This is my daily thoughts. It's all about my personal life, my believe, my hobby, my daily activities, mobile/wireless technology, books review, movie review, and new media design related. Mixed language using in this weblog (Indonesia/English).
Enjoy life as it comes, in the precious moments of each day. Live your success and fulfillment here and now, not in some distant, imagined future.
Do not set yourself up as a hostage to your circumstances or your inventory of possessions. Choose right now to live richly and fully no matter what.
Make joyful and thankful use of whatever you have, wherever you are. There is so very much you have going for you.
Pay no attention to those who scream that you must have this thing or that experience in order to be happy. Ignore them, and simply choose to be happy by creating your own interpretation of happiness all around you.
Keep in mind that most of the people who tell you how bad things are, seek to gain their own power or profit from your dismay. Life is good, life is rich, life is joyful and fulfilling to the extent you choose to make it so.
Open your eyes, look around, and see how truly beautiful your world can be. Real success is yours the moment you begin to make it.
-- Ralph Marston
Get up and get going. If you feel lousy, it will make you feel much better, and if you already feel good, it will make you feel great.
You know all those things you've been meaning to get done for the past six months? Pick one right now and make it happen today.
Life is much more rewarding when you actively participate in it. This very moment there are good times in your life just waiting to be created.
Do you feel the need to be more positive about life and about the world in which you live? Then get moving and get yourself positively engaged in it all.
The moment you take positive action, your outlook begins to change. When you're making a difference, the world is suddenly a much better place.
Get hot, get cold, get tired, get informed, get out of your comfort zone and get involved in this magnificent life. Drink in the delightful richness of a life fully lived.
-- Ralph Marston
You do not get what you want, or even what you need. You get what you are.
When you want this or need that, you are supporting the reality that you do not have it. Instead of putting your energy into wanting or needing, put it into being.
By your thoughts and actions, with your words and feelings, you can choose how to be. Use that powerful choice to give energy, attention and the substance of your life to those things you value most.
Instead of working to convince the world that you need some particular thing, put your effort into expressing it through your own life. Give up the habit of wanting more, and put your energy into living exactly as you choose to live.
Through the miracle of your life in this moment right now, you already have access to all that is. Your challenge is not one of want or need, but of appreciating and making full use of all that is available to you.
Instead of pushing life's abundance away with your wants and needs, let that abundance freely flow through you. Always live according to the best you can envision, and know all the joyful treasures of life.
-- Ralph Marston
If everything was free and required no effort, nothing would have any value. If there were no challenges in life, there would be no place in which to create achievement.
The very factors that push against you provide a fertile ground from which you can raise yourself up. From your most burdensome limitations can come your greatest triumphs.
Can you identify what's holding you back? Then you've also determined exactly what must be done to take the next step forward.
When the side of the mountain is steep and treacherous, the view from the top is spectacular. By steadily working through the difficulties and challenges, you can reach the summit of increased strength and value.
It is by working toward a goal that you make the goal worth reaching. The difficulties you encounter along the way serve as opportunities to add value to the achievement.
Life is worth living precisely because it requires effort and challenges you to be your best. Rise to the challenge each day and add your own special gifts to life's treasure.
-- Ralph Marston
Responsibility is not a burden. It is the key that enables you to exercise control over your own destiny.
Only by taking responsibility are you able to move life in the direction of your own dreams and visions. Responsibility fully engages the best of who you are.
Responsibility can be difficult, time-consuming, unfair, inconvenient and uncomfortable. Yet it also brings you to a level of empowerment that cannot be reached in any other way.
At the heart of true achievement is responsibility. An essential element of meaningful fulfillment is responsibility.
Every great opportunity is an opportunity to take responsibility. Whatever the situation, the most successful way forward is to act with responsibility.
No matter what has happened, or who is to blame, or how it all came to be, choose to take full responsibility for your life. For that is the first step in making it great.
-- Ralph Marston
No ocean can hold it back.
No river can overtake it.
No whirlwind can go faster.
No army can defeat it.
No law can stop it.
No distance can slow it.
No disease can cripple it.
No force on earth is more powerful or effective that the power of Prayer.
The way you frame your life has a major impact on the way your life unfolds. The way you see yourself and your place in the world determines who you truly are.
The unstated assumptions upon which you rely are constantly exerting their influence. Your deepest, most sincere feelings about life have a way of coloring every circumstance.
The events in your world do not just happen without reason or source. They are driven by your most fundamental expectations of how you will find life to be.
In each small moment and in every large undertaking, your frame of life sets the stage. So choose to frame your life with love, with respect, with beauty, grace and a focus on the most magnificent possibilities.
The way you see the world determines the kind of world you see. So decide to assume, expect and look for the very best you can imagine.
Live with a positive, enthusiastic and thankful frame of life. And within that empowering frame, you will create a masterpiece that grows more beautiful with each moment.
-- Ralph Marston
Positive energy is very nearly the same as negative energy. It's just focused in a different direction.
The best way to deal with negative energy is not to fight against it. Instead, make positive use of that energy by redirecting it.
For example, at the heart of frustration, when you strip away the circumstances, it feels a lot like enthusiasm. And in fact, by simply focusing the energy of your frustration in a different direction, you can transform it into enthusiasm.
For everything that you feel the urge to oppose, there's something else that you can support. Each instance of negative energy has a positive counterpart.
When you're feeling negative, you're actually quite close to being positive. Just make the choice to focus the intensity of your feelings on what you value and appreciate, rather than on what you don't want.
No matter what is coming your way, you can point the considerable power of your life in a positive direction. Remember what you're in favor of, and put your life into it.
-- Ralph Marston
Have you ever thought about what a powerful, flexible and creative thing your imagination is? With your imagination, you can create whole worlds that have never existed before.
What's even more amazing is this. The creations of your imagination are not confined to your imagination.
There are absolutely no limits to what you can imagine. And much of what you imagine works its way into the rest of your life.
You can completely control your powerful imagination simply by choosing to do so. Imagine the very best for your world in rich detail and intensity, and the things you imagine begin to grow in the reality of your life.
For your imagination reaches beyond your thoughts and your mind. Its transforming power comes from the fact that it is connected to all you are.
Life becomes the way you most sincerely and consistently imagine it to be. What do you dare to imagine?
-- Ralph Marston
Give for the sake of giving. Love for the sake of love.
Live for the sake of living. Learn just because you can.
Don't fill the future with ambiguous motives or imagined fears. Fill the moment you're in with the extraordinary richness of ordinary life.
This day is a gift that you've never had before. Jump in and explore the exquisite treasure that is right now at your feet.
Life's beauty appears at exactly the place where you choose to see it. Choose to see the beauty and value of whatever situation you find yourself experiencing.
Listen to the part of you that resonates with life's true and never ending goodness. Experience again and again, in a new way each time, what it means to be alive.
-- Ralph Marston
As you go through this day, make an effort to notice one small, insignificant little frustration that you'd normally get upset about. Then do yourself a favor, and simply let it go.
Experience, in that small way, the freedom of being in control of the way you feel. And realize that you can extend that control to every situation in which you find yourself.
The little things most certainly do not have to get you down. And neither do the big things.
At any moment, the way you feel is the way you choose to feel. The way you respond is the way you choose to respond.
Do you really wish to be under the control of those who do not have your best interest at heart? Of course you don't.
Base your feelings on the unique, valuable person you know you are, and on the positive possibilities available to you. Feel the genuine greatness of this moment, and you can bring it to life.
-- Ralph Marston
Life has a beautiful rhythm and pace. Live it as it comes.
If you try to outrun life, you miss much of its beauty. Instead of racing ahead to cover more ground, see the treasures that are right here and now.
Rather than resenting or regretting what has already happened, focus your thoughts on the good you can do in this moment. There are plenty of opportunities when you choose to see them.
If you're constantly chasing life, the best of it eludes you. Decide to do a little less pursuing and a lot more enjoying.
You cannot do all of this week's breathing, or eating, or sleeping in just one day. There's plenty of time to get everything done if you'll just stop wasting so much effort on jumping ahead.
Seek to live in harmony with the rhythm and flow of life. Live life as it comes, and it will come to you in great abundance.
-- Ralph Marston
Fall in love again each moment with life. Breathe in the rich, new wondrous possibilities that are continually being born.
Realize what a grand opportunity exists in even the smallest of matters. Today is a day like no other, and you are magnificently blessed to be a part of all that it encompasses.
The wind blows, the sun shines, night falls, and some days bring brutal cold while others offer stifling heat. There is beauty, there is tragedy, and there is exquisite fulfillment along with bitter disappointment.
On the surface, life is filled with much adventure, activity, change, confusion, excitement, joy and frustration. Underlying it all you'll find abiding peace and goodness that can never be denied.
You have the unique, unmatched good fortune of being you, right here and right now. Take a brief moment to realize and remember who you truly are.
Then look out at the vast expanse of possibilities that surrounds you. And dive lovingly into it in your own special way.
-- Ralph Marston
Instead of striving to get where you wish to go, simply allow yourself to be there. All that is, is available to you in the moment you're in.
As long as you're trying to understand something, you will fall short. Let go of the desperate need to understand, and you'll find that the understanding is part of you already.
When you think you lack something, that blocks it from your awareness, your experience and your life. Instead of filling your thoughts with what is missing, focus on what is possible.
Relax into the limitless abundance of now. There is always enough, and it is all here for you to allow.
Life's overwhelming richness is mirrored in every little detail. The only thing separating you from that richness is the wall you imagine to be around yourself.
Allow the goodness, the possibilities, the value and joy to fill your life in this moment that is now.
-- Ralph Marston
There are some events that you can influence by making intelligent choices and by taking decisive action. There are other events and situations that are completely out of your control.
You have what it takes to successfully deal with both. There's no need to worry endlessly about what the future will bring, for it always brings you new opportunities to make a positive difference.
You can do your very best with those situations that are under your control. And you can adapt and adjust to those situations over which you have little or no influence.
The foolish actions of others can leave you hopelessly frustrated if you allow them to do so. Keep in mind, however, that there's nothing to be gained by working yourself into a knot of frustration and resentment.
Instead, accept whatever comes your way and commit yourself to finding the value in it and making the best of it. With a positive, generous sense of purpose, there's no limit to what you can achieve, even when conditions are less than ideal.
Greet each new day and each new turn of events with confidence and enthusiasm. And you'll emerge a winner no matter what.
-- Ralph Marston
When you don't need anything, then you truly have everything. When you know that you already have enough, that you already are enough, that everything is as it should be, then your life will be rich indeed.
Get past the need to possess and you'll discover that the whole world is yours. Abandon the need to be right and you'll find real truth.
Let go of the need to impress others and you'll have their sincere respect. Move beyond the need to control every detail, and your influence will grow stronger.
As long as you feel you need something, it cannot possibly be yours. The more you focus on the need for anything, the more you deny it to yourself.
Why would you want to do that? Instead, realize that whatever you desire is already available to you, and enjoy the process of expressing it more fully as you move through each moment.
Appreciate, understand and focus your energy on the good and valuable things in your life. And you'll know that your most authentic desires are already fulfilled.
-- Ralph Marston
It is your true nature to create and achieve. Today, allow that true nature to be fully expressed.
If you think you must struggle to get things done, that is precisely how it will be. If you see life's abundance as being apart from you, that abundance will be out of your reach.
Consider how completely right it feels when you are living in harmony with your most authentic purpose. Think of how effective you can be when doing something you love.
The objectives for which you strive and agonize will bring no real fulfillment, even if you're able to reach them. When you're moving toward a goal and the effort feels effortless, that is a goal that will bring real lasting value.
Let go of the need to struggle for what you don't really desire in the first place. Instead, allow your life to unfold each moment in accordance with your true creative nature.
Connect to the purpose that is sincerely you. Express that purpose, and you'll fill your world with richness.
-- Ralph Marston
The problems seem so big and imposing because you focus on them so intently and see them so clearly. Imagine looking at some of your best positive possibilities with the same intensity and level of focus.
The past seems so real because you know so much about it, and as a result it commands much of your attention. Consider what would happen if you could put your full, undivided attention on the valuable and creative things you're now able to do in the present.
Whatever you focus upon grows more and more influential in your life. Because the things you focus upon are the things you act upon, and every action has real consequences.
Your life is what you choose to make it, and the time to choose is right now. What you do with the moment at hand is more important, by orders of magnitude, than any past disappointments or present difficulties.
This is the day for you to make a difference. This is your moment to transform nagging problems into magnificent opportunities.
You are able, right now, to choose any thought, any action, and any path. This time, you can choose the very best and truly make it real.
-- Ralph Marston
When you encounter resistance, it means you are moving forward. When you come across a challenge, it means you have reached the point where you can successfully meet that challenge.
Life becomes more rewarding as it becomes more demanding. You are destined to achieve, and each successive achievement positions you for an even greater, more challenging achievement.
Each new challenge is an opportunity to stretch beyond your previous limits. Most of the advantages you enjoy today were born in the difficulties through which you traveled in days past.
Every day brings a new way for you to more fully give of yourself. It is by so giving, in ways that are familiar and in ways not yet imagined, that you create the life you most sincerely desire.
In everything there is treasure to be found. The richest treasures are those that ask the most of you, for they resonate wholly with your deepest purpose.
Delight in the living beauty of each challenging effort. Give your best to life and life returns the favor, a million times over.
-- Ralph Marston
You can choose your thoughts. And you can choose, for a while, to be free of those thoughts.
Serenity does not require any particular environment or conditions on the outside. Serenity is a state you can achieve on the inside, whatever else might be going on.
At any time, you can choose to calm your mind. Clear your thoughts away and for a while, feel the refreshing and renewing peace of simply being.
Discover how easy it can be to let go of the thoughts racing through your head, and let in a feeling of serenity. Choose to put yourself in a state where even the distractions cannot affect you.
See that the disappointments of the past are far, far away. Let your peaceful, accepting experience of the moment fill you with a solid, confident energy.
Step back for a little while and feel the calm reality of who you are, of the life you are living. Enjoy a serene moment, and your eyes will be opened to the positive possibilities that are all around you.
-- Ralph Marston
Your anger hurts you much more than it affects anyone else. When your energy and awareness are tightly wrapped around anger, you're not much good for anything else.
There are many things beyond your control that can be perfectly legitimate reasons for anger. Yet the amount of time you maintain that anger is completely up to you.
The more quickly you move on, the better off you'll be. When you feel the first sensation of anger, let that be a reminder to let it go.
Anger can be useful in calling your attention to matters that require your response. But anger itself is not an effective response.
Take a slow, deep breath and remind yourself of how much more effective you can be by maintaining a positive, results-oriented approach. Decide, in a cool, calm and thoughtful manner, exactly what response would be the most powerful and valuable, and then make it happen.
Don't let the foolish, thoughtless, destructive actions of others catch you in a trap of anger. Take note of the anger, let it go, put your focus on being your best, and you'll surely emerge as a winner.
-- Ralph Marston
To strengthen your beliefs and assumptions, challenge them regularly. You'll rid yourself of those outdated assumptions that hold you back, while at the same time strengthening those valuable beliefs that can move you forward.
There is no doubt that challenge builds strength. It is a key theme of life.
Muscles that are challenged to lift heavier and heavier loads become stronger as a result of the training. Minds that are challenged to solve more and more difficult problems become increasingly adept from the experience.
Questioning and challenging your beliefs can transform them from mere beliefs into absolute certainties. The willingness to challenge a belief demonstrates your commitment to, and confidence in that belief.
By being your own most effective skeptic, you add real depth and substance to your beliefs, perspectives and assumptions. By continuing to ask why and why not, you learn much and grow stronger.
When you challenge your beliefs, you compel yourself to make them a reality. You transform them from vague concepts into living, breathing certainties upon which you can build great value.
-- Ralph Marston
In the darkest darkness, love is more magnificent than ever. In the deepest sadness, hope has the strength to create anything.
When the whole world is against you, every positive action can bring miraculous results. When the burden of being is unbearably heavy, the spirit can fly to infinite heights.
If all is lost, there is no end to what can be gained. Completely let go of everything, and you surely do have it all.
The more confusing and noisy and complicated the world becomes, the more power there is in stillness. When the day is filled with harshness, gentle actions grow more powerful and effective.
In a world filled with fear, truth gains new clarity. In a time of severe discontent, the possibilities for real joy grow ever greater.
At the deepest level, goodness always prevails. For truth by its very nature will not be denied.
-- Ralph Marston
The best athletes don't care about whether or not they're the best. What they care about is the game.
The best actors, musicians, doctors, scientists, teachers and businesspeople are not consumed with being the best. They're consumed with a passion for what they're doing.
If your desire is to be the best merely for its own sake, you will strive and struggle against a world that absolutely does not care. If, on the other hand, your most abiding desire is to make a positive difference, you will surely end up being the best at some particular thing or another.
The real substance of accomplishment is never in the trophies or the praise or the recognition it brings. The substance of accomplishment is in the value it delivers.
The best performers in any field are not the ones who hope to be the best or even the ones who already think they are. The best performers are those who never have to even think about where they stand in the rankings.
Commit yourself to delivering value, and you won't be burdened with the need to keep score. Indeed, you will always be on top of the game.
-- Ralph Marston
If all your limitations were suddenly removed, what would you do? If you were able to make absolutely anything happen, what would it be?
If there were no challenges standing in your way, where would you go? With absolutely nothing holding you back, what would your life become?
It's easy to get so caught up in pushing against your limitations that you start seeing yourself solely in terms of those limitations. Yet you are so very much more.
Instead of identifying yourself in relation to the challenges you face, dig deeper and find the real person inside. For the truth is, you exist apart from any challenge or limitation, and it is a powerful exercise to get solidly in touch with who you are.
Yes, there will always be obstacles and limiting factors. And the best way to get beyond them is by knowing that they do not define you.
Imagine a world with no limitations, and discover who you are in such a world. One by one, the challenges will fade in the distance as you express the limitless vision that is yours to live.
-- Ralph Marston
There is a miracle in every moment. Look closely, and lovingly, and you will clearly see it.
There is an innate and elegant beauty in even the most ordinary of things. Learn to love that beauty, and to let it be, and your eyes will be opened to wondrous possibilities.
There always and everywhere is a quiet yet unyielding peace, upon which rests all that is. The more often you reach in and touch this peace the more fully you experience its power.
Anything that is negative, deceptive or destructive will eventually consume and obliterate itself. What is authentic, peaceful and creative will continue to grow more pervasive.
When you need nothing other than to simply be, you have every beautiful and wonderful and miraculous thing there is. Life's richness is never more than a single thought away.
Breathe in deeply the beauty, the wonder, the miracle that is now. Know the joy that cannot ever fade.
-- Ralph Marston
Don't let a relatively small setback ruin an otherwise beautiful day. Choose instead to take it in stride and quickly get back to being positive, productive and effective.
Don't waste your time being outraged or offended by someone else's careless, inconsiderate remark or gesture. Use the opportunity to strengthen your valuable sense of patience, and move on ahead to something that truly matters.
Life's little annoyances can quickly add up to have a big negative and destructive impact if you let them. Fortunately, you don't have to let them.
Instead, you can choose to let them go. You can decide to see the small, relatively meaningless annoyances for what they are, and move quickly beyond them.
Do you really want your attitude to be held hostage by rude, careless, inconsiderate people or random events beyond your control? Of course not, because within you is a positive purpose that is big and beautiful and filled with real meaning.
Each time one of life's little annoyances comes along, let it just keep on going right past you until it fades away into its own insignificance. You have plenty of much more positive and valuable things upon which to focus your attention.
-- Ralph Marston
A small, simple action is infinitely more effective than a big, complicated excuse. Instead of putting your energy into avoiding effort, put that energy into the effort itself, and you'll get something of value in return for it.
There is something right now that needs to be done. Imagine how great it will feel to have it finished, see what a heavy weight will be lifted from you, then get busy and get it done.
In this moment, in this place, you have a valuable opportunity. You can make something happen, and you can make a difference.
Forget about judging whether one task is difficult and another task is easy. Don't be concerned about figuring out what is pleasant and what is unpleasant.
Just take a deep breath, sit up or stand up straight, and with a steady and confident sense of determination, get busy. Soon you'll find yourself moving rapidly toward real and fulfilling accomplishment.
You can worry and complain about how nothing ever gets done, or you can take it upon yourself to make a real and positive difference. The moment for action is now, so get busy and convert this fleeting bit of time into an accomplishment that will bring you value for a long, long time.
-- Ralph Marston
The good things in life do not create happiness. The good things in life arise from happiness.
If you wish to be happy, then be happy. It really is as simple as that.
There's no need to wait until you acquire this or achieve that. If you constantly place conditions on happiness, you'll prevent yourself from experiencing it.
Go ahead and be happy now, today, this very moment. Be happy for no reason at all, and you'll find that you're more effective, more productive, more creative and more fulfilled.
Indeed, happiness is a powerful state of mind that is available to you when you allow it to be. The best reason to be happy is because you can.
Being genuinely happy is a powerful way to express your confidence and your expectation that positive things will happen. And when you confidently expect the best, that's precisely what you get.
-- Ralph Marston
Questions can have a powerful effect on your thinking, and here's a question that can profoundly improve your perspective. What's good about this?
When you see a news story, or hear about something that's happened to a friend, or come across a challenge in your own life, ask yourself. What's good about this?
Get in the habit of asking the question and you'll be training your mind to always look for the answer. After a while, without even asking, you'll immediately see the positive aspect of every situation you encounter.
And that is indeed a powerful place to be. For when you can zero in on the positive possibilities, you have the opportunity to create enormous value.
People who attain magnificent levels of achievement live in exactly the same world as those who never seem to go anywhere. One big difference is that high achievers have learned to see real value where others see nothing but dead ends and despair.
Choose to be the person who sees the positive possibilities by remembering to ask this question, whatever the situation may be. What's good about this?
-- Ralph Marston
When your mind hears a question, it has no choice but to accept the premise of that question, and to think of an answer. Otherwise the question would be impossible to understand.
When you hear a particular question often enough, you'll naturally seek to answer it. Even if you don't realize that you're doing it, your mind will set about to find an answer.
The questions to which you're regularly exposed have a powerful influence on the direction of your life. And many of the questions you hear most often come directly from you.
What questions are you asking yourself? Are they negative questions, such as wondering why you can't ever get anything done, or are they more positive such as asking yourself what's the best thing that happened to you today?
For the next few days, when you catch yourself asking yourself a question, think about what kind of influence that question will have on your life. Pay conscious attention to what you're asking yourself, and make an effort to make the questions positive and life-affirming.
The questions you ask yourself will continue to influence your life long after you've forgotten what they were. Do you understand why it's such a good idea to make those questions as positive as you can?
-- Ralph Marston
If you could snap your fingers and make the life of your dreams instantly appear, exactly what would that life look like? While you're working so diligently to move forward, do you have a clear and detailed definition of where you intend to go?
An essential part of achieving what you desire is to know exactly what it is. Unfortunately, the people and events in your world often discourage and dissuade you from seriously considering your own ideas for what life at its best can be.
If you're not diligent about exploring and clarifying your own authentic desires, the world will impose its pre-packaged, shallow and empty desires upon your life. This can leave you frustrated, discouraged and unfulfilled as you strive to work toward goals that have no real meaning for you.
On a regular basis, allow your desires to come bubbling to the surface, so you can more fully understand them and connect with them. Enjoy the fact that there are things for which you truly long, and know that there is a path to every one of them.
Let your vision of what life can be pull you consistently toward its fulfillment. When you are clear about what you seek and why, you'll gain access to the resources and the strategies that will enable you to achieve it.
Instead of suppressing your desires or placing judgments on them, make yourself more and more familiar with their substance. Put real meaning in your life by giving life and energy to the things that mean most to you.
-- Ralph Marston
In most cases, responsibility cannot be successfully shared. When it's not clear who is responsible, then in effect no one is responsible, and disaster often results.
When everyone assumes that it is someone else's responsibility to get the job done, then the job never gets done. The alternative, in which everyone involved assumes full responsibility, creates the most successful outcomes.
When you have chosen to shoulder the responsibility for something, it can feel burdensome. Just imagine, though, what an even greater burden would result if there was no one responsible.
Responsibility creates and maintains the conditions that make advancement and achievement possible. And the most powerful, useful, effective kind of responsibility is full responsibility.
Though others may also be responsible, that's no reason to reduce your own level of responsibility. When everyone makes the commitment to be fully responsible, truly great things can happen.
In responsibility there is enormous opportunity, for working through challenges, for achievement, for fulfillment and for much more. Whatever the situation, choose to take full responsibility, and there will be much value that you can create.
-- Ralph Marston
Relax and allow this moment to come. Savor the richness of it as it passes through your experience.
Then, just as peacefully as you let it in, let the moment go. And allow the next moment to flow freely into your life.
There is nothing to be gained by fighting against perceived difficulties, or by running away from them. There is nothing to be gained by worrying that the things you value will be taken from you.
Instead, enjoy, appreciate and make full use of your many treasures and blessings. By so doing, you'll make it impossible for them to ever be taken from you.
Welcome each new challenge as it appears. It is by moving through the challenges that you enrich yourself and the world around you.
Let each unique moment flow freely through you, with whatever it may bring, and experience it fully, with passion, purpose, and positive expectation. Then let it go, while holding on to the richness it has added to your life.
-- Ralph Marston
Unlike most things, challenges almost always look bigger and more imposing from a distance than they do when you get close to them. Most of the challenges you're avoiding will not seem nearly so overwhelming when you choose to actually face them.
The challenges that intimidate you require your assistance to do so. On their own, they're really not so tough, yet in your imagination they can grow to monstrous proportions.
The way to cut those challenges down to size is to get busy working on them. Once you're immersed in the details you'll realize that they're not so bad after all.
How many times have you desperately avoided something, only to discover later that there was really no reason to avoid it at all? Very often, the effort spent avoiding a difficult challenge is more demanding and burdensome than the challenge itself.
What have you been avoiding because you just didn't want to deal with it? Imagine how great it will be to have that burden fall completely away.
Go ahead, pick a challenge that has been intimidating you, and get busy working your way through it. Then, instead of living with constant intimidation you'll be enjoying the real value you've just created.
-- Ralph Marston
If you feel like you're stuck, in many ways that's a positive sign. It means you're eager to get moving.
The feeling of being stuck shows that there's somewhere you truly would like to go, and you're ready for some real progress. It means you're highly motivated, and that's a powerful state to be in.
Instead of focusing on the particular problem of the moment that's making you feel stuck, step back and look at the big picture. Recall the reasons why you originally chose to be on this path in the first place.
Most likely, the challenge you're facing right now is trivial compared to the goal you've set for yourself. Put things in perspective and you'll realize that what's really keeping you stuck is not the situation itself but rather your response to it.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed, choose to start working your way through the challenge one step at a time. There is a little bit you can do now, a little bit of progress you can make later, and bit by bit you'll make your way through.
Take advantage of the frustration you feel, and redirect the energy of that frustration into positive, thoughtful action. You'll soon be looking back on this moment with the grateful realization that you just cleared a major hurdle and are quickly moving forward again.
-- Ralph Marston
If you've been waiting to start really living your life, today is the day to begin. As of this moment, your wait is over.
Sure, it would be nice if you could wait just a little bit longer, to get in better shape, to get a little more organized, or to save up some more money. The fact is, though, that things are never going to be perfect, so why not just go ahead and jump right now into the fullness of life?
You know all those things you've been telling yourself that someday you'll get around to doing? That idealized someday is never really going to come, yet the good news is that today is just fine and is here for you right now.
Today is what you have to work with. Today is when you can actually give life to your dreams.
Today you can put those things you've been meaning to do into real, effective, fulfilling action. Today you will experience how good it is to go beyond merely planning, dreaming and intending, and to bring those beautiful plans to life.
Though it may seem very ordinary, this is the day you've been waiting to live. Breathe in the sweet air of limitless possibility, and make life as rich as you know it can be.
-- Ralph Marston
Children do it, animals in the wild do it, and you can benefit greatly from it too. One of the best ways to learn and to grow, to improve, and to gain useful, practical experience, is to play.
Playing is not merely for those who are young or irresponsible. Playing is for anyone who seeks to have a fresh perspective on life.
Begin to play, and you become free of prior limitations. When there is no goal or specific focus to the effort, there is no telling what wondrous and valuable things you will discover.
When you're playing and there are no serious consequences on the line, you're free to experiment with lots of different approaches. Spend some time in which the outcome doesn't matter, and the outcome will be that you gain valuable new insight.
You perform at your best when you're doing something you enjoy. Increase your play, and you can significantly improve your work.
Remember always to set aside some time, energy and resources for play. Explore and experience life just for the fun of it, and enjoy the serious benefits that come from being playful.
-- Ralph Marston
Look carefully and thoughtfully at the things that frustrate you. In each of them you will find real and workable ideas for positive growth.
Frustration occurs when you realize, sometimes painfully, that things are not working nearly as well as they could be. Follow that realization to its natural conclusion and you will find a clearly marked pathway for improvement.
Great inventions, successful companies and immense fortunes have been built through positive responses to frustration. Indeed, frustration has always been a major catalyst for creating value.
People frustrated with the way things are, can develop insatiable appetites for making the world better. Frustration can get you thinking and acting, building, creating and persevering toward a positive purpose.
Frustration is the feeling of knowing it can be better, and the greater the frustration, the more positive and exciting are the possibilities. When you are feeling frustration, remind yourself what a truly great blessing it can be leading you toward.
When you know without a doubt that things can be better, you've already started the process of improvement. Go ahead, feel the frustration, and let it give you a powerful positive push.
-- Ralph Marston
Even the smallest accomplishment will boost your confidence level. And with increased confidence, you can set your sights on a larger accomplishment.
Confidence is not something that comes to just a lucky few. Confidence is not something that anyone else can simply hand over to you.
You can't buy confidence, you can't inherit it, and you cannot gain it by taking it away from others. Everyone who has real confidence has earned it, one accomplishment at a time.
Start with what you have, with what you know you can do, and then add a little challenge to it. Soon you'll know without a doubt that you can do even more.
As your confidence grows, so will your achievements, because the biggest achievements come to those who have the confidence to take on the most difficult challenges.
Confidence requires work, and it is well worth the effort. Use every opportunity to earn yourself more confidence, and many valuable doors will continue opening for you.
-- Ralph Marston
Something good is going to occur today. You can count on it.
Something good has already happened. And it will continue.
Even if you don't expect it, something good is now underway. Expect it, accept it, and you'll more fully reap its value.
Something good is going on and growing stronger. You can choose to grow along with it.
Something good is everywhere. Open yourself to it and you'll know.
Today is a day for something good to happen. Let it happen through you.
-- Ralph Marston
The influence of anything in your life is determined primarily by the amount of focus you give to it. Your focus can make things bigger or smaller, depending on its direction and intensity.
Have you ever been so totally engrossed by some little something that you completely forgot about everything else for a moment? It can indeed be startling when you experience the raw power of your own focus.
And you can choose at any time to put that power to use. By directing your focus, you can positively affect every corner of your life.
What things would you like to make more abundant in your world? Focus the energy of your thoughts on them and they will grow.
Have you been disappointed, slighted, frustrated, angered or insulted? Point your focus toward the positive, fulfilling possibilities and you'll quickly put the negativity behind you.
Focus can get you moving forward with a powerful, nearly unstoppable momentum. Focus on the world you would most like to see, and with the power of focus you will make it appear.
-- Ralph Marston
How many small opportunities do you routinely ignore because you're waiting, wishing, searching and hoping for a big opportunity? That big opportunity may or may not ever arrive, yet all the while those small opportunities are there for the taking.
Every moment is an opportunity to create a little bit of value. Although the progress you can make in a single moment may not seem like much, those small moments can add up over time to big achievements.
Take one small step and it hardly seems like you've gone anywhere at all. Yet when you continue taking step after step, you can get anywhere you choose to go.
The most reliable path to success is a simple one that anyone who chooses to do so can follow. Dream big dreams and take small steps, one after another after another until you're there.
If you attempt to leap to the top of the mountain in a single effort, you will almost certainly fail. Yet make the commitment to reach the summit step by step, and you will surely get yourself there.
Right this moment there are dozens of small opportunities just waiting for you to seize. Create a little value here, a little value there, again and again, and there's no limit to where you can go.
-- Ralph Marston
First impressions are helpful and important. Yet they are certainly not everything.
A quick first impression can give you a feel for what's going on. Still, there's much substance that lies beneath the surface.
Allow your instincts to guide you without letting them dominate you. Do the work and dig deeper before making any long-term judgments or commitments.
In presenting yourself, seek to make an excellent first impression. Be sure, however, to also have the depth of substance that will faithfully back up that initial positive impression.
Those who are quick to judge, without considering all the facts, often make serious and irreversible mistakes. More often than not, hasty judgments lead to trouble, alienation, anger, frustration and regret.
Pay attention to your first impression. And let that first impression be a starting point rather than a final conclusion.
-- Ralph Marston
When you're willing to make an initial effort, you'll succeed sometimes. Take the next step, make a second effort, and you'll succeed more often.
If you're prepared to make a third, fourth, or fifth effort, you'll reach a much higher success rate. And when you commit to putting forth whatever effort is necessary, you will achieve whatever you choose.
Real and lasting success usually requires more than one attempt. If you make just a single attempt and then give up, you haven't given yourself much of an opportunity to achieve.
There is no reason to become discouraged if you fail to reach your goal on the first attempt, or even the second or third. For each effort, though it may not get you there, gets you closer.
Even an unsuccessful attempt gives you valuable knowledge and experience, and vastly increases the likelihood of success on the next attempt. When you continue getting closer each time, you surely and eventually will get where you intend to go.
The roads leading to the most beautiful places always twist and turn and double back on themselves. Keep making the effort, no matter what, and you will reach the beautiful places where you wish to be.
-- Ralph Marston
By recognizing and admitting your own weaknesses, you begin to move beyond them. When you're clear and honest about what you need to work on, you can make real progress.
When you identify a weakness, you've found an opportunity. By exploring what's holding you back, you can create a realistic and workable path to success.
Weakness is nothing to hide from or to be ashamed of. For in each weakness is the promise of real strength.
From each weakness there is much that you can learn. By understanding your limitations, you can find a way around them.
Instead of constantly fighting against your weaknesses, work on getting rid of them completely. Then all your time and energy can be put into moving quickly ahead.
Have the courage to look clearly at your weaknesses. What you'll see in each one is the potential to create powerful, effective new strength.
-- Ralph Marston
Where there is great difficulty, there are also great opportunities. Where there is sorrow, there is also much possibility for real joy.
In places of darkness, even a small light can make an enormous positive difference. When the situation seems hopeless, that's precisely when acting on hope can turn things around.
The greatest achievements often have their origins in the most complicated and perplexing problems. By accepting the possibility of dreadful failure, people are able to create magnificent success.
When it seems that no options remain, that's when a breakthrough is about to happen. Each setback along the way makes the eventual success that much more precious and valuable.
No matter how good or how difficult life may be now, there is always a realistic and accessible way to make it better. For you can learn, you can adapt, you can grow stronger, and you can take effective action to move forward.
Whatever may be, whatever may happen, lift your head high with thankfulness and enthusiasm. For when you so choose, the best is yet to come.
-- Ralph Marston
When a stone is dropped into a lake,
it quickly disappears from sight-
but its impact leaves behind
a series of ripples that broaden
and reach across the water.
In the same way, the impact of
one life lived for CHRIST
will leave behind an influence for good
that will reach the lives of
many others.
- Roy Lessin
There is a joy in productive effort that is like no other. When you create value, the feeling is so very good and right.
It may sometimes seem that work is a burden. Yet work is a burden only for those who decide to see it as such.
Actually, work can be one of life's greatest blessings. For it is your opportunity to create the future.
If you resent having to work, consider the alternative. Imagine how truly awful life would be if you were never able to make a positive, productive difference.
The main thing that makes work unpleasant is your attitude toward it. With a positive, thankful attitude, not only are your efforts more enjoyable, they produce more valuable results.
Make your life full and rich by taking a joyful approach to the work you do. Discover joy in the effort, and the rewards will be great.
-- Ralph Marston
If you don't have a plan, random circumstances will make one for you. And you probably won't like it much.
Decide what you would like and go for it. Success is no more complicated than that.
The energy and time you spend can either bring you toward your dreams or it can keep you in the service of someone else's dream. Choose to follow your own dreams.
Explore your own most deeply held values and purposes. Decide precisely how you would like your world and your life to be.
The most dismal failures are not caused by the inability to reach a goal. Those failures are the result of not having a clear enough and meaningful enough goal.
Know exactly where you intend to go, and you're much more likely to get there. Have a plan, follow it with persistence, and enjoy being where you sincerely choose to be.
-- Ralph Marston
There are things you can see, things you can hear, things you can touch, taste and smell. And beyond all those, there are things you can know.
There is wisdom within you that requires no outside validation. There are things your heart knows that nothing can dispute.
Don't become so caught up in material, worldly matters that you ignore the miraculous living presence always glowing inside you. Pay attention to the incomprehensible essence that is your life.
In your hands you hold things that, sooner or later, will rust and decay. In your heart you can keep things that are timeless.
Food, clothing and shelter sustain and protect your body. Be sure to sustain and nourish your spirit just as diligently.
Deep inside the person the world sees, is the real and indivisible person you are. Let your inner self play an active and positive role in all you do.
-- Ralph Marston
Rather than thinking of reasons why you can't, think of the reasons why you must. Instead of focusing on your problems, focus on your purpose.
There will always be challenges in any endeavor. Yet for every challenge, there is a way to get through it.
The secret comes in knowing why. With a strong enough sense of why, anything can be done.
What specifically do you wish to do, and why do you wish to do it? Dig down deeply into the reasons why, for that is where you'll find the energy, the persistence, and the commitment to carry you forward.
Don't be afraid to desire it, and to explore your own personal, meaningful reasons. By understanding why, you'll have what you need to figure out how, and to make it happen.
Know why, and watch the challenges melt away. Know why, and it will be.
-- Ralph Marston
Have you noticed how beautiful life is today? Look around with thankful, loving eyes and you'll see.
Can you comprehend how many wonderful possibilities are available to you right now? Follow one or two of them, and you'll understand.
Do you realize how creative and effective you can be? Allow your thoughts, words and actions to express what's in your heart, and you'll discover.
Are you aware how much of a difference you can make in the world? Move forward with sincerity and positive purpose, and you'll be astonished at what you can accomplish.
Do you know all the good things you're capable of achieving? Make use of this moment to begin to find out.
The possibilities for joy and fulfillment are all around you. Jump in right now and explore them fully.
-- Ralph Marston
You can choose to be annoyed by just about everything. But why would you wish to be annoyed by anything?
As easily as you can choose to be annoyed, you can choose to be peaceful, patient and understanding. Instead of putting your energy into being annoyed, you can put it into more valuable and productive pursuits.
Would you like to make yourself into a victim, or would you prefer to be firmly in control of your life? Peaceful patience, tolerance and acceptance will keep you in control.
If there is a situation that needs to be changed, take action to make that change happen. Don't waste your time with being annoyed.
The next time you encounter a situation that would normally annoy you, stop and remember that you have another choice. Instead of letting outside events control your attitude, choose to control it yourself.
Being annoyed is a waste of your life. Be peaceful, calm and powerful instead.
-- Ralph Marston
What is possible to imagine, is possible. The distance between imagination and reality is not very far.
Your imagination has great power to direct and influence those things you create in your life. So why is it that many of the good and desirable things you imagine do not ever happen?
Because along with the positive things you imagine, you may also be imagining fear and doubt in nearly equal proportion. Although your imagination is indeed powerful, it may be using up much of that power to fight against itself.
Your dreams, minus your doubts, equal your reality. To make real progress in your life, you can either make your doubts smaller or make your dreams bigger.
As you move through life, your imagination leads the way. Is it pushing you back with doubt and fear as much as, or even more than it is pulling you forward?
Choose to imagine the good and valuable things with such great passion and purpose that they far outweigh any doubts or fears you may have. And you'll soon find yourself living the reality of your most treasured dreams.
-- Ralph Marston
What's so great about today? That's for you to decide, determine and fulfill.
Is there any reason for today to be a memorable one? There is when you create a good reason.
This day does not have to be bland and indistinguishable from all the others. Because you are here to make it special.
There is something exciting and compelling that you've been meaning to do. Today is when you can put your plans into action.
Today is the moment to give life to your dreams. Today is your opportunity to offer your dreams to life.
Take a deep, slow breath, and focus on all the positive possibilities that are here on this day. Then get up, go out and live the richness.
-- Ralph Marston
Avoiding effort is more difficult than just going ahead and getting it done. Because not only do you spend time and energy avoiding the effort, you also must suffer the consequences of failing to do the work.
Take the time to do what must be done. Don't get caught up in making judgments about whether it is easy or difficult, pleasant or unpleasant, for that will just hold you back.
If you're interested in finding the easiest way out, consider this. The easiest way is to just go ahead and get it done.
Is there something you've been avoiding because it will require too much effort? Is there really anything at all that you've gained by putting it off?
Imagine the sense of satisfaction and release that you'll enjoy when the task is completed. Think of how great it will be when you're no longer constantly dreading it.
Then get busy and get it done. Make the effort, finish the work, and you'll find that you've truly taken the easy way out.
-- Ralph Marston
You will never solve your problems by getting other people to change. The way to move beyond whatever is holding you back is to make positive changes within yourself.
The problem is not the particular situation you are in. The problem is the way you interpret and relate to that situation.
The problem is not the way you are treated by others. The problem is the way you allow the actions of others to affect you.
The problem is not what has happened in the past. The problem is that you're letting it continue to hold you back.
Take complete responsibility for a problem, and suddenly you are ninety percent of the distance toward solving it. For when you truly take responsibility, you gain real and powerful control.
Fully accept that it is up to you to get where you choose to go. And you'll find everything necessary to make it so.
-- Ralph Marston
The solutions to your most difficult problems already exist. Open yourself to their possibility and you will most certainly discover them.
Whatever you desire is already connected to who you are and what you now have. Bring that connection to life with your thoughts, your feelings and your actions.
Your worries, complaints, anger and resentment cast a dark fog on the world that appears in front of you. That prevents you from seeing all the good things already available to you.
Accept that anger, that resentment, those worries, and then quickly let them go. Allow yourself to enter fully into this moment that is now, with a clear mind and a peaceful heart.
Allow the joy, allow the sadness, allow the triumphs, the disappointments, the rich texture and fullness of life. Allow it all to work for you, and to carry you steadily toward the ever-increasing fulfillment of your very own special purpose.
Make loving use of this day to do what you can do, from where you are, with what you have. Trust that it will move you quickly forward, and it surely will.
-- Ralph Marston
Those who achieve are those who give. The greatest leaders are the leaders who are most devoted to service.
Every encounter, every challenge, every relationship, every situation is an opportunity to give of yourself. Each day brings with it new ways to create value for the people around you.
Think of the individuals you most sincerely admire. You'll see that they all make it a habit to give of themselves to life.
It is not always easy to give of yourself. It takes discipline, commitment, creativity, humility, preparation, effort and resilience.
What it brings is true fulfillment. Give your best to each moment, and you fill the world with rich meaning.
Do the work, make the commitment, and discover all the good and valuable things you have to give. Make a gift of who you are, and be amazed at what you become.
-- Ralph Marston
In your mind you can go anywhere. And where your mind consistently goes, the rest of your life will follow.
There is no limit to what you can imagine. And what you imagine, you have already begun to create.
Allow your thoughts to travel often to beautiful and magnificent places. In your mind, construct all the rich details of the life you wish to live.
In order to reach for a dream, you must know what it looks like, how it feels, and where it is. Long before you actually get there, your mind can enable you to experience all these things.
Every success is first a success of the imagination. What wonderful pathways will you dare to imagine?
Set your imagination free, and it will show you who you are. Let imagination guide your efforts, and your dreams will be fulfilled.
-- Ralph Marston
Any task can become effortless when you let go of all your resistance to it. Creativity and effectiveness come easily and naturally when there is nothing blocking them.
Do you resent the things you will be doing today? Then not only will you be miserable all day, you will end up with very little to show for your efforts.
Choose instead to eagerly and enthusiastically embrace each task, each activity, and each situation. Fully accept whatever you are doing, and you will give it great value.
Great accomplishments do not arise out of miserable struggle. Great accomplishments come from being able to see the goodness in everything, and then focusing that goodness in a specific direction.
It's impossible to stay focused on what can be when you're obsessed with complaining or worrying about what already is. Yet by accepting what is now, you are free to create what you know can be.
Make your efforts effortless by letting them happen and letting them be. Let life freely flow, and you will go anywhere you desire.
-- Ralph Marston
Author: Unknown
Sometimes I ask the question, "My Lord, is this your will?" It's then I hear you answer me, "My Precious Child...be still."
Sometimes I feel frustrated, cause I think I know what's best. It's then I hear you say to me, "My Busy Child...just rest!"
Sometimes I feel so lonely and I think I'd like a mate. Your still small voice gets oh so clear and says, "My Child...please wait!"
"I know the plans I have for you, the wondrous things you'll see; If you can just be patient, Child, and put your trust in me. I've plans to draw you closer. I've plans to help you grow. There's much I do you cannot see and much you do not know.
But know this, Child...I LOVE YOU. You are Precious unto Me.
Before I formed you in the womb, I planned your destiny. I've something very special I hope for you to learn. The gifts I wish to give to you are gifts you cannot earn.
They come without a price tag, but not without a cost; at Calvary, I gave My Son, so You would not be lost. Rest Child, and do not grow weary of doing what is good.
I promise I'll come back for you just like I said I would. Your name is written on my palm, I never could forget; Therefore, do not be discouraged when my answer is... "Not Yet!"
Real success is not merely a matter of getting what you want. After all, a newborn infant with a loud cry can accomplish that.
Real success comes from fully being who you are. Real success comes from giving your own unique value to life.
The less you need, the more fulfilled and powerful and effective you are. As your peacefulness increases, so does your energy level.
Choose not to let the small things anger you, or annoy you, or distract you. And keep in mind that most things are small things.
Stop fretting so much about whether or not you're getting your way. Seek instead to relax your judgment, and to find the unique value that is in each moment.
You cannot ever fully control everything that happens, and in fact you would not want to do so. Enjoy true success by learning how to take whatever happens, and to make it work for the good of all concerned.
-- Ralph Marston
The good things in your life are infinitely more enjoyable when you avoid becoming dependent on them. If you see yourself as desperately needing something, the fear of losing it prevents you from getting full benefit from it.
Many of life's frustrations come from being unable to fully enjoy the good things that are already right in front of you. The desire to hold on tightly to the things you have can make those things virtually worthless.
Security is not attained by hiding away from life. The most enduring form of security is found in knowing that you can deal successfully and positively with whatever may happen.
Life's treasures become useless when they remain locked inside a vault of your own making. What good is it to have anything of value if you must live in fear of losing it?
Instead, take the treasure that is your life out into the world and enjoy it. Focus on the possibilities and not on the fears.
The more you think you need, the more those needs will hold you back. The more you choose to give and to live, the more good things you'll find coming your way.
-- Ralph Marston
Abundance is all around you. At any given moment, you are immersed in it.
Through the living of your life, you focus that abundance. And it becomes specific experiences, creations and accomplishments.
There is never any shortage of positive possibilities. Whatever your circumstance, life's abundance is available to be transformed by the guiding power of your intentions.
There is always plenty of raw energy available to you. Your challenge is to consistently and persistently direct that energy into a life that is rich and meaningful.
Consider carefully what you choose to allow and what you choose to block. Every choice you make is amplified many times over by the constant flow of abundance that is always present in your world.
Visualize a life that is the best you can possibly imagine. Hold steady to that vision, and you will make it so.
-- Ralph Marston
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
There's no need for you to strive to be somebody. You are somebody already, with your own unique gifts to offer life.
What a waste it would be to spend your whole life seeking to be someone you're not. What a true joy it is to spend your moments expressing and fulfilling the authentic person you are.
Today is a day to dance your own dance, to sing your own song. Live the joy that is yours to live, and create the beauty that is yours to give.
Pay no attention to the fleeting, superficial vision of success that the world seeks to sell you. Build a success that has real meaning for you by being true to who you are.
Most of the disappointments you've experienced have been the result of striving to follow someone else's dream. Let go of the need to do that, and feel the freedom, the amazing effectiveness, and the exhilaration of living a purpose that is truly you.
You are somebody unique, valuable, beautiful and worthy of the best life has to offer. Now is the time to fully live that truth.
-- Ralph Marston
This is the moment you've been moving toward ever since the day you were born. The world you see in front of you now is the world you've long been expecting.
Now that you're here, perhaps there are some things that you find to be disappointing. Look beyond the disappointment, though, and you'll see so very much more.
You'll see within yourself a lifetime of experience that's more extensive now than ever before. You'll see opportunities for making use of that experience to create new unique and meaningful value.
You'll realize that no matter how much you've already done, there is always some new gift that you can give to life. You'll understand that no matter what may have happened before, there is always a way to move positively forward.
Now that you're here, you can learn from the past and begin to create the future. Now that you're here, you can think and feel and dream and act in accordance with your most treasured purpose.
You've traveled through a lot of living to get to this moment. Now is when you can truly fulfill the best of your possibilities.
-- Ralph Marston
If you're unhappy with what you already have, then getting more is not going to make things better. Instead of fighting against what is, make full and loving use of it.
Instead of striving for what you think you lack, simply change your thinking. Realize that where you are is a great place to be.
Achievements and possessions will never make you happy. They can, however, serve as tangible expressions of the happiness you have chosen to create within yourself.
Do you feel that something is missing in your life? Most likely, the only thing really missing is your commitment to fully accept and live the abundance that is already there.
That abundance comes to you in the people, places, things, events and situations that flow through your life each day. The way to connect with it is through sincere and sustained gratitude.
Be truly thankful for it all, for the ups and the downs, the pleasures and the pains, the progress and the setbacks. Joyfully accept what is, and you'll surely find it is a great place to be.
-- Ralph Marston
You will definitely succeed at something today. What exactly will it be?
Whatever you most sincerely believe and expect, you will succeed in creating. Whatever you focus your thoughts and energy upon cannot help but become real for you.
There is no doubt that you will succeed today at making a difference in the world. The question is, what difference will you choose to make?
Perhaps the choices you have made in the past have not brought you any degree of satisfaction of fulfillment. But that doesn't mean you must settle for a life that's dismal and unfulfilling.
Because you are free and able right now to set new priorities, to make different, more positive choices. Instead of being successful at failure, you can choose to be successful at success.
Every moment of every day, you succeed at creating the reality in which you live. Choose now to use that power in a positive, meaningful, fulfilling way.
-- Ralph Marston
The main thing that keeps an objective out of reach is your assumption that you cannot reach it. You're able to do precisely what you expect to be able to do.
Are there dreams that you dare not to dream because you've decided that you cannot attain them? If so, then your negative expectation has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Before you abandon or downgrade your most treasured dreams, consider this. When your goal is personally meaningful and compelling, you can achieve it, whatever it may be.
You are never too old or too young, too rich or too poor, to direct the energy of your life toward a compelling objective. Life is about making a difference, and that's something you can do no matter what your circumstances may be.
There is somewhere you truly wish to go, something you sincerely desire to achieve, right this very moment. Take the time to find it, commit yourself to it, and make the effort to make it happen.
Your dreams represent some of the most valuable gifts you have to give to life. Dare to dream, and allow the best of who you are to be fully expressed.
-- Ralph Marston
There is enormous power in peace. Seek to let your mind be filled with peace, and your life will benefit greatly.
Worry wastes your precious time, resentment destroys your effectiveness and anxiety drains your energy. A peaceful mind, on the other hand, puts you firmly in control and out of the reach of the world's negative distractions.
Peace comes easily and naturally when you stop fighting against what is. Accept the reality of this moment, let go of the need to need, and experience the peace that is already here.
Peace is what you find when you let go of everything else. Peace requires no real effort other than the realization that you already have it.
Beneath the noise, beneath the chatter, there is beauty, and there is peace. Visualize your concerns as moving quickly away from you, until they disappear into nothingness.
Empty your mind of the stressful thoughts, and peace will fill the space left behind. Be at peace, and every thought, every action, every moment will move you toward real richness and fulfillment.
-- Ralph Marston
Any limitation you encounter is not in the situation itself. The limitation is in the way you choose to interpret and respond to the situation.
As such, you have power over every limitation. Because those things that appear as limitations are powered by your perceptions.
Yes, the difficult situations and challenging obstacles are indeed real. Remember, though, that you can decide to see them and to respond to them in a positive, empowering manner.
There is always a way to reach the destination you have chosen. Focus not on those things that appear to be limitations, but rather on the goal you have set.
It is easy to blame this limitation or that for your lack of progress. It is far better to find a way to move beyond the challenges, for that is where you will experience the success you are meant to create.
Decide not to be a slave to your limitations. For you can always choose to be the master of your possibilities.
-- Ralph Marston
How far beyond yourself are you willing to think and act? Have you ever done anything that will benefit the world not today, not next year, but a thousand years from now?
If you limit your awareness to only your own concerns, you will continually be frustrated and disappointed. That is because your true nature exists far beyond the superficial, petty concerns of your shallow and fragile ego.
Imagine being able to live without fear, in a constant state of pure peacefulness and effortless fulfillment. That is the terrain you can inhabit when you let go of the concerns of self.
When you erect impenetrable borders between you and everything else, you push life's immense abundance away from your experience. The walls of exclusion and judgment that you create do quickly become your prison.
Your awareness does not have to be limited by your perceptions. Beyond the confines of time and distance there is no end to the fulfillment that can be known.
What you can achieve alone is quite impressive. Yet what you create by going beyond yourself can indeed fulfill every dream.
-- Ralph Marston
Sometimes the opportunities that seem the smallest are the best. For they're the opportunities that have the most room for growth.
The biggest, most obvious opportunities attract a great deal of attention. That can make them fiercely competitive because of all the people who seek to make the most of them.
Small opportunities can go largely unnoticed. Yet for someone who makes the effort to see it, a small opportunity can be an ideal platform on which to build great value.
Small opportunities are numerous and widely available. You could spend your whole life waiting for a big opportunity, while many small opportunities come along every day.
Small opportunities usually offer more latitude, flexibility and room for creativity. With small opportunities you can make the most of your own unique passion and purpose.
Open your eyes to the abundance of seemingly small opportunities that arrive in your world on a daily basis. For even with small opportunities you can create big value.
-- Ralph Marston
There is great joy within you. Yet all too often your thoughts can keep that joy hidden away.
Most of the judgments to which you devote your thoughts do not serve any useful purpose. Worries, resentments, and angry thinking will bring you nothing of real value, and will push joy further away from your awareness.
Let go of those toxic thoughts and allow the joy that's hiding underneath them to shine through. Let go of the need to judge and to strive, and make room in your awareness for joy.
Joy is easy and natural and not something you must struggle for or force. It has been there all along, and will flow easily from you when you allow it.
Let your thoughts benefit from joy instead of using those thoughts to cover up that joy. Allow your actions to be more focused and effective by allowing your own unique joy to be expressed through them.
Set free the joy in your life by letting go of the negativity that you don't need anyway. Set your joy free and let it fill your world.
-- Ralph Marston
Without challenge, there would be no achievement. If you wish to own the achievement, you must be willing to shoulder the challenge.
Working through a difficult challenge builds strength. It is a kind of strength that cannot be acquired in any other way.
Challenges are messy, uncomfortable, complicated and demanding. And yet, they are among life's greatest blessings.
For the challenges will make it perfectly clear what has real meaning in your life and what doesn't. The challenges hold your priorities up to you and will show you the best of who you are.
Climbing the mountain of challenge is difficult and treacherous, yet the view from the summit is spectacular. And the experience you gain in the effort will continue to bring value long after the work is done.
You are truly fortunate to have challenges in your life. For within every challenge is a clearly defined path for moving vigorously and meaningfully forward.
-- Ralph Marston
Your imagination may often seem wispy and nebulous. It is in fact very real and powerful.
Look around you and consider all the real, solid, useful and valuable things that began their existence in someone's imagination. What you can imagine, is clearly possible.
Most likely, your imagination has far more power than you realize. There are aspects of your reality today that come directly from long-forgotten stirrings of your imagination.
What would you dare to imagine if you were certain that it would become real? In fact, most of what you imagine does indeed influence your life and your world in some way or other.
Obviously, the things you imagine do not instantly spring into material form. Actually, something even more amazing happens.
Your imagination plants a fertile seed in the capable, creative, intelligent, effective person that is you. Take great care with such seeds that you plant, for they will surely grow.
-- Ralph Marston
What an incredible journey Jesus made;
what an overwhelming expression of love He undertook;
what an awesome purpose He had in mind.
You were on His heart.
When He left His home in heaven, He saw you;
when He became a man on earth, He was seeking you;
when He stretched out His hands upon the cross,
He was reaching out to you;
when He returned to His Father,
He was preparing a place for you.
You are the sheep He has come to shepherd, to guide, to feed, to protect, to shelter, and to carry.
You are the one He calls His own.
- Roy Lessin
If it seems you're having a difficult day, that's not really the case. Though today you may have experienced certain difficulties up to this point, those difficulties do not have to define the day.
The rest of this day will be what you make it. You can choose right now to make it positive and productive.
Those difficulties and frustrations that had you thinking this was a difficult day can quickly be left behind. You can in fact make this a truly great day.
Take a deep breath, and be sincerely thankful for the experience and the wisdom you've already gained today. Then point your energy in a positive direction.
Choose to make this moment a turning point. Instead of allowing random events to control your attitude, select an attitude that will move you forward.
This is a great day. Beginning right now, you have what it takes to live that reality.
-- Ralph Marston
Things you're always going to do later never do get done. What you put off until someday will always be out of your reach.
If anything is important enough to do someday, then it is worth starting on right now. If you're going to actually do it, then you must do it in the moment you're in.
Procrastination may seem like an easy way to avoid taking action. What it really is, though, is an ever-increasing burden of guilt and regret that you place on yourself.
Think of how awful it feels to know that you could have done, or could be doing, but instead you waited until too late. Fortunately, there is a simple and highly effective way to ease that burden.
Take action now. Choose something that you have continued putting off, and go ahead and get it done.
You've made many great plans and promises. Go ahead, act on them, and see how great it is to make them real.
-- Ralph Marston
Never before has life held as much promise as it does on this very day. The possibilities open to you right now are more wonderful and abundant than they have ever been.
You may be suffering under the sad illusion that the best days of your life have already come and gone. Choose now to see beyond that self-imposed limiting thought.
Open your eyes to the beautiful truth that the things in your life with real value and meaning never decline or decay. The longer you live with purpose and sincerity, the more intensely you experience true love and joy.
It may seem that your mistakes have been piled on top of mistakes, and that nothing can free you from your burdensome regrets. Yet the freedom you seek is as close as the next moment.
Every beauty you've ever imagined is real, and exists in you right now. Every joy that you've ever glimpsed is yours to live and to express any time you choose.
You stand in this moment at a beautiful new beginning, full of promise and possibility. See it, know it, live it, and allow the joy to flow more abundantly than ever before.
-- Ralph Marston
Failure is not the opposite of success. Failure is an important component of success.
Suppose you set an objective, take action, and then fail to reach that objective on the first attempt. Even though you have experienced a failure, you're in much better shape than you were before you started.
Because you've just learned, in a compelling and meaningful way, what doesn't work. And that puts you well on the way to finding what does work.
The greatest achievements of all time are built upon multiple failures. The greatest achievers are those who are willing to experience failure on their way to the success they know will most certainly come.
No one sets out with the intention of failing. Yet when failure comes, it is nothing to be ashamed of, and no reason to give up.
Learn to see failure as just another step in the process of success. And even when the failures come, they will serve to move you forward.
-- Ralph Marston
You do not have to keep making the same mistakes. You can choose to change.
You do not have to keep being held back by the same fears and insecurities. You have the ability to move forward if you wish.
There is no good reason why you must settle for anything less than the very best that life has to offer. Anything is possible when you put your full commitment and the energy of your life into it.
The past has brought you to where you are, yet it has no power to hold you back. In each moment, you are free to choose your own direction.
Reach within yourself and connect with a guiding purpose that you know is right for you. Allow yourself to fully be the unique and beautiful person you are meant to be.
This day, this moment is a blank canvas upon which you are now able to paint. Fill it with the magnificent splendor that you know is yours to give.
-- Ralph Marston
Inflicting pain on someone else cannot do anything to ease your own pain. When you have been hurt, there is nothing to be gained by passing the hurt on to another.
When others have caused you pain, give forgiveness. Sincere forgiveness is the fastest way to begin moving positively forward again.
Forgiveness does not mean that you agree with or condone whatever has been done. It means that you no longer choose to let those past actions hold you back.
Your willingness to forgive does not mean that you are willing to be hurt again. In fact, forgiveness frees you to take positive steps that will make you stronger and much less vulnerable.
When you feel the desire for revenge, stop and remind yourself that there is a much more powerful response. Forgiveness is the way to put yourself in the best possible position.
Can you find the strength to forgive? Forgive, and you will surely grow stronger.
-- Ralph Marston
Some of the greatest treasures in your life may be things you set aside long ago. Often it pays to go back and take a look.
A book you read years ago may now hold much more meaning. A friend from whom you once grew apart may now have much more in common with you.
There is a reason why people, places, things and events come into your life. Be careful that you're not too quick to discard them.
The things that interested you in your youth still have a message for you today. They can tell you about who you truly are.
Just because something is old and familiar, does not mean it is irrelevant. Values, passions and purposes grow more robust with time and experience.
You've arrived at this moment carrying a lifetime of valuable treasures. Now is your opportunity to see those treasures in a whole new light.
-- Ralph Marston
You have created many good and valuable things that you don't even know about. For the consequences of your actions go far beyond you.
Many of the treasures in your life are things you are not yet ready to know or appreciate. They will be there waiting for you when you are ready.
Each day you encounter opportunities for joy and fulfillment that you don't even recognize as such. Life encompasses much more richness than you can ever fully imagine.
What you already know, is not all there is. And because of that, there is always room for growth.
There is something in your world today that you can take to a higher level. There is some aspect of life's immeasurable abundance that you have the opportunity to uncover and experience.
Seek right now to connect with a real and refreshing portion of life's goodness that you've never touched before. Know that it is there, and you will find your way to it.
-- Ralph Marston
Joy is not something you find. It is something you choose to create, to live and to experience.
The experience of joy does not in any way deplete the amount of joy available. On the contrary, the experience of joy makes possible even more profound and sustained joy.
Some would say that joy is not possible, or not realistic, or not appropriate in certain situations. Yet those very situations are the ones to which joy can bring the most value.
Joy requires nothing and gives much. And you have the truly magnificent ability to create joy.
Joy is not the result of success. Joy is, in fact, a significant cause of success.
Make this day joyful by filling it with joy. The more you choose to experience it, the more joy there will be.
-- Ralph Marston
You are worthy of the best in life. It's not because anyone tells you so or gives you permission to be, but because you know deep down that you are.
You have every reason to feel great about the good and valuable things you have done. You have the ability to expand on that goodness, on that value, on your own special gifts.
Where you are is a very good place to be. For you are in a position to truly make a difference by expressing and fulfilling your most deeply held values and dreams.
Certainly things are not perfect, and your world is filled with difficult challenges. Yet there is real treasure hidden within those challenges, for you have what it takes to move successfully through them.
You know how great it feels to accomplish something positive and meaningful. Listen to that feeling, for it connects you to your purpose and your ability to do great things.
Whatever you can imagine, you are worthy of reaching. Choose to make everything in your life worthy of the unique and valuable person you are.
-- Ralph Marston
Mistakes are valuable reminders that you do not know it all. And as such, they provide golden opportunities to learn.
Mistakes are a sure sign that you're making progress. For when you make mistakes, it means you are putting forth effort and having an influence.
Mistakes are certainly no cause for shame. The greatest achievements require you to work your way through the greatest errors and misunderstandings.
Mistakes are not to be feared. For the same actions that enable you to make a mistake also put you in a position to correct it.
When you're willing to accept the possibility of mistakes, you're able to follow the best opportunities. When you become experienced at handling mistakes, you'll be skilled at creating real value.
Success comes not from avoiding all mistakes, but from learning to find a positive way forward no matter what may happen. With each mistake, get over it, get wisdom from it, and become even more effective than you were before.
-- Ralph Marston
...It may be difficult
for you
to believe that
GOD knows your name...
but He does.
Written on His hand.
Spoken by His mouth.
Whispered by His lips.
Your Name.
"I have written your name on My hand." - Isaiah 49:16
You have captured
the heart of GOD.
He cannot bear to live
without you.
GOD's dream is
to make you right
with HIM.
And the path to the cross
tell us exacly how far
GOD will go to call us back.
"It is not our love for GOD;
it is GOD's love for us
is sending HIS Son
to be the way
to take away our sins." - 1 John 4:10
If you want
to touch GOD's heart,
use the name HE loves to hear.
Call him "FATHER."
He thinks you're wonderfull
--- Excerpts from the book, GOD thinks you're Wonderful!, by america's best selling inspirational author, Max Lucado
Happy VALENTINES Day!
Every fear you feel is coming from you. All your thoughts of negativity are being created in your own mind.
And because of that, you can be free of them. For it is you who ultimately decides where your mind will go and what it will hold.
Your thoughts are not caused by anything outside of you. They are the result of the way you've chosen to respond to life.
If your thoughts seem to be holding you prisoner, remember that those thoughts are of your own choosing. You can always, at any time, make a different choice.
Simply imagine being free of your fears, and suddenly that's precisely where you are. Fill your mind with positive, empowering thoughts and you'll quickly crowd out the thoughts that bring you down.
Reality is as it is, and you can choose to see it in any light you wish. Cast a positive light on life, and you'll connect yourself with real success.
-- Ralph Marston
When there's something that needs to be done, give yourself a moment to do it. When there's a decision that must be made, give yourself a moment to think it through.
When life demands a response, give yourself a moment to find the most positive and meaningful one. When someone is explaining something to you, give yourself a moment to truly listen and to understand.
Life is made up of many moments, one right after another. The big outcomes, results and achievements depend on what you do with all those little moments along the way.
With each moment you can choose to let it pass or to let it bring you down. Or, you can decide to make good use of that moment with positive purpose, value and love.
How many times have you looked back on your life with regret, and wished you had given yourself a moment to do what could have easily been done? Now is your opportunity to avoid such future regrets by recognizing the great value in each moment.
When life is asking something of you, give yourself a moment to make it right. And when you add up all those moments, you'll find you've made life great.
-- Ralph Marston
Life's most beautiful and fulfilling moments are the most sincere and authentic ones. When you are being yourself, that is when you are at your best.
Why do you so quickly latch on to someone else's idea of success, while at the same time ignoring your own authentic dreams? Why do you so easily dismiss your own instincts and intuitions?
Others may claim to be experts in this field or that. Remember, though, that you are the expert when it comes to your own life.
Listen to the longings of your heart. Pay attention to that little voice inside of you.
For that voice knows you well. It knows what you can accomplish, what brings you joy, and what things you most highly value.
When something feels right, that's a reliable sign that it is. Choose to live each moment as the authentic person you are, and from those moments you will create much real and lasting richness.
-- Ralph Marston
Achievement most often takes place under conditions that are less than ideal. Just because there is some problem or difficulty or shortcoming in your life at the moment, it does not prevent you from moving forward.
Focus not on what is missing or what is wrong. Focus on doing your very best within the circumstances as they are.
Seek not to find an excuse. Instead, do what you have chosen to do, create what you have chosen to create, live as you have chosen to live, no matter what.
If you wait until conditions are perfect, you'll spend most of your time waiting. You'll be far better off when you go ahead and put that time to effective and productive use.
There may be plenty of reasonable excuses for not moving forward. Go ahead and do it anyway.
Sure, it would be great if some things were a little different, yet the reality is that conditions are as they are. Do it anyway, for that is the way it will get done.
-- Ralph Marston
The world around you will follow the example that you set. The shortcomings in others that frustrate you the most are able to do so because they resonate with similar shortcomings in your own life.
Make improvements in your own attitude and behavior, and you'll see corresponding improvements in those around you. Focus your own thoughts on the positive possibilities, and others will pick up on and emulate that focus.
Stop searching for blame and start mending what's broken. Stop seeking to judge and start putting your values into positive, productive action.
Your influence is far greater than you now realize. Use that influence wisely, to build, to grow, and to improve everything with which you are connected.
Every achievement, every injustice, every inspiration, every frustration that you notice has something to teach you about yourself. Learn the lessons well, apply them with true commitment, and you'll change your world as well as yourself.
Set a shining example with the way you live each day. For life is watching and busily following along with your every move.
-- Ralph Marston
What will you make real in your world today? There are so many possibilities.
Will you focus so heavily on your fears that you create and empower the very things you fear? Or will you fill yourself with positive visions that your awareness and actions can then bring to life?
The expectations you have carry a great amount of power. So choose today to expect the best you can imagine in every situation.
Your thoughts attract people, objects and circumstances that closely match those thoughts. Be sure to make them peaceful, positive and empowering thoughts, and they'll be faithfully reflected in your world.
The way you see things determines what you see, and what you see determines the substance that your life creates. Make it a meaningful, fulfilling substance.
The reality of this day will come largely from the way you think, feel, learn, respond, observe and act. Choose to make it the best one yet.