Daily Motivator - August
 

August 1

Your potential

You are born to succeed. You are equipped to succeed.

But success is not a foregone conclusion. If it’s to happen, you must make it happen.

That’s entirely possible and even likely. Yet it’s not easy, or quick, or without friction.

What it is, though, is worth the trouble. Your success in achieving meaningful results adds a type of richness to life that’s not attainable in any other way.

Decide what matters and commit yourself to doing something about it. Because in the deepest part of you, that’s who you are, and that’s what you can do.

Understand the unique potential that exists as a result of your own existence. Fulfill the destiny that lives in you, and successfully bring that potential to fruition.

— Ralph Marston

Happy New Month August Prayer????

O Lord Jesus, Thank You for this brand new month to know You more and serve You more! We are excited for what lies ahead, this new beginning of a new month. Please bless with good health, strength, and wisdom as we face the challenge of this blessed month.

August 2

Use it up

Today will soon be gone whether you do anything with it or not. So while you have it, use it up and then some.

Fill the hours living life like it matters. Because it does, and you do, with so much to learn, experience, and accomplish.

Time is going by fast. Go right along with it, full of positive purpose, enthusiasm, kindness and gratitude.

Don’t permit yourself to put off until later all the great living you can do right now. This is your chance to taste life at its richest and most meaningful.

Take that chance, seize the opportunity that’s right in front of you. What you take for granted will eventually disappear, but whatever you make good use of creates value that endures.

Here is your present moment, your place, your circumstance. Now, capitalize on what it all has to offer.

— Ralph Marston

There's no right time but the presence.
Amen?

August 3

Choose peace

Peace is possible for you, here, now. Peace settles into you when you allow it.

The situation is stressful, the challenges pile on. Even so, peace waits quietly, reliably, for whenever you decide to let it be.

Plenty of forces in your life and in the world at large act to discourage and impair peace. And though you must acknowledge and deal with that reality, you can choose to be peaceful nonetheless.

Your own sense of peace does not magically make everything perfect. What it does, is enable you to act with purpose, intention, kindness, clarity and effectiveness.

Peace is a good place to come from and a good place to go. Peace is not everywhere, but you can make sure it’s always somewhere.

When you need it most, when others can benefit, or just because you can, choose peace. And go confidently forward in its power.

— Ralph Marston

August 4

What you complain about

You draw into your life what you focus on. One powerful, negative way to direct your focus is by complaining.

As a result, the people and circumstances that exert influence over your life can be the ones you complain most loudly about. Your complaints have the effect of perpetuating themselves.

Your focus, in and of itself, does not cause things to happen in the external world. However, your focus does have a significant impact on the way you perceive and react to what happens in your world.

So by complaining about something, you expand its presence in your life. Fortunately, you have much better alternatives for directing your focus.

You can focus less on what you despise and more on what you love. You can focus on solutions to problems rather than on who is to blame and the harm they cause.

Let your thoughts be occupied by positive possibilities, not by repeated complaints. Instead of complaining, you can always choose to focus on thoughts that lead your life in satisfying and beneficial directions.

— Ralph Marston

August 5

See the magic

A magical light reaches softly into every corner of the world. Sometimes you can see it.

It sparkles brightly in the eyes of a child who has just discovered for the first time. It warms the forest floor after a bitter, windy storm.

You can think yourself way too busy and sophisticated to pay attention. Yet the magic remains there to enchant, any time you give it the chance.

In the weariness of a sleepless night, you suddenly feel an uncanny comfort. Rounding the top of another mundane hill, you delight in the golden valley stretching out before your eyes.

It’s funny how the magic appears when you least expect it, and most need it. Almost as if to remind you how much you can care, how alive you can be.

You’ve seen the magic once and again, enough to know it is real. Maybe if you were a little more open, just imagine the wonders you’d behold.

— Ralph Marston

August 6

Harness the energy

Consider what just happened and ask yourself. What energy do I take from this and how can I make good use of it?

Success can energize your life, difficulty can energize your life. Frustration energizes you, and satisfaction energizes you.

Where your energy comes from is not always up to you. Yet what you do with it is very much your choice.

From the worst days you often end up with the best stories, and powerful, memorable inspiration. Even life’s negative incidents provide you the raw material for positive energy.

Find the energy that comes with each experience, good, bad, in between, and utilize it. Always have a worthy purpose ready to act upon whenever a new burst of energy arrives in your life.

When you notice yourself intensely feeling one way or another about something, there’s energy coming your way. Embrace that energy, harness it, and put it to good use.

— Ralph Marston

August 7

A future to inhabit

What has been, has been. For all its flaws, regrets, lost opportunities, as well as for its many benefits, accept the past and move forward.

Perhaps it would seem desirable to change the past, but can you really be sure what that would gain you? And in any case, it’s not possible.

Fortunately, you can impact your own future. It’s something you’re able to do every day.

That’s much more preferable. Because the future is where you’ll live the rest of your life.

Rather than useless wishing about changing the past, you can act right now to create a future of your choosing. Instead of fighting against reality, you can put it to work for you.

Transform your thoughts about what could have been into actions that determine what will indeed be. You have a future to inhabit, and it’s as bright as you’re willing to make it.

— Ralph Marston

August 8

Pushing ahead

You are on your way forward. Keep going.

You are doing many things well. Continue with the good work, and add to it.

You’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. Persist in putting that wisdom into practice every day.

You’ve accumulated valuable experience. Make good and purposeful use of that experience.

Despite the numerous setbacks, you know what progress feels like and how to bring it about. Even when you occasionally find yourself wandering off track, you’re able to quickly get back on.

Today is another great day to be the effective force you know you can be. You’ve successfully made it this far, and now is your opportunity to continue pushing ahead.

— Ralph Marston

August 9

Feeling and thinking

Emotion informs you, discipline empowers you. Both are necessary, in measured balance.

Drama inspires purposeful pursuits, and rationality enables effective action. Both have their place, and it’s your place to mediate between them.

Yes, by all means let yourself feel the feelings. At the same time, do your best to look objectively at the facts.

Decisions based purely on feelings will leave you powerless. Decisions based purely on facts will leave you empty.

What’s far preferable to either of those fates is to live a life of wholeness, with thoughts and feelings supporting each other. Embrace the mysteries of life while also recognizing the factual realities of the world in which you live.

It’s a great wonder of your existence that you can harmonize your thoughts and feelings to consider and support each other. Keep that harmony going, and live in the richness it enables you to create.

— Ralph Marston

August 10

Reach, reach, reach

Somewhere beyond you is your highest possibility. Reach for it.

If you attain that possibility, you win. And even if you fall short of the mark, you still win.

For it is the reaching that truly counts. The results absolutely do matter, yet what makes them so valuable is the process you go through to attain them.

When you put forth the effort and get the results you want, that’s great. When the effort’s there but the results aren’t satisfactory, you’ve prepared yourself to come back even stronger next time.

Winners are not those who merely have good fortune handed to them. Winners are people who do what is necessary to reach their good fortune.

Reach, reach, reach, with every moment, every thought, every action, and you will get the results you seek, or at the very least you will get the experience you need. Either way, you win.

— Ralph Marston

August 11

All the good you do

Your ego will never be satisfied. Whenever you manage to obtain what it desires, it reacts by wanting more.

That’s an empty, frustrating road you don’t have to go down. At any point you can choose another path.

There’s no need for constantly seeking ways to exhibit how great you are. It’s tiring for you and tiresome to others.

Instead, set about to discover how genuinely good, useful, kind, and encouraging you can be. Seek authentic experiences, connections, relationships that uphold truth at their center.

Ego tempts you with promises of thrills and adulations that it never fully delivers upon. Yet you can resist that temptation with a life of goodness and sustainable quality.

To truly experience satisfaction, stop endlessly chasing it. Instead, allow lasting satisfaction and fulfillment to flow from all the good, kind, and helpful things you do.

— Ralph Marston

August 12

Patience to be

Have the patience to be. Let yourself experience yourself as you are, in the world as it is.

There are numerous improvements you can make. Yet there exists even more goodness that currently is.

Go deep into the existence that already envelops you. Appreciate the now that encompasses so much life and value and substance.

Relax the stiffness in your jaw, and let go of the constant thought that you have to be somewhere. For you are somewhere, and it is well worth the entirety of your attention.

Allow yourself the satisfying wholeness of being. Stop needing and seeking long enough for a healing dose of life’s magnificence to settle upon your soul.

Gift your life and your world with a little bit of pure patience. Discover again how beautiful it is just to be.

— Ralph Marston

August 13

Putting forth the effort

Steadily, calmly, with purpose and integrity, achieve. Envision a desired endpoint and devote yourself to reaching it.

There’s no need for a lot of hype or frenzy. Just put the time in, know where you’re going, and get there.

When a particular task must be done, focus your attention and your effort on it and make it happen. When a challenge pushes against you, allow yourself the flexibility and creativity to work past it.

You can do this, not just by thinking you can or saying you can, though those things can help. Ultimately, you achieve by putting forth the effort.

Take the next steps on the journey. Lay the next row of stones in the wall.

It will happen because you choose to make it happen. Now, re-commit to what you’ve chosen to do, and put forth the effort.

— Ralph Marston

August 14

Smart choice

It’s tempting to do the popular thing, the showy thing, the dramatic thing. What’s always better is to do the smart thing.

The thrills, fashions and adulations of the moment fade all too quickly. Yet the choices that have been well thought out can result in enduring value.

A snide comment at just the right time will get you a quick laugh, but nothing after that. However, holding your tongue is likely to earn you respect and genuine admiration that outlive the moment.

It’s great to have fun, but fun loses its luster when it is all you ever choose. Overindulging feels good while you’re doing it, yet it’s usually something you’ll quickly regret.

You can often appear smart and sophisticated by thoughtlessly mimicking the words and actions of others. But that could very well set you up to eventually look foolish.

Instead, give some real, honest thought to your choices. Go with what’s smart, and you’re much more likely to end up with the outcome that’s best.

— Ralph Marston

August 15

Perfect outcome

You study, plan, organize and prepare so it will all be perfect. But it won’t be completely perfect.

It will unfold the way it unfolds, which will never be as perfectly as you envision. And that’s perfectly okay.

There’s nothing wrong with thoughtful consideration and careful, thorough preparation. Except when there is, when it significantly delays or prevents you from ever taking action.

If you refuse to act unless you’re guaranteed a perfect outcome, you won’t be doing much of anything. Much of the richness that could have filled your world will never be.

If you insist on being assured beforehand of a perfect experience, you’ve already lost. You’ve denied yourself the value of actually living that experience, and replaced it with a hollow fantasy.

Work to get it right, to get it excellent, but not so obsessively that you never get it done. Give it your best, and confidently allow life to happen as it will.

— Ralph Marston

August 16

Purposeful action

More times than you can remember, you’ve set a goal and achieved it. Now you can do it again.

From efforts that span just a few minutes, to ambitions that take years to materialize, you’ve participated in purposeful action. Continue putting that experience to good use.

Remind yourself that when your time and your actions have a purpose, life takes on added meaning. Look around and see plenty of opportunities to extend that rewarding way of living.

Purposeful action is not usually easy or convenient or free of complications when you’re immersed in it. Yet almost always, the results are worth your trouble.

Most of the good things in your life exist because someone chose to make a positive difference. That’s a choice you can make again and again.

This place, this time, this situation and the people who share it can benefit from your positive, purposeful intervention. Challenge yourself to envision what’s possible, then act on it.

— Ralph Marston

August 17

Life does go on

A season ago, quite a few things were different in your life, and in the world at large. A season hence, will be more developments you never could have anticipated.

Through it all, life goes on. And it’s helpful to keep that in mind.

When a notable change comes along, it can easily overwhelm your sense of past and present. But after a while that change gets put into a more realistic perspective, just as everything else has been.

Sometimes the quick pace of change can make you feel like life as you know it is being forever upended. Yet life does go on, and you do adjust, and what mattered before still matters just as much.

As riveting as today might be, tomorrow will arrive right on schedule. When it does, you’ll thank yourself for being soberly and adequately prepared.

Give plenty of attention and effort to the moment you’re in, but not at the expense of the moments to come. Because life does go on, and much of its richness is yet to appear.

— Ralph Marston

August 18

Ideal day

It would be nice to live your ideal day, but that’s probably not the one you have right now. What you have is the day that’s here.

And although today may fall short of perfection, it’s a perfectly good opportunity to add value, meaning and substance to life. It’s a day you can fill with the best you have.

Merely wishing for a different set of circumstances won’t accomplish anything at this point. Instead, use your energy to step forward and work with this day as it is.

The way today ends has the potential to be a whole lot better than the way it began. Right now you’re in position to make that happen.

Reflect for a moment on how today would be if it were indeed your ideal day. Then choose one aspect of that vision and do what’s necessary to bring it to life.

Today is not ideal, and yet that’s precisely the point of living it. Because you have the chance, and the ability, to push this day in an ideal direction.

— Ralph Marston

August 19

Appreciate what’s good

There are worse places you could be. There are worse times you could live in.

This day has challenges, this world has problems. Value and appreciate it all anyway, for it could be a lot worse.

It could be worse, and one big force that always makes things worse is a lack of appreciation. Be smart, be strategic, and be appreciative of what is.

Yes, it’s theoretically possible that if you tear down everything you could start fresh and make something better. But it pretty much never works that way.

Attacking what’s wrong is easy, and doesn’t require much skill. Yet expanding upon what’s right, what’s working well, is almost always a more successful tactic.

Appreciate what’s beautiful, what’s reliable, what’s proven, what’s durable. And give your energy and effort to make the good things you appreciate a bigger part of life.

— Ralph Marston

August 20

Ask more of yourself

Lead yourself into activities that challenge you, intellectually, physically, socially, philosophically, spiritually. Spend time in ways that stimulate the whole of your being.

Energy and strength do not arise out of idleness. They result from engaging in purposeful and challenging activity.

You’ll actuate and strengthen your best abilities when you depart from your comfortable routine. By dealing with what you’ve never before dealt with, you develop strength beyond what you previously possessed.

Genuine challenge energizes your imagination, your creativity, your persistence, and your sense of purpose. It’s a demanding experience, and that’s the source of its positive power.

By working through a challenge you can create valuable results. Yet every challenge also brings rewards that transcend the moment and the situation.

Ask more of yourself. Discover again and again the benefits of giving it, and getting it.

— Ralph Marston

August 21

Inspired by dismay

Dismay gets your attention. But if you let it continue beyond that, it gets you nothing.

Actually, what you end up with is worse than nothing. Because dismay, more often than not, serves as an excuse for inaction and resignation.

Sure, it’s important to accept the reality of whatever you cannot change, and that certainly includes discouraging things. But acceptance does not mean doing nothing.

When dismay floods into your awareness, feel its energy. Then be prompted by the feeling to transform your dismay into positive inspiration.

Even when there are factors you cannot change, there is much good you can do. Be inspired by dismay to focus on the positive, productive, life-enriching actions you can take.

Don’t allow dismay to waste your precious time or to conceal your best possibilities. Instead, intentionally change that dismay to inspiration, and continue to push life in a positive direction.

— Ralph Marston

August 22

The real thing

The imitation is cheaper, quicker, very convenient. And that’s why the real thing is infinitely more satisfying.

An experience that demands nothing from you cannot convey anything worthwhile to you. Satisfaction does not reside in what you get unless it is rooted in what you give.

You might feel clever when you can check off the box without going to any trouble. The thing is, all you end up with is a checked-off box.

The point of doing anything is not just so you can take a selfie and say you’ve done it. What enriches your life is the commitment of your thoughts, your focus, your time, energy, and effort.

Respect yourself, your heritage, your possibilities and capabilities by insisting on the real thing. Anything less is nothing much.

You are a miraculous instantiation of the real thing. Refuse to settle for anything else.

— Ralph Marston

August 23

Good thoughts

An intuition is nothing particularly mysterious. It’s a thought that has more depth than you’re able to recognize.

Much of your thinking is explicit and intentional. Yet a good portion of your best thinking occurs beneath your level of awareness, where valuable intuitions come from.

It can be frustrating when you’re trying too hard to think through a difficult situation and no good thoughts come to mind. Instead of trying so much, back off and give your mind the space and time to do its work.

Forced thinking is rarely the best thinking. You can attract more profound and valuable thoughts by directing your awareness elsewhere.

Focus on living your life, on being a positive force for others, on gratitude for the beauty and goodness in this world. Rather than seeking to summon your best thoughts directly, provide them an ideal environment.

All thinking occurs within a context. Instead of a needy, demanding context, create an appreciative, expansive context, and your good thoughts will surely come forth.

— Ralph Marston

August 24

Appreciate your habits

A habit is something you do almost without thinking. Even so, in order to make sure you maintain the habit, it’s good to regularly think about it.

You get yourself into a good habit, to the point where it becomes second nature. Yet when anything becomes second nature, it can be all to easy to take for granted.

If you fail to appreciate the benefits of a particular habit, you could be setting yourself up to abandon it. Though habits are mostly automatic, they do benefit from intentional maintenance.

Good habits can take a long time to develop. Yet many of them, particularly in challenging circumstances, can be lost overnight.

Take care not to let that happen. As well-ingrained as your positive habits may be, make it your business to fully appreciate the benefits they bring.

Respect the value of all the time and effort you’ve invested in the habits that contribute so much to your life. Appreciate all the good work you’ve done by making sure to keep it going.

— Ralph Marston

August 25

As it all unfolds

You’d like to find out how the story ends. But if you simply skip to the end, you miss the heart of that story.

It’s good to have matters resolved. Yet it takes time to happen, and you don’t want to ignore everything else in your life during that time.

When you’ve made a decision, or set a process in motion, give yourself time, give life time to let the results emerge. You’ll gain nothing by hovering uselessly around the oven while the cake is baking.

Do what you can, when you can, to move the process along. And when you’ve done all there is to do for the moment, point your focus elsewhere.

Your time, effort, and attention have great potential value. Invest them where that value can be realized.

With patience and understanding, welcome the time needed for situations to be resolved, questions to be answered, choices to play out. Continue living your life as it all unfolds.

— Ralph Marston

August 26

Little things

If you allow the little things to get you down, then you give the big things the power to overwhelm you. By constantly complaining about minor problems, you compromise your ability to deal with the major problems.

Whenever you’re interrupted by an unexpected annoyance you have a choice to make. You can let it poison your whole attitude, or you can use it to make you more positive and powerful.

Decide to laugh at the little problems, and to see each one as an opportunity for growth. Every minor issue that you quickly and successfully handle will strengthen your confidence.

That confidence can offer great value when a major problem comes along. Even more importantly, your confidence enables you to reach whatever goals you set for yourself.

When you’re already in the habit of not being impeded by the little challenges, you set yourself up for success when the big challenges arrive. Every small problem provides you with a way to practice and perfect your positive momentum.

A day that is filled with little annoyances is a day rich with opportunities for real and lasting growth. Welcome those opportunities with a smile, and one by one they make you stronger.

— Ralph Marston

August 27

Your actions

Every action has consequences. To improve your consequences, adjust your actions.

Sometimes it’s obvious what results your actions will cause. Other times, it can be more difficult to know in advance.

But almost always, after you take each action you will know its consequences. Learn from that experience, each time you have it.

Whenever something goes right, and whenever something goes wrong, ask yourself the same question. What exactly did you do to contribute to the result?

Of course many factors come into play, some of which you can influence and some over which you have no say. Yet the factors to focus on most are the actions you can take and the ones you can avoid.

You are in position to be the world’s leading expert on the consequences of your own actions. Take that expertise seriously, use it wisely, and it will serve you well.

— Ralph Marston

August 28

Stop short of overthinking

Think about the questions and dilemmas that confront you, but be careful not to overthink. If you think too much you might think yourself right on past the best answers.

There’s value in thoughts that come quickly to mind. For those fresh thoughts are prompted by the reality that’s at hand.

Certainly you can uncover even more value by diving deeply into your initial thoughts. Yet you can also become endlessly lost in those thoughts and led astray by them.

Thinking is a powerful activity. And as such, it requires your vigilance and control, and that means knowing when to stop.

Remind yourself to think before you act. Just as importantly, remind yourself that at some point it’s time to proceed from those thoughts into committed action.

Give your thoughts the time and space to have their say. Then step back into the situation, make a good decision based on those thoughts, and act on it.

— Ralph Marston

August 29

Live the peace

Step away from the noise and the drama. Take a deep, refreshing breath, and allow peace to fill your awareness.

Much of what you’re normally forced to notice is not really worth your notice. Calmly consider the beautiful truth of who you are and the good things you can do.

Remind yourself of the people, the places, the ideas and pursuits you love. Resonate with the authentic goodness of the moment you’re in and the existence you inhabit.

Settle into a level of being where all is truly well. Give yourself the experience of being able to linger there, with no need to rush away.

Live the peace you’re always capable of experiencing. Let it strengthen you and inspire you to handle whatever may come your way.

Live the peace, and accept from it a refreshed perspective. Take all the truth you find there, and carry it bravely forward.

— Ralph Marston

August 30

Strength rises up

Cheap thrills cannot take the place of deep, abiding purpose. Discrete transactions are a poor substitute for enduring relationships.

The opportunities that matter come with a demand and an ability for you to invest something of yourself. When you leave behind your own blood, sweat, time and toil, it cannot help but be an enriching experience.

To be truly fulfilled is to participate intensely in the fulfillment. People can provide their sincere help in many ways, but no on can simply will a rich and meaningful life upon anyone else.

All too often, well-intentioned attempts to make things easier, for oneself or for others, end up causing needless misery and difficulty. Rather than seeking, offering, or promoting ease, look for ways to encourage and build strength.

For while ease is fragile and conditional, strength is enduring, independent, and self-perpetuating. Ease, comfort, and convenience can quickly crumble when conditions inevitably change, yet strength rises up.

Does it come free and quick and easy, or does it push you toward strength? Choose strength, for that’s what endures.

— Ralph Marston

August 31

Bring your best

Do you ever find yourself, while in the middle of an activity, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible? Do you then move on to whatever is next and find yourself longing to get that over with as well?

Envision a different approach. Think of how it would be if you could simply allow yourself to enjoy and find fulfillment in whatever you’re doing at the moment.

When you fight against your current situation, the situation tends to fight back. Efforts that could otherwise be pleasant and satisfying turn into exasperating struggles.

What you bring to each moment has a powerful influence on how you experience that moment. So it makes good sense to bring the best of yourself.

You cannot immediately change the fact that you are where you are, doing what you must do. What you can change is your attitude, and that will make all the difference.

Rather than seeking to get it over with, focus on getting it done well, on finding and optimizing the value of your experience. Bring your best to the moment, and you’re sure to gain good things from it.

— Ralph Marston