Daily Motivation

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2022 8:51 AM

  Tuesday, June 7, 2022

  Assume the least

  If you assume the worst about other people you’ll usually be wrong. If you assume the best you’re likely to be disappointed.

  Instead, have as your goal to assume the least. Instead of conjuring up all sorts of assumptions about someone else, invest time and energy in genuine understanding.

  It’s pretty much impossible to just guess why people say what they say, vote the way they vote, or act how they act. After all, even your own motivations are tricky to discern, and you’re much less able to get inside someone else’s head.

  So take care not to let your opinions be centered around baseless assumptions. Neither you nor life in general is well served by mistaken impressions.

  Yes, making an assumption is quicker and easier than digging out what’s really going on. But ultimately, truth gives you far greater value than convenience.

  People are much more complex and diverse than you’ll ever be able to account for in a simple assumption. When it comes to what you think of others, seek to assume the least and to learn the most.

  — Ralph Marston

• craigswan 30,953 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2022 11:51 AM

  Great quote and welcome back .

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Tue, Jun 7 2022 4:14 PM

  Thanks Craig!  It is nice to know someone reads these. 

  My computer died so I couldn't post for a while.  Back in business now.  :-)

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Wed, Jun 8 2022 9:16 AM

  Wednesday, June 8, 2022

  Progress you can make

  The fact that life can be challenging is a given. Don’t use it as an excuse.

  Sure, there are many reasons why you cannot do this or that. With diligent work you can overcome many of them.

  If the way is blocked, look for another way. Rather than blaming someone or something else, rise to a new level of responsibility.

  When there’s no time available in the morning, carve out some time in the evening. When resources are scarce, discover how creative and innovative you can be.

  Yes, life is difficult and unfair. Don’t magnify that unfairness by letting it stop you from doing the good things you can do.

  When the sun comes up, even if it’s obscured by a dark storm cloud, get to work. Whatever progress you can make is infinitely better than no progress at all.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Thu, Jun 9 2022 8:49 AM

  Thursday, June 9, 2022

  Advance a little bit

  The most realistic route to success is incremental. A little bit now, a little more later, and you can move toward whatever goals you set for yourself.

  You don’t have to get all the way there before tomorrow morning. Just make a few improvements.

  There’s no need to immediately and forever eliminate all the unhealthy, unproductive habits from your life. Simply pick one, see if you can do without it for a while, and go from there.

  Move forward on your own terms, at a sustainable pace. Experience how good a little progress feels, and let it motivate you to keep going.

  Some action, some change in perspective, some upgrade in your attitude is well within your reach right now. Make life a little better for you, for others, and you’re well on the way to making life a lot better.

  The challenges are many, yet the opportunities are even more numerous. Take one of those opportunities right now, advance a little bit, and commit yourself to keep on going.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Fri, Jun 10 2022 8:35 AM

  Friday, June 10, 2022

  Focused and flexible

  If you obsess over staying focused, that can actually cause you to lose focus. Your objective is to do the work, not to maintain a perfect record of staying focused.

  Do what you can to avoid interruptions. At the same time, accept that the interruptions will inevitably come.

  Don’t allow your resentment or annoyance to make those interruptions worse than they already are. Let the occasional interruptions come, let them go, and let yourself quickly be done with them.

  Stay committed to a specific purpose while taking care not to become overly rigid. Determination loses its effectiveness when it descends into blind obsession.

  See yourself as being focused and flexible. Go with an approach that is both purposeful and reasonable.

  The path forward won’t be as perfect and straightforward as you imagine it to be, but that’s okay. Take advantage of every opportunity to strengthen your focus with some appropriate flexibility.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Sat, Jun 11 2022 8:01 AM

  Saturday, June 11, 2022

  Moment of beauty

  Feel the energizing touch of a fresh breeze. Watch brightness fill your world as the sun comes up.

  Delight in the open and unrestrained happiness of a young child. Dwell for a while on the positive possibilities in your life, in all of life.

  In each day you’ll find plenty of opportunities to create a moment of beauty. Seize upon those opportunities.

  Beauty exists because you experience it as such. Give yourself the experience of beauty, and you give to the circumstance something that transcends the circumstance.

  Recognize the potential for beauty in the smallest details. Let the experience of beauty show you how fully alive you are.

  Treasure the beauty, and absorb it deep into the core of who you are. Live the beauty that is always possible, and make it real in a way that only you can do.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Mon, Jun 13 2022 8:57 AM

  Monday, June 13, 2022

  Make things better

  Don’t postpone your fulfillment or happiness until everything is perfect. Work to create fulfillment and happiness within the world as it is from day to day.

  A perfect world is impossible because life is so gloriously diverse. What’s perfect for one person would not be perfect for lots of other people.

  Plus, whatever you personally imagine to be a perfect life is little more than a guess. Reality has a way of turning out much differently than your idealized vision of how it might be.

  While it’s pretty much impossible to make everything perfect, there is something you’re highly skilled at doing. You can make things better.

  You can notice a real problem that exists right now, where you are, and you can work to solve it. You can act on specific opportunities to add new goodness and value to life.

  Though no one will ever make life perfect, you can make things better in all sorts of practical and meaningful ways. You can make things better right now, today, tomorrow, every day, and find great fulfillment in doing so.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Tue, Jun 14 2022 7:52 AM

  Tuesday, June 14, 2022

  Established goodness

  Novelty is exciting. New people, places, experiences, and accoutrements in your life can be stimulating and fun.

  Yet even the newest things quickly become old. The most valuable and significant parts of your world are old much longer than they are new.

  Yes, the latest thing can be dazzling for a few minutes. But once the newness wears off, is that moment of novelty going to sustain you?

  In your quest for newness, take care not to abandon what is already good and valuable and working well. Though not particularly thrilling, there’s much to be said for reliability and familiarity.

  Seek a healthy balance between what’s new and what’s well established. You can get much more from the latest things when you respect, appreciate, and sustain the well-established goodness in life.

  Don’t just chase what’s new. Give plenty of time, effort, and nourishment to what you already have.

   

  — Ralph Marston

• Ladychipper 22,680 Posts

  Wed, Jun 15 2022 12:06 PM

  Wednesday, June 15, 2022

  Purposeful power

  The accumulated experience in your life has given you something of great value. Based on that experience, your sense of what matters is stronger today than ever before.

  You have the very real ability to be more focused, purposeful, determined, and persistent. Imagine for a moment what you can do with that ability.

  Over the course of your life, you’ve experienced plenty of satisfaction, regret, fulfillment, and disappointment. All that experience and all those feelings have given you a finely-tuned awareness of what’s truly important.

  Today you have the opportunity to put that awareness to work. Today you can make use of the purposeful power that the living of your life has given you.

  How far might that purposeful power take you? What positive possibilities could now be within your reach?

  You know from experience what matters. Make good use of the power of purpose that continually flows from that knowledge.

   

  — Ralph Marston