Daily Motivator - October

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October 1

Do the work

You find it difficult to turn away from the comforts of the moment to work on a future achievement. Difficult, yet the quality of your life demands it.

Compared to immediate gratification, everything else feels like work. Be strong, be purposeful, rise above shortsightedness, and do the work.

Enjoy each moment, be good to yourself, but don’t pamper yourself into a meaningless existence. You are able to do great things, so get your hands dirty and get those great things done.

There is no real joy in endless empty pleasure. If you’re not creating meaningful value, you’re accumulating bitter regret.

Great possibilities abound right now, so seize them, work with them. The opportunities, the challenges, the efforts strengthen you, energize you, fulfill you.

Substance and richness are what you seek. Let them come through your efforts, every chance you get.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 2

Beyond your assumptions

Your assumptions cause you to see things that are not there. Your assumptions blind you to realities that are all too real.

Your assumptions save you the time and effort of thinking everything through. That can be helpful, and it can also be dangerous.

If you assume too little, you can become paralyzed by the need to endlessly evaluate every new situation you encounter and every new decision you must make. If you assume too much, you can lose touch with reality.

Depend on your assumptions, while also challenging and verifying them regularly. Though you've accumulated some great experience and wisdom, life isn't always the way you assume it will be.

Beyond your assumptions, new and valuable possibilities thrive and multiply. As comfortable as those assumptions may be, keep in mind that they can severely limit you.

Remind yourself often that your assumptions are just that, assumptions. Remind yourself often to see the realities and participate in the possibilities that you never would have assumed are out there.

Ralph S. Marston

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October 3

Creative ideas

Ideas flow into your awareness. Pay attention, and give them some respect.

The ideas you create come from the life you live, from the problems you encounter, from the values you hold. That makes them quite valuable and appropriate for you.

Don’t discount ideas just because they come from you, or just because they seem silly. Though they won’t all be workable, each one has something to tell you.

You are a highly creative being. And your creativity is specifically targeted to your own unique situation.

Creativity is not just about directing films or painting pictures. Creativity helps you in every moment to make the most of life.

Accept those creative ideas as they flow into your awareness. Grab the good ones and follow through, adding great beauty and goodness to your world.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 4

Inner substance

When bitter winds howl through life, be strong, and thankful. When sunlight bathes your world in warmth and comfort, be thankful, and strong.

Some days you’ll feel on top of the world, and other days will seem like you’re sinking in a pit. You can choose to live them all with grace, integrity, strength and gratitude.

What’s outside will toss you around, lift you up and push you down. Through it all on the inside you can grow, stronger, wiser, with new understanding, compassion and love.

And what really matters when you encounter the most challenging challenges? What enables you to fulfill the most positive, compelling possibilities?

What matters is the authentic person you are inside. What matters is the inner substance you’ve built through all the experiences you’ve had.

Today things will happen, planned, unplanned, desirable, undesirable. Take it all in, work your way through, and tomorrow you’ll be better than ever.

-Ralph S. Marston,

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October 5

Everything that’s right

Here’s an interesting irony. You are able to see what’s wrong with life precisely because there’s so much right with life.

All the good parts give you the luxury of being able to consider what’s not so good. All the things that work correctly enable you to fix what’s broken.

Whenever anything goes wrong, it’s easy to feel dismayed. You’ll be much better off, however, if you use the occasion to remind yourself how good you have it.

Life’s troubles exist within a larger context. That context includes the beauty and abundance of life and all its positive possibilities.

If all you do is obsess over what’s wrong, that disconnects you from your power to move forward. Instead, consider all you still have going for you, so you can make good use of it.

Remember and appreciate everything that’s right with life. Then you can effectively deal with everything else.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 6

All the possibilities

You may not be able to move forward in the way you planned. So, move forward some other way.

You may be prevented from going in the direction you intended. Yet there are plenty of other positive directions in which you can go.

Don’t allow yourself to see the obstacles as excuses. See them as opportunities.

Planning is important, but the plan is not the achievement. If the plan doesn’t bring the progress you seek, put your positive energy into another approach.

You absolutely can live the fulfilling life you wish to live. Open yourself to all the possibilities, not just the ones you originally imagined.

Flexibility, creativity, enthusiasm and commitment will get you there. This is an ideal time to put them all to work for you.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 7

Be the positive difference

Hope shines brightest in hopeless situations. Optimism is the most powerful when there is no obvious reason for it.

If you’re not pleased with the way things are, that’s no excuse to be dejected. It is an opportunity to make a difference, to be the difference.

Your inner direction does not have to be dictated by the way things are. You can choose to be driven, motivated, inspired by your highest vision for life.

It’s all too easy to let go of your vision, to claim the world is pushing you down. What’s much better is finding a way to live that vision in every moment no matter the circumstance.

Sure, there are obstacles to overcome. The way to get past them is with a strong, non-negotiable, positive vision.

Let your highest and best vision drive you. And be the positive difference you know you can be.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 8

Intention

Action creates achievement. Intention makes sure those achievements are meaningful and useful.

Intention alone does not achieve anything. Yet intention determines what the achievements will be.

You’ll get much more done when you start the day with a detailed list of what you intend to do. Intention immunizes you from the distractions and interruptions.

To achieve whatever you desire, you must begin by knowing precisely what that is. Intention directs your energy and activity toward meaningful results.

Today presents you with countless ways to waste your time. With intention, you avoid wasting such a precious, valuable, irreplaceable resource.

Give your life the respect and the fulfillment it deserves. Live it each day with intention.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 9

Live in gratitude

Every moment you live in gratitude is a moment you do not have to live in fear, or anger, frustration or disappointment. Every moment you live in gratitude empowers you to be more purposeful, effective, kind and creative.

It's easy to be grateful, though sometimes hard to remember to be. Let this serve as your reminder.

In fact, you can remind yourself to be grateful in a lot of different ways. It's obvious that you would be grateful for your blessings, yet there are plenty of other things you can add to the list.

When a challenge arises, you can be grateful for the strength and experience you'll gain and the new value you'll create by working through that challenge. When you've been disappointed or suffered a loss, you can be grateful for your ability to care about life.

Gratitude keeps you connected to the good and valuable parts of your life. When you remember to be grateful, you suddenly equip yourself with a powerful, positive perspective.

No matter what may happen, you can find a way to be grateful. Live in gratitude, and live at your very best.

Ralph S. Marston

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October 10

Enthusiasm and energy

Your life deserves all the enthusiasm and energy you can give it. So without waiting another moment, give it, and keep giving it.

Be a positive presence in your own life, your own thoughts, your own actions. Be a positive influence for people and situations you encounter.

Imagine the best that can happen, and then take vigorous steps in that direction. Visualize pure, unrestrained joy and then let that joy emerge from your vision out into your life.

Let go of the tired old thought patterns that keep you feeling worried and hesitant. Think of what it would mean right now to live with boldness and enthusiasm, then do it.

Your time is too precious to let even a few moments slip away without putting all of yourself into them. The possibilities are too splendid to ignore.

You have the power to energize your whole world. Activate that power, create that energy, and do all the great things today you know you can do.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 11

The best now ever

What you feel today was set in motion a long time ago. Even so, it is as fresh as a drop of dew a few minutes before the sun comes up.

What you know right now has taken a lifetime to discover. Yet before you had learned anything about life you understood it.

A thousand years of solid effort would not exhaust your capabilities, nor deplete your imagination. Now is always with you, always adding to what’s possible.

Think of what an enormous, amazing existence is yours right now. Decide anew how you’ll do it justice, and act right away on your decision.

The point is not how much time you have, or how little. For time is a concept that cannot encompass all you experience, all you are.

The point is how richly you fill the moment you’re in. Let your awareness dive deeply into the depth of your being, and make this the best now ever.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 12

Away from negativity

When you’re tempted to give out judgment, see if you can offer understanding instead. Rather than trying to prove you’re right, seek to improve the situation for everyone.

Anger, frustration, resentment and their kin will indeed pump you up with great energy. As quickly as possible, transform that energy into positive pursuits.

When events get blown out of proportion, as they always do, remind yourself to be calm. Instead of reacting to the drama of the day, renew your commitment to your highest values.

It’s important to hold people responsible for their actions. But it’s a waste to obsess endlessly over who is to blame for every undesirable turn of events.

Focus your thoughts on the good you can do, on spreading that good as far as possible. Put your efforts into personally adding new value to life.

Step away from the negativity, refusing to let it consume you. There is much good you can do, so fulfill your best possibilities and enjoy getting it done.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 13

Appreciation

There’s a way you can instantly make anything you have more valuable. All you have to do is more fully appreciate it.

The more you appreciate your skills, the more useful they become. The more you appreciate the people around you, the more helpful and enjoyable they become.

Appreciate your circumstances, and you’ll get more out of them. Appreciate the challenges, and you’ll transform them into achievements.

There’s a word commonly used to describe a financial, real estate or other asset that has gained value. That asset is said to have undergone appreciation.

Yet appreciation is about more than an increase in monetary value. By offering your own appreciation, you can add richness to every part of your world.

Consider all the good things in your life, and even the not-so-good things. Give them more appreciation, and they will all grow in positive value.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 14

Fulfillment in how you live

Fulfillment is not something you find. Fulfillment is in what you do, in how you live.

You roam, you search, you click, you shop, beg, hope for and demand the answer. Yet the key to a fulfilling life cannot be neatly packaged and delivered to you.

The quality of life you live is created in your thoughts, actions, attitude, commitment, integrity. It comes from the way you treat others, from what you expect of yourself, from what you give to each moment.

Today is your opportunity to raise that quality to an even higher level. Whatever your outer conditions may be, what matters most is what you treasure within.

Look ahead to the life you’ll be living tomorrow, next year and beyond. Be the person today who will give maximum value and meaning to that life.

The way you are and the things you do have a great impact on how your life unfolds. Now is your chance to make that impact as positive, as beneficial as you can.

-Ralph S. Marston

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October 15

Face forward

Don’t let the difficult times drain your hope. Don’t let the good times melt your ambition.

Life changes, and you have a hand in making those changes. Time continues to pass, yet no day is ever exactly like the one before.

Be careful not to become too smug about the successes or too discouraged about the failures. Instead, direct your attention, your focus, your energy and efforts toward what you can do now.

You can be certain the world will change as you move through the moments, days and years. Within such a dynamic environment, you can always create new, positive value.

Briefly look back to learn, to be inspired, to fuel your determination. Then face forward and give life your best, most positive, focused, effective self.

Face forward, knowing you can rise above the disappointments and push beyond the victories. Face forward, with love, generosity, purpose and passion, and do all the great things you know you can do.

-Ralph S. Marston