May 16

When the pressure is on

When the pressure is on, relax and let your efforts flow. You can do this, so don’t contaminate your work with worry.

When a deadline looms, visualize that deadline as an object that gets smaller and smaller, farther and farther away, until it disappears. In the space that has now been cleared, turn all your focus to the job at hand.

Fully embrace what you are doing, and be thankful for your opportunity to do it. Offer the work your love, curiosity, fascination and wisdom.

You don’t have to be distracted by trivial matters or pulled down by doubts. You have the opportunity to get great work done, so treasure that opportunity and do it.

People are depending on you, much is riding on the outcome, and you have what it takes to surpass expectations. You’re certain you can do this and do it well, so take a deep breath and enjoy the experience.

Though the pressure might be on and the deadline imminent, you’re not feeling any of it. Because you’re peacefully and delightfully focused on the great work you’re doing.

— Ralph Marston

May 17

Challenges you face

When something is holding you back, don’t add to its negative power. Put your energy into working your way around it.

When you see an obstacle in your path, don’t continue to curse it or blame it for your lack of progress. Immediately start working to get beyond it.

If you hear yourself making excuses, you have a powerful opportunity. Stop making excuses and start making changes that will render those excuses inoperative.

Realize that whatever is standing in your way is challenging you to look for new options. Seize that challenge, find a more workable option, and act to implement it.

Pause for just a moment and reconnect yourself with your purpose. Feel the driving power that has already brought you successfully to this point.

Then fully apply that power to the challenges you now face. Before long, you’ll have put yourself well beyond them.

— Ralph Marston

May 18

Enjoy without condition

Whether you’re filling it with work or filling it with play, this is a day to enjoy. So go ahead and enjoy.

You don’t have to waste energy judging whether something is enjoyable or not. Simply choose to enjoy being you, doing what you’re doing, whatever it is.

Enjoy without condition, without expectation, without need. Enjoy what you’re doing, and you’ll be much better at what you’re doing.

Enjoy, and you’ll see life’s richness in every direction. Enjoy, and you’ll see possibilities you never noticed before.

Enjoy, and a special kind of goodness begins to flow through your life. There is great power in enjoyment, and it’s a state you can enter at any time.

Whatever has been, whatever is, whatever seems to be coming, enjoy. And put yourself in position to make the best of it all.

— Ralph Marston

May 19

Audacity to live

You have one opportunity to live this day. Kick hesitation, doubt, excuses to the curb and give your time the respect and effort it deserves.

Do what you know is best, and prove to life how much you appreciate it. Forget about making a good impression and commit yourself to making a great life for everyone.

There is so much abundance, so much energy, so many resources, ideas, opportunities and good, positive people. Remind yourself of the possibilities, of how great it is to love all you love, and then put that love into action.

Don’t cheat yourself by expecting to get something for nothing. Instead, raise your expectations ten times higher than they already are, and then give yourself to life in even greater proportion.

The best things you can ever experience come from pushing new richness into existence. You are uniquely equipped to do that, to make a difference that will be felt by the people around you, so grab that opportunity and go with it, now.

Have the audacity to live every moment with goodness, integrity and purpose. And know once again how great it is to be alive.

— Ralph Marston

May 20

Diverse viewpoints

Those who are weak and insecure jump at every chance to take offense. Those who are strong and confident seize every opportunity to give love and create understanding.

Don’t waste your life seeking opportunities to be outraged. Fulfill your purpose by enacting positive solutions to troubling situations.

If you won’t even listen to a differing perspective, then your own perspective is not worth much. If you think the only way to win is to force your opinion on others, you’ve already lost.

Use your energy to build bridges, not fences. There’s much more to be gained by respecting those you disagree with than by shutting them out.

Attempting to prove you’re right mainly creates resentment. Instead, work to find common ground and discover how much more can be achieved with cooperation than with antagonism.

The world is filled with good people, each with a unique and worthy perspective. Make your own perspective even more valuable by respecting, understanding and positively connecting with the diverse viewpoints of others.

--Ralph Marston

May 21

Make yourself stronger

It doesn’t take much time to become stronger than you are. What it takes is embracing challenge, and making effort, and you can do that.

Improvement is one decision, one action away. The improvement will continue as long as you choose.

No matter how much or how little strength you already have, you can make yourself stronger beginning now. You can become more capable, experienced, resilient, effective, from right where you are, using what you have.

Don’t let yourself fall into the old, tired excuses. Make the commitment to make yourself stronger.

You deserve a life of expanding richness and fulfillment. You owe it to yourself, every day, to build on whatever you already have, to create unique, meaningful value out of each experience.

New strength is yours to build in every moment. Take action, grow stronger, and use your strength to continue adding new goodness to life.

Ralph Marston

May 22

Increase the abundance

If you wish to make an impression on people, don’t tell them how good you are. Show them how good they are.

If you wish to increase your wealth, don’t focus on the question of how to make money. Put your time and energy into creating and delivering unique value.

If you wish to learn more about something, teach it to someone else. If you wish to be loved, appreciated and respected, then offer your love, appreciation and respect.

The way to get whatever you wish is not to greedily grab for it. The way to get what you wish to have is to attract it by the way you live.

You cannot receive anything of real value without giving real value. Sincerely give of yourself, and you cannot help but receive meaningful value as you do.

Life’s abundance has no limit, and is always increasing. Be someone who furthers that increase, and experience the best of the abundance you are helping to create.

— Ralph Marston

May 23

Thankful for what you must do

When there’s work you must do, your best approach is to be thankful for it. The more thankful you are, the less burdensome the task will be.

Effort is what you make it. You can make it a pain or you can make it a source of satisfaction and treasure.

If you’re resentful about what you must do, and reluctant to get started, the person you’re hurting is yourself. There’s no good reason to be that way.

You have the power to immediately stop fighting the effort and start embracing it. Not only will you become more effective, you’ll also eliminate a completely unnecessary source of stress.

Sure, it’s easy to be thankful for the things you love and enjoy. Yet gratitude can be even more powerful when you apply it to situations, obligations and tasks you never asked for.

Be thankful for what you must do. You’ll be better at it, and a whole lot happier while getting it done.

-Ralph Marston

May 24

Choose your best mood

If you feel like your mood has imprisoned you, remind yourself who has the key to unlock that prison. You do.

Your mood at any moment is your choice. You might base that choice on what has just happened, or on something entirely different, yet it is always your choice.

Your mood is never forced upon you, so don’t treat it that way. See your mood for what it is, your choice, and make that choice an empowering one.

If your mood is pulling you down, there’s no need to fight it. Just change it.

Let your mood reflect your best present possibilities rather than your past disappointments. Align yourself with those possibilities by making them the lens through which you view life in this moment.

You can make anything of your mood, so make it one of positive energy and appreciation. Choose to let your mood lead you forward, and it will.

-Ralph Marston

May 25

Give life more meaning

Today, life yearns to be lived. Today, all kinds of new beauty will spring into being, ready to be appreciated.

Today, great joy is present and much more is possible. Today, richness is yours to create, to share, to enjoy, to expand.

Now, you can go beyond wondering, worrying, complaining, wishing, dreaming. Now you can act, and with your actions transform your world for the better.

Run quickly toward this opportunity to fill life today with your positive presence. Join eagerly in the process of making a difference, and feel the sweet satisfaction of doing so.

You have arrived at this day fully equipped to build greatness in its moments. Your unique journey has provided you with a grand opportunity, and it is now.

Listen to your heart, and discover how much you can do with this day that’s now yours. In your own special way, rush headlong into the bright possibilities and give life more meaning than ever before.

-Ralph Marston

May 26

Quality matters

Quality matters. And where quality matters most is in the way you live your life.

The moments of this day are precious, and overflowing with possibilities. Remind yourself to live them with quality and meaning.

If you are doing things just to say you’ve done them, you can do much better. A quality life is guided by love, not by the need to keep up appearances.

When you find yourself feeling envious, impatient, angry or resentful, step back. Take a deep breath and focus your energy on all the things you can do to create a higher quality life for everyone.

Rise above everything that is urgent just because it’s urgent and popular just because it’s popular. See all the opportunities to create meaningful richness, to love, to care, to make a lasting difference, and act on those opportunities.

Quality matters, and a quality life is yours to live right here, right now. Today, and always, life is well worth all the quality you can give it.

-Ralph Marston

May 27

Good thoughts

Your thoughts set the direction of your day, of your life. Think power, think action, think gratitude and think positive.

Think of the people you love, and of all the things you can do to support and encourage them. Think of the values that matter most to you, and of what you can do to express, promote and live those values.

Think of how fortunate you are to be alive in this moment. Think of all the knowledge, resources, experience and skills at your disposal right now.

Think of your dreams, your goals, your highest vision for how life can be. Think of all the ways, big and small, you can make a positive difference today.

Think of the beauty you’ve experienced, of the richness you’ve lived, of the good people you’ve encountered. Think of how great it feels to make someone’s life a little brighter.

Fill your awareness with thoughts of goodness, love, joy, beauty and possibility. Let those good thoughts push you forward into action all day long.

-Ralph Marston

May 28

New moments

New moments are constantly arriving in your life. The only way to get value from them is to use each one as it comes.

You can transform your time into amazing achievements and experiences. Yet you cannot store up time to use it later, or borrow it from the distant future.

Always, the moment to act is the moment you are in. A wasted hour is a regrettable waste of your life’s potential.

Fortunately, instead of creating regret you can create value. Instead of letting time go unused, you can transform it into every kind of good thing imaginable.

Now is when you are alive and now is when you are able to put your life into useful action. Treasure each new moment, live it accordingly, and with that moment you will create new life treasure.

Enthusiastically embrace each bit of time as it comes. And make full, worthwhile use of it before it goes.

-Ralph Marston

May 29

Unencumbered

Today, you can be unencumbered by your own shortcomings. Because you can choose to live your life beyond those shortcomings.

You can decide right now not to continue the self-destructive habits. You can free yourself to think the thoughts and take the actions that will raise you above your past disappointments.

The world will present plenty of challenges to you today. But you don’t have to add to those challenges with your own attitude and behavior.

In fact, you can put yourself in a position to welcome the challenges. You can welcome the challenges, knowing you have what it takes to transform them into life-enriching achievements.

You’ve always had control over the way you think and the way you act. Now, exercise that control to the fullest and most positive degree.

This is your moment, this is your day, energized by the power of your intention. Feel the lightness, feel the possibilities, feel the excitement of being free to soar, and do it.

— Ralph Marston

May 30

Think into action

Let your thoughts lead to action, not to doubt. Let your imagination create a burning desire to move forward, not clever excuses for holding back.

Give thought and consideration to your efforts. But don’t let the consideration take the place of effort.

Imagine in detail how you can add new richness to life, but don’t stop there. Put your good thoughts into action and fulfill the possibilities you have imagined.

Give maximum value to your efforts by thinking them through. Give maximum impact to your thoughts by putting them into action.

When you’ve thought so much you’ve confused yourself, there’s one thing you can be sure of. It is time to move beyond thinking, and to start taking action.

Think carefully and imagine richly. Then get up and get it done.

-Ralph Marston