June 14

Your highest goodness

You cannot take more than you give. It is impossible to sustain for longer than the blink of an eye.

You can, however, give more than you take. And that is what makes your experience of living so beautiful.

Value exists for you to the extent you invest yourself in it. Fulfillment is generated by what you do with what you have, not by what you seize or possess.

You cannot sneak past the necessity of providing a contribution to each day. The desire to make a difference is part of you, and the more readily you embrace it, the better.

Don’t spin your wheels in a futile attempt to gain something for nothing. See that the gain is in the doing, and do.

Let go of what frustrates you and let in what empowers and fulfills you. Give your highest goodness and effort to life, and know how good life can be.

-Ralph Marston

June 15

Jump fully into life

Any energy you put into avoiding responsibility is a waste. You’re going to have to step up and take responsibility sooner or later, so do it now.

Dealing with life is often difficult. Yet the alternative makes life far more difficult.

You cannot avoid consequences. However, you can determine what they will be by the way you live.

Today, you can choose the consequences that will fall upon you tomorrow. Choose positive, desirable consequences by engaging in responsible, value-creating behavior.

When there are challenges, put forth the effort to successfully get past them. When there are opportunities, do the work to transform them into achievements.

Hiding from life and its demands is never a good strategy. Choose instead to jump fully into life with the best you have, and make it the best it can be.

-Ralph Marston

June 16

Ahead of the deadlines

You have the opportunity right now to avoid having to rush to get the job done at the last minute. Go ahead and do it now.

You can eliminate long stretches of resentful, hurried, ineffective efforts from your life. Simply get your work done sooner rather than later.

You can earn yourself time to think, to relax, to be free of deadlines. Just get out far ahead of those deadlines.

It's better being in control of your time than to be striving to catch up with your obligations. Begin taking care of those obligations as soon as you have them and get them quickly out of the way.

This is your chance to make much more time in your life for doing what you want to do. The sooner you finish what you have to do, the more of that priceless, flexible time you'll have.

Give your time first to what you have to do. You'll be giving yourself a whole lot more quality moments to do whatever you love to do.

Ralph Marston

June 17

Wash it away

Remember how it feels to feel great? Your own intention enables you to feel that way right now, and any time.

Think of those times when you’ve had a burst of creativity. Today can be one of those times.

Have layer upon layer of negativity hidden your best self from your awareness? Let those layers fall away, and bring your highest values to the surface once again.

Though you live in a world ripe with challenge and confusion, a part of you exists beyond it, and can always rise above it. Connect with that part and feel the true joy of living.

Pay attention to everything going on around you, and stay engaged with the world. All the time, keep in touch with your ability to bring forth joy and fulfillment.

At any moment, in any circumstance, your joyful, positive presence can improve your world. Instead of giving in to the negativity, wash it away with the way you are.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 18

Away from doubt

From the very first effort, action begins to replace doubt and fear with courage and confidence. You move from worried and dubious to enthusiastic and effective.

The longer you keep going, the stronger your momentum becomes. Soon you’ll realize you’ve left your doubts far behind.

As overwhelming as doubts may feel, they soon wither under the heat of focused action. As shaky as your confidence seems at the start, it quickly grows stronger and begins to feed upon itself.

It’s understandable you’d be nervous about taking the first step. Yet when you bring yourself to do it anyway, that’s a game changer.

Even a small action will start the momentum. From it you gain the courage, the energy, the passion to keep going.

Go ahead, and take one small yet meaningful action to begin moving away from doubt. Keep going, feel the expanding power of your own intention, and your doubts will soon be left behind.

- Ralph S. Marston

June 19

The value of what you give

What is really valuable is not anything you get. What brings the greatest value to your life is what you give.

The investment of your time, effort, attention and caring, makes life rich. That richness comes not from the results you get, but from the degree to which you give.

Having the opportunity to give your love is far more valuable than having love directed toward you. If all the world loved you and you had nowhere to direct your own love, life would be unbearably empty.

So love, without expecting love to be returned. Give, not because of what you will get but because the giving itself is so fulfilling.

Take the fulfillment to an even higher level by encouraging and enabling others to give as well. Allow yourself to be loved, as a way for you to deepen your love for others, giving them the opportunity to love.

Live richly by giving the unique richness already inside you. Give of yourself, sincerely, continuously, and experience life from its most fulfilling perspective.

— Ralph Marston

June 20

Miracle in front of you

If you let yourself see the full beauty of this moment, you will think of nothing else. Open yourself to the miracle right in front of you, allowing gratitude and awe to consume your awareness.

Difficulties, massive as they seem, become tiny afterthoughts compared to the possibilities. Need, compulsion, desperation fade into insignificance amid the beauty of now.

Regrets and disappointments, fears and worries cease to exist as you focus on the miraculous moment that is here. Right now, you have the power to live, to think, to act, to love, and that is everything.

Whatever may have convinced you to hold yourself back has no power over you anymore. This beautiful moment is real, you are real, and so is your ability to live well.

Give yourself to the goodness you feel. Spread that goodness in all you do, to everyone you encounter.

Enjoy being astounded by all the beauty that is here and now. Soak up the positive power of this miraculous moment, and with it do great things.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 21

New worlds of possibilities

Hiding in what’s comfortable robs you of your powerful ability to adapt, to explore, to wonder, to improve. Doing only what you’ve done before eats away at your options.

If you think only what you’ve already thought, that’s not really thinking at all. When your opinion cannot be changed by the facts, you’re deceiving yourself.

Give your life some fresh energy by taking on some new challenges. Make yourself stronger by testing your strength in unfamiliar situations.

New possibilities are born with every turn of events. Open yourself to some of them by venturing a little beyond the sure things you’ve grown dependent upon.

Be willing to change your perspective, and transform limitations into opportunities. Learn what you’ve never known and see new worlds of possibilities.

If you think there’s no hope for life to improve, think differently. Countless options will spring to life the moment you start to look in a new direction.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 22

Joyful attitude

Give this day, this world, this life the highest respect you can by being positive. Show appreciation for all you have, for all that is, by living with a joyful attitude.

Complaints and disparagements earn you nothing, no matter how well justified. They push away the goodness that could be yours in each moment.

Living with a positive perspective is not naive or unrealistic. Being positive raises your awareness, actions and results to a higher, more beneficial reality.

Faith in the future begins with faith in the present moment. And faith in the present moment is possible only with a positive outlook.

You don’t have to sugarcoat the world, or your situation, to be positive about it. You simply have to see it and live it from a place of love and gratitude.

Though life is never perfect it always carries an element of goodness with positive possibilities. See that goodness, joyfully build upon the possibilities, and give life the love and respect it deserves.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 23

Seeing where it is

Persist, and you will find what you seek. But don’t expect it to be where you thought it would be.

There is a way to reach your goal, a way to get past your troubles. To see it, you must move beyond old assumptions.

If you keep looking where you’ve always looked, you’ll find only what you’ve already found. To create new, improved results, embrace a new, improved perspective.

Your past assumptions may have served you well, or not so well. In any case, on this new day you have the opportunity to look at life in a new, more positive and empowering way.

Be thankful you don’t already know everything there is to know. That opens you to learn what you need to learn, to discover an effective way forward.

The rewarding path you seek is absolutely there. Stop thinking you know where it might be, and you’ll start seeing where it actually is.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 24

Give hope its due

Live with hope but not only with hope. Live with hope, acting upon that hope each day.

Hope is not realized in an instant and not without persistent effort. Let your hope give you the energy and drive necessary to fulfill its promise.

Employ hope not to deny or escape reality but to improve reality. Hope is always called for when it calls you to positive action.

Hope deserves more than to be an empty wish. Hope can engage the power of your whole being, and there’s no limit to where that will lead.

Hope is about more than an eventual outcome. Hope is about your attitude and your inspiration all along the way.

Give hope its due. Make use of the power it gives you to persist in doing good and valuable things.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 25

Choose your thoughts

What are you saying to yourself with your thoughts? Does your self talk keep you stuck where you are, or does it push you forward?

You can choose each of the thousands of thoughts passing through your mind every day. You can choose thoughts to encourage, inspire, enable and energize yourself.

Every moment you have the opportunity to say something beneficial to yourself with your own thoughts. Whatever the situation, you can make use of that opportunity.

Moment by moment, what you do and the way you do it flow directly from what you think. Positive, empowering thoughts lead to effective actions and valuable results.

What you think does not have to be an impulsive reaction. Instead, make it an intentional choice.

Your thoughts have great power. Remember always that you have the ability to decide what they will be.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 26

Joy in every effort

Want to actually make this a great day instead of just wishing for one? Then destroy all remnants of the misconception that effort is something to be avoided.

The truth is, effort can create the utmost enjoyment. Firmly imprint this truth in your awareness as you push yourself joyfully from one task to the next.

The main thing that makes good, productive effort distasteful is your attitude toward it. Improve your attitude about your efforts and you can radically improve the quality of your life.

You have the power to see every effort as a joy, so step right up and activate that power. Pack this day to the brim with useful activity, and delight in the unique pleasure of filling your world with richness.

Seize the opportunity that exists in whatever must be done. Marvel at your good fortune in being well positioned to make a difference.

Flood your world with brilliant achievements by eagerly taking on challenges and transforming them into value. See for yourself that the more effort you make, and the more joyfully you make it, the better life becomes.

— Ralph Marston

June 27

Some little something

Can you bring yourself to do one small thing that makes a positive difference? Then you can change the reality of life for the better.

Can you find it in yourself to smile for just a moment? Then you can feel a little better about everything.

Can you offer a few encouraging words to another? Then you can make the world a little brighter.

Even when you’re facing life’s most oppressive challenges, there’s something you can do to make a little improvement. And when you’ve made a little improvement, you can make a little more.

Even when life dishes out nothing but unfairness, pain and disappointment, you have an advantage. There’s some little something you can do, right now, to make it a little better.

Do that some little something, and feel your own positive power. Begin to improve reality in some small way, and discover for yourself that you never have to stop.

-Ralph S. Marston

June 28

Beauty

See others not for their labels, but for their beauty. Pay attention not to the noisy false urgencies, but to the profound beauty surrounding you.

Live this day feasting your awareness on beauty in all its forms. Let your heart be filled with thanks for the many joys, simple and accessible, you can experience.

You don’t really have to know the latest news flash, for it is no different than the last one. Invest your life in living the beauty, and in making more.

Imagine that you could never again watch a cloud drift through the sky. Then go out and watch one, live and in person, brimming with gratitude for the chance to be.

You don’t need to control, acquire, or prove you’re right. Beauty calls, joy beckons, and you answer.

As real and serious as troubles may be, they are nothing compared to beauty. Live the beauty, share the beauty, and help to push the troubles away.

-Ralph S. Marston