January 28

Decide to enjoy

Yes, you could complain. But it’s better when you find a way to enjoy.

Sure, you can focus on how much of a struggle life is. However, wouldn’t you rather focus on how enjoyable life can be?

The world is the way it is, and your outlook won’t change the big picture very much if at all. Yet your outlook can completely change your own experience of the world.

What do you truly enjoy, and why, and how? What could you do to make more of it, to do it more often, to share it more widely?

By very definition, what you enjoy feels good. There’s likely an excellent reason for that, even though you may not always see it.

Discover today how much more of life you can enjoy just by deciding to do so. Give yourself and all those around you the benefits of enjoyment.

— Ralph Marston

January 29

Patience and persistence

If you need something tomorrow your choices are starkly limited. If you desire something in ten years it can be pretty much anything you imagine.

The most desirable results are not immediate results. The most desirable results ask for patience and persistence in return.

Are you disappointed by the choices you have right now? Step back and consider how much better your choices would be if you were to add some patience and persistence.

Patience gives you the serenity of knowing that good things take time. Persistence gives you the energy to continue putting forth effort until you reach your objective.

You cannot instantly jump over to the other side of the mountain. Yet with patience and persistence you can climb up, then climb down, and arrive on the other side.

What particular forms of goodness do you wish to add to life? With patience and persistence they are well within your reach.

— Ralph Marston

January 30

Golden connection

Appreciating everything you have is good. But if that’s all you do, it can keep you stuck in the past.

Desiring what you don’t have is healthy and useful. But if that’s all you ever do, it traps your awareness in a future that’s fantasized but never realized.

This present moment is where you actually are. To be fully present, you must balance your desire for what can be with your appreciation for what has already come your way.

This present moment is when you can connect your appreciation with your desire. It is the place for your gratitude and your ambition to empower each other.

Every dream you have for the future is based on what you’ve already experienced in the past. By making purposeful use of what you have you will proceed along the path to whatever you wish to be.

Right now is when you can make that golden connection. Let your past and your future join together to produce the best life you can envision.

— Ralph Marston

January 31

Feel your best

A negative experience does not have to ruin your whole day. You have the power to get over it, to get beyond it, to move forward.

It seems natural to attribute your thoughts and feelings to whatever just happened. Actually, though, your thoughts and feelings associated with any event are your response to that event.

That response can be whatever you want it to be, including no response at all. Just because something potentially frustrating occurred, for example, doesn’t mean you have to be frustrated.

Ultimately, what you feel is what you choose to feel. What you think is what you choose to think.

That doesn’t mean you are denying reality. Rather, it enables you to position yourself for successfully dealing with reality.

No matter what the outside circumstances may be, you can feel optimistic, purposeful, confident, and effective. Choose to feel positive, to focus your thoughts in a positive direction and make the very best of whatever is going on.

— Ralph Marston