Daily Motivator - March
 

March 1

Value of challenge

Attempt what you’ve never before attempted. Challenge yourself, even if for nothing more than the value of the challenge itself.

That value is open ended. Your possibilities for new discovery have no limit.

There’s much you’re unaware of, that you don’t even know you’re unaware of. Diving into new challenges will push you in getting up to speed in some of those areas.

Expand your knowledge, your skills, your competence by choosing challenges that interest you, that entice you. You’re sure to encounter beneficial ways to make use of the capabilities you gain.

You know from past experiences how profoundly you can boost your confidence by working through a difficult challenge. Choose to add more such experiences.

Nurture yourself with a new challenge. It’s a great use of your time that can pay dividends far into the future.

— Ralph Marston

Happy New Month My Dear
friends, Thanking God for getting us
Through the month of February one
at a time.

Happy New Month to you. I pray that March is a better month.

March 2

Good work to do

You’ll find great satisfaction in assessing what exists, what’s available, and improving upon it. You’re able to render a wide variety of objects and situations more beautiful, more useful, more accessible, understandable, and enjoyable.

Not everything is in need of such transformation. Yet there’s always something in your world that is.

You have the opportunity to appreciate and to be thankful for all the goodness that surrounds you. And on top of that, each day you have the opportunity to refine and expand on that goodness.

What’s broken can be made to work again. What exists only as a good idea can be brought into beneficial reality.

What’s already valuable, you can make even more valuable. What’s been lost, tarnished, or underappreciated, you can bring back to prominence, beauty, and usefulness.

The opportunities are many, and they’re all around. Seek to humbly make something better with your attention and effort, and you’ll have no shortage of good work to do.

— Ralph Marston

March 3

Put imagination into action

If you knew how close you are to making progress, you’d keep up the effort. But you don’t know, and that can be discouraging.

You can, however, do another powerful thing. You can imagine.

Imagine that a breakthrough is just a few minutes away. Imagine you’ve reached the goal and are filled with gratitude for your own persistence.

Imagine, then put that imagination into action. Imagine, and what you imagine will energize and drive you to make it real.

Transform the negative energy of doubt into the positive energy of action and achievement. Imagine in detail your desired outcome and let yourself be inspired by it.

There’s power in your thoughts. Make use of that power to bring about the breakthroughs and the results you seek.

— Ralph Marston

March 4

Problems and opportunities

Every ending is followed by a new beginning. With every disappointment comes a fresh opportunity for success.

In every mistake you get a valuable lesson to be learned. Every setback places you in a new position from which to move forward.

Along with every frustration comes the energy to move to a higher level of achievement. Every challenge compels you to develop a new strategy for taking action.

With every time of darkness comes the chance to make a difference by shining your own special light. With every sadness comes a deeper appreciation for the joys that life can hold.

Every difficulty can push you upward to a new level of strength. Every loss provides an increased determination to win.

Though life has many pitfalls and problems, there can be a positive side to nearly every one of them. Choose to see and live that positive reality, and no problem will be a problem for long.

— Ralph Marston

March 5

Good luck

Luck is often seen as a cause. But almost always it is an effect.

Luck does not make anything happen. It describes what has already happened, which is to say, you make your own luck.

Luck is not a mysterious, arbitrary force. It happens for very real reasons.

Some factors in life you have control over, and other things you have little or no control over. Both affect the amount and direction of luck you perceive.

You can sway the balance decidedly in your favor by making sure those things under your control are pushing you forward. Though circumstances outside your control will not always be ideal, you can make sure the factors you do control will trend in your favor.

Through a positive focus, discipline, preparation, effort, and persistence, anyone can get lucky. Good luck is yours when you work your way toward it.

— Ralph Marston

March 6

Live your life well

Live your life well today, with no apologies. Make your way through the world, embracing responsibility for your own actions and consequences.

You have unique value, a worthwhile and authentic perspective. Share that value, express that perspective.

It’s great to deepen your understanding of others, and to generously give of your spirit. But that’s no reason to become a slave to anyone else’s opinion of you.

Open yourself to all the possibilities. Summon the courage and the discipline to follow the ones that have the most meaning to you.

Take a little bit of risk, do what initially feels uncomfortable. Life is yours today to be lived in all its richness, and much of that richness exists outside what’s become all too familiar.

Now is your opportunity for unique and enriching experience. Make it count, make it memorable, give the best of yourself and make it great.

— Ralph Marston

March 7

Vision for the future

Create good reasons to look forward. You, your community, and your world all thrive on such reasons.

What’s already happened has happened, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. The future, however, is wide open, and largely determined by what you decide to make of it.

That decision comes from your vision, informed by all you treasure and all you seek to do with it. It revolves around the specific life experiences you wish to create, share, and encourage.

To develop and expand such a vision is not easy. And it’s likely you can get by, at least for a while, without it.

Yet to honor and fulfill the unique and precious value that is your life, vision is a solid necessity. Though you can survive for a while without a vision for the future, you are capable of so much more than mere existence and survival.

Look forward, see the reality of what’s possible, and focus on the most beneficial and enriching outcomes. That gives you power to successfully deal with what is, and to favorably shape what can be.

— Ralph Marston

March 8

Go ahead now

Today brings great promise. Begin now to fulfill that promise.

Your most persistent thoughts will result in action and your most effective actions will be transformed into accomplishments. It all gets set in motion by your intention and your attitude.

There are good reasons for all you love, all you care about, all you dream about creating, sharing, and experiencing. Here and now, let those reasons encourage you to bring new goodness to life.

This is the time that you have to work with. This is the moment in which you have the immeasurable good fortune to live.

As big as the problems may seem, they are only a small fraction of the possibilities. Today is when you can choose to follow the best of those possibilities.

Everything in your life has been leading up to this moment. Go ahead now, and continue to more richly experience and fulfill the life you were born to live.

— Ralph Marston

March 9

Go beyond

Look beyond what angers you and you’ll see what teaches you. Move on beyond what saddens you and you’ll encounter things that bring you joy.

Venture out beyond what irritates you and you’ll enter into situations that empower you. Learn to see past what frustrates you and begin to uncover what drives you.

Beyond what worries you is the realm of what inspires you. Go beyond what frightens you and you’ll engage in experiences that strengthen you.

Seeing the good in life is a matter of looking beyond the distractions, frustrations and disappointments. Beyond what is superficial, fleeting and negative, you’ll connect with what has substance, what endures, what truly matters.

Go beyond your first impression. Look beyond the surface.

When it feels that the whole situation is stacked against you, look beyond. Go beyond, and find all the real, positive, enduring value that life has to offer.

— Ralph Marston

March 10

Take a breath

You crash against the wall of someone else’s incompetence. Take a breath, and put it in perspective.

You’re frustrated by all the work you have to do and the obstacles that stand in your way. Take a breath, and let that frustration fall away.

Take a breath, and turn your attention toward all you are thankful for. Consider the many possible good experiences you have to look forward to.

Refuse to get caught up in resentment for factors you cannot change. Take a breath, and feel all the potential goodness that lives inside you.

Inspire yourself by imagining the many ways you can express that goodness in the real world. Inspire others by acting on what you imagine to make it happen.

When the world’s confusion pulls your awareness away from who you are, what you care about and why, take a breath. Give yourself the chance to get back where you truly belong.

— Ralph Marston

March 11

Clear and present purpose

Start the day strong. Start it with purpose.

As you work your way through the hours, make them mean something. Live them with clear and present purpose.

Keep your focus on meaningful, positive purpose. You’ll keep the value and the accomplishments coming.

Continue to remind yourself of what you intend to do and why. Claim all the moments of your life and fill them with richness.

With purpose, you can push through the distractions, interruptions, and conflicts. With purpose, you give meaning to the joys, the victories, the challenges, to every experience.

Choose purpose now, and stick with it. Connect with the meaning that is your life, and keep the goodness flowing.

— Ralph Marston

March 12

Where your thoughts go

Put your thoughts where they will do the most good. Focus them on creating and expanding upon what’s positive and desirable.

You wouldn’t spend your hard-earned money buying things you didn’t want or need. It’s important to be just as discerning with the power of your thoughts.

Sure, you can’t help but notice the negative things in life, and often you must deal with them. But that doesn’t mean you must dwell on them.

Choose instead to direct as much of your thinking as possible toward goodness and value and richness. Fill your thoughts with the best possibilities and with consideration for how to bring those possibilities to life.

Where your thoughts go, your priorities, your actions, and your life will follow. Think kindness, generosity, achievement, excellence, and give real energy to the values you cherish.

Every thought has an impact. Point as many of your thoughts as you can in meaningful and beneficial directions.

— Ralph Marston

March 13

The choice is yours

Do you want people to trust you, or do you want to take advantage of them? You can’t have both.

Do you want people to respect you, or do you want them to feel sorry for you? You can’t have both.

Do you want to speak and act and feel superior to others, or do you want to be genuinely admired, perhaps even loved? You can achieve one or the other, but not both.

Do you want to impress people with your style and fame and fortune, or do you want to be truly happy and fulfilled? You can focus your energy and resources on one, but not both.

Every day, every effort, every priority, every interaction is a choice. Those choices add up to the life you live.

How do you want your life to unfold from this day forward? The choice is yours.

— Ralph Marston

March 14

You can handle it

It will be messy, inconvenient, and tedious, yet it must be done. Fortunately, you can handle it.

It will take time and effort you’d rather be spending elsewhere. But instead of resenting the imposition and making it even worse, you can cheerfully get busy and get it done.

Life is not all marshmallows and cupcakes. There are important jobs to be completed, difficult obstacles to be overcome, challenges you cannot merely wish away.

Yet you have what it takes to do the work and solve the problems you’re faced with. And it is precisely by dealing with life’s difficulties that you enable yourself to enjoy life’s richness.

If everything was free and effortless all the time, how could you possibly find joy in any of it? With nothing painful or difficult to compare it to, you could not even recognize or experience comfort and enjoyment.

Whatever the challenge, whatever the effort, whatever the inconvenience, when it’s necessary to create a valuable outcome, you can handle it. The more you do so, the more goodness you invite into your world.

— Ralph Marston

March 15

Diligence matters

Nothing falls completely apart all at once. Nothing comes fully together all at once.

Most consequential occurrences, whether negative or positive, do not instantly spring into existence. To create more of what’s good, to steer away from what’s bad, requires continuing effort over time.

With diligence you leverage the small moments to create great influence. Diligence matters because of the power it enables you to claim over the unfolding of your life.

Act with intention today, then again tomorrow, and continue as each new situation arises. With your commitment to positive purpose, invoke the power of your own diligence.

Fully live this moment. But don’t get so lost in it that you neglect the diligence that can make such a positive difference.

Enjoy the richness of today. Appreciate all the goodness your diligence has brought, and work to keep that goodness coming.

— Ralph Marston

March 16

Exceptional life

Wander, wonder, discover, admire. Celebrate, attempt, persevere, achieve.

Give, understand, listen, consider, reconsider. Do all that makes you real, all that brings you closer to truth.

Dance freely, breathe deeply, explore with curiosity and respect. Begin each day with hope, and keep that hope alive as every moment passes.

Lose yourself in the experience of beauty. Find yourself in sustained purposeful effort.

Carry out your grown-up responsibilities while expressing the limitless energy of the child that’s always lived inside you. Be rich in ways only you can be.

Today is an irreplaceable day of your exceptional life. Live it with all the care, joy, and amazement it deserves.

— Ralph Marston

March 17

Being more patient

Patience costs nothing yet it can change everything. Patience will add power throughout your life.

You gain nothing when you seek to jump ahead of the moment. Instead, give your activities and experiences the time and attention they deserve.

Patience lets you see things you would have otherwise missed. Patience enables you to communicate clearly, accurately, in rich detail.

Patience strengthens relationships. Patience leads you toward wisdom and deep understanding.

Rather than merely skimming the surface, with patience you can experience great richness in the full story. Calm anxiety, increase intention and reduce carelessness, with patience.

Remind yourself often that you can be more patient. There’s much to be gained when you do.

— Ralph Marston

March 18

Choose good thoughts

If you’re frustrated, worried, or annoyed, it’s because you’ve decided to be. And the moment you remind yourself of it, you can decide differently.

You have ample reasons to think negative thoughts. You also have the ability to replace those thoughts with more empowering ones.

It’s valuable to notice and acknowledge life’s difficulties, to be realistic about them. That enables you to make meaningful improvements and helps you avoid trouble.

But there’s negligible value in obsessing over negative factors you can’t do anything about. Instead, point your powerful thoughts in a direction where they can do some good.

All through the day, every day, you can decide exactly which thoughts will fill your mind. Select the ones that lead you toward achievement, fulfillment, kindness, and understanding.

Think of positive purpose, confidence, excellence, patience, beauty, and determination. Choose good thoughts, and follow where they lead.

— Ralph Marston

March 19

Unpleasant reality

The way to deal with an unpleasant reality is not to hide from it or deny it. Instead, recognize it and then set about to either change it or change the way it affects your life.

You can admit reality without admitting defeat. Accepting things for what they are does not prevent you from changing them.

Indeed, the opposite is true. As soon as you can clearly see and own up to the reality of the situation, you have begun to gain power over it.

Engage your imagination, and picture a positive alternative to the unpleasant reality. Then put your passion, your skills, and your resources to work, and bring that alternative to life.

Every opportunity that exists is based in truth and reality. By acknowledging and embracing reality, you give yourself the opportunity to improve upon it.

Accept and understand your life as it is, and visualize the way you would like it to be. Then, with your intention clearly and firmly in mind, get to work and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

March 20

Fresh possibilities

No matter how many years you have passed through, you’ll find fresh possibilities in each new day. Today is no exception.

The burdens may be heavy, the challenges great. Yet opportunities abound to live with purpose and fulfillment.

Look beyond the concerns and limitations of the moment. Align your thoughts and actions with the goodness that can be.

You always have potential that’s not been fully realized. There are plenty of good things you can do that have not yet been done.

The stretch of time you’re just now entering is one you can fill with meaningful purpose and lasting value. Draw energy from the realm of possibilities as you move forward.

Feel the sense of excitement as you activate your abilities with intention and focus. Now is time to live at your highest level.

— Ralph Marston

March 21

Richness of who you are

You don’t have to know every answer. You don’t have to witness every spectacle.

You have no need to acquire every possession. There is negligible value in experiencing every possible sensation.

Joy is found not in quantity but in quality. Fulfillment comes as a result of discernment rather than unbounded accumulation.

You have to allow many things to pass you by. That gives you the time, the space, the focus to invest yourself in what you care most about.

Yes, you are always missing out on something. That’s precisely what enables you to attend so well to all that truly matters.

Let go of any anxiety or jealousy surrounding what you might be missing. Instead of trying in vain to grab all you can, live the richness of who you are.

— Ralph Marston

March 22

The perfect day

Are you waiting for the perfect day to put your plans into action? That perfect day will never come.

Yet today is an entirely acceptable day for taking action. So go ahead, even though the situation is not perfect.

You’ve listed all the excuses time and time again. This time, step firmly beyond them.

Perhaps you were expecting better conditions, more time and resources than what you now have. Nonetheless, you’re capable of going forward with the way things are.

The results are what matter, not the excuses. Today is when you can begin to create those results.

Stop wishing and waiting for perfect. Go with what’s possible, and work to make plenty of good things happen.

— Ralph Marston

March 23

Courage to say yes

Today you’ll come across opportunities to speak and act with genuine love and kindness. Embrace those opportunities, make the most of them as often as you can.

For they are the moments that remain with you always. They are what you can continue to treasure even if you were to lose all else.

From time to time you’ll have a chance to walk in the sunshine. Give yourself often the gift of that experience, and share it with others when you can.

At times you’ll discover someone who can benefit greatly from the knowledge and assistance you have to offer. When you do, go ahead and make that offer, and you’re likely to be thankful you did.

A life of richness comes from saying yes to the opportunities for kindness, connection, genuine experience and caring. Be on the lookout for the circumstances and people to whom you can say yes.

Look back and remind yourself of all the goodness that’s entered your life because you had the courage to say yes. Let it inspire you to put that courage into action again and again.

— Ralph Marston

March 24

Continuing value

The past is over but it still has meaning. Because you’re always carrying value from the past into the present.

It’s impossible to live in the past. Yet all around you are treasures the past continues to deliver to you.

The language that gives meaning to these very words was developed over long periods of time in the past. The device on which you’re reading them, and the networks over which they’re delivered, grew from a more recent past.

Pretty much everything you know about is old news, because it has already happened. As eager as you might be to discover what’s next, take care not to abandon the value of all that has been.

Much of that value, even from centuries ago, can continue to benefit you as you speed into the future. Just because some particular truth is old does not make it irrelevant.

Indeed, some of the most relevant things are the ones that have survived the longest. Keep that in mind as you continue to inhabit the rich and potent frontier between the past and the future.

— Ralph Marston

March 25

Away from the problem

Maybe the best way to solve the problem is not to directly solve the problem. Perhaps the best way forward is to render the problem irrelevant.

The problem matters, and yet so does the overall picture. Don’t focus so intently on the problem that you ignore the wider context with all the positive possibilities it contains.

The most effective path away from the problem is likely to have nothing to do with the problem itself. But if your thinking is confined only to the problem, you won’t be able to imagine that solution.

Acknowledge what’s wrong, and then stop focusing on it. Give the power of your attention to all the things in your life that are right, and let them give power to you.

Keep in mind that your world is filled with abundant resources, and you can utilize them in an endless number of creative ways. Visualize yourself not as fixing what’s wrong but as creating something new and valuable.

Instead of being a victim of one thing or another, instead of getting mired in the problem, become inspired by the possibilities. Take a healthy dose of determination from the problem, then leave it far behind.

— Ralph Marston

March 26

Direct route

The shortest distance between two points is a simple, direct line. To live with optimum effectiveness and fulfillment, live life directly.

When there’s something you must accomplish, don’t waste time and energy on doubt, resentment, or procrastination. Just get busy and get it done, intentionally and directly.

If you make a mistake, you could put a lot of wasted effort into covering it up, crafting an excuse, or pretending it did not happen. What’s best, though, is to accept it, admit it, deal with the consequences, and move along.

Avoid jumping through a bunch of superficial hoops to gain status just so you can be accepted and liked by others. Instead, take the direct, genuine approach by being considerate, respectful, friendly and helpful.

If your life is continuously running up against complications and frustrations, stop and ask yourself what it is you truly want. Then consider that there is very likely a more direct way.

Be direct in your words, your actions, your plans and your thoughts. You’ll make much greater progress when your energy is all focused along a sure and direct path.

— Ralph Marston

Big Time Amen to That.

March 27

Guiding purpose

When you have a reason, you have a way. So find the reason, the purpose within, the objective that pushes you into relentless action.

Open yourself up and admit what you care about, what drives you, excites you, compels you. Ramp up your energy and activate your courage.

Don’t just sit there and cast empty judgments on all you see from a purely conceptual and dispassionate perspective. Embrace the glorious fact that you’re thoroughly entangled in this thing that is life, and maximize your involvement.

You’re highly evolved and superbly equipped to solve problems, to achieve objectives, to create, to delight, to fill the world with new value and beauty. Zero in on the specific pursuits that ignite your passion, and feel the satisfaction of giving your best to them.

With a strong, meaningful guiding purpose, you create a solid structure that provides support for every endeavor. It serves as a bulwark against disruptions, disappointments, doubts, and deceptions.

Spend your moments in the service of what matters. Let the energy of your purpose bring a continuing stream of goodness and value to your world.

— Ralph Marston

March 28

Great rewards

When you encounter difficulty, that’s no reason to give up. On the contrary, it means you’re making real progress.

As you get closer to the summit, the mountain becomes steeper, more rugged. Keep climbing, continue making the effort, for you’ll soon be reaching the top.

Every challenge you come across provides confirmation that you’re making a positive difference. See those challenges not as excuses to stop, but rather as forming a platform from which to push forward.

The greatest achievements come in response to the greatest challenges. When the going gets rough, you’re entering the realm of profound opportunity.

When there is much that must be done, there is enormous value waiting to be created. Step boldly forward and claim that value.

Whatever may come, whatever arises to block your path, keep moving. There are great rewards to be gathered just on the other side of your persistent efforts.

— Ralph Marston

March 29

Be decisive

When you decide to go with one option, you abandon other options. But if you never make that decision, none of the options end up providing any value.

Rarely is any option a perfect choice. Every choice is likely to come with one compromise or another, or many.

Yet to get anything accomplished, again and again you must commit to particular options. That means being decisive, and then following through on your decisions.

Give due consideration to the consequences of each choice, but not to the point that you give rise to analysis paralysis. Think honestly about your options, then decisively go with what you deem best.

If you try to preserve all your options by endlessly delaying your decision, you’re likely to lose them all. The sooner you choose, the more power you’ll have to leverage your choice into positive results.

When you have a choice, make it. That gives you the opportunity to make it work.

— Ralph Marston

March 30

Never a victim

You never have to see yourself as a victim. You always have the option to take full responsibility for your own life.

That’s not the easiest option, particularly in the short term. But over time, as years and experiences accumulate, it’s your best option.

Countless forces affect every aspect of your existence. The vast majority of them are far beyond your ability to control or even influence.

Yet although you cannot stop a speeding train, it’s a fairly simple matter to avoid standing in front of one. Rather than seeing and positioning yourself as a victim, there are plenty of good things you can do.

You can pay attention to what benefits your life and what harms it, and act accordingly. You can notice which people and situations encourage and support you, and can choose often to be in their presence.

You can start with the assumption that your life is your responsibility, and then act upon that assumption in every situation. Do that, and even in a precarious, uncertain world, you’ll never have to accept the role of helpless victim.

— Ralph Marston

March 31

Positive feedback loop

You determine what you think, say, and do. Those things you think, say, and do, in turn, shape you, who you are, how you live.

It is a self-reinforcing trajectory, a positive feedback loop. What’s important to consider is, which way is it headed?

What specific positive feedback loop are you creating and enabling in your life? How well does it line up with your deepest desires and your most treasured values?

Your experience of life feeds upon your choices, and your choices feed upon your experience. Because of this, the smallest change can become magnified to exert profound influence.

Your smallest thoughts, your most trivial actions matter. Whether they’re harmful or beneficial, you’re giving life and sustenance to them, exponentially expanding their consequences.

Live every moment in a way you’d like to see amplified. Because in many aspects it will be.

— Ralph Marston

Happy Easter my dear friends.

Happy Easter to you willbe.