Daily Motivator - July
 

July 1

Yours right now

Take in the beauty of this moment and let it fill you. Yet do not try to hold it.

For as soon as you attempt to possess it, the beauty is lost. When you grasp it too tightly, you lose the ability to experience it.

Let this unique moment flow toward you, and then let it flow away from you as the next moment comes to take its place. Allow the beautiful experience of life to be born again and again.

The real value of this moment is in the way you live it. Live it fully, lovingly, gratefully, and there is no need to hold on to it, for the best of it will always be a part of you.

Each moment offers its own special treasure. Let go of your need to judge, to analyze, to possess, and simply experience the wonder that is yours right now.

You are free in this moment to live, to create, to give, to grow. Lovingly open your eyes to the abundant possibilities, and dive gently into this beautiful moment.

— Ralph Marston

Happy New Month Tammy
Thanking God for getting us though
the month Of June joyous, happy and free.
God bless you on this first day of July.
I miss the friend I never met, Kracker.

July 2

All you’ve experienced

Your failed attempts have taught you crucial lessons. Those good intentions you never followed through on have given you an appreciation for the value of commitment.

Regrets born in your past provide inspiration and energy that you can put to good use. Now you can benefit from it all.

Not only can you expand upon whatever successes you’ve created. You’re also able to find wisdom and fresh determination in recalling those painful times when you’ve disappointed yourself.

From the richness of your life experience, today you can begin to take effective action. You have what it takes to continue doing so until you’ve achieved the results that truly matter to you.

Your past has played a significant role in the person you now are. Yet no matter how definitive that past has been, your future is not a foregone conclusion.

That future will be shaped by what you do today, drawing upon all you’ve experienced and all you know, using whatever you have. Now is your opportunity to make it the best you can imagine.

— Ralph Marston

July 3

Meaningful life

Meaning has infinite potential. You can always experience more, create more, and offer more meaning.

Indeed, every experience of a particular form of meaning that already exists, results in more meaning. Through your own life, through all of life, meaning is kept alive.

Meaning flows in all directions. Through every connection, every activity, you accumulate meaning and you disperse meaning.

To live with rich meaning is a matter of opening yourself up to the potential for meaning that is everywhere. Be eager to imbue meaning and you find it in abundance.

Your meaningful self continually interacts with your rational self and your emotional self to enrich your life. And yet meaning is not constrained by or limited to reason or feelings.

Your life, your world, what you know and what you don’t, all mean something because you are able to experience meaning. However it unfolds, yours is a meaningful and precious life, with value far beyond what can ever be imagined.

— Ralph Marston

July 4

Mental work

Take the time, have the courage, to explore your own thoughts. Within those thoughts you can find great treasure.

Every thought you think is informed by the totality of your knowledge and experience. Give those thoughts the time, space, and focus to interact with each other.

No, you don’t want to spend all your time wandering through your own thoughts. However, a regular, reasonable period of uninterrupted thinking is well worth the investment.

It’s quite amazing that you have quick and easy access to the expressed thoughts of so many other people. And yet for all that insight to have value in your own life, you must do the mental work to integrate it well.

Think, listen to your thoughts, make a record of them, review them, challenge them, refine them. Among your many advisors, make sure one of them is you.

Your life can always benefit from some serious, prolonged, and introspective thought. Offer yourself that benefit often.

— Ralph Marston

July 5

Truth is easier

It’s easy and often convenient to say what you don’t mean, to claim what is not true, to hide what is real. But the further you venture from the truth, the more difficult is your way forward.

By very definition, reality always has a way of asserting itself. Every falsehood requires additional falsehoods to support it, and also to support those, until at some point no more falsehoods are possible.

As difficult as truth can often be, it is easier than the alternative. Especially when truth is difficult, the sooner you accept it and express it, the better.

For once the truth is out, it does not have to be constantly propped up. Though living truthfully can be a lot of work, it has the great advantage of not being at odds with reality itself.

Though it could take years and years, being delusional eventually ends up as the only remaining alternative to being truthful. And acting from a delusional perspective quickly becomes ineffective.

Truth can be a hard and painful choice. Yet it’s a whole lot easier than any other choice.

— Ralph Marston

July 6

Rewarding life

The reward is not in the prize. The reward is in the effort.

The prize is a mere token. And when it is not earned, it is an empty, meaningless, worthless token, no matter how much glitter it may possess.

The prospect of pleasure exerts a powerful pull. Yet as desirable as it may be, pleasure does not, will not, cannot sustain you.

Every day brings you the opportunity to insert some sort of value in the world where it never existed before. As you already know from experience, a rewarding life comes from capitalizing on such opportunities.

Which would you prefer, to have everything and to have done nothing, or to have nothing and to have done everything? Life is in the living, in the participation, in the dynamic attaining rather than in the cold, static trophy.

Here right now is your chance to do that living, to take on the challenges, to make a difference that comes from deep within. Feel your unique potential as it beckons you to an increasingly rewarding life, and answer the call.

— Ralph Marston

July 7

The way things are

To improve reality you must first accept and adapt to the specific reality that already exists. You cannot change reality by hiding from it, or wishing it away, or pretending it’s something different than it is.

You have dreams, desires, detailed ideas of how you would like the world to be. Yet the only starting place you can ever have is where you are, the way things are.

Shouting down, ignoring, or demonizing those who speak the truth will not make the truth go away. Only by accepting and working within what is true and what is real can you make any progress.

It is admirable to put passion and energy into moving toward an ideal. To do so you must carefully and honestly navigate through territory that is not ideal.

That means understanding and having some degree of respect for those who do not share your ideal. It means working to find common ground and then working further to expand upon that common ground.

The current reality has its roots in times and circumstances that existed long before you were ever aware of them. Your success at creating positive change depends on your willingness to humbly accept that truth and operate within the way things are.

— Ralph Marston

July 8

Love of living

Live for the love of living. Love for the joy of loving.

Listen, watch, taste, feel, and know you’re a crucial part of all you experience. Give because giving is who you are and what you do.

Dance to the music of the wind that flows through all existence. See that reality itself is the ultimate magic.

Harvest golden sunlight, plunge into the deep blue ocean. Soar above the misty morning on sturdy wings of thankfulness.

Embrace the contradictions, explore the mysteries. Treasure the countless factors that enrich your existence.

Look in every direction with eyes full of love, appreciation, and thirst for new adventure. Share, expand, and improve upon the best you’re able to see.

— Ralph Marston

July 9

Go out and do

Life’s energy does not come from talking, wishing, speculating about life’s energy. Life gains its energy from action.

Get up, get active, go out and do. If your muscles do not ache at the end of the day, you have neglected many opportunities for richness.

Connect with the reality of hot and cold, of soft and hard, of distance, depth, and steepness. Challenge yourself to navigate through the rugged terrain of what is true and solid, nourishing and fulfilling.

You are capable of so much more than merely absorbing comfort and pleasant entertainment. Choose to be an active participant in the wonder of existence.

Feel your strength increasing as you negotiate the difficult trade-offs. Act to create rich experiences that add lasting value to your life.

Honor and fulfill the potential that’s been coming your way since before you were born. Go out and do all the good you can do in this real and beautiful world.

— Ralph Marston

July 10

Magnificent feast

Those who live in a beautiful and competent world are those who invest themselves in beauty and competence. Those who live in an ugly and dysfunctional world are those who fail to make that investment.

Effort, care, love, generosity, and understanding are difficult, but they are not burdens. They are opportunities to improve the quality of life.

Beauty cannot exist without someone to appreciate it, support it, care for it, share it, and advance its desirability. Living to do so adds immense quality to the experience of life.

Beauty advances life and life advances beauty. There is no limit to the heights that such a collaboration can attain.

Do what is good and right and elegant and beautiful, for the sake of itself. Instead of fighting over meager scraps, do the work to bring forth a magnificent feast.

Time, resources, energies, and genuine yearnings are there. With your commitment and with growing strength, fulfill them in beautiful, creative ways.

— Ralph Marston

July 11

Ready to go

Rather than sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike, get yourself going and let inspiration find you already in action. Instead of killing time until you feel ready, simply declare that you are ready.

After all, your willingness to get started is mostly in your mind. And you can change your mind as quickly as you wish, anytime you wish.

Remind yourself that you are ready and willing, right now, here in this place, with everything just the way it is. You are eager to make good things happen, so go ahead and act on that eagerness.

Right ahead in your foreseeable future is the satisfaction of solving a difficult problem, or creating something new and valuable. And here you are, ready and willing to go.

Today promises to be a truly outstanding day because you are committed to make it so. The future looks bright because you are all set to do whatever it takes to make that future shine.

All because you’ve chosen to be, you are as ready for action as anyone can possibly be. Take a deep breath, fill your awareness with the possibilities, and go make great things happen, now.

— Ralph Marston

July 12

A better there

There are probably good options you have not considered. Look for them, work to bring them to the surface of your awareness.

The easiest, most obvious paths are blocked. With some time, effort, honesty and creativity, you can discover others.

When you find yourself in a difficult situation, remember this. Plenty of people from circumstances far more challenging have gone on to achieve great things.

Life can be hard to handle. Yet you have what it takes to live your life well.

Realize you are in a sacred place that’s filled with pure potential. Honor and fulfill that potential by making the commitment to do so, and by following through.

From here to a better there involves much work. Fortunately you’re good at it, and it’s the best thing you can do.

— Ralph Marston

July 13

Questions to contemplate

What can you do right now that you’ll be thankful for tomorrow? That’s a great way to spend your time.

What thoughts can you bring to the top of your awareness that will inspire and energize you? Those can be valuable thoughts to consider.

How can you act with others that will leave them eager to be with you again? A positive experience is always a good thing to create.

What potential are you carrying around that’s never been fully explored? This could be the ideal time to bring it forth.

What is your most painful regret, and how can you make sure you don’t add any more to it? Now is the chance to make your future more satisfying.

What in your world, in this life matter most to you? Take this and every opportunity to give time, energy and effort to them.

— Ralph Marston

July 14

Season of achievement

You want to do this, you need to do that. But wanting and needing won’t get anything accomplished.

You envision all sorts of ways to improve your world, your environment, your life, and that’s great. Yet vision alone is not enough.

What if you were to take just a single initial step? And what if that felt so satisfying you became inspired to take another?

There’s something you can do right now to put what you visualize into tangible form. Some readily accessible action will demonstrate to yourself both your commitment and your capability.

Give yourself that experience. Then extend it indefinitely into an exhilarating season of achievement and fulfillment.

What you work to attain is well worth the effort, because in that effort you become an increasingly better version of yourself. Go ahead and make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

July 15

Strength

You cannot always control the circumstances and events that surround you. Yet what you can always do is choose to meet them with strength.

Strength adds value to where you are and what you do. Whether you’re being praised, prodded, attacked, or assisted, with strength you can respond in the most appropriate and positive manner.

Strength is not the only quality necessary for a well lived life. Yet without strength the other qualities won’t get you very far.

With strength you rise above your own pettiness and the pettiness of others. Strength focuses you on what matters most, and provides the effectiveness to pursue your highest priorities.

Strength comes when you have a meaningful reason to exercise it. Strength endures when it is grounded in truth and authenticity.

Every day brings multiple opportunities to strengthen your mind, body, spirit, your love and understanding. Seize upon the best of those opportunities, and work to become an ever stronger positive force in life.

— Ralph Marston

July 16

Definitely now

For the precious and unique life you are destined to live, consigning it to maybe someday is not good enough. Rather than maybe someday, definitely now is the time to move your life, your world, your hopes and values forward.

Every day comes packed with promise and possibility. That absolutely includes this very day in which you can now take decisive action.

Your amazing potential begs you to do precisely that. This is where, now is when.

Here is the moment to fully recognize the depth of opportunity that permeates your world. Here is your moment to do something with it.

Someday is merely a pleasant concept, nothing more. Yet now is a rich and solid reality, brimming with possibility, immediately available for action.

Take that action, live your life. Do it definitely now.

— Ralph Marston

July 17

Your next choice

The quality of your life is determined by all choices large and small. Keep that in mind as you choose well, for every choice matters.

Choose excellence over convenience. Choose reliability over opulence.

Choose beauty over expediency. Choose enduring connections over momentary transactions.

Choose truth over ease. Choose authenticity over appearance.

Make the kinds of choices that bring real value now, and later, for you, and for all around you. Make the choices that enable you to avoid regret and to experience fulfillment.

Your next choice is a turning point. Get clear right now about which direction you are committed to always turn.

— Ralph Marston

July 18

Rise joyfully

Stay away from those who promise to make things easy for you. Seek out those who respect you enough to challenge you.

Avoid consenting to offers of something for nothing. Such situations always leave you with less than nothing.

Be willing to pay the price that a life of quality and fulfillment demands. For precisely in that price is where the desired reward resides.

Being rich is not a matter of how much you have. The experience of true richness is commensurate with how little you need.

Take the time and open yourself to behold the massive extent and value of all that is, of all you’re connected to. The totality of existence is here now, with you, in you, around you, through you.

Sense the energy and the miracle of what you’re participating in. For your sake, for everyone’s sake, rise joyfully to the magnificent occasion of today.

— Ralph Marston

July 19

Realm of reality

Reality is often not easy to accept. But it is ultimately easier for you, and better for you, to accept reality than to deny it.

Because reality always wins. You also can win within the confines and conditions of reality, but you cannot win apart from it.

Reality is the domain where you can get good things done. Reality does have its challenges, and by pushing through those challenges you create new value.

Acknowledge the difference between how you wish the world could be and how it actually is. By doing so, you can spot opportunities for moving toward desirable outcomes.

Look clearly, honestly, courageously at what is. Let all you see inform you and inspire you as you work toward your ideals for what can be.

Give accuracy to your perceptions and effectiveness to your actions. Keep yourself firmly anchored in the realm of reality.

— Ralph Marston

July 20

Say you will

Intention shines a light on specific possibilities and opportunities. Express a particular intention, and you begin to find your way toward its fulfillment.

Intention gathers your willingness and aims it all in the same direction. Intention energizes your skills and capabilities.

Say you will, and mean it. Say you will, with seriousness and conviction, and you’re on your way to getting it done.

Say you will, then begin right away to follow through. Express your intention with so much certainty and commitment that you’re compelled by your own determination to keep it alive.

Transform your scattered dreams, preferences, and wishes into solid intentions. Decide what you will indeed do, and put the whole of yourself behind that decision.

Say you will, then do more than just saying it. Make your intention, then make it happen.

— Ralph Marston

July 21

Ready for opportunities

Today will offer you opportunities. Are you able to recognize them, and prepared to make something out of them?

A sense of meaningful purpose illuminates opportunities, letting you see them for what they are. Be clear about what you seek, and opportunities that otherwise would be invisible jump sharply into view.

When you do see those opportunities, you’ll need a potent place where you can put them, nurture them, and bring them to fruition. That comes from establishing and maintaining structure, organization, and discipline in the way you live.

If you’re searching for an automatic windfall that just brings vaguely defined goodies into your life, you won’t find opportunity. Yet when you have the clear intention of working to create specific value in the world, you’re sure to encounter numerous opportunities.

Arrange your life so it can resonate with the kinds of opportunities that are meaningful to you. Invest yourself in being open to opportunities, and you’ll find yourself connecting with them.

Opportunities are out there, and more are arising all the time. Be the person who can see them, who will do something with them, and the opportunities become yours.

— Ralph Marston

July 22

Power to adapt

All sorts of factors in your life and in your world keep changing from day to day, moment to moment. That can be a big problem for you, or it can be a great opportunity.

You have the power to adapt to changing conditions. Make use of that power, and get the inevitable changes to work in your favor.

A few hours from now, or next week, or the entire future, they’re all moving targets. The most carefully laid plans can become useless and outdated overnight.

Yet that’s no reason to give up on your goals. On the contrary, it’s an opportunity to deploy your power to adapt.

It might actually be that a changing situation offers even better possibilities than what existed before. Position yourself to fulfill the best of those possibilities by adapting to the changes.

When your world changes, you could become immobilized with worry, you could waste time and energy complaining, or you can adapt. Let your power to adapt kick in, and be your best in an ever-changing world.

— Ralph Marston

One thing that is guaranteed and that is change.

July 23

Awareness

Maintain awareness not only of what can be seen. Stay aware also of the possibilities that could be hidden.

Awareness involves being knowledgeable. It also involves being open to what exists beyond your knowledge.

Countless generations of your ancestors honed their awareness in order to survive. Today, your own awareness gives you advantages in doing all you seek to do, in living the life you seek to live.

It is literally good sense to make critical use of all your senses. Multiply that by filtering and amplifying your perceptions through your focus and experience.

Look with clarity, listen with accuracy, read between the lines. Pay attention to the raw sensations and feelings, for they have their messages to convey.

Your diligent awareness enables you to move through your world in the most successful manner. Be aware, and be ready to deal with whatever may come.

— Ralph Marston

July 25

Time well spent

Time is the most valuable resource available for you to invest. Pay close attention and give thoughtful intention to what you do with it.

Consider the most fulfilling aspects of your life. They are all largely the result of how you’ve chosen to spend your time.

Continue to be informed by those beneficial choices and experiences. Invest your time in ways that bring new richness to your world and to your life.

An hour well spent can change your entire outlook for the better. A year well spent will send its positive echoes for decades, even centuries.

Right now is the additional time you will one day wish to have. This is when you can actually do all sorts of things you’ll eventually wish you could still do.

Make those future wishes a reality, and make those future regrets disappear before they ever arise. Invest your time in what’s good, in what’s life affirming, and in what truly matters, now.

— Ralph Marston

July 26

Living values

Thinking a kind thought is admirable. Offering a kind word at an opportune moment is better, and acting on your kindness, even more so.

It’s a nice gesture to express your love. Yet it can be life-changing to put your love into practice.

Your most treasured values aren’t just for talking about. They’re for living on a day-to-day basis.

It can be easy to become resentful about people who don’t share your values. But whenever you feel such resentment take it as a cue to ask yourself, what specific actions are you taking to share those values?

As demanding as it can be, living your values produces a very good feeling. Because your efforts are resonating with the truth of who you are.

With the way you live each moment, generously extend your best values far beyond you. Serve as a constant conduit for authentic goodness, allowing it to grow more abundant.

— Ralph Marston

July 27

Generosity into action

What can you do today to be generous to yourself? What can you do today to be generous to others?

Generosity gives you specific pathways to enhance your life. Generosity provides concrete opportunities to improve the lives of those around you.

Genuine generosity is a positive experience for everyone it touches. And it rarely meets with any opposition.

You can be generous with time, with respect, with material resources, with attention, skill, understanding, and wisdom. The possibilities for generosity are as abundant as your creativity and desire.

Imagine how a small act of generosity could positively impact your experience right now. Imagine how inspired you would then be to expand upon it.

Then go beyond imagining, and put generosity into action. Live in a world of its beneficial consequences.

— Ralph Marston

July 28

Work on it

How do you transform a pile of rocks into a magnificent castle? You work on it.

How do you transform a rough idea for a story into a blockbuster motion picture? You work on it.

Your life and your world are filled with untapped potential. Turning that potential into value is a matter of time, intention, focus, and effort.

Achievement is relatively rare. Yet the raw materials for it are so abundant you cannot avoid encountering them.

The path from what’s commonly available to what’s highly desirable goes through you and others like you. There’s a whole world of physical reality, ideas, needs, concepts, energy, techniques, and much more to work with.

Value is created by effort. Think of all you can do right here, right now, to make some.

— Ralph Marston

July 29

Driving purpose

At your core, purpose drives you. Live true to that purpose, and you’ll bring power and persistence to your actions.

There is a purpose that fulfills you. Find and understand that purpose, and you will achieve great and meaningful things.

There is a purpose that is you. But how do you uncover that purpose?

Learn to let go of all the distractions that ultimately have no lasting meaning. Look at life with the intention of seeing what you know, what is there, what is true, rather than what others insist you should see.

Look beyond the fleeting, superficial concerns of fame, fortune and fashion. Focus instead on building real and timeless qualities such as value, wisdom and love.

Seek that which is real, that which has substance, and the purpose that is yours becomes clear. Stay connected to your purpose, and live in the experience of its unmatched power.

— Ralph Marston

July 30

Potential for improvement

There’s a continuing opportunity present in your life. On any day, in every situation, you have great potential for improvement.

That doesn’t mean there’s anything particularly wrong with you or the way you live right now. It does mean you can always increase your effectiveness and fine-tune your focus on bringing new goodness into being.

How do you identify that potential and the specific ways to fulfill it? Look at the world around you, and notice the problems you see.

The reason you’re able to notice an external problem is because the problem has some degree of resonance within you. So ask yourself, what actions, habits, and priorities can you adopt in your own life as a positive response to that problem?

In so doing, you have the power to improve not only your own situation but also the lives of those around you. You are putting into practice the well-known admonition to be the change you wish to see in the world.

In a time when so many are so intent on telling others what they should do, the most powerful, accessible way to improve the world still is to improve yourself. Devote time and energy to fulfilling your own great potential, and you raise life itself to a more positive place, time after time.

— Ralph Marston

July 31

Effort after effort

Do a little work. Then do a little more.

No meaningful journey consists of just a single step. Getting anywhere takes multiple efforts, and then many more.

Sometimes you can easily measure your progress with each discrete step, and other times it’s not so obvious. Yet in every case it is the effort, followed by more effort, that’s essential to the progress.

As tedious as each effort may seem, in that effort exists pure, raw value. And you are in the process of stacking instances of that value, like so many bricks, into a wall of achievement.

The completion of one task makes another task possible. Layer upon layer, step after step, unique achievement finds and establishes its form based on your continued efforts.

The result you seek is already taking shape as you complete effort after effort. Keep it up, and fulfill the whole of the potential that you’re already bringing to life.

— Ralph Marston