ask some serious questions.

How much of your life are you willing to give away in return for nothing? How much potential good fortune are you willing to forgo just so you can indulge your negativity?

You do not have to be negative in order to be realistic. You can see what’s truly there and also, always, envision a positive way forward.

It often requires much effort to uncover and to follow the positive possibilities. Yet the results you achieve are worth all that effort.

Invest your thoughts, your focus, your actions to the benefit of all you love and care about. Find the positive, no matter what, and bring it fully to life.

— Ralph Marston