Run joyfully toward life

Run joyfully toward life and embrace it with open arms. Each day brings its own treasure in the flavors, aromas, sights, sounds, situations, experiences and interactions that come your way.

Don't get bogged down attempting to resist or deny what has already happened. Put your energy into using what you have to make life better than ever.

Embrace the beauty, the joy, the wonder and the abundance of life. At the same time, embrace the challenges, the setbacks, the disappointments and the difficulties.

Be genuinely thankful for every moment, whatever it may contain. For in each moment is your opportunity to fully live, to grow, to learn, to experience, to share and to create unique, lasting value.

Welcome the ever-changing richness of life as it dances before your eyes in ways you've never seen before. Join passionately in that dance and be a part of the richness.

Follow the winding path as it moves up, down, over and around through the steadily increasing abundance and fulfillment of your life. Know more fully, as each moment passes, the profound joy of being.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

If you want

If you want to be interesting, be interested. If you want to be heard, listen.

If you wish to truly learn, teach. If you would like to be wealthy, be generous.

If you desire to be understood, take the time to understand. If you want to have many friends, be friendly.

If you want the world to change for the better, make a positive change in yourself. If you long for peace, be peaceful.

What you give to life is what life becomes for you. The treasures you accumulate all come from the good things you do.

Every day is your opportunity to raise your life to a higher level by giving the best that you have. Whatever it is you desire, give it, be it, support it, and you will enjoy it in great abundance.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

The power of discipline

Adding a little more self-discipline to your life can be somewhat painful at first. Yet it can quickly make you feel a lot better about yourself and your situation.

Putting a lot more discipline in your life requires vigilance and commitment. And it also guarantees long-term success.

What area of your life could benefit from a little more self-discipline? What magnificent dream could you achieve through focused, disciplined effort?

Discipline is not complicated or out of reach. It is really nothing more than actually doing what you know must be done in a timely and consistent manner.

The power of self-discipline is yours when you decide to use it. It is always one of your most effective options.

Choose to exercise the discipline of which you're surely and already capable. And break through the limits that previously held you back.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Imagine it

Imagine that you're full of energy and enthusiasm, excited and positive about the day ahead. Imagine that you're highly effective, able to achieve whatever you set out to do with confidence and ease.

In your mind's eye, see yourself working with discipline and focus, quickly and easily making the decisions that move your world forward. Visualize yourself as always knowing what to say and do in every situation.

Imagine yourself being the person you've always wanted to be. Imagine living the life you've always dreamed of living.

See it all in rich and colorful detail. Allow yourself to dream, and know, with absolute certainty, that you can have it, you can do it and you can be it.

Make your image of yourself and your life a positive one, and you'll program yourself for real, sustained success. Imagine yourself at your very best, and hold that image firmly in your mind, day after day, moment by moment.

What you're able to imagine, you're able to create and experience. Dare to imagine, and then put your precious time to good use by bringing your imagination to life.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Conviction

Commitment depends upon conviction. And conviction is something you can create from what you already have.

Within you there is a powerful and undeniable sense of purpose. Conviction comes from making a solid and persistent connection to that unique purpose.

When your intentions are supported by a strong enough reason why, you will find a way to bring them to life. Getting anything done is a matter of continuing to remember why you have chosen to do it.

It's no secret that focused and persistent effort brings achievement. With a strong sense of conviction, you can keep that effort going for as long as the achievement requires.

Harness the power that flows from your most authentic desires. Build your convictions based on who you truly are.

When your actions resonate with those convictions, they produce profound and valuable results. Each moment you live with purpose is a moment that adds real richness to your world.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Always something

Do what you can do, with what you have, every chance you get. Moving just one step forward will give you a positive foothold upon which to build.

Often it is easy to choose to see yourself and treat yourself as a victim. Yet by making such a choice, you quickly surrender control over your own life.

Instead of giving up and becoming a victim, know that there is always something positive you can do. There is always some action with which you can move yourself forward.

Life's greatest triumphs often have their origins in times of great difficulty. In each challenge there is fertile ground for building great value.

Do you feel overwhelmed by your circumstances? The best way to get away from that feeling is to step forward and do something positive and productive.

With every positive action, your power increases. Step by step, moment by moment, move your life exactly where you choose to go.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

As it comes

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

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Expectations and reality

Reality will not always live up to your expectations. Yet your expectations always have an influence on the way you live your reality.

Your expectations do not magically transport you to the destination of your choice. However, those expectations can indeed provide you with a clear and realistic path to travel.

Expectations do not change the world around you. Rather, they illuminate certain specific and highly useful portions of your world.

Positive expectations enable you to see the way forward. And they keep you motivated as you do the work necessary to travel that path.

Reality is what it is, and conditions are what they are. What you expect of yourself and what you expect for yourself will strongly influence what you make of your reality.

Carry the very best of expectations with you at all times. And you'll be showing yourself how to make life truly great.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

A moment of presence

Who you are now is enough. What you have now is plenty.

Here in this moment all is well. Allow yourself to be fully present in what is now.

Gently relax into the endless depth of life's rich and magnificent abundance. There is plenty, and it is now yours to live.

Feel the perfect peace of simply being as you are. Need nothing, and have everything.

Watch the wonder of all that is as it dances in front of your eyes. Feel the lightness and the limitless nature of who you truly are.

Know the immense joy that is in every little thing. For it is now and you are fully here.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Run toward the challenges

Of course it's difficult. That's what makes it so valuable.

The time, effort and commitment you put into reaching the goal have their own rewards, over and above the achievement itself. They make you stronger, more disciplined, and more effective.

When great effort is called for, great opportunities abound. When challenges and difficulties surround you, there is much value to be created.

Instead of cursing the need for sustained and focused effort, be genuinely thankful for the chance. For you are designed and equipped to get things done, and life is superbly rewarding when you do.

When difficult work is called for, step quickly forward with enthusiasm. It is truly your moment to shine, to grow, and to create according to your best expectations.

Run toward the challenges. It is in those challenges that you will fulfill your greatest dreams.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Positive goals

What you passionately and purposefully seek to have, you will have. What you passionately and purposefully seek to avoid, you will also have.

When you intensely focus your energy upon anything, that thing grows more real and influential in your life. That holds true whether it is something you strongly desire or something you strongly detest.

If you put your effort into fighting against something, you end up giving more strength and consequence to whatever you're fighting against. Instead, find a desirable alternative and put your energy into working toward that alternative.

What you hold most firmly and consistently in your mind, you create and become. So keep your thoughts focused on moving toward the desirable, enjoyable and fulfilling things.

The most effective way to move away from what you don't want is to actively move toward what you do want. Rather than defining your life by what you oppose, challenge yourself to develop positive goals that you can enthusiastically embrace and follow.

Your life naturally and persistently flows in the direction where your attention is focused. So choose to focus on the best you can imagine.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Decisions

Small decisions are vitally important. Because they're the ones that keep you on track.

The big, momentous decisions set the direction for your life. And the small, everyday decisions are what enable you to maintain that direction.

Small decisions are easy to make. Unfortunately, they are just as easy to ignore.

Pay attention and take active, intentional control of the small decisions. You'll quickly experience great power in their cumulative influence.

The big decisions are expressions of your commitments. The small, moment-by-moment decisions give life and substance to those commitments.

Give careful thought and consideration to the big decisions. Then use the hundreds of small decisions you make each day to bring those big decisions to life.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Curiosity

Curiosity will take you to wonderful places you never would have otherwise known you could go. Curiosity is, at its heart, a love for life and everything in it.

Those who are the most authentically and persistently curious are the best informed. Simple, sincere curiosity brings a richness of wisdom and unique experience into your life.

The biggest impediment to curiosity is arrogance. For in order to be truly curious, you must first admit that you do not know.

Keep in mind that intelligence is more than a measure of what you already know. Intelligence depends on always being open to learning new things, some of which will contradict and supersede what you already thought you knew.

Though curiosity will often compel you to undertake great effort, curiosity itself requires no effort. Drop your pretenses, allow yourself to be curious, and you are.

There is no end to the wonder that you can discover, wherever you are, whatever you do. Be curious, and be fully alive.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Free from frustration

You choose your frustrations. And you can just as easily choose to be free of frustration.

What is it that makes you frustrated? What kinds of things bring on so much frustration that you can't get anything accomplished?

Actually, nothing makes you frustrated. Frustration is just the way you respond to certain situations.

Frustration is useful when you first feel it, because it calls your attention to the conflict between your inner values and your outer situation. But once it has your attention, frustration has done its job, and it is then time to let it go.

As soon as you feel frustration, ask yourself what that frustration is attempting to tell you, and listen carefully to the answer. Once you truly get the message, the frustration has done its job and it falls naturally and easily away.

By immediately understanding and appreciating what your frustration has to say, you can quickly get beyond it. Then, with a new sense of purpose and positive direction, you'll be even more effective than before.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

The life you choose

Life is the way you see it. Life is the way you perceive it to be.

If you constantly focus on all the things that could go wrong, things will indeed go wrong. Turn your focus to the positive possibilities, and those possibilities begin to become real.

Expect to find the resources you seek, and they will be there. Know that life's abundance is available to you, and more of it flows through your life.

From your perspective, everything is subject to your own interpretation of it. Much more important than what happens is what you make of it, and you can make of it anything you choose.

You are never at the mercy of random events unless you allow yourself to be. No matter what may come your way, you can decide what it means to you and how you will integrate it into your life.

The life you live is the life you choose to see and to experience. Choose, in this moment and every moment, to fill it with joy, meaningful purpose and fulfillment.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Get moving

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

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

No excuses

Every day offers you plenty of reasons to make excuses. But excuses bring you nothing of real value.

Sure, a plausible excuse may enable you to save face, to appear more diligent and disciplined than you know you are. But do you merely want to appear successful, or would you prefer to actually be successful?

Excuses hold you back because they enable you to avoid responsibility and the achievement it brings. You deserve more than just a life filled with useless excuses.

Instead of making excuses, choose to make some honest, authentic progress. Even a tiny effort is infinitely more productive than a big, impressive excuse.

Don't settle for a growing list of reasons for failure. You can just as easily give yourself real, compelling reasons to succeed.

Free yourself from the shackles of useless excuses. And see this day as the grand opportunity that it is.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Changing conditions

When conditions change for the worse, there is no need to despair. For you have the ability to respond.

With every new problem there are plenty of new opportunities. Every setback represents a new starting point from which you can raise yourself to higher levels of purposeful achievement.

Just because things have changed is no reason to give up. In fact, that makes your worthwhile goal even more valuable.

There is always a way to get where you have chosen to go. Each challenge gives you new ways to add value to your dream.

Always, life is overwhelmingly abundant. When conditions change, you have the chance to see aspects of that abundance that you did not previously know were there.

Pause for a moment, take a deep breath, assess the situation, and re-focus yourself on the path you have chosen. Then step boldly and enthusiastically forward with more positive determination than ever.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Enjoy the successes

When the successes come, regularly take time to enjoy the rewards they bring. Your enjoyment sets the stage for even greater successes.

When the achievement is completed, allow yourself a well-deserved feeling of satisfaction. It will motivate you to work toward that same kind of satisfied feeling again and again.

Enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Be thankful that you chose to create new value and that you persisted in doing so.

Each success brings new and greater possibilities. Sincerely enjoying that success is a perfect way to open your eyes to those possibilities.

Remind yourself, in a pleasant and unforgettable way, why you worked your way through all the difficult challenges. Let the joy of fulfillment empower you to reach even higher.

Enjoy the good things you have done. And more will soon be on the way.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

A positive difference

You can make a positive difference right now. It may be small, it may not seem to matter, but it does matter very much.

Even if the only thing you improve is your attitude, you've done a great deal. For once you have a positive outlook and a positive momentum, you'll find even more ways to make your world a better place.

No matter what your history or your situation may be, you can make a positive difference. Start with something in your own life, and you'll soon see how you can spread the value to others.

It's easy to become mired in the constant pronouncements and predictions of doom and gloom. But the fact is, you can point your life in whatever direction you choose.

A small positive act is enough to get you started. Keep going, and there's no limit to the richness you can create.

This moment will quickly pass whether you make use of it or not. Use it to make a positive difference, and see for yourself how many great possibilities suddenly appear.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Convince yourself

The most challenging part of any achievement is continually convincing yourself to keep working on it. When you are truly convinced to do it, you will take the necessary actions to make it happen.

Give yourself a compelling reason to achieve, stay connected to that reason, and you will indeed achieve. You can be magnificently effective when you choose to be.

If there are things you must know, you can learn them. If there are resources you must have, you can locate them.

Convince yourself to achieve, and you will find a way. Life unfolds in accordance with your most powerful and meaningful commitments.

It is helpful to be able to persuade others, yet the most important person you must convince is you. Unless you sincerely convince yourself, no amount of persuasion of other people will be able to move you forward.

Convince yourself that what you are doing is right and worthwhile. Then delight in the fulfilling journey of making it happen.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Life's surprises

Sometimes it is useful, and even joyous, to find what you are not looking for. Seek with diligence, yet do not become so singularly focused on the objective that you miss out on all the other goodness that surrounds you and comes your way.

Plan carefully, and then be willing to occasionally diverge from those plans. There can be great value in what you were not expecting.

Give priority and effort to building knowledge and wisdom. At the same time, appreciate the positive value that resides in uncertainty and in those things you cannot know.

Much of the essence of beauty is in the way it surprises you. Life is continually renewed and made fresh precisely because you do not know when the next gust of wind will arrive.

Open yourself to life's surprises. Though a few will bring pain, others will bring joys you never knew you were missing.

You are never too old to find delight in something new and unexpected. And with each dawning day a fresh supply arrives.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

What you do with now

It is not your fault. But it is your responsibility.

The choices you have made have brought you to where you are now. And so have other factors that are completely beyond your control.

There's nothing to be gained by blaming yourself for the way your life has unfolded. There's everything to be gained by actively taking full responsibility for the way your life proceeds.

The route you traveled to this point no longer matters, for nothing can be done to change it. What truly matters is what you do with now.

Life is always unpredictable, yet there's something you can count on. The more sincerely and diligently you give yourself to the living of it, the more life will go your way.

In this moment is every possibility. Take responsibility for it all, and bring the best of those possibilities to life.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Lighten your load

If you are feeling tired and weary, perhaps now would be a good time to lighten your load. There are many burdens you can get rid of that you'll easily be able to do without.

Start by abandoning all your resentments. Each resentment costs an enormous amount of time and energy, and provides absolutely nothing of value in return.

Next, you can walk away from your anxiety. All the anxiety in the world cannot add a single positive moment to your life.

Pick up the pace by letting go of the need to prove that you're right. Instead, use the time and energy to more effectively listen and understand.

While you're at it, go ahead and leave behind your envy, anger, impatience and frustration. After all, what have they ever done for you?

Dropping the burdensome negativity from your life is ridiculously easy once you realize how much it's all holding you back. Lighten your load, and move quickly to where you truly wish to be.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.

Think for yourself

If you expect to be told what or how without taking the time to understand why, then you can also expect to often be deceived. When you are unwilling to think for yourself, there are plenty of people eagerly waiting to take advantage of you.

You have an extraordinarily powerful and capable mind. Go to the trouble and make the effort to make full use of it, particularly when it concerns your own affairs.

Life is increasingly complex, and you can't be expected to know every little detail about every little thing. But you will be vastly more effective when you take the time to learn the fundamental principles of what you're doing and utilize good, solid reasoning.

When it's your health, your money, your career, your property, your family or your future that's at stake, it's your responsibility to understand the situation. The person best suited to act in your best interest is you.

Certainly it is wise to seek the advice of experts. But stay away from anyone who promises to do your thinking for you.

Make the effort to be informed and then put that information to good, positive use. Think for yourself, and successfully live life on your own terms.

-- Ralph Marston

Copyright (c) 2008 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. From The Daily Motivator at http://greatday.com where you will find an archive of more than 3,000 positive messages plus books, CDs, motivational videos and more. Permission is given to post online only if this entire notice is included.