Daily Motivator - March
 

March 1

Joy empowers

Why mope around with a scowl on your face and a sluggish spirit when you can choose instead to be joyful? Don't strain to see through a murky window of despair when you can gaze out from a crystal clear perspective of joy.

Though difficulties may hound you, there's no reason to add to them. Read, write, walk, run, work, play, listen and speak with joy.

Joy empowers. Every moment without joy is an opportunity lost.

Joy delivers a steady stream of life's best possibilities to you. Joy connects you with thoughts, ideas, people, situations, places and things that enrich you.

Joy does not need a reason. Joy creates its own reasons.

Make the world a more joyful place by creating some brand new joy right now. There's no reason not to, and no end to the good things joy can bring to life.

Ralph Marston

March 2

Want to do

Think of how different life would be if you could erase the line between what you have to do and what you want to do. Nothing would be a chore, and everything would be a chance to enjoy and express yourself.

Some of your tasks you probably view as tedious, and others you are thrilled for the opportunity to do. If you choose, you can be just as thrilled about every task.

Imagine there's no distinction between work and play. Imagine no difference between what's required of you and what entices and fascinates you.

Much of what makes any job disagreeable is the judgment you place on it. By simply withholding the judgment, and focusing on the work at hand, you make yourself more effective, and happier too.

Often, the things you fight against doing are the very things that can make life a whole lot better. To the degree you stop fighting and start doing, you greatly expand your options.

Let go of the need to decide whether or not you like the effort, and just do the effort. You'll find yourself enjoying the experience and all the good things it brings you.

Ralph Marston

March 3

Eject excuses

Excuses can entice you to give up. So make your purpose, your goal, your dream even more enticing than the most powerful excuse.

Excuses rob you of priceless time you could be using to create, to achieve, to make progress, and they give you nothing in return. That's a bargain you cannot afford to make.

If you're clever enough to concoct a reasonable excuse, you're also smart enough to avoid doing so. Put your brainpower to work in your favor, and don't make use of it to hold yourself back.

Don't spend time explaining why you can't when you can instead put energy into doing what you can. Challenges yield to good, sustained effort, so do the work, and keep it up.

Point your attention toward what's possible. Invest your time in bringing the best possibilities to life.

Eject excuses from your life the moment you feel the impulse to make them. And move forward so fast they won't ever be missed.

Ralph Marston

March 4

Go with what is

Go with what is. Waiting or wishing for things to be different, just wastes time.

Start where you are. Your destination can be whatever you choose, yet your starting point must be the precise place where you are.

Use what you have. Whatever you have is enough to get going, so acknowledge and respect its value, and make full use of it.

Act in this moment. Resist the urge to put anything off until someday, because you deserve to begin making good things happen right now.

Aim for perfection, but don't demand it as a prerequisite. Envision excellence, and start your way to it not from some idealized situation but from here and now.

From the reality of now, anything is possible, so embrace that reality fully. And utilize it to do great things.

Ralph Marston

March 5

Activate opportunity

Opportunity is not something you wait for, or search for, or find. Opportunity is something you embrace and activate with your actions.

Opportunity is not there to be stared at, speculated about or admired. Opportunity is there to be used.

Opportunity is not a free ride to riches or a foregone conclusion. It is a starting point, and going forward from that starting point requires work.

More opportunity exists today than at any time in the history of the world. In this very moment, people around the world are seizing opportunity and making the commitment to bring its value to life.

In every life, in every problem, in every desire, in every situation, is opportunity. Wherever it may be, whatever form it may take, to activate opportunity you must combine intention with effort.

Opportunity is abundant and growing more so. Activate it, work it, and use it to make a big positive difference in your world.

Ralph Marston

March 6

Flow of energy

Get the energy flowing in your life and point that energy in a positive direction. Get into action, get involved, become aware, and then give your love and your passion to what you see.

Take the raw material of this not-yet-completed day and transform it into something good. Instead of passing judgment on what has already come your way, figure out how to make it all work for the best.

There’s no value in getting overly worked up about what might or might not happen. Focus your effort and attention on making the best of what does happen.

It’s great to have high expectations. Yet the good things in life do not always arrive in the way you expect.

The building blocks of a rich and meaningful life are arriving on a daily basis, in all sorts of unexpected ways. Your job is to get yourself into the flow of energy, to harness that energy, and to point it in the direction of your dreams and desires.

Be involved, be accepting, and be purposeful. Focus the energy in all that happens, focus the abundance in all that is, and make it work.

— Ralph Marston

March 7

Unstoppable determination

When things go wrong you can doubt yourself, resent the whole world, seek pity and shrink from life. Or you can grow stronger, focus your intentions like a red-hot laser on the purpose you've chosen, and make great things happen.

Life will kick you when you're down, but you don't have to add your own negative energy to that abuse. Take all the anger, the resentment, the doubt, and transform it into determination and sharply-defined purpose.

If something is causing a problem, fix it or get away from it. Stop blaming and excusing, start building and achieving.

You're worthy and capable and deserve some solid victories. It's your job to make them happen in a way that's uniquely yours.

Be clear and precise about what you intend to do, and make the commitment to never waver. Raise your perspective and your performance to a new, higher level where the petty little distractions and annoyances simply do not get to you.

When things go wrong that's your opportunity to put new, powerful energy into making life better than ever before. Seize that opportunity, let it flood every part of you with unstoppable determination, and go for it.

Ralph Marston

March 8

Mending what is broken

The places where you hurt are the places where you can begin to heal. The ways in which you are vulnerable are the ways you can gather new strength.

There is no shame in being a victim. Yet there is no reason to remain one.

You are stronger already than every pain you have experienced. Each time you remind yourself of that, you grow even stronger.

Take a long, deep breath of fresh life energy in this brand new moment. You can do amazing things right now, and you know it.

Decide that the disappointments have distracted you long enough. Decide to live more by intention, less by reaction.

By mending what is broken, you discover how very much more is intact and able to do great things. Heal the hurt, feel the strength, and with it make life better than ever.

Ralph Marston

March 9

Lift your awareness

Look up from whatever you're doing and simply take a look around for a moment. Notice what a beautiful world you're in.

Take your mind off the problems, and direct your focus toward the positive possibilities. Remind yourself how much you have the opportunity to do.

Turn your attention away from the worries and anxieties. Think instead of all the good things with which your life is blessed.

Whatever you most consistently focus upon is the direction your life will go. Let your life move toward what matters, toward what is valuable, strong and true.

Whatever you allow to fill your awareness is what will end up filling your world. Expand your awareness beyond the momentary concerns, and toward the best of your possibilities.

Lift your awareness and your spirit toward the highest vision you can imagine. As soon as you do, you're on your way there.

Ralph Marston - The Daily Motivator

March 10

Choose to act

This is when you change the world. This is the time to get good, valuable stuff done.

Someday is the territory for empty wishes and dreams that have been set aside, so do not deal in thoughts of someday. Focus your thoughts and energy on now, for now is the realm of action and achievement.

If there's something you wish to change, today is the day to change it. If there's something you wish to achieve, now is your opportunity to make it happen.

Look around at your situation. See it as the field upon which you can push forward into achievement.

Lift your hand high in the air. Let it remind you how you can take action as soon as you choose it.

Now is the moment when your possibilities await. So choose to act on them, now.

Ralph Marston

March 11

Let go of doubt

It's easy to doubt yourself. Fortunately, it's just as easy to stop the doubt.

Doubt is nothing but a thought. You can choose to hold, to discard, to build upon or to let go of any thought at any time.

The moment you feel doubt beginning to arise, acknowledge that doubt fully and then let it go completely. Quickly replace it with positive, meaningful intention and action.

Don't fight against the doubt, for that will only make it stronger. Just let it be and then very quickly let it go.

Then keep the doubts away with action. The more you see yourself using your time and efforts to make a difference, the less you'll have to deal with doubts.

Prove to yourself how worthy and capable you are by acting to make the most of every moment. And doubt will have no place in your life.

Ralph Marston

March 12

You hold the power

You hold the power to reach whatever you seek. You possess the ability to live the life you envision.

Today, make use of that power. Today, engage that ability.

It can be easy to feel like events beyond your control are holding you back, pushing you down. But deep inside, you know that's not the case, and you know there's much more you can do.

Yes, the challenges are formidable. And yes, you can work your way through each one.

Though many factors are beyond your control, you choose your own attitude, thoughts and actions, every moment of every day. In those choices you'll find the power to move life in whatever direction you wish.

Right now, exercise your power, make a difference, then do it again and again. You deserve the best life imaginable, so do what you know you can do, and create it.

Ralph Marston

March 13

Treasure it all

Without the difficult times, you could not fully appreciate the good times. Without the good times, the difficult times would be infinitely more difficult.

Life changes, and that’s what makes it life. Life changes, and in the changes live every possibility.

Do not boast too loudly about your good fortune or despair too long about the disappointments. Things will change, and with that change will come new opportunities and new challenges.

Instead of fighting and judging, worrying and fretting, make the choice to marvel at the richness of it all. Enjoy, learn from, and be inspired by what’s here while it’s here, then be ready to move quickly forward as life continues its ceaseless transformation.

Care deeply and profoundly, but don’t let yourself take things too seriously. Walk that fine, marvelous line between unshakable responsibility and joyous serendipity.

In the ups, in the downs, in the detours and straightaways, there is much to treasure. So breathe in the richness, and treasure it all.

— Ralph Marston

March 14

Beyond anger

Even when you have a right to be angry, anger is not your most effective choice. Anger only perpetuates the pain.

In anger is great energy. Transform that energy not into destruction, but into useful, productive effort.

Your purpose is not to extract revenge or to prove a point. Your ultimate purpose is to live well, to experience joy and fulfillment.

In your life and in the world are many injustices. Let your response to those injustices be positive action, to make a difference, rather than uncontrolled anger.

Directing anger toward others does not help you or anyone else. Be angry, then be smart and quickly let that anger go while you direct its energy into positive pursuits.

The impulse for anger is strong, and you are stronger. Exercise that strength and build on it by moving beyond the anger and by raising up all of life.

Ralph Marston

March 15

Ongoing state of balance

It is not enough to build for the future, and it is not enough to live for the moment. You need both, every day.

Remember today to balance the long-term concerns with the short-term opportunities. Be focused and purposeful, while also being curious and playful.

Make time in each day for doing what you have not planned on doing. Allot other time in each day to create the good things that require planning and persistence.

Living with no regrets means living in an ongoing state of balance between work and play, rest and activity, focus and spontaneity. It is when you get too far out of balance that stress and disease begin to arrive.

In one part of your life's garden, plant seeds that will take a while to grow, feeding, watering and nurturing those seeds. From another part of the garden, cut fresh flowers and place them in your home where you can enjoy them, or better yet, enjoy giving them away.

Your future is important, and so is each present moment you're in. Give attention and effort to both, and live in healthy, fulfilling balance.

Ralph Marston

March 16

Get going now

The sooner you start, the more power you'll have to make a difference. Stop putting it off, stop worrying, waiting, making excuses, and avoiding, and just get going.

Immerse yourself quickly and fully in the effort. Cultivate a strong sense of purpose, right from the start.

You are here today to make good things happen. The sooner you get started, the better this day will be.

How many times have you proved to yourself that delaying the effort only makes it more difficult? How many times have you been stung by regret for not starting sooner?

This is your opportunity to learn from experience and avoid future regrets. This is your chance to go ahead and get it done.

Strength, confidence, effectiveness and satisfaction are ready for you to experience, right now. Get going, get the work done, and they will all be yours in great abundance.

Ralph Marston

March 17

Limiting assumptions

You are living your life based on a whole lot of assumptions you've made about yourself. Many of those assumptions may be holding you back.

If you think you can't get any work done after two in the afternoon, that's precisely how each day will unfold. But there's nothing preventing you from getting work done after two, other than your assumption.

If you assume you're no good at math, or public speaking, or being on time, you're absolutely right. Your assumptions about yourself are self-fulfilling.

Fortunately, you can change those assumptions. You can think differently about what you can and cannot do.

Your assumptions about yourself are choices you have made. If any of those choices are hindering you in any way, you can make new ones.

Your assumptions drive your thoughts and actions at the deepest level, without you even realizing. So step back, take an objective look, change the assumptions that are limiting you, and you can literally change your life.

Ralph Marston

March 18

Choice to act

Conditions, advantages, situations, resources, skills, timing and knowledge are all important factors in what you do. But they're not nearly as important as your choice to act.

The conditions may be perfect or they may be awful. In either case, and in all cases in between, you can get good stuff done.

A sailing ship can reach its destination whether that destination is upwind or downwind. The main difference is that the upwind journey provides sailors with more experience.

No matter how this day started or how it has been going, you can make progress now. Whether good things are falling into your lap or your situation has fallen into disarray, you can move forward.

What matters is your choice to get it done. Make the choice to act, and persist in following through.

The wind will shift, the sky will clear and then darken, people will criticize you and then praise you, support you and then oppose you. Through it all, continue making the choice to act, and you'll make good progress no matter what.

Ralph Marston

March 19

One great thing after another

If you let yourself get pulled in too many directions at once, you'll never make much progress in any of those directions. In order to say yes to real achievement, you must be willing to say no to other things.

There is much you can do, yet you cannot do everything. As compelling as the entire universe of possibilities may be, you must narrow your focus if you're to fulfill any of them.

Though your love has no limit, you are limited by the number of hours in each day. Though your love may encompass all that is, to express that love you must be more specific.

Just because you give your focus and attention to something in particular, does not mean you're ungrateful for all else. On the contrary, it means you're making effective use of your life to create value for all of life.

Saying no can be positive. Because it frees you to focus on something that makes a real difference.

Give yourself to a purpose that feels right to you, and don't let other possibilities pull you away. Instead of vainly trying to do it all at once, choose to succeed at doing one great thing after another.

Ralph Marston

March 20

Shimmering sea of abundance

In this moment, there is nothing to worry about. All is as it is, and worry will not change it in the slightest.

In this moment, hope is bright, alive, filling every corner of existence. Now, you can let go of what troubles you and allow the best of what inspires you.

Now, there is no outside influence that can prevent you from giving your best to life. Go ahead and live, love, create, feel, explore, and be fully present in the shimmering sea of abundance and possibility that is now.

There is beauty, here in front of you, that has never been before and will never be again. Enjoy its unique gift, just because you can.

You are more powerful than you have ever realized. Use that power for good, and feel it grow.

All is possible, so choose what is right. And live it with a passion that delights the whole world.

— Ralph Marston

March 21

Pleasure of a positive attitude

Be exceptionally good to yourself today. Give yourself the pleasure and the power of a positive attitude.

Cast off impulses to grumble, to be cynical, to complain. Embrace each opportunity to see, to live and to expand life's goodness.

Instead of feeling inconvenienced by some little something, feel privileged to be living your life. Rather than getting frustrated over matters that don't really matter, find delight in your determination to make life better.

It's just as realistic to be positive about life as it is to be negative. And it's a whole lot more productive.

Just because you encounter a problem doesn't mean you have to fill yourself with negativity. Instead, shine a light on the positive possibilities of the situation and work to make them happen.

A positive attitude feels good, and empowers you at the same time. You can choose it right now, and always, so do.

Ralph Marston

March 22

Unsure

If you're not sure what to do, go ahead and do something anyway. Action clarifies your purpose and illuminates your intentions.

If you're unsure how to go about it, make an initial effort anyway, right away. Even if the first step doesn't get you anywhere, it will give you valuable experience and perspective.

The secret to success is that no one really knows the secret. You learn to achieve as you go along, so get going, get the learning and achievement in motion.

If you already know how the story ends there's no point in reading it, or writing it. If you already know how the achievement will unfold, you owe it to yourself to seek a more ambitious achievement.

Unsure what to do with this day, with the month ahead, or the rest of your life? The way to be sure is to invest in life, right now, with action.

Free yourself from uncertainty with action. Get involved, get yourself clear about what, why and how, and make it happen.

Ralph Marston

March 23

Difficult work

What is difficult work for you is also good for you. Find more of it, do more of it, and make yourself stronger.

What is demanding is also rewarding. Meet the demands and enjoy the rewards.

What initially makes you uncomfortable eventually gives you more confidence. To enter your achievement zone, you must step outside your comfort zone.

If you're not regularly encountering challenges, raise your expectations. In each challenge is the opportunity to create new value.

Satisfaction comes from finding a way to do what you didn't know you could do. Trust in your ability to improve your ability, and enjoy the satisfaction.

The difficult work is the work that makes the biggest difference. Seek out difficult work, embrace it, and add real value to your world by getting it done.

Ralph Marston

March 24

Your choice to feel

You don't have to feel like doing the work to do the work. You just have to start, and keep going.
Your feelings are powerful and useful, desirable, inspiring, and informative. But they don't have to control you.
You don't have to use your feelings as an excuse. There are a whole lot of much better things you can do with them.
Free yourself from the notion that your feelings are imposing themselves on you and on your activities. Take responsibility for choosing the feelings that empower you rather than falling prey to whatever feeling might come along.
Your actions do not have to be controlled by your feelings. On the contrary, you can take actions that will bring about precisely the good feelings you want to feel.
If you don't feel like doing what you know you must do, go ahead and do it anyway. Soon, not only will you feel like it, you'll feel great for having it done.

Ralph Marston

Hope all is well. I love the daily motivator and Ralph has great stuff to say and that I can relate too. Though it seems everyday I read it later and later. I appreciate you posting it everyday and it's been a great way to start my day and keep me grateful through the day.
Thank you

Thank you! I have had to go to a different site to get it and they post it later in the day than the original site.

March 25

Leave your doubts behind

Don't let doubt kill your efforts. Don't let doubt dilute your creativity.

Look squarely at your doubts and tell them they are wrong. Muster the strength to bring those vague, elusive doubts all the way to the surface where you can destroy them.

Each doubt is a thought you own, and you can decide what to do with it. Decide to get rid of those doubts, one after another.

You deserve more than to be held back by your own doubtful, negative thoughts. Your best work deserves to be done and you deserve the satisfaction of doing it.

There are very real obstacles that stand between where you are and where you want to be. Don't let your own doubts add to those obstacles.

Instead, let go of the doubts and free yourself to work through all the challenges at your greatest level of performance. Leave your doubts behind, and let yourself achieve all the great things you're destined to achieve.

Ralph Marston

March 26

Life as it comes

Today is a great opportunity to put things off until later. But that's one opportunity you don't want to take advantage of.

Instead, you can ignore the opportunity to put things off and grab some of the other, much more valuable opportunities. You can use the time you have today, while you have it, so you'll have no regrets when it is gone.

You have plenty of time to do great, fulfilling things if you'll simply use it as it comes. There's no sense in putting anything off until later, because you won't have any more time later than you will right now.

There is great value in every moment, including this one. But once the moment is gone, the opportunity to add its value to your life is also gone.

So seize that opportunity while it's still here. Put everything you have into fully living life as it comes.

To get the most out of life, give all you can every chance you get. Now is when you have that chance.

Ralph Marston

March 27

Be of good cheer

Be of good cheer today, no matter what life hands you. Be of good cheer, because it’s a whole lot more effective than the alternative.

The situation may be challenging, but you don’t have to let it ruin your enjoyment of the moment. Life may have given you disappointment, but you don’t have to perpetuate that disappointment.

The best thing you can do when things go wrong is to think and speak and act as if things will get better. And when you do, more likely than not, things will get better.

A negative situation is not made better by a negative attitude. What will actually do some good is to turn the situation on its head by being positive about it.

Be of good cheer, and see what a difference it can make. Be of good cheer, and add something positive to every place you go.

Be of good cheer, not because you don’t know any better, but because you do. Be of good cheer, and be the difference that turns things around in a positive way.

— Ralph Marston

March 28

The promise that is you

Fulfill the promise that is you on this day. Live up to your remarkable potential.

What's been done in the past is done. Today you can do much more.

Whether you're satisfied with yesterday or disappointed about it, your strategy for today is the same. Create some great new value.

Nothing feels better than knowing you're giving your best. Now is your opportunity to feel it.

Live today so you'll be thankful tomorrow, and every day afterward, for what you've done. Live today so you'll be inspired tomorrow to do even more.

You can change the world today in a way no one else can match. Step forward, with passion for the possibilities, and live the unique promise that is you.

Ralph Marston

March 29

The miracle that is all that is

Life is magical, and the magic springs forth from the way you live it. This day is magical, and your job is to make it so.

Do not long for the way things were when things were good. The goodness you recall lives within you still, and is begging you to express it in new ways today.

Do not wish for your fondest dreams and highest values to be realized. Bring them to life in all you do.

If you strive to separate problems from opportunities, desirable from undesirable, you end up with nothing but striving. Embrace life as it is, allowing your love to amplify its richness.

Let the illusion of separation melt away. When you have a thought, the whole world thinks that thought, and what you feel, life itself feels.

Open yourself to the miracle that is all that is. You have great things to do with it now.

Ralph Marston

March 30

Boldness lives in you

Boldness forges a path to greatness. Go ahead and live the life your heart begs you to live.

You care about all you love, and that care generates great power. Plug in to that power and act on it, now.

This day is a blank check you've been given, with no limit on its worth. Your actions are what will fill in the amount.

If you feel no passion, if you feel no purpose, if you feel no confidence, do something good and right and worthwhile. Boldness arises when you see yourself making a difference.

Every good thing you can imagine is already connected to you. Follow that connection by putting one foot in front of the other with love, with caring, with joy and thankfulness.

Boldness lives in you. Today, let it drive you.

Ralph Marston

March 31

Everyday heroes

The most influential heroes in life are not those who get all the glory. All over the world are everyday heroes, doing what they do because they know it is good and right, and not for any recognition.

Everyday heroes work patiently and diligently behind the scenes to create meaningful value, day after day. They honor commitments and pay attention to quality.

Without humble everyday heroes, the world would be a dark and difficult place. Everyday heroes understand how positive and fulfilling life can be, and work to make it so for as many people as possible.

Everyday heroes know how satisfying it feels to make a real difference in the world. That satisfaction enables them to sleep well at night and to be quite comfortable in their own skin while awake.

It doesn't take any supernatural skill to be a real hero. All it takes is a genuine love of life and of all those who live it, plus a bit of decency, honesty and respect.

Remind yourself often what a blessing it is to live in a world filled with everyday heroes. Though they don't make the news, they constantly make a positive difference in more ways than can ever be imagined.

Ralph Marston