Daily Motivator - December

[bluidkiti]

December 15

Value for your time

There’s no time to waste, so what do you do? You hurry, and while all that hurrying can create much activity, it often produces poor results.

Rarely is it a good tactic to put yourself into such a rush. In the effort to hurry because time is short, you can easily end up wasting even more time.

Consider a couple of things. First, if you really don’t have time to focus and do a good job right now, could you wait until later, when there’s more time?

Second, is that urgent next activity you’re rushing off to actually urgent, actually important? Or is it something that could be delayed, maybe even canceled altogether?

If you regularly find yourself pressed for time, there’s an excellent chance you can benefit from a re-evaluation of your priorities and procedures. Rather than assuming that rushing is inevitable, challenge yourself to make your time more intentional and focused.

Instead of convincing yourself you’re making progress by rushing around, look for a better way. Give respect and value to your time, and it will return great value to you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 16

Pushing the possibilities

You are right now situated at the center of your own unique universe of possibilities. Those possibilities can assemble to oppress you into oblivion or lift you to unimaginable heights, depending largely on how and to what purpose you interact with them.

You perceive only a few of the most adjacent possibilities, and can imagine a little of what extends out beyond them. But you simply cannot fully conceive of all that’s possible across time, space, function, and thought.

What you can do, and indeed cannot avoid, is to seed those possibilities with purpose, with meaning. To yield desirable results you must move through that infinitely complex universe of possibilities with truth and sincerity of purpose.

When it comes to your most immediate options, you can sometimes succeed in deceiving yourself and others. But one possibility quickly leads to another and then another, far beyond what you could ever anticipate, and the deception inevitably breaks down.

Your universe of possibilities is so complex and dynamic, and extends so far beyond your comprehension, you cannot hope to manipulate it. Yet with an honest and beneficial purpose, what you can do is traverse that immense field of possibilities into a life of greatness and fulfillment.

Love, beauty, truth, and purpose all exist for good reason. They constantly enable you to push life’s possibilities in the best direction.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 17

Fresh new opportunity

You cannot bring back lost opportunities. What you can do is learn from them and transform the regret they bring you into determination.

Your past is not perfect. And that makes the present even more precious.

Maybe you would be in a more favorable situation today if you had been more diligent yesterday. Fortunately, the sun rose this morning on a new chance to redeem yourself.

Feel within you the spark of goodness, of creativity, of kindness, love, and enthusiasm. Now, in the moment you have, do something with it.

Embrace the way you feel, whatever that may be, and challenge yourself to find positive, productive energy in that feeling. Accept the way life is, however it is, and discover avenues of improvement and fulfillment that you can embark upon.

All the successes, joys, disappointments, treasured and forgotten experiences have brought you to this fresh new opportunity. Now, make what you do with it worthy of all you’ve been through to get here.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 18

Spark of hope

Focus on the opportunities. Persevere through the difficulties.

Remind yourself that those difficulties and opportunities are often two aspects of the same reality. Offer yourself the wisdom to consider differing perspectives on the same situation.

As you do so, take good care of yourself. Nurture and engage your potential to bring good out of whatever happens.

Your circumstances are never perfect in every way. Neither are they ever without hope.

From a tiny spark of hope take a tiny step. Feel the power of doing so, of the difference it makes, then take another step, a little more ambitious.

Even when the pains are more evident, the opportunities are still there. Continue to choose hope and to reliably act on it, for that’s what will bring you to a more positive place.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

Meditations for the Heart??

As a child I recall playing a game of tag, where, if I was about to be tagged, I could yell out, “Force Field” and know that I was safe. This force field was imaginary, but it prevented the person who was it from tagging me. In recovery we have a force field that is real. God can and will shield us from harm's way. None of life’s daggers can cut into our lives and truly harm us when we let God become our force field. This does not mean that life will be problem free. It does mean that any problem, any scorn from others, or any shame can be kept outside of this force field if we put our trust in our Higher Power. This trust acts as a shield we can attain. It will build an inner peace that will allow us to deal effectively with life’s problems. We learn that resentment has no place in our lives. We find a healthy path to walk on. Do I allow God to be a force in my life?

[bluidkiti]

December 19

Refining your desires

Value arises from effort, not from desire alone. Desire helps you understand what has meaning, but it is neither the source of meaning nor the fulfillment of value.

Desires have great power and also much variety. Like every other powerful force, any particular desire can be highly beneficial or can lead to disastrous results.

The desires that push you to bring real, lasting value to life are the ones that align with your long-term goals. While every desire involves feeling good in some way, it’s essential to identify which desires will lead to a sense of goodness that endures.

Before you put energy into chasing a desire, put some time and thought into refining that desire. Seek to understand the desire behind the desire, and the even deeper desire behind that.

Do you really desire a bag of potato chips? Or is that actually a superficial indication of a deeper desire for more nutritious nourishment?

Every day you are motivated by your desires. So it pays to invest yourself in understanding where they come from, and where they’re likely to take you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 20

What you don’t know

You don’t know it all, you won’t know it all, you can’t know it all. Free yourself to think more clearly by accepting that you haven’t thought of everything.

Certainly your knowledge and reasoning bring great value to your world. Yet that value can be destroyed by arrogance.

You know what you know, and that’s great. Yet there’s always more to know, factors you haven’t considered.

And therein exists great opportunity for discovery, improvement, and deeper levels of understanding. Whatever you already know is your starting point, and the possibilities for seeking truth have no limit.

From where you’ve never been, from those you’ve never agreed with, you can learn. Offer yourself sufficient confidence and curiosity to expand your levels of enlightenment and effectiveness.

Be thrilled by the prospect of encountering someone who has knowledge different than yours, who sees the world from an alternate perspective. Because very soon, so will you.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 21

Know by being

Know not only with your mind and your senses. Know by doing, know by living, know by being.

Know with the whole of your existence. Know through the integration of your experience with your spirit.

Some things in life are far too important to be mediated through the pages of a book or the pixels on a screen. Fully know the richness and the wonder by being an integral part of it all.

Don’t settle for being two or three degrees removed from the essential values of life. Dive deeply into the experience of each moment so as to directly know the miracle of being.

Know love, beauty, and fulfillment by allowing them to manifest through your focus, commitment, and persistence. Know truth by putting it into action from moment to moment.

Go beyond thoughts, feelings, sensations, and representations, as valuable as they can be. Come to know the reality of your existence, of all existence, by doing, by living, by being.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 22

Who do you imitate?

Much of what you do comes from the influence and examples of others. Ask yourself, who are those others?

Who are the people whose desires, habits, values and perspectives you respect and seek to emulate? Even more significantly, how well have those people done in living lives of quality and fulfillment?

When so much of the information you consume comes from anonymous sources, do you even have a good grasp on all the people you’re imitating? It’s all too easy to be inspired by glittery images pouring out from people whose lives you know nothing about.

What appears compelling on the surface often has little depth. When seeking someone to follow, to look up to and admire, to guide your actions, it’s in your best interest to know that person as deeply as possible.

That takes time and effort, thought and commitment. Many other people have many great perspectives, but there also exist a whole lot of false promises.

From time to time it’s good to consider, who do you imitate and why? Pay particular attention to the why, and find your way to those who can influence you in the most positive and fulfilling manner.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 23

Working within constraints

The airline limits the weight of your bag to 50 pounds. They’re doing you a favor.

They’re forcing you to prioritize, to be thoughtful and intentional about what to take with you and what to leave behind. By working within such constraints you become more purposeful, more innovative, more focused on what’s truly meaningful.

The reality is, you don’t have infinite space or time or resources with which to do whatever you seek to do. By embracing that reality, by figuring out how to live within the limits, you can live with amazing richness.

Your nature is to be creative and resourceful as well as purposeful. You’ve been operating within reality’s constraints your whole life and you’ve become skilled at doing so.

And though you’d often prefer to be free of limits, those limits provide a clearly defined realm in which to operate with success and fulfillment. Without limits life would have no structure to provide support or impose valuable discipline.

What would it look like if, instead of cursing the limitations you were to be thankful for them? It would look like a life of strength, of purpose, of discipline and achievement.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 23

Expression of life

Make today an expression of life. Craft that expression in exquisite detail, honest, authentic, original.

Put your hopes, your doubts, your passions into it. Generously offer your expression of life solely for the sake of doing so.

Life survives and thrives to the degree it is genuinely expressed. Do, experience, grow, share, and perpetuate the beauty of existence.

Ride the energy of your innate creativity into new and challenging territory. Then rise to the challenge and bring into being a flavor of experience that’s never been known before.

Let your voice be heard. Transform the substance of your inner spirit into outer realities.

Today is when you can make the conceptual and the possible into the actual. Joyfully express the life you’re so fortunate to live.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 24

Return to peace

It’s natural to feel anger, but you don’t have to let it consume your precious time. Choose to quickly return to peace.

Feeling anxiety can at times be appropriate and useful, but you don’t want to be overwhelmed by it. Make it your intention to quickly return to peace.

Living with a peaceful perspective does not mean withdrawing from the realities of life. It’s a matter of experiencing and working through those realities with intention, confidence, and purpose.

Much of what happens in your world is beyond your ability to influence. Yet you do have significant control over your thoughts, your perspective, your attitude, and that control gives you much to work with.

Whatever the outer situation, you can live with the power of peace on the inside. Though it won’t magically make everything better, it will help you to be more positive and effective in your words, your actions, your outcomes.

Make it your intention to quickly return to peace. And let its beneficial power be a part of whatever you do.

— Ralph Marston

[willbe275]

May the stars shine on you this
season and all the year throughout.
Have a wonderful Christmas!

“It is Christmas every time you
let God love others through you.

[bluidkiti]

December 26

Life moves forward

New experience gives added value to old experience, and vice versa. Treasure them both in their own ways.

What you learn is always built on what you know. That’s good to consider especially when the new turns out to directly contradict the old.

In such a case, understand the old in a new light but resist the temptation to denigrate it. After all, it’s what got you where you are.

What you now know will someday be superseded, but that doesn’t mean it’s ever useless. Life moves forward when you go with what you have, and with respect from whence you’ve come.

At some point soon you’ll have to choose between the latest thing and the most life-affirming, enduring thing. Live your moments and deepen your perspective so you can make that choice wisely.

You have a past and you have a future. Keep them on friendly terms with each other, and they will both be good to you now.

— Ralph Marston

[bluidkiti]

December 27

Think, do, learn

Pretty much nothing unfolds in exactly the way you imagine it. You can speculate, re-consider, plan, and anticipate, yet once you start to take action, everything changes.

Action transforms thoughts into reality. Although thought and action each have value, they are decidedly distinct creatures and cannot be substituted one for the other.

Give thought to your actions, then give action to your thoughts. Use the results you get to improve and to better focus your subsequent thoughts and actions.

In the initial stage of any endeavor, be prepared to, at best, stumble forward. On the next iteration you’ll do better, and even better after that.

If you fail to win the gold medal on your first outing, or you’re twenty-fifth, you’re normal. If you let that discourage you and stop you from making the effort, you’re foolish.

Because over time, with persistence, humility, an innovative spirit, and more persistence, you make real progress. Think, do, learn, then think, do, learn, and your tenacity with doing so will bring whatever you seek within reach.

— Ralph Marston