Daily Motivator - October

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October 12

Good work

You’ve been doing good work. Keep it up, and add to it.

You’ve been making a difference, and life has benefited from your efforts. Continue those efforts, and discover how you can make them even more effective.

Does it sometimes feel like your efforts don’t matter? What you do matters to the extent you choose to make it matter, and that’s a choice you have in every moment.

Often the encouragement from others is absent, and sometimes the world sends you a flood of negativity, even downright hostility. Make note of the feedback, perhaps inserting some reasonable adjustments, and move forward with what you know is good and right and worthwhile.

You’ve made some mistakes in the past and you’re likely to make a few more as time goes by. Yet from every mistake you can learn, you can improve, and you can carry on.

You’ve learned much about what succeeds and what doesn’t, what’s effective and what’s a waste, what adds richness and fulfillment to life. Take a deep, peaceful breath, be thankful for how far you’ve come, and keep up the good work.

— Ralph Marston

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October 13

Choose encouragement

Discouragement does not come from what happens. Discouragement comes from the way you choose to see what happens.

It’s very helpful when people offer you their sincere encouragement. Yet you can decide to find encouragement in whatever other people say or do whether they seek to encourage you or not.

Are you going to be discouraged or encouraged by the events of this particular day? That depends on you.

You’ll be more effective, you’ll get more done when you’re encouraged about what you’re doing. So it makes sense to choose encouragement, even when it’s coming only from you.

Have you ever encouraged someone else, and witnessed that person benefiting from the encouragement? Always keep in mind that you can do the same for yourself.

Be thankful and accepting of encouragement from others. And be ready to choose encouragement for yourself whenever you’re looking to have a little more.

— Ralph Marston

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October 14

Choose now

If you wait until the last minute, that minute is going to be highly stressful. You’ll be rushed, pressed for time, and not anywhere near as effective as you could have been earlier.

Is there anything you’ve been putting off until the last minute? Do yourself a favor and get it done long before you have to get it done.

Yes, there are plenty of other things you’d rather be doing. But think about how much more you’ll enjoy the fun, desirable activities when the tedious but necessary chores are all finished.

Choose the undesirable task long before you get to the point where you have no choice. Put yourself in control of your time while you are still able to do so.

By choosing when and where to do what’s unpleasant, you can take much of the sting out of it. By getting it done early, you give yourself more time to be free of it.

Choose now, assert your intention, empower yourself, and get it done. Rather than putting it off, do it now, and claim all the benefits of that timely, responsible choice.

— Ralph Marston

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October 15

Keep practicing

Do what you’re skilled at doing, and you’ll get better. Do what you’re not so good at doing, and you’ll get better.

The road to excellence is paved with action. Wherever you started, wherever you now are, practice can improve your results.

When you have some spare moments, practice being useful, productive, creative, focused. The more you practice, the more valuable that practice becomes.

Whether a particular skill comes easy to you or whether you have struggled to develop it, put it to use. In either case, with practice you’ll improve.

If it’s been a long time since you’ve employed a certain ability, pick it up again. Re-acquaint yourself with that ability, keep it alive, thriving, and improving within you.

Keep yourself strong, able, and proficient, and keep improving on it all. Keep practicing.

— Ralph Marston

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October 16

Good times

The difficult times are times you’ll eventually treasure. Because they’re times when you have no choice but to be your best.

The enjoyable times are times you can already treasure now, and then continue to treasure as the years pass. Knowing how good life can be provides the courage and the strength to make it good again.

In times of confidence and stability you discover how much you can achieve. In times of uncertainty you learn the value of being decisive, committed, resourceful.

Times of loneliness can be painful, yet they can also be insightful, productive and strengthening. Times of camaraderie and fellowship can be hectic and demanding while also uniquely enriching.

Indeed, all times can end up being good times, each in their own way. Whatever may be going on, you can find value to live and to share.

The potential for goodness exists in every stretch of time. In each different situation, during all the times you inhabit, choose to live that goodness fully, and to spread it far and wide.

— Ralph Marston

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October 17

Positive vision

It’s not enough to be opposed. You have to be supportive of an alternative.

It’s not enough to point out what someone is doing wrong. To improve the situation, you must be able to offer a more workable approach.

A common enemy can bring people together and compel them to action. Yet for that action to be sustained, for the group cohesion to endure, there must be a common positive vision as well.

Knowing what you don’t like can provide valuable insight. In order to move forward, though, you must identify what you desire, what direction you seek to go.

The bad things are easy to spot. Once you do that, challenge yourself to develop the good things that will be more compelling and beneficial.

Go beyond obsessing over what is wrong. Focus on a positive vision that will inspire positive action and bring positive results.

— Ralph Marston

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October 18

Infinite mystery

Keep yourself always open to wonder, to beauty, to awe. In whatever happens, see not only what happens but also the infinite mystery behind it all.

Eagerly help yourself to more than your share of what is to be experienced and discovered. Be amazed you can do so without the slightest concern that the supply will ever be exhausted.

Seasons change as they always have in ways like never before. Paradox dances with truth, and beauty spins away in ever more sublime variety.

You never know all and you always know more. Walk through the forest and see once again how that works.

Humble yourself in your mastery. Pride yourself on your ignorance.

As each possibility is realized more becomes possible. Already infinite, the mystery grows, and here you are to live its splendor.

— Ralph Marston

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October 19

Time in silence

In silence you can think complete thoughts. In silence you can focus your awareness without being interrupted.

Silence enables you to strengthen your connection to what’s most meaningful. Silence provides fertile ground for discovery, contemplation, and insight.

Life is filled with harmony, cacophony, and individual sounds of every kind. Much of what you know and feel about the world comes to you from sound.

Yet as essential and enlightening as those sounds are, you can extend their value by regularly stepping away from them. In peaceful silence, you have space to absorb, integrate, and deepen the meaning of what you’ve heard, and seen, and experienced.

Silence challenges you to confront yourself, to touch the truth of who you are and what you care about. As unsettling as that can be, it ultimately makes you stronger, more purposeful, more resilient.

Every sound you hear consumes your attention. Spend time in silence, giving your attention a chance to restore itself, your spirit some room for reflection and renewal.

— Ralph Marston

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October 20

Clearer picture

Step back from what you think about it and feel about it. Look carefully and more clearly at the reality of what is.

Your mind is powerful and highly useful, and that’s mostly a good thing. Yet your thoughts have so much influence that they can distort your perceptions.

For example, your thoughts can convince you that the whole world is in a hopeless mess. Yet at the same time the reality of your situation can be just fine, and normal, even pleasant.

It’s not a good idea to ignore your thoughts. It is smart, however, to keep in mind that your thoughts and feelings have an influence on everything you experience.

You can never be completely objective, and would not want to be. What you can do is remind yourself that your perspective is not the only valid perspective.

If it were not for your thoughts about things, how would things be? Balance involvement with detachment, and get a clearer picture.

— Ralph Marston

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October 21

Accept who you are

Envision a person who loves you for who you are. Then be that person.

Think of how it would be to have someone who accepts your flaws, forgives your missteps, understands your quirks. You can do all that for yourself.

Certainly you’d like to improve various aspects of your life and your behavior. But that doesn’t mean you have to reject or condemn the way you already are.

While you’re working on doing better, accept where you are. With that acceptance you encourage and empower yourself to move forward.

As a significant added benefit, you learn to be more accepting of others. Love who you are, and that love is available for giving to those you care about.

Accept who you are, where you are, how you are. Free yourself to be your best.

— Ralph Marston

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October 22

Letting problems be

Why do people regularly ignore problems and expect they’ll go away? Because they do go away, not every time of course but often enough to be noticeable.

Is it a good idea to ignore a problem? That depends on the problem.

Many problems can be effectively solved by decisive action. And then there are problems that will be made even worse by focusing on them and attempting to remedy them.

Just because you can fix a problem doesn’t mean it’s the best use of your time and resources. Just because you want to fix a problem doesn’t mean you’ll make things better.

It’s great to work on resolving difficult problems and to create meaningful benefits by doing so. It’s not so great to look under every rock in a quest to continually use your problem-solving skills.

Be more effective at dealing with problems by being selective and intentional about which problems to tackle. Add more richness and fulfillment to life by simply letting some of the problems be.

— Ralph Marston

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October 23

Question your needs

Question your needs. Stop being burdened with needs that exist only because of your assumptions or self deceptions.

Some of your needs are authentic. Others are merely choices you’ve allowed yourself to characterize as needs.

Seek to be more honest with yourself. Is every need real, or are some of them fabrications?

There are plenty of desirable things you can have, and use, and enjoy, and benefit from, without needing them. Indeed, you can improve the quality of those things in your life by making them choices instead of needs.

Look for opportunities to live more by intention and less by compulsion. Examine the differences between what you assume you need and what you actually need.

Refuse to operate at the mercy of needs that are not really needs. Take responsibility for your choices and you will greatly improve where those choices lead.

— Ralph Marston

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October 24

Sidetracked

In the less than perfect moments your life gains richness. The awkward, uncomfortable times are when you grow in strength, wisdom, resilience.

The treasured stories you have to tell are not about when everything went exactly according to plan. What often makes life interesting are the things you could never anticipate.

Of course you do what you can to minimize distractions, interruptions, and other deviations from your intended path. But when you do get sidetracked, maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Maybe, in fact, it can bring some new form of value into your life. Perhaps you’ll discover good things you never knew you were missing.

Structure, order, dependability, discipline, they’re all essential to a well-lived life. But so is a little bit of chaos now and again.

Keep yourself on the course you’ve set while also remaining open to the surprises that surely await. Sometimes your life will benefit from getting a little bit sidetracked.

— Ralph Marston

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October 25

Goodness

You don’t have to be rich to be generous. You do have to be generous to be truly rich.

You don’t have to have an elaborate support system to be focused and disciplined, or responsible, or honest. You can choose those enriching values, and many others, regardless of your background or current situation.

The good fortune of one person does not reduce the potential for anyone else’s good fortune. Indeed, prosperity, thriving, and genuine excellence all lead to much more of the same.

What primarily makes life good is not what you start with or what others do or say or have. The purposes and values with which you choose to live are the main drivers of the way your life unfolds.

Economic, political, environmental, cultural circumstances all have an influence on your experience of life. Yet more consequential than those things are your intentions and choices, day after day, year upon year.

Keep on choosing what’s true, what’s good, what has lasting value, what has meaning beyond the moment. Keep on creating new and authentic goodness for yourself and your world.

— Ralph Marston

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October 26

Life audit

Publicly traded companies must undergo regular audits of their operations to protect the interests of shareholders. Those audits are designed to reduce waste and deception, and to uncover opportunities for increased effectiveness and efficiency.

Every now and then, it’s a good idea to audit your own personal operations in a similar way. After all, you can sometimes benefit from a detailed examination of the way you live your life.

Are there things you’re doing that cost you time and resources, but don’t provide any value or enjoyment? It’s all too easy to settle into useless habits, and it’s a helpful exercise to routinely rid yourself of them.

Are there assumptions you’ve been depending upon that are no longer true, or perhaps never were? By abandoning those assumptions you can elevate your thinking to a new level of clarity.

Can you identify useless grudges you’ve been holding or important tasks you’ve been putting off? How about opportunities you’ve ignored or treasured relationships you’ve been taking for granted?

Spend a little time giving your life a mental audit, identifying what’s working, what’s not, and what you can do to improve. Find those opportunities you’ve been hiding in plain sight and make good use of all you discover.

— Ralph Marston