Daily Motivator - April

[bluidkiti]

April 13

What’s possible

Fresh possibilities are magnificent, inspiring, even intoxicating. Yet they can quickly grow stale and bitter when they are not exercised.

Tools that are routinely utilized grow in value as you become more experienced with them. Tools that are never used merely accumulate rust and take up space.

There is nothing sadder than what could have been, but wasn’t. That’s certainly not where you want your bright and shining possibilities to end up.

Following those possibilities will require lots of hard work from you. But that’s not such a bad thing.

After all, what makes the possibilities so attractive is the opportunity to invest yourself in them. By doing the work to achieve what’s possible you fulfill your deep-seated desire to make a difference.

Your best possibilities are meant to be fulfilled. Get busy making that happen.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 14

Set sail at sunset

Do what enables and encourages you to be delighted with the world. It is no less a necessity than breathing, eating, sleeping.

See that which is beyond what you have a reason to see. Experience what you could not ever expect to experience.

Make sure all your planning and striving have a purpose beyond merely more planning and striving. If you can make sense of all that calls to you, you’re not listening intently enough.

In this particular time and place you’re connected to all that has ever been and all that can possibly be. Gaze through those windows of beauty and mystery that permit you to see that reality.

Many things limit and constrain you, while some things set you free. Pay attention to them all.

Set sail at sunset, fly to the moon. Remind yourself how beautiful and amazing it is, to be.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 15

See what you can find

Exploration is more than just going where you have never been. It is going where you have never been and carrying with you all your capabilities and your knowledge.

Consider what a potent combination that can be. Exploration gives you the opportunity to apply existing competence to new situations.

Explore with your feet, with your mind, or with your heart. Ideally, explore with them all.

Begin a story even though you are not sure how it will end. Put all you know and all you can do into that story.

As your story unfolds you’ll find yourself growing more knowledgeable, more capable. You’ll be eager to explore again and again.

What have you been preparing yourself to explore? Set off in that direction and see what you can find.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 16

Positive and passionate purpose

Airing your grievances can feel good. But then what?

Finding new ways to complain about the same old things is not doing anyone any good. Don’t let yourself get stuck in that trap.

You’re passionate about the problems. Now do something positive and useful with that passion.

Yes, acknowledge those problems, and also choose not to let your life be defined by them. Do the work to create a positive and realistic vision of what you can live for.

See how much of your time, energy, focus, and awareness you can put into following that vision. See if you can get yourself to a place where your default feeling is one of hope rather than angst, and keep yourself there.

Your urge to complain about what’s wrong is pushing you to find new ways of doing what’s right. Accept the challenge, and give life the benefit of your positive and passionate purpose.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 17

Joy of existence

Enjoy today to the fullest extent possible, but not so much that you compromise tomorrow. Enjoy yourself in every imaginable way, but not in ways that depend on harming anyone else.

It is not selfish to engage in joyful experiences. What’s selfish is to deny joy to others, or to your future self, merely to serve the expedience of the current moment.

Neither your situation nor the world’s situation has to be perfect, or even adequate, for you to experience joy. Genuine joy is not something you take from life but is something you’re able to give that improves all of life.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that a lack of joy in your life is anyone’s fault, including your own. Realize instead that joy is your potential, obligation, responsibility, and a pointer to your highest level of fulfillment.

Joy bears little resemblance to mere pleasure. Joy fulfills, engages, and energizes your deepest values, your integrity, your body, mind, spirit, and soul.

Seek to be a source, a conduit, and a grateful repository for the joy of existence. Know that in every circumstance there is life-affirming joy to be lived and shared.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 18

Treasure of wisdom

You have great wisdom, earned day after day over the years of your life. Don’t let that wisdom lie dormant, trapped in old experiences and forgotten words.

As every new day arrives, you can put that wisdom to use. As well-established in the past as your wisdom may be, it is always relevant in the present.

The fact is, you have an excellent sense of what to do, of what to avoid, of what to revere, of what to dismiss. Pay attention to that sense, and follow its guidance.

If something seems too good to be true, it very likely is. Rather than hoping that your wisdom is wrong, assume that it is right.

Your victories, your defeats, your disappointments and your joys, all empower you now to make your best choices. Life gets better when you learn from it and make good use of what you’ve learned.

Keep yourself connected to the growing treasure of wisdom that’s always yours. And keep your life going in a successful direction.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 19

Beautiful burden

The potential of this day weighs heavily on you. To ease that burden, you must actualize that potential.

Opportunity is also obligation. At a distance good fortune seems like a reward, yet up close it is also a great challenge and responsibility.

That’s because goodness and value are not static things. They must constantly find expression in the dynamics of living, or they cease to exist.

To the extent you rest upon achievement, or begin to take it for granted, you degrade and devalue that achievement. Instead, show your full gratitude for it by making full use of it.

The hours ahead are calling you to fill them with meaning. The years to come are insisting that you live them with purpose, in the best interest of you and of life itself.

Embrace the beautiful burden of your own potential. Treat everything you can be as the valuable and precious thing it is.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 20

Truth is worth the cost

The truth can be terribly painful. Yet avoiding the truth is worse.

As difficult as it may be, acknowledging the truth and carefully examining it adds to your understanding. The more clarity you achieve about why your life is the way it is, the better you will do going forward.

What painful truths about yourself, about others, about the world, have you been hiding from? Think of all the good things those truths could now teach you.

Like anything of value, wisdom is not free. You earn wisdom by asking why, and by being truthful with your answers.

There are endless ways to continue distracting yourself from the difficult truths, past and present, in your life. But by giving in to those distractions you deny yourself the strength, growth, understanding, and sense of purpose that truth can bring.

Seek truth, see truth, accept truth, however painful, unpopular and inconvenient it might be. Truth is at the root of every good thing you have, and truth is worth the cost.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 21

Slippery slope

Doing one small thing against your better judgment is not likely to have a major negative impact on your life. The problem is, that one thing can lead to another, and another, and soon you can be a long way from where you intended.

Avoiding a slippery slope in the first place is a whole lot less demanding than climbing back up. The small things matter much more than they might seem.

Self discipline has the unfortunate reputation of being difficult and oppressive. But it’s a lack of self discipline that actually ends up causing more trouble and misery.

When you continually discipline yourself about the small things, the big things rarely become an issue. You can either discipline yourself in ways you choose, or life will do it for you in ways you certainly will not like.

Every choice, big and small, has consequences. Every choice is an opportunity to re-affirm your commitment to a positive and meaningful future.

Make the best of all those opportunities. Your life is too valuable to choose even one small step in a negative direction.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 22

Know your limits

How do you transcend your limits? You start by acknowledging them, examining them, understanding them.

Limits have much less power over you when you’re precisely clear about what they are. The more you know about your limits, the more you can compensate for them.

When you’re able to fully compensate for a particular limit, it is effectively no longer a limit. Though it still may exist, from your perspective you have rendered it irrelevant.

Know your limits, and know them in detail. Then focus your time, energy, thought, and passion on your purpose.

Combine your desire to move forward with your thorough understanding of what’s hindering you. Unleash the power of your intention and identify ways to break through those limiting factors.

Rather than mindlessly cursing the limits, get to know them. That’s what will get you beyond them.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 23

Do it again

It’s very quick and easy to pull one weed out of your garden. It’s so easy in fact that you can do it again, and again, until all the weeds are gone.

You have no problem staying focused and on task for a brief moment. By simply stringing those moments together you can get hours of highly effective work done.

You know you can do it once and that means you can do it again. Repeat a positive pattern enough times, and whatever success you desire can be yours.

Remind yourself it’s not a massive task that you face. It’s a small, easily approachable task that’s repeated again and again.

Persistence is not a long and drawn out effort. Persistence happens in a series of instants, by simply starting the next step when you’ve finished the current step.

You don’t need some superhuman effort to get good and valuable things done. You just have to take the next step, and then continue to do it again.

— Ralph Marston

[Rockinbigdaddy]

Suppose that we believers in the Lord Jesus make our requests to God. Suppose also that, as far as we can honestly judge, the obtaining of our requests would be for our spiritual good and for the honor of God. We must then continue in prayer until the blessing is given to us. Furthermore, we have to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers. Frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained and in not expecting the blessing. As assuredly as any individual uses these points, so assuredly will his requests be granted.

[bluidkiti]

April 24

Good things you can do

You can take on responsibility and you can handle it. You can make a commitment and you can follow through on it.

You can encounter challenge and then rise up to transcend it. You can envision value and then work to make your vision real.

You don’t have to beg for people to make things easy on you. You’re able to meet life where it is and make it the best it can be.

You can hold yourself together through the difficulties that arise. You can grow stronger and even more capable as the result of each experience.

You have integrity, potential, value, creativity, kindness and generosity within you. You are curious, adaptable, energetic, aware, intelligent, and passionate.

Life is not perfect and you are not perfect, yet there are certainly plenty of good things you can do. And right now, today is eager for all you’re able to give it.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 25

Long way to go

You can’t do all that must be done. Yet you can do something.

So go ahead, and do something, now, and whenever you can. Don’t let the overwhelming nature of the challenge compromise your ability to make real, meaningful progress.

You’ll never learn every detail you’d like to know. Yet you can always learn something, and then learn more.

There’s always room for improvement. So go ahead and improve, yourself, your world, the lives of those around you.

Though you won’t ever have all the answers, you can find more and more each day. When the road ahead is long, steep, and winding, take the next step.

In fact, choose to be thankful that you have a long way to go. And with love, with purpose, with curiosity and enthusiasm, keep going.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

April 26

Think before you respond

Some of what seems to get you frustrated may not actually be what’s making you frustrated. It could just be a habit you’re continuing to follow without even reconsidering why.

Perhaps you’re not well served by reacting the same way you’ve always reacted. Perhaps you can choose a more beneficial response.

Step back, take a deep breath, and take a good look. Ask yourself which of the ways you’ve been responding to life are in your best interest, and which are not.

It takes more effort to think before you respond. It also gets you much better results.

Are there people, concepts, or situations that cause you anger, anxiety, or despair just out of habit? Maybe it’s time to progress beyond those habits.

Use the power of your intention, driven by authentic purpose. Choose your attitudes and actions based on what works best for you now, and not necessarily on what you’ve always done.

— Ralph Marston