December 16

Grace and integrity

Do the hard stuff. The hard stuff is what brings new value into the world.

Commit to excellence, never failing to honor that commitment. Though you know it is not easy, you also know it is best.

Embrace difficult challenges. Somebody has to push life forward, and you are just the person to do it.

Think, speak, act and live with responsibility. Set a positive example, showing all the world how good life can be when it is lived with no excuses.

Be always deeply thankful for the possibilities, for the beauty, for it all. Abundance grows when it is recognized and appreciated.

Add joy to each moment. Meet, then exceed life's demands, and with grace and integrity, live it well.

Ralph S. Marston

December 17

Putting yourself on the line

You have to go through the defeats in order to appreciate the victories. You have to live with risk in order to create meaningful rewards.

If all you ever do is remain hidden away from the messiness and discomfort of life, you'll never know much of its richness. Confining yourself to a safe, comfortable space, and avoiding every challenge, will cheat you out of life's greatest experiences.

Give yourself the opportunity to make a difference in the face of real world risks and demands. Give yourself the satisfaction of calling upon your wits, your discipline, your efforts and your persistence.

Know how great it feels to grow stronger as you work through the challenges. Give yourself the incomparable experience of triumphing over difficult circumstances.

Seek out people, places, situations and ideas that challenge you. Discover and strengthen what you truly care about by putting yourself on the line.

Life is difficult and magnificent at the same time. Work eagerly through the difficulties and earn yourself a place in the magnificence.

Ralph S. Marston

December 18

Live the wonder

Live in awe of this day, of this existence, of this magical time and place you call now. Breathe in the ever fresh air of possibility and let it fill you with inspiration.

Delight in the biggest of wonders that exist within the smallest of details. Experience joy just because you choose to.

Look around, with eyes wide open, and see the magnificent realm in which you are immersed. Reflect, consider, dream, imagine, and feel the exhilarating spark of new possibilities as they fill your awareness.

Go forth in a state of awe and gratitude. Be inspired to the core by what is, and determined to make something good out of it today.

You are alive, aware, unique and capable. Remind yourself of the immense opportunity that exists right now and of your responsibility to do something beautiful and meaningful with it.

See the true wonder in all there is and in all you can do. Live the wonder, now and always.

Ralph S. Marston

December 19

Essential mission

You are here today to live a life of meaning, and to live it well. You are here today to make a difference.

You are here today to witness the beauty of this life. You are here today to take action, and to create new goodness.

Today, you are here to express values you treasure. Today, you are here to support all you love and care about.

You are here today to learn, to grow, to feel and to give. You are here to wonder, to explore, to share and to encourage.

You are here today because no one else can do what you can do. No one else can offer what you have to offer.

Live today as though it is your unique, essential mission to be you and to be doing what you do. For in countless ways, on all kinds of levels, it is.

Ralph S. Marston

December 20

No need to criticize

Let go of the need to criticize yourself and others. Enjoy doing good things without doubting what you do.

Put your energy into effective effort, not into second guessing your own work or the work of anyone else. Let what has happened be, and move positively forward from it.

Honor the thoughts and feelings you have by turning them into positive action. There’s a good reason you are the way you are, so let yourself be the authentic you.

Use your time and your brilliant, creative mind to move yourself forward. Don’t waste that valuable creativity on excuses or doubts or unnecessary judgments.

Be okay with what has been, with where you are, with what you’ve done and with what you have to work with. Then grab the next positive possibility and run with it.

There’s no need to criticize, to doubt or hold yourself back. Today, let the greatness within you flow freely into your world.

— Ralph Marston

December 21

Limitless ways
If you grow a little stronger and wiser today, you have succeeded. If you give love today, then today has been worthwhile.

If you learn something today, and become more capable, then you have been successful. If you have seen and appreciated the beauty that surrounds you, then you have made significant progress.

It is a sad mistake to limit your definition of success to just a few superficial things. In truth, there is no limit to the number of ways you can succeed.

Life is overflowing with opportunities that are loaded with abundance and piled on top of possibilities. Real, meaningful success is available in every moment, in countless ways, in any circumstance.

You can invent new ways to succeed that have never before been contemplated. You can find and live new richness that has never before been experienced.

Live, love, share, learn, build, experience, appreciate and enjoy. Success is yours to create in a thousand million different ways right now.

Ralph S. Marston

December 22

Guided by purpose

If there is no purpose behind your effort, it's difficult to do even the simplest, easiest things. Yet when you have a meaningful enough reason, nothing can stand in your way.

When you have a good reason, you can do anything, and you will. With a solid purpose behind you, you are able to endure any hardship, undertake any effort, and work through every difficulty.

If you feel tired and unmotivated, listless and dejected about doing anything, it's not the effort itself that is the problem. The problem is that you have not connected the effort to something you really, truly care about.

Give yourself the advantage always of knowing where you are going and why you want to go there. Put in the time and the thought and the searching of your soul to understand without a doubt what it is you care about.

Then, make sure your life is pointed in that direction. Give yourself the energy, the enthusiasm, the electric spirit of a good, worthy, personally meaningful purpose.

There are many things you care deeply about. Stay connected to them and enjoy the beauty of a life guided by purpose.

Ralph S. Marston

December 23

What you make of this

In the next hour you can move closer to the goal, or the goal can end up further away. The choice is yours, and that choice is made with your actions right now.

In the coming day, you can live in a way you'll always be thankful for, or in a way you'll quickly regret. Now is your opportunity to decide which it will be.

No matter what the excuses, distractions, dramas or conditions may be at this time, one thing is certain. You can decide what you make of this.

You can decide whether to do what's right, or merely what's most convenient. You can decide to do what's best, or just what's easy.

Your direction depends on what you decide to make of this. Aspects of your life that stretch far into the future are determined by what you make of this day right here.

The opportunities and influences of right now are more than you can imagine. So when you're deciding what to make of this, let it be the best you can possibly make it.

Ralph S. Marston

December 24

Love real and present

Woven into every thread of existence, beauty astounds and amazes. Wonder grows in abundance and depth the more it is experienced and enjoyed.

The darkness may be vast, yet even the smallest light melts it away. Goodness endures through any challenge, beyond all that reason can understand.

Peace finds a place in even the coldest heart. Joy dares to lift the spirit whenever and wherever it is expressed.

Though life can sink deep into despair, it can then be raised higher than ever before. If that is not a miracle, what else can it be?

Love abides, real and present, throughout all of life. Hope persists, and within it lives pure truth.

As snow gently blankets the land, springtime has already begun to gather energy for its vibrant birth. A new day dawns, filled with moments, spaces and opportunities for life and love to create new wonder.

Ralph S. Marston

December 25

Joy of giving

To live at your highest level is to give of yourself. To live fully is to make a difference in the lives of others.

Look away from your problems, complaints, and dissatisfactions. Look toward ways you can be of service.

Life at its richest is life at its most helpful. There is always much you can do.

Seek only to take, and you will have nothing of value. Seek to give of yourself, and you can have everything that matters.

The joy of Christmas is the joy of a gift given in grace and pure love. Such joy has no logical reason, yet it fills countless lives.

Let your life be enriched by the joy of giving, today and every day. Give, and discover, in giving of yourself, all that you do best.

Ralph S. Marston

December 26

Happy from deep within

If you place conditions on happiness, even when those conditions are all met you won't enjoy real happiness. You'll be living in fear that those conditions will change.

Make your happiness a choice, not a reaction or result. Give happiness to life rather than waiting for some particular set of circumstances to bring it to you.

The world can and will treat you unfairly, and yet happiness is still yours to choose. When you do, you activate the power to change your world for the better.

Being happy with life is not some silly, superficial emotion that evaporates with the next moment. Real, unconditional happiness is deep and empowering.

In the unimaginably vast expanse of time and space, you have the great fortune to be alive here and now, able to choose and to make a difference. From your gratitude for all that is, for all you are, let happiness flow.

Be happy from deep within. Let the light of that happiness brighten your whole world.

Ralph S. Marston

December 27

Let yourself enjoy

Let yourself enjoy the moment you’re in, the place you are, and the things you’re doing. Let yourself enjoy the life you have right now.

It’s great when you work to make life better, richer and more fulfilling. But don’t ever give up the chance to enjoy all the goodness you already have.

The more fully you enjoy this day, the better tomorrow will be. Instead of indefinitely putting off your enjoyment until some idealized time in the future, experience enjoyment at every opportunity.

You don’t need for everything to line up in a certain way in order to enjoy yourself. All you really have to do, is make the choice.

Instead of judging each situation, each person and each activity, make the choice to give of yourself. Give your joy, and make the moment truly enjoyable.

Joy instantly makes life richer and more satisfying. Go ahead, right now, and let yourself enjoy.

— Ralph Marston

December 28

Discover more

Immerse yourself in the richness of life. Open yourself to bright lights and dark corners, blizzards and warm breezes, new ideas, to unique people and the stories they tell.

Life is much more diverse, colorful and fascinating than you could ever imagine. Discover a little more of its magnificence and wonder each day.

Don't become so consumed with your own concerns that you forget there's a whole universe of beauty and possibilities yet to be experienced. Venture beyond what you've always known, and discover more.

If you feel there has to be more to life, that's because there is. Step away from the comfort of what is familiar, and discover more.

There will always be problems and challenges, but you don't have to let them keep you confined. The more of life's richness you take in, the better equipped you'll be to deal with life's difficulties.

All you've experienced so far is just a taste of everything life has to offer. Discover more, and enjoy the richness that is yours to live.

Ralph S. Marston

December 29

Give joy a chance

Instead of dismissing the possibility of joy in this moment, give joy a chance. Your joy will change things for the better, right now.

Go ahead and be joyful that you're you, that you're here, experiencing this time and place. Whatever the circumstance, joy is possible.

And not only is joy possible, it is powerful. Joy forces you to consider your best options and connects you to your highest values.

Joy reminds you of what really matters. Joy lifts you above your limiting assumptions.

Even when problems surround you, especially when problems surround you, give joy a chance. Joy is a choice that requires strength, and by expressing joy you experience your strength.

You have it in you to be joyful, now and always. Give joy a chance, and feel the positive power as it sweeps across your world.

Ralph S. Marston

December 30

Every action creates progress

Every action creates progress. Even when the results are not what you seek, you have moved closer to the goal by taking action.

Often, the times when you're making the most progress are the times when it feels like your efforts are not getting you anywhere at all. Yet when you're making those efforts, you're making progress.

With every mistake, you're learning more about what doesn't work and what does. With every dead end you reach, you're becoming more familiar with the territory.

Yes, of course your goal is to get the results you want. Don't intentionally seek disappointing results, but don't let them stop you either.

Realize that even the setbacks prove the value of your efforts. Then get back up, with more knowledge and experience than ever, and make more efforts.

Whatever the outcome of a particular action, that action has created progress. Keep going, keep taking action, keep getting better and better at it, and you'll arrive at precisely where you wish to go.

Ralph S. Marston