Daily Motivator - May

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May 14

Dance together

Stop forcing your limitations to clash with your possibilities. Let them dance together.

You cannot eliminate all limitations and challenges from life. What you can do is work within them, alongside them, to fulfill the possibilities you wish to fulfill.

That requires some give and take, adjustments, innovation, boldness, understanding, and creativity. Think of it as a graceful and exhilarating dance.

Though your limitations may seem at first glance to oppose your possibilities, that’s not entirely true. For if there were no limitations of any kind, the possibilities would have no value.

Let go of your resentment about what’s holding you back. Find ways to work with it, to dance with it, rather than fighting against it.

Tease out the opportunities that exist within your challenges and limitations. And gracefully dance your way to the fulfillment of your best possibilities.

— Ralph Marston

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May 15

Choose well

You can have what you want for right now or you can have what you want for later. You cannot have both.

Now will be over in an instant. Later will last a whole lot longer.

If you sacrifice now to gain value later, you’re paying a small price and getting a big, long-lasting reward. If you sacrifice the quality of your life later to get what you want right now, you’re paying a huge price to obtain a tiny reward that soon disappears.

It’s easy to see what is the better choice. It’s not so easy to implement that choice.

Yet you have the power to make that better choice and to stick with it. You can make the relatively small immediate sacrifices to lead to a vastly improved future.

The choice is always here and the choice is always yours. Remind yourself what’s at stake, and choose well.

— Ralph Marston

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May 16

Get it behind you

It’s not the most enjoyable thing you’re ever going to do, yet it must be done. So block out some time as soon as you can, do the work, and get it behind you.

Perhaps it’s unfair you have to do it, and no one else appreciates how difficult it is. As true as all that may be, your best option is to go ahead and get it done.

Look back on your past experience. You’ll clearly see that procrastination and avoidance have never made anything any easier.

Of course you don’t feel like it right now. But once you get started, and make a little progress, and realize you will soon have it done, you’ll feel much better.

Now is when you can stop putting it off and start putting it behind you. Now is when you can improve the quality of every future moment by getting an unpleasant task done.

The freedom of having it behind you is just a little bit of effort away. Get started creating that freedom right now, and make room for all the other great things you can do.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 17

Best day yet

Today is your best day yet. And with the way you live today, you can make tomorrow even better.

Every moment the richness of your experience accumulates. And you can make use of that existing richness to create additional richness.

Yes, life has its problems and always will. Yet the very existence of those problems presupposes an underlying and persistent goodness that cannot be denied.

Remind yourself of all the goodness that’s much too easy to take for granted. Let your appreciation for life inspire you to new heights of creativity, compassion, understanding, and love.

Here you are right now at the potent intersection of experience and possibility. You know what choices have brought you here and you can utilize that priceless wisdom going forward.

No matter what has happened or failed to happen, in a very real way this is your best day yet. And now is when you can make the most of its treasure.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 18

Take the opportunity

When you have the opportunity to add joy to someone’s life, do it. When you have the opportunity to experience something new, take it.

Each time you come across the opportunity to learn, make the most of it. If you encounter the opportunity to take on a challenge, give your best to it.

Look at the world and clearly see what’s there. Then look again and see what could be, see the opportunities for improvement, fulfillment, and value.

Let life’s continuing opportunities inspire you into action. Focus your energy and your efforts on transforming opportunities into valuable realities.

No matter what the situation, you have the opportunity to make a positive difference by the way you choose to live. As life swirls around you, commit yourself to creating beneficial outcomes.

Don’t give regrets the chance to weigh you down. Recognize the opportunities, act on them, and make life better because of the way you choose to live it.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 19

Contrast

To fully appreciate the springtime thaw, you have to endure the frozen winter. To get the most enjoyment on a sunny day, you must live through some rainy ones.

Work is fulfilling because you don’t do it all the time. Play is pleasurable because it’s not the only thing you do.

If everything was the same color and brightness, it would be difficult to see anything. And just as your eyes need contrast to discern objects, your life needs contrast to garner value and meaning.

Activities, ideas, conditions, opinions, products and plans can all benefit from being contrasted to other things. Life is enriched by a diversity of contrasting experiences, circumstances, and thoughts.

Can you hold two opposing concepts in your mind at once, or give your best effort to something and then let it go? Pursuits such as this make life rich, rewarding, fascinating, and fulfilling.

Continue introducing yourself to a rich variety of viewpoints. Give your days, your experiences, your life the benefits of contrast.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 20

Make goodness

Good things don’t come easy, but good things do indeed come. Put in the time, put in the effort.

Push away thoughts of what you might be missing. Focus your awareness around the actual good you are creating.

When the work gets tedious or challenging, let it be tedious, let it be challenging. But keep on with it anyway.

Time is the most valuable resource you have. Do all you can to make sure you’re spending it on something equally valuable.

It’s an amazing feeling to discover how strong, effective, diligent you can be. Set yourself up and do what it takes to experience that feeling again and again.

Make excellence your everyday attitude. Make goodness and value everywhere you go.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 21

Live right now

You’re here now. Think like it, act like it.

There are upcoming events and obligations you know about, and other upcoming twists and turns that will surprise you. As compelling as all that may be, none of it is here yet.

What is here, and what is now, is your life in this moment and your opportunity to live it well. Apply your focus, your thoughts, and your considerable skills to what’s going on right now.

It’s useful to anticipate the future, to plan and prepare for it. Just be careful not to be obsessed or overwhelmed by it.

There’s much you can live and do and see and experience right now. While right now is here, give those things your top priority.

Take a breath, look around, and recognize the powerful time and place you’re already in. Then step forward, focused and aware of this moment’s great possibilities, and live right now.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 22

Purposeful perspective

Step back for a little while today, tomorrow, and every day. Remember who you are, where you came from, where you seek to go.

It’s all too common to get caught up in those things that seem important but really do not matter. It’s much too easy to ignore what you truly want to be, to experience, to achieve.

So make some time in every day for your best visions, your most respected values, your treasured dreams. As you do what you do, continue to align yourself with why you do what you do.

There’s a vital part of you that yearns for the adventure of living true to who you are. There’s a whole sophisticated set of abilities within you that can deliver that adventure.

No matter what limitations you may face, you can always live up to your highest ideals. You can connect every action, every thought to a purpose that transcends the limitations of the moment.

Look at what’s going on, at what you’re doing, with full awareness of what matters most to you. Live with a purposeful perspective, and you’ll always bring your best to life.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 21

Live right now

You’re here now. Think like it, act like it.

There are upcoming events and obligations you know about, and other upcoming twists and turns that will surprise you. As compelling as all that may be, none of it is here yet.

What is here, and what is now, is your life in this moment and your opportunity to live it well. Apply your focus, your thoughts, and your considerable skills to what’s going on right now.

It’s useful to anticipate the future, to plan and prepare for it. Just be careful not to be obsessed or overwhelmed by it.

There’s much you can live and do and see and experience right now. While right now is here, give those things your top priority.

Take a breath, look around, and recognize the powerful time and place you’re already in. Then step forward, focused and aware of this moment’s great possibilities, and live right now.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 23

Live selectively

You cannot see it all, be it all, do it all. What you can do, is do some things very well.

Choosing everything is not a choice, it is a refusal to choose. And it leaves nothing with any meaning.

Quantity is no substitute for quality. Doing everything is no substitute for doing some things with excellence.

You would not want a surgeon or an accountant or an airline pilot who is in the habit of multitasking. You would want someone who gives their care, focus, and full attention to the task at hand.

Choose a good and promising path. Then follow that path, step by diligent step, with a continuing commitment to excellence.

Rather than an endless list of hollow activities, engage in a a well-curated procession of meaningful experiences. Live selectively, and live with purpose, with quality, with excellence.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 24

Elevated perspective

Keep the little things little. Pay attention to the details, but don’t let those small matters grab your emotions and run away with them.

It’s easy to expand a small disappointment into a dark cloud that lingers over your awareness. Fortunately, it’s just as easy to elevate your perspective.

When a disruption or disappointment pops up, quickly create some distance from it. Envision yourself suddenly flying up to a thousand feet, or fifteen thousand, and consider the view from there.

From an elevated perspective, you can see much more than whatever is frustrating you. You can see the full extent of your resources, positive possibilities, hopes, dreams, and best expectations.

Rather than obsessing over a momentary thorn in your side, remind yourself of your most treasured values. Find fresh energy and enthusiasm to help you keep the small disappointments in their place.

Refuse to be deterred from all the good you can do. From an elevated perspective, focus your efforts on supporting and advancing what truly means the most.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 25

Perfection and common sense

Just because something is flawed doesn’t mean it is useless. It’s fine to aim for perfection but it’s foolish to reject everything else.

Some compromises are worth making. Some shortcomings it’s best to find a way to live with, at least for a while.

When the perfect option is not available, see if you can make another option work. A rocky, slippery path is better than no path at all.

The same concept applies even more so when it comes to people. No person in your life is going to be perfect all the time, but that doesn’t mean you must alienate yourself from everyone.

A momentary lapse is no reason to punish anyone, including yourself, for all time. A little forgiveness and understanding can go a long way for everyone involved.

Live with the highest of standards, but don’t let those standards prevent you from living. Seek excellence and even perfection, but be careful not to throw out common sense in the process.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 26

Across all of time

Look back, look ahead, and act now. Understand where you came from and how you got here, choose where you wish to go, and proceed.

Learn from what has already happened to you and to others. Let your thoughts of the past give you inspiration, appreciation, caution, wisdom, and insight.

Then consider your intentions, your dreams, hopes, and goals for the future. Seek to understand how all you’ve learned and experienced can connect you with all you wish to experience.

You reside right now within a powerful nexus between past and future. What you do today can lead to fulfillment of the potential that’s always been building in you.

Your opportunity in this moment is not merely of this moment. That opportunity encompasses all that has come before, what is yet to come, and what is right now in front of you.

Impress upon yourself that the significance of what you do now is not just now, but is spread across all of time. Then, with respect, humility, appreciation and the highest expectations, give your very best to the moment.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

May 27

You can do your best

What can you do about all that’s going on in life? You can do your best.

How can you make a difference when so many people don’t seem to care? You can do your best.

You can’t control how others act, or change the weather, or reduce the price of food and fuel. Yet you can do your best at those things you are able to do, and that’s something.

Most of the biggest challenges are composed of lots of little challenges. And there are lots of little challenges you can do something positive about.

When you have the urge to do something, to make a difference, here’s what you can do. You can do your best, where you are, with what you have and what you know.

Making the world a better place does not call for some grandiose, complicated scheme. It’s mainly a matter, day in and day out, of choosing to do your best.

— Ralph Marston