August 29

All you can give

It is by giving value that you receive value. You experience meaning and fulfillment to the extent that you make your moments meaningful.

Yes, you can arrange various ways to obtain the external necessities and luxuries with no effort on your part. When you do, those things will add no real value to your life.

At its most fundamental level, life is about making a difference. That experience of making a difference is how you know you matter.

What can you do to give value to this moment, to this situation? At the heart of every desire you’ll find a yearning to give of yourself.

It’s common to keep score based on what you can get. But such an approach, on its own, inevitably comes up empty.

Seek instead to keep your focus on all you can give. And bring your life richness that never runs out.

— Ralph Marston

August 30

Advising yourself

If you were someone else, what would you advise yourself to do? Consider that advice and follow it.

Imagine you’re an objective observer, genuinely looking out for the best interests of someone who happens to be you. What suggestions would you make to yourself?

How would you advise yourself to deal with your own unique challenges? How would you encourage yourself to work toward the fulfillment of your best possibilities?

Step back, visualize those things, then step forward and take decisive action. With kindness, with firmness, give yourself a reality check, some gentle nudging, a bit of tough love, a lot of enthusiastic support.

Respect yourself, challenge yourself, be honest and persistent with yourself as if you were someone determined to make you the best you can be. Realize, in fact, that’s exactly what you are, exactly what you can do, exactly how you can be.

Get outside the confines of your emotional attachment to your own experience. Tell yourself soberly and even-handedly what you must do, then implement that good advice.

— Ralph Marston

August 31

Change your mind

You are allowed to change your mind. When you learn something new, when you experience something different, you can alter your opinion accordingly.

You can change your mind and still be you. That’s true even if you’re heavily invested in a particular perspective.

There’s much value when you can be steadfast in your thinking. But there’s no value in being stubborn when quality, credible evidence contradicts your thinking.

When any opinion ceases to have a solid basis in fact, doubling down on it is not an effective response. Instead, open yourself to other possibilities, to informed and tested perspectives.

An important part of being right is admitting when you’re wrong. Anyone who refuses to do so cannot maintain credibility.

Give yourself a powerful, yet adaptable grip on reality. Be resolute in your perspective while at the same time willing to change your mind.

— Ralph Marston