June 15

Purposeful power

The accumulated experience in your life has given you something of great value. Based on that experience, your sense of what matters is stronger today than ever before.

You have the very real ability to be more focused, purposeful, determined, and persistent. Imagine for a moment what you can do with that ability.

Over the course of your life, you’ve experienced plenty of satisfaction, regret, fulfillment, and disappointment. All that experience and all those feelings have given you a finely-tuned awareness of what’s truly important.

Today you have the opportunity to put that awareness to work. Today you can make use of the purposeful power that the living of your life has given you.

How far might that purposeful power take you? What positive possibilities could now be within your reach?

You know from experience what matters. Make good use of the power of purpose that continually flows from that knowledge.

— Ralph Marston

June 16

Avoiding conflict

Do your interests run counter to the interests of someone else? To resolve those differences, you don’t necessarily have to go into conflict with that person.

Conflict is sometimes necessary. More often, though, you can find better alternatives.

Don’t assume that the other person has to lose in order for you to win. With sufficient creativity and innovation, it’s entirely possible that you could both come out ahead.

Examine your own motivations and consider the possible underlying motivations of the other person. Look at the situation from an objective perspective with genuine respect and understanding.

Conflict is costly, even if you win. By avoiding conflict you preserve time, energy, resources and relationships to be useful in more productive pursuits.

There are plenty of good ways to move forward that don’t involve conflict. Challenge yourself to use your brain rather than your belligerence.

— Ralph Marston

June 17

Truth is worth the effort

Information has gained widespread use as a form of currency. Beware of those who set out to counterfeit it.

The information that can provide you with value is the information that has truth behind it. Anything else will waste your time or lead you astray.

How do you gain trust in a source of information? You repeatedly question it, challenge it, corroborate it.

Truth has great value, and just like anything of value it requires time and effort to attain. Something is not true just because someone says so, or just because you want it to be true.

Those who seek to deceive rely on the laziness and carelessness of the people they deceive. Those who deliver truth are eager to be questioned and challenged.

Put in the necessary work to distinguish real facts from empty pronouncements. Truth is well worth the effort.

— Ralph Marston

June 18

Treasures of experience

Someday you’ll more fully appreciate what you’re going through today. Whether joy or disappointment, fulfillment or frustration, pain or pleasure, you’re adding value in your life.

Look back a little ways, or a long way, and you’ll see. You continually leave the past behind, yet you carry forward the rich treasures of experience.

Today is one such experience that will end up serving you well. Do what you can, do what you must, to work your way through.

Expect good things, but don’t beat yourself up if you fail to get it perfect. Give your best, and know that time will amplify the value of your efforts.

The most difficult moments can also be the most productive. The most uncomfortable situations can instill in you the greatest strengths.

Through the ups and downs, ins and outs of this day, take it all in stride, live it all with integrity and excellence. And know all the while that you’re creating your own unique treasures of experience.

— Ralph Marston

June 19

What life is already

Let go of the need for anything to be different. Allow yourself to be fulfilled by everything that is.

Let go of your obsession with getting. Center your energy and awareness on being.

Let your goals and dreams push you toward a bright and fulfilling future. But don’t let them blind you to the immense abundance that is right now.

Work your plans, honor your obligations, and fulfill your duties. Do it all from a positive and authentic living presence.

Discover again and again that joy is now. Live the reality that true happiness is yours the instant you choose to let it flow from you.

Live not from need, but from love. And see what a magnificent thing life already is.

— Ralph Marston

June 20

Start now and keep going

The work will take some time. But the time will pass whether you do the work or not.

The question you have to ask yourself is this. When the time has passed, would it be better to have the work done?

Of course it would, and sure, it will take a while. That’s a very good reason to get started right away.

You won’t be able to get all the work done immediately. Yet you can get some done today, some more tomorrow and the next day and the next.

And before long, what once seemed overwhelming will be done. Instead of wondering how you can possibly get it all finished, you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Start now and keep going. Make the passing of time your ally and make achievement your thing.

— Ralph Marston

June 21

Meaningful impact

Let yourself be amazed at the reality that presents itself to you moment after moment. Allow yourself to be filled with awe at the countless possibilities that continually interact to give birth to even more.

Be humbled and endlessly grateful that you’ll always have something new to discover. Open yourself to the learning, the discovery, the experience, and to the good work you can do with it all.

Realize how pointless it is to get bogged down in the noisy trivialities that swirl around you. Understand the opportunity that’s always yours to make a meaningful and positive impact on reality.

Draw encouragement from considering how far you’ve come. Find inspiration in contemplating all the good things that have ever been done.

Mix in a good measure of confidence and hope, along with some skill, energy, effort, and wisdom. Then apply it all to the ever-expanding universe of possibilities in which you’re immersed.

Right now you find yourself within an amazing reality. Here is your chance to offer your own meaningful impact, to make it more amazing than ever before.

— Ralph Marston

June 22

Move on into action

Intention is necessary but not sufficient. Do the good things you intend to do, preferably sooner rather than later.

Planning is helpful but it’s just the beginning. For the planning to pay off you must execute the plan.

Don’t fall into the idea that preparation can be a substitute for action. Yes, do the preparation, and then do the rest of the work.

Is thinking about it getting in the way of doing it? Then the time has come for you to go beyond mere thinking and move on into action.

It’s great that your intention is purposeful and well thought out. Now cash in on the value of what you intend to do by acting on it.

You can’t demonstrate your commitment just by thinking or talking about it. Move on into action, and reap the many benefits that come from following your purpose.

— Ralph Marston

June 23

Push on through

Again and again you’ve learned when the going gets tough that’s the time to keep going. This time is no different.

You’ve seen when the work is no longer easy there’s more opportunity for work that returns great value. Do that work, create that value.

Whenever you’ve chosen to push yourself on through you’ve been thankful for that choice. Act now in a way you’ll look back upon with satisfaction and gratitude.

You know there’s meaningful treasure locked within your current challenges. Push on through and make those rewards available for yourself and your world.

Effort and inconvenience now will lead to significant achievement soon. Push on through and get all the way there.

As the work becomes more difficult the goal gets closer and more desirable to reach. Now, push on through and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

June 24

Here and now

You have right now. Do everything you can to treasure it, make full use of it, and live it with all you are.

What has happened has happened. Anger, frustration, and complaints about it will only contaminate the present with echoes of a past that cannot be changed.

Focus your thoughts on the reality of the good you can do here and now. Identify a worthy, desirable possibility and go cheerfully to work.

See if you can let go of the doubts and worries about what might or might not happen. Unlock energy for making the most of all that is here and now.

Enjoy the feeling of being effective in real time, in the real world. Watch with satisfaction as you exercise purposeful control over your thoughts and actions.

Understand and appreciate the great treasures that can be forged from life in the present moment. Know the distinct joy of making that happen, right here, right now.

— Ralph Marston

June 25

The boss

You have significant control over your actions, your thoughts, your feelings, your words, your opinions. It’s not total control all the time but it’s a whole lot more than anyone else has.

The positive and purposeful exercise of that control is called discipline. It is something you can improve upon every day.

The more you experience yourself exercising discipline and the more you experience the rewards of that discipline, the stronger it grows. Certainly there are times when discipline does not come easy, and those are the times when it has the greatest positive impact.

What small part of your life today can you exercise more beneficial control over? Do that consistently, repeatedly, and the benefits will spread throughout your whole world.

Reality is always there to impose its discipline on you whether you want it or not. Answer that by getting out in front of reality with your own discipline.

You are the boss of you. Be an exceptional one.

— Ralph Marston

June 26

Meet the demands

Avoiding effort is itself an effort and a burden on you. Perhaps you’re better off just going ahead and doing what must be done.

Putting off an unpleasant task until later does not make it any more pleasant. What will make your life more pleasant is to put forth the necessary effort and get the work finished.

You cannot get around the fact that life places certain demands on you. What you can do is meet those demands in ways that create value and fulfillment.

Look from the perspective of opportunity, of possibility. See what the situation offers you alongside what it demands of you.

After all, the necessity of meeting life’s demands is what it is. Your thoughts are what can make it into a burden, yet you’re entirely able to choose different thoughts.

When life’s demands arise, promptly acknowledge them and go about dealing with them. Life demands much of you, so activate your beautiful ability to transform those demands into value.

— Ralph Marston

June 27

All the good you can do

Not everything will go your way today. Nonetheless, you can experience some significant wins.

This day is not going to be perfect. Yet through your choices you can make it much better than it would have otherwise been.

The quality and success of your experience today is largely up to you. It depends on where you direct your focus, on where you apply your time, energy, and resources.

Though the world is filled with problems, it is also overflowing with positive potential. Some meaningful aspects of that potential exist right now within you, your abilities, your situation.

There are parts of your world where you can begin immediately to make real progress. Give your attention, commitment, effort and tenacity to them.

Don’t let the difficulties that are out of your control dissuade you from doing all the good you can do. Be ever mindful of your positive potential, and always eager to live up to it.

— Ralph Marston

June 28

Negotiate with yourself

There’s a certain difficult action you must take to move your life forward. But you can’t bring yourself to go through with the whole thing.

So what do you do? You negotiate with yourself until you find some portion of the effort that you can do and will do right now.

You’re not ready to walk five miles every day but perhaps you’d be willing to walk around the block. You don’t want to commit to a full-blown advanced degree program but maybe you could take an introductory course online.

Steady, incremental improvement can take you anywhere you choose to go. Find an increment that’s just the right size to tackle right away.

If it turns out to be more overwhelming than you anticipated, adjust to a smaller increment. When you discover you’re ready for more, step up to a more challenging increment.

Negotiate in good faith with yourself and arrive at something you’ll actually do. Then keep going where your good efforts take you, and they will absolutely take you far.

— Ralph Marston

June 29

Follow through

It’s good to have options. Yet options are worthless if you never follow through on any of them.

Put sufficient thought and consideration into choosing the best option. Keep in mind, though, that a successful outcome requires more than making the initial choice.

A big part of what makes any particular option a good choice is what you do with it. The best option is the one you’ll continue to give your time, attention, and effort to.

There’s nothing to be gained by obsessing endlessly over making the perfect choice. Instead, make a reasonably well-informed choice and then put your energy into making that choice work.

To the degree that a choice limits you, it also enables you to apply your efforts in a meaningful direction. It’s only when you’re on a specific path that you’re able to move forward.

More significant than the choice itself is what you do with it. Make the choice, follow through, and make it work.

— Ralph Marston