Daily Motivator - December

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December 15

In the living

Somewhere ocean waves ease onto the shore just as they have for millions of years. Somewhere an owl takes flight as the last light of day fades from the western sky.

A child stares in wonder at the falling rain. A woman bakes bread as she has for decades.

Life is in the living. And there is always something good to live.

Simple moments, epic occasions, and the experiences in between are all made of the same substance. Rather than assigning a category to what’s going on, just live it for all the goodness it is.

Here and now is your occasion to be, to see, to know, to feel, to act. There is no limit on the good you can make from it.

Stop second-guessing what may or may not be, and live the full and accessible reality of what is. Beauty, joy, goodness and meaning are yours to experience, if you will.

— Ralph Marston

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December 16

December 16, 2020
Live in the power of love

Don’t let your love be limited by your life. Don’t let it be limited by your fear, or by discomfort, or by desire, or by time.

Let love be as big as it can be, as big as it is. Let it go far beyond any place you would ever consider bringing it or sending it.

Find the courage, the faith, the humility to let love overwhelm you. Grow in strength by going where love pushes you to go.

Seek not to confine love in any plan or person or object or idea. Allow your love to be everywhere, and it will fill voids you never knew were there.

Learn from love. Live what you learn, give all you are, love more, learn more, live more.

Live in the power of love. And experience the best of all that is.

— Ralph Marston

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December 17

Something better

When you observe carelessness and incompetence, respond with a renewed commitment to diligence and excellence. When you encounter anger and divisiveness, take fresh steps to connect in positive ways to others.

Life can be filled with much difficulty and suffering, but that’s no reason for you to make it even worse. Let it prompt you instead to work toward something better.

Plenty of people are all too willing to complain and assign blame. There’s no need for you to add to those useless pursuits.

Choose instead to direct your focus toward a positive purpose. Choose the demanding yet rewarding effort of creating something better.

Whatever has happened, has happened. Now is the time to learn from it and improve upon it.

In every troubling situation is the potential for excellence. Be strong, see that potential, and do the good things you must do to make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

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December 18

Truth and purpose

The more options you have, the more difficult it is to commit to any of them. Embrace your options, but not so much that they prevent you from taking purposeful action.

It’s great to have plenty of resources and capabilities. Yet those capabilities can go to waste if you have no meaningful purpose toward which to apply them.

How do you keep yourself connected to purpose? By being honest, with yourself, with others, with all of life.

Purpose is an expression of truth. Load truth into all you think and speak and do, and you’ll put purpose in your days.

Do more than just assembling the tools and arranging the conditions for success. Achieve actual success and fulfillment by empowering your efforts with honesty and authenticity.

Seek the truth, face the truth, humble yourself in its presence. And make the very most of all your best options, resources, and capabilities.

— Ralph Marston

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December 19

Look forward

In order to look forward, you must have something to look forward to. It can be simple and silly or serious and profound, but mainly it must be enticing.

To get through any obstacle you have to have a good enough reason to do so. Be sure that reason is more powerful than the challenges and distractions that come your way each day.

What have you always wanted to do, or what particular kind of value have you been wanting to create? Get yourself on the path of getting it done.

When you’re looking forward, you’re not as troubled by the problems. When you’re looking forward, you’ll find a way to successfully work through each difficulty that arises.

Look beyond whatever might stop you by keeping your focus on something that inspires and excites you. The more it means to you, the higher your levels of motivation and energy.

You’re at your best when moving forward. So give yourself a specific, compelling destination and get going.

— Ralph Marston

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December 21

Power to improve

It’s easy and often very reasonable and appropriate to blame others for your problems. But it’s almost impossible to get others to solve those problems for you.

No matter how culpable others may be, there are some aspects of your problems that are due to your own attitude or behavior. Those are the places to direct your focus and your energy.

If you can get the cooperation of others, that’s great. But when you can’t, there’s still much you can do to improve the situation.

You’re not going to get a speeding train to stop so you can cross the tracks. But you can wait for it to pass.

You’re not going to get a corporation or institution or politician to instantly make a change in policy. Yet you can position yourself so that policy doesn’t negatively affect you as much.

Deploy your attention, energy, and efforts where they will do you the most good. Rather than cursing what you cannot change, capitalize on the many things that are within your power to improve.

— Ralph Marston

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December 22

Still care

There was a time when you cared. There is an important part of you that still does.

You’ve given up enough, given up on enough already. Understand right now that you never had to give up, and never have to again.

The world is an unending source of richness. And you are able, from this day on, to expand upon it all.

Your weakness in the past is now transformed into strength. Your mistakes have become your greatest teachers.

What you know now is more important than what you didn’t know then. What you can do now eclipses anything you failed to do before.

This time, this day, take the opportunity. And live the power and goodness in your choice to still care.

— Ralph Marston

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December 23

Some people

Some people are too shortsighted to be supportive of you. Let that be their problem.

Other people are wise enough and caring enough to confront you with difficult truths. Let that redound to your benefit, and pay close attention to what you don’t want to hear.

Some people will ignore you, and others will smother you with attention. Some will flatter you with no basis and others will criticize you for no good reason.

Take a deep breath, smile, and carry on with your intentions. Be slow to make judgments and assumptions, and quick to forgive.

When anyone blocks your path it’s partly because you have put them there with how you react to their actions. Keep reminding yourself you have other choices.

All the other people in this world can add immensely to your life. See them, think of them, connect with them in ways that enable that to happen.

— Ralph Marston

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December 24

Give today

Give new life to your highest expectations. Give fresh energy to your best thoughts.

Give extra gratitude to the beauty of the moment. Give special love to all those who share this day with you.

Give today the opportunity to be filled with meaning, with hope, with goodness. Give today your care, your attention, and your peaceful presence.

See the unique value of every moment. Make that value your own, add to it, and share it without hesitation.

Give today your intention to live it well. Recognize what a special time this can be for you, for all those around you, and make it so.

Give today your best. And today will return the favor many times over.

— Ralph Marston

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December 25

Add to the celebration

On this precious day, in your own special way, create a world with no disappointment. Fill moment after moment with joy, wonder, and laughter.

Speak from a place of love. Act from an alignment with joy.

Think from a perspective of hope. Feel from a position of peace.

See, understand, and lift up the goodness that is in every life. Discover new beauty in every experience.

Carry peaceful purpose wherever you go. With kindness, with patience, with the most beneficial of intentions, offer the best of who you are.

This is a time to celebrate life in its highest form. Add your most authentic goodness to the celebration.

— Ralph Marston

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December 26

Those who win

You don’t win by trying to win. You win by doing something useful, valuable, helpful.

You don’t win by being popular. You win by being good.

You don’t win by putting others down. You win by lifting up as many people as you can.

You don’t win by saying you care. You win by putting your care into effective action.

You don’t win by controlling others. You win by exercising positive, purposeful control over yourself.

All the world benefits from those who win. Be a real winner, again and again, and make life better for everyone.

— Ralph Marston

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December 27

Give life new value

Let yourself be yourself. Stop stopping yourself from following through on your best intentions.

Whatever you seek to do, you probably won’t get it perfect. But that’s no reason to avoid it altogether.

Give yourself permission to do what you can, when you can, with what you have. Amaze yourself at how much you can get done by simply allowing yourself to do it.

Seek to genuinely understand and connect with others. But don’t let yourself be immobilized with worry about what others might think, or say, or do.

Speak your mind, do your work, offer your authentic best. Learn from your outcomes, and adjust your efforts to become even more effective.

Get yourself out there, get in the game, and make a difference. Give life new value using whatever life has given you.

— Ralph Marston

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December 28

Let life speak to you

Let life speak to you. With no complaint or agenda or expectation or judgment on your part, let life reveal its truth.

Open yourself to experience what’s really there, what’s actually happening. See the beauty, feel the texture, observe the cycles and rhythms that continue on and on.

Seek to taste life, to appreciate its wonder, not to capture or to possess it. Endeavor to work within life’s realities, not to overpower or control those realities.

Let life be, and let yourself be one with it, at peace with it. Understand that you will never fully understand, and draw deep wisdom from that awareness.

Know that each ending opens the way for a new beginning. Watch as life changes, and remains ever the same.

Sincerely experience and celebrate life. Let life speak to you, let life come to you, and let life find authentic, beneficial expression in all you do.

— Ralph Marston

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December 29

Step by step, task after task

Acknowledge where you are. That’s the first step.

Now ask yourself, what would be one small step in the direction of your goal? Take that step.

Now you’re on your way. Now you can keep going, one step at a time.

Don’t let yourself be stopped by imperfection, or indecision, fear or apprehension. Let go of the hesitation, let go of excuses, find another step to take, and take it.

Make the next phone call, write the next sentence, cut the next board, sort through the next box. Persist in your action, for it is that persistence that gets the work done.

This is the place to start and now is the time to do it. Step by step, task after task, you’ll get yourself where you intend to go.

— Ralph Marston

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December 30

Actually do

Put yourself out there, go ahead and do it. There’s no time to waste and every reason to act.

What you wish to do, plan to do, say you are going to do, none of that matters. It’s what you actually do that makes a difference.

So go ahead and actually do. Now is when and this is where.

You’ll make mistakes, you’ll encounter pushback, and many things won’t go as you anticipated. Yet one way or another you’ll make some progress, and then some more.

Life is in the living, in the doing, in the effort. So fill your life with purpose, with persistence, with action.

Good things happen when you actually do. Start those good things happening now.

— Ralph Marston