Daily Motivator - October
 

October 1

Authentic life

Don’t spend your day convincing other people how much you care. Spend your day putting your care into action.

Stop exerting your energy to prove how much you know. Continually invest your energy in learning something new.

Operate on the level of reality, not at a pretentious distance from it. Rather than obsessively seeking to appear a certain way, do what is necessary to actually be that way.

An authentic life is far more satisfying for you, as well as more helpful to others, than living behind a facade. A life of authenticity puts the power of truth into everything you do.

It is better to have truth leading you than to have truth chasing you. Work to put real substance in your life rather than fraudulent and fragile appearances.

Align your awareness and your choices with what is real, with what is true, with what is you. Live with the authenticity that will free you to experience life at its best.

— Ralph Marston

Happy October Tammy and Kracker!
Wow, where did September go.
May this new month of October
bring you much joy and happiness.
Each new season brings new growth
and promises by the grace of God.
Peace to you my dear friends.

I know right willbe. The days and months are just flying by. My mom use to always say that the older you get the faster time goes.

I pray this month brings much peace, joy, and happiness to you also!

Thanks Tammy for your remarkable service all these years
I hope all is well with you and your family.
Your mom what was absolutely right about time
flying by after as you get older.
God peace upon you always.

October 2

You care

Caring is costly. That’s why it’s so valuable, so desirable, so essential.

When you care you’re making yourself vulnerable. It’s a risk well worth taking.

As terrible as hatred is, there’s something even more empty and destructive. That is not caring at all.

For the sake of yourself and all those around you, stay as far away from indifference as you can. Make it your intent to always care about the life, the world, and most importantly, the people you encounter.

Caring will expose you to pain, yet it will reward you with meaning, purpose, and love. Caring is how you invest in life, and it’s an investment that pays endless dividends.

Think of all you care about, then extend and deepen that caring. You care, and it’s a magnificent way to be.

— Ralph Marston

October 3

Encourage yourself

Discouragement is a choice, not a foregone conclusion. Inspiration and encouragement are better, more empowering choices, and they’re just as readily available to you.

The realities of life are not affected by your attitude. But you are, and the way you see things affects how well you deal with them.

When circumstances are not in your favor, it’s more important than ever for your own outlook to be in your favor. Give yourself an advantage by being a persistently positive influence in your own life.

If you’ve had the good fortune to be encouraged by someone else, you know how helpful it can be. And even when there’s no one around to offer encouragement, you’re fully capable of encouraging yourself.

Think of the best that can happen, then tap into the energy of those thoughts. Harness that energy and take action in the direction of your desired results.

Encouraging yourself is not a magic bullet to solve all your problems, yet it’s a lot better than doubling down on discouragement. The fact is, your attitude can make a difference, so by all means use it to your advantage.

— Ralph Marston

October 4

Good that can come

The system, the situation, the odds are stacked against you and others like you. Can you visualize making note of all that and proceeding forward anyway?

You’re asking for help and not getting it. Have you thought about directing some of those requests to yourself?

There are plenty of ways the world could be more accommodating. But for a whole lot of complex reasons, it is the way it is right now.

You can blame and complain and protest and even disengage from reality out of frustration and disgust. Or you could accept the moment for what it is and do your own work to make good things come of it.

Let go of the assumption that everything’s wrong and you’ll discover opportunities to set certain things right. Your firm intention to make the best of a situation puts you in position to do so.

There’s goodness you can create from the way things are. Where you focus and what you do make all the difference.

— Ralph Marston

October 5

A little more

You’ve already taken five thousand steps. You can take a few more.

Your patience is wearing thin. Yet you can make a fresh commitment, and continue practicing patience a little longer.

The work you’re involved in has become tedious. Re-energize by reminding yourself why you’re doing it, then get back to the effort and do a little more.

Sometimes that little bit more can make a lot of difference. When the situation calls for it, you can always do a little more.

The summit you’ve been heading toward is within your reach. Do what you must to get yourself all the way there.

You’ve done much and you can feel how far it’s taken you. Now is a great time to do a little more.

— Ralph Marston

October 6

Make new meaning

Meaning in life is not something you find by stumbling across it or searching for it or having it handed to you. The meaning in your life is the meaning you actively bring into it.

Life becomes filled with meaning as a result of time spent, activity you genuinely engage in, effort you put forth. Curiosity, struggle, connection, faith, joy, challenge, and achievement are but a few of the ways for giving meaning to life.

If you’re worried that not enough meaning will result from some particular choice, stop worrying and start doing. Meaning comes from being actively involved, not from analyzing and strategizing to capture it.

Sincerely care about the various aspects of what you’re doing and you cannot help but create meaning. Let go of the pretenses and let the meaning flow from your authentic actions.

You live a whole lot better when you have something to live for. That makes meaning more valuable than just about anything else.

Understand that every situation is an opportunity to make new meaning. The richness is yours to continue creating.

— Ralph Marston

October 7

Commit with action

Wishes, plans, and promises have a common deficiency. They all lack meaningful commitment.

Commitment begins when you take action. The most impressive words, the most detailed strategies have little meaning until they’re acted upon.

Are you not quite ready to begin? Begin anyway, initiate genuine commitment, and you’ll quickly be making progress and will forget about whether you were ready or not.

You can always learn and adjust as you go, but it doesn’t work the other way around. You never make progress if all you’re doing is learning, preparing, and revising your plans.

Give your intentions the action they deserve. Implement your plans, go where they lead, and you’ll invoke the power of commitment.

If you wish you could, if you think you can, begin it. Commit with action and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

October 8

Set your mind to it

Set your mind to it. Keep it set there until you have it done.

Focus your awareness on the job at hand. Re-direct the energy of all distractions, interruptions, and random thoughts toward what you have chosen to accomplish.

There are plenty of excuses for stopping, or pausing, or giving up. Decide in advance to have nothing to do with those excuses.

You have made your choice and now you can follow through with that choice. You are doing important work and you have every ability and intention of continuing until the work is done well.

There’s no need to be concerned with whether it’s easy or difficult or pleasant or uncomfortable. You’re doing just fine, and you can continue for as long as necessary.

Set your mind to it, and get it done. Experience for yourself what an amazing and useful difference you can make, just by deciding to do so.

— Ralph Marston

October 9

Spark of goodness

Give all your awareness to the purity of your existence. Step away from the repetitive chatter of thoughts, of sensations.

For a little while, just be. Enable time itself to loosen completely its hold on you.

Experience the wonder of feeling anything and everything, and nothing. Connect with the aspect of now that has no beginning and no end.

Give your spirit plenty of space to be completely renewed and refreshed. Demand nothing of your mind and let it show you how beautiful everything can be.

Breathe in the pure and uncorrupted air of possibility. Let it freely, naturally connect with all you love.

See with certainty the goodness that always glows brightly. Carry a spark of that goodness wherever you go.

— Ralph Marston

October 10

The most profound joy is in giving joy. The most inescapable pain is to cause pain.

Your actions affect your own life in the manner and to the cumulative degree they affect others. That can be a beautiful experience or a terrible, unbearable one, depending on the nature of those actions.

Offer to the world whatever you seek to obtain. Amplify the goodness accessible to you by sharing it far beyond you.

Be mindful of the very real and enduring connection between you and all of life. Wherever else your behavior is directed, it is surely directed also at you.

Make wise and beneficial use of the connectedness that is always present in life. Act as if anything that flows out from you flows back in even greater measure, for that is certainly the case.

Send out love, courage, joy, meaning. It all comes back to you.

— Ralph Marston

October 11

Making things better

What response will improve the situation? That’s the one to choose.

It’s not enough to claim you care. Merely appearing to make things better is insufficient at best, and perhaps even counterproductive.

Figure out what will bring positive, enduring results. Focus on that course of action.

Hold yourself and your actions to a high standard. Refuse to settle for anything less than effectiveness that provides a clear benefit.

Every circumstance comes with opportunity for improvement. Go through the details until you can find and seize upon a realistic, workable opportunity.

Then put your skills, knowledge, and persistence to work. Make it through the day, the task, the challenge by making things better.

— Ralph Marston

It works when you work it.
One day at a time.

October 12

Increase your strength

Think clear, purposeful thoughts, and grow in strength. Take effective, persistent actions and grow in strength.

Strength is built over time. That makes every stretch of time an opportunity for increasing your strength.

Through your encounters with others, you can build strength. In dealing with problems, you become stronger.

The stronger you become, on the inside and outwardly, the more valuable options you have. Strength enables you to give genuine goodness in great measure to life.

Physically, mentally, financially, socially, spiritually, and in every domain of life, strength empowers. Look each day for steps you can follow to gain strength, and take those opportunities.

No matter where you start, you can always grow in strength. Continue to increase your strength, and with that strength keep adding new value to all of life.

— Ralph Marston

October 13

Power of transformation

Even when the world feels like it’s falling apart, you can marvel at its beauty and wonder. Even when chaos and tumult are all around, you can carry peace in your heart.

From that potential for peace and beauty come hope and positive possibility. Again and again, such hope arises to do its magnificent work.

In the midst of utter confusion and disarray, you can construct a small sanctuary of order. Little by little, you can build upon that order to create reliable structure, meaning, and opportunity.

In even the most futile situation, you are capable of acting with grace, integrity, love, and joy. It’s an astonishing power you can exercise every day.

When you do, it makes a difference, for you, for those around you, for your world. Nothing is more fulfilling, nothing is more deeply desirable than that.

Whatever the time, whatever the circumstance, you harbor within you the power of transformation. Every time you make good use of it you add your own special richness to life.

— Ralph Marston

October 14

Think slow

An immediate reaction is not always the best reaction. When you think too fast you tend to ignore many of the best possibilities.

Sometimes you have no choice other than to think fast and act fast. Yet when you do have a choice, think longer, perhaps a little slower and more deliberately.

Give yourself the opportunity to take a multitude of factors into consideration. The more you understand, the more perspectives and information you consider, the better your thinking aligns with reality.

If you jump too quickly to a conclusion, you could be jumping right past many important truths. Being able to honestly justify your conclusion matters too, and that can take some time.

When the situation allows, invest the time. Think through how your response affects not only you, and not only in the moment, but how it impacts everyone else, and in the long run.

In a fast-moving world it’s tempting to take shortcuts, to think fast. Yet when there’s much at stake it’s well worth your while to think slow, and to get it right.

— Ralph Marston

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

October 16

Power of gratitude

Gratitude has great power. If you can find a way to be thankful when everyone else is resentful, that’s power.

What you’re genuinely and deeply thankful for, you’ll figure out how to create more of. That’s effectiveness.

If you’re faced with a difficult situation, being thankful is a response not immediately obvious, maybe never considered at all. Yet when you do practice gratitude it can illuminate a path forward and inspire you to persist on that path.

Be thankful for this, for now, for the world as it is and for all the possibilities encompassed herein. Be thankful, and empower yourself to create the most favorable outcomes.

Gratitude is not just a matter of being nice or polite or optimistic. Real, unequivocal gratitude has the power to bring value and goodness to life, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Be thankful, and bring your best options out into the open where you can seize them and act on them. Be thankful, and give the great benefit of your gratefulness to all of life.

— Ralph Marston

October 17

Ripe with potential

Enjoy beauty anywhere you can experience it. Take inspiration wherever you encounter it.

Embrace meaningful challenge when you come across it. Give love as you have the opportunity to offer it.

The moments always coming your way are ripe with potential. Keep your regrets to a bare minimum by seeing and fulfilling as much of that potential as you can.

When you have the chance to satisfy your curiosity, do so. Ask questions, seek answers, admit what you don’t know, and set about to learn it.

Appreciate the unique value of each person who comes into your life. Rather than wishing for people to be or to act exactly how you want, rejoice in the distinctive treasure of the way they actually are.

The magnificent potential of life exists for you, right here, right now. Live it as it comes, and live it well.

— Ralph Marston

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

October 19

Active engagement

Stop telling yourself what you need to get done. Instead, remind yourself of what you’re committed to doing.

When you frame anything as a need, that focuses you on the fact that you don’t have it, or haven’t done it. Instead, frame it as a result you’re actively creating.

You don’t need to weed the garden, develop a marketing plan, or get more exercise. You’re on your way to the gym or the toolshed or your desk.

Adopt the assumption that you’re already in the process of creating the result you seek. That directs your thinking away from what you lack and toward what you can do next.

Reinforce that assumption by taking actual physical steps in the direction of that result. Put on your workout shoes, or open a document and start typing, and quickly give yourself the experience of active engagement.

When it comes to telling yourself what you need to do, one single time is quite sufficient. Once that occurs, jump immediately into making it happen.

— Ralph Marston

October 20

Focus and curiosity

Use your curiosity to gather knowledge and experiences. Employ your focus to weave together, expand upon, and make purposeful sense of what curiosity brings to your awareness.

Setting curiosity aside for a while to achieve better focus does not mean you’re renouncing your curiosity. You’re actually using focus to make good use of what your curiosity has presented to you.

A similar dynamic is at work when you let go of your focus in order to indulge your curiosity. You’re not permanently abandoning focus, but instead you’re finding new and compelling subjects to focus upon.

Focus and curiosity benefit when you appreciate the contributions of both. The ideal strategy is to keep them in balance.

Keep that in mind when you’re tempted to break away from what you’re focused on and run toward some new discovery. Resist the temptation, knowing that your curiosity will still be there after the work is completed, when you can pursue it free of any guilt.

Get your focus and your curiosity working in cooperation, with respect and consideration for each other. That is always a powerful combination.

— Ralph Marston

October 21

Let go of negativity

Negativity is a burden you impose on yourself and others. How long do you wish to continue carrying it?

Certainly troublesome, even tragic situations exist in your own vicinity and in the wider world. But you accomplish nothing of value by making them worse with your own negativity.

Negativity is a fight against what is, a fight that’s lost as soon as it begins. Instead of being ensnared by such futility, you can simply accept what is, and let the negativity fall away.

Doing so frees you to resonate with a positive vision of what can be. That’s a much better direction to point your considerable energy, skills, thoughts, words and actions.

It’s not a naive denial of the problems, but rather an affirmation of your choice to move forward with positive purpose. It’s a choice to face reality without hesitation and to give your best in dealing with it.

Let go of the useless and burdensome negativity. You’ve got a meaningful life to live and great work to do.

— Ralph Marston

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

October 23

Embark on adventure

Adventure energizes your mind, your spirit, even your body. That increased energy spills over into every corner of your life.

Adventure motivates you to improve your existing skills and develop new ones. It heightens your awareness, deepens your gratitude and sense of purpose.

Today does not have to be just another day. You have the choice, you have the power, to make it into an adventure.

What’s necessary for adventure? First on the list is some sort of challenge, and chances are you have immediate access to plenty of worthwhile challenges.

Then there’s open-mindedness, curiosity, a desire to explore, take risks, and learn, plus a clear purpose. Those are all factors you’re perfectly capable of providing on any given day, whatever your situation may be.

So right here, right now, you can make anything you do into a genuine adventure. Answer the call, and add the many benefits of adventure to your life today.

— Ralph Marston

October 24

Get in the flow

What do you do when you’re serious about getting the job done? You get in the flow.

Take one step, then another and another. Early on, many of your steps won’t be in an ideal direction, yet even those missteps serve to get you going.

Very quickly you’ll get your footing and the quality of your efforts will improve. You’re in the flow, well-positioned to ride that flow all the way to the results you desire.

Momentum can actually make it feel easier to keep going than to stop. Get in the flow and get momentum working in your favor.

If you’re not sure exactly where to start, what to say, how to act, that’s completely understandable, so here’s what you do. You find a way, any way at all, to get in the flow.

Once you’re in the flow, you’ll adjust, you’ll adapt, you’ll figure it out and be motivated to continue. Get in the flow, and discover how much great work you can do.

— Ralph Marston

October 25

Appearing foolish

Don’t seek to appear foolish. But don’t be afraid of it either.

Do whatever, in your best judgment, the moment calls for. Have the courage to speak the truth, to be enthusiastic, to ask what might seem like stupid questions.

If you appear foolish because of the misguided judgments of others, let that be their problem, not yours. You’re perfectly able to prevent yourself from acting foolishly, yet you have little control over what others think of you.

Don’t let someone else’s possible impression stop you from doing what is good, what is right, what is necessary. Give reasonable thought and consideration to your words and actions, then confidently go ahead with them.

What’s truly foolish is to pass up the opportunity of living your best in every moment. No matter what others think, that’s a useful reality to keep in mind.

If you happen to appear foolish, so be it. Let it go, even laugh about it, and move on ahead with living a great life.

— Ralph Marston

October 26

Own your time

You can’t make more time in the day, the week, the year. What you can do is make your time more productive and fulfilling.

That happens when you take greater ownership of your time. It happens when you take greater responsibility for what you do with the time available to you.

Start by making a commitment to getting each day’s necessary tasks completed as early and effectively as possible. Doing so frees the remaining time in each day for you to spend as you choose.

When you have earned the luxury of that choice, choose wisely. Remind yourself how much value it’s possible to create in each moment, set your standards high, and work to meet those standards.

Invest your time in the people, the values, the dreams, ideas, and possibilities you care about most. Use the present time to create meaningful goodness that endures far into the future.

Time passes quickly, yet you can inject plenty of great life into each bit of time along the way. Take ownership of your time, take responsibility for its use, and live the full potential of every day.

— Ralph Marston

October 27

Appreciating the limitations

When the possibilities are unlimited, when you can do anything, too often you do nothing. You become so overwhelmed with all the choices that it seems impossible to choose.

When some particular option is free and easy to access, it’s also easy to take for granted, no matter how valuable it may be. You can easily do it anytime, which means you can always do it later, and so you never end up doing it.

Limitations are difficult to live with, yet they do serve a positive purpose. They provide structure, and can force you to focus on what’s valuable, meaningful, and achievable.

If you have a one-week vacation planned, you’re likely to maximize the experience of every day. Contrast that to having six months off from work, when there’s a good chance you’ll be aimless and unfocused on many of those days.

Diamonds are expensive because they’re extremely difficult to find and to extract. In the same way, the options that are more difficult to exercise are the ones most likely to bring great value.

Rather than wishing for a life without limitations, find value in the structure and focus that limitations provide. By understanding and appreciating what you can’t do, you gain more meaningful rewards from what you can do.

— Ralph Marston

October 28

Affirm the moment

Now is when you experience life. So experience it now with all you have, in depth, in every dimension.

No moment is really ordinary. Because every moment is a unique experience in a unique environment with unique thoughts, feelings, people, and circumstances.

Treasure the opportunity to see, to know, to taste, to feel, to connect, to act. Realize how much you can do with now, and move forward to fulfill its possibilities.

Right now you can care, you can love, you can remember, you can dream and plan and share. It’s a rare and valuable chance you have, ready for you to accept and put to use.

Say what you must say, feel what you can feel, do what is good and right to do. Affirm the moment and all it encompasses, because what it encompasses is the beauty of life.

Rise to the enormity and possibility of all that’s in front of you right now. Affirm this moment, and live it well.

— Ralph Marston

October 29

This imperfect moment

The day didn’t work out the way you hoped. Perhaps you can enjoy it anyway.

It’s good to make plans and see those plans through to fruition. Even so, you’re free to create new goodness from whatever happens, even if it’s unplanned and unexpected.

No matter how you got here, this moment is yours to live at the highest level of fulfillment. Regardless of what you have or don’t have, you have the opportunity to make the best of today.

Allow thankfulness for that opportunity to fill your heart. Then look around, notice the good you can do, the richness you can experience, and do so.

See the great potential in this imperfect moment. Step away from your judgments and delight in the experience.

Things are not like you expected. Now is your chance to make them even better.

— Ralph Marston

October 30

Beautiful experience

Let the experience be as beautiful as it is. Then let it go.

Don't ruin it by clinging to it, or trying to make it more than it is. Treasure forever its good feeling in your heart by letting it be.

As beautiful as it is, you cannot ever make it happen again in exactly the same way. But then you don't need to, because it's always yours, as close as your next thankful thought.

What you can do is open yourself to new experience, to what can possibly be even more beautiful. That takes faith, courage, and much work, yet it is in giving yourself fully to the ongoing moments that new beauty arises.

Time passes, conditions change, people come and go. Nonetheless, the investments you make with your heart will always retain their value.

Have the confidence to accept that each beautiful experience has been enough. And you're sure to have many more.

Ralph Marston

October 31

Good advice

Many times you tell yourself what you must do, and then leave it at that. But what if you were to actually follow through on your own good advice?

There are reasons why you’re telling yourself these things. You’re well positioned to know what’s best for you and what isn’t.

So don’t be satisfied with just knowing what must be done. Give yourself the benefit of actually doing it.

Sure, it’s easier to merely scold yourself and make promises to yourself. Yet you have what it takes to make good on those promises.

You deserve the full benefit of your own perceptions. You deserve to act on those perceptions.

What have you been telling yourself you ought to do? Today is your opportunity to make it happen.

— Ralph Marston