LIVE TO SPREAD GOODNESS

Live To Spread Goodness

Live each moment with integrity, and you’ll find value and goodness in every experience. Make truth your priority and let your life gain from its great power.

Fully benefit from life’s goodness by fully committing yourself to uphold it. As tempting as it can be to cheat others, you cannot do so without cheating yourself more.

The way you treat people is a major part of the way you treat yourself. Act always with respect toward others, and you’ll live with great respect for yourself.

The most loving, compassionate, generous activities are the most enriching activities. Live to spread goodness, and you’ll spend your moments immersed in goodness.

Being truthful feels right because it is right. Being genuinely helpful feels good because it is good.

Align yourself with the power of life’s highest values. And live at your highest, most fulfilling level.

— Ralph Marston

SMALL MOMENTS

Small Moments

Small moments are the building blocks of great achievements. Steadily, diligently, one moment at a time, is how new value comes to life.

Anyone can stay positive, focused, effective for one small moment. Great things happen when you string such moments together.

Today is filled with an abundance of moments. Within those moments, if you choose, you can make real, solid progress.

For a moment, let go of worry, anxiety, fear, anger, resentment and frustration. Fill that moment with action that makes a positive difference.

When that productive, satisfying moment is over, you can choose to do it again. You can create positive moments for as long as it takes to get the results you seek.

Enjoy living at your highest level of effectiveness for just this moment. Then keep it going, and amazing things begin to appear on your horizon.

— Ralph Marston

ABLE TO GIVE

Able To Give

If you don’t give value in return for value, your life gets out of balance. If all you do is take, that takes a big toll on you.

Getting something for nothing is not something you want. It may seem good on the outside, but it will tear you up on the inside.

Tokens of achievement are a poor substitute for being a person who does the achieving. The goodies alone will not fulfill your deep-seated desire to make a difference.

Take a continuing, active role in your own fulfillment. Anything less is not true fulfillment at all.

Jump at the opportunities to create value. Get away from people who promise or who seek something for nothing.

Your heart wants to be able to give. Do yourself a favor, and let it.

— Ralph Marston

HIDDEN SKILLS

Hidden Skills

You have skills you don’t know about. Take on a challenge, and you’ll find what those skills are.

In the process of living life, from moment to moment, from day to day, you’ve been doing much. What you’ve already been doing has prepared you to do much more.

Don’t let your hidden skills remain hidden. Force them out into the open where you can exercise them to create value.

There are plenty of people, things, values and concepts you care about. So consider what you care about, and commit yourself to do something about it.

Launch the whole of your being into purposeful action. Discover levels of wisdom, resourcefulness, skill and effectiveness you never knew you had.

Set off on a meaningful journey. Skills and capabilities will rise from within to power you forward.

— Ralph Marston

MAKE THE VISION REAL

Make The Vision Real

Are the things you’re doing today moving you in the direction you intend to go? Are your actions drawing you closer to the fulfillment of your dreams?

If so, be thankful for the choices you’ve made, and add the extra energy of that gratitude to the efforts you’re already making. If not, stop whatever you’re doing and turn yourself instead, right now, in the direction you wish to go.

Look honestly at where your current actions are taking you. Make sure it is where you want to go.

Vision is crucial, yet fulfillment is more than just having a vision. Fulfillment means working that vision into reality, day after day, task after task, without fail, without letting up.

The life you desire can be yours, but it won’t just come to you. That’s because the value of that life is not in having it, but in creating it.

Right now is when you make it happen. Right now is when you make the vision real.

— Ralph Marston

THE LIGHT OF A SINGLE CANDLE

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” 

― Francis of Assisi, The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi

WHEN FIGHTING STOPS

When Fighting Stops

Progress happens when fighting stops. Accept this moment, these conditions, the people around you, and move forward.

Change is essential, unavoidable, and positive change is the result of a positive perspective. Rather than fighting against what is, work to transform it into something more beneficial for everyone.

Life is not perfect, and will never be. Yet within the imperfection is great beauty, much power, value and fulfillment.

You won’t find a perfect solution to every problem, yet you can successfully address each problem. Get good things done not by striving to make everything perfect, but by working around the imperfections.

Enjoy the moment without trying to force the joy. Let it be what it is, and feel the immense power of not having to fight it.

It is by gracefully joining in life’s flow that you can offer your own positive influence. Practice acceptance, and point all your power in a good and useful direction.


— Ralph Marston

NEW VALUE TO CREATE

New Value To Create

Don’t let a few problems stop you. Don’t let a few obstacles stand in your way.

Instead of running from the problems, step boldly toward them. Instead of using them as an excuse to quit, use them to develop a path for moving forward.

With each problem, you can choose to either work through it or to work around it. What you don’t want to do is back away from it.

The value of any achievement comes from the problems that must be addressed to reach that achievement. Diamonds are more difficult to mine than gravel, and so are worth much more.

When you’re good at solving problems, you’re good at creating value. When you’re willing to deal with problems, you’re able to achieve great things.

In this life there will always be problems. And so, there will always be new value to create.

— Ralph Marston

LIVE WITH INTENTION

Live With Intention

The distractions distract you not because of their power, but because of your weakness to resist. Intention eliminates that weakness.

When you’re clear about what’s important, you don’t have to be bothered by what’s not. When you’re committed to a specific result, distractions bounce right off you.

Ask yourself this and insist on a detailed answer. What do you intend to do today?

Your life is too important to let it be controlled by people you don’t even know. Your time is too precious to waste on things that have no meaning.

Today is filled with opportunities to create value, satisfaction, fulfillment. Instead of getting pulled in a hundred meaningless directions, choose your path and stay on it.

Live this day with respect and appreciation for the beautiful, unique life that’s yours. Live this day with intention.

— Ralph Marston

PERSISTENT POSITIVE EXAMPLE

Persistent Positive Example

You can choose to be kind, even when others are not. You can speak truthfully, even when some people seek to deceive.

You can be generous, respectful, polite and positive, no matter how the world responds. You can be joyful without any particular reason.

When wasting time on trivial minutia is the popular thing to do, you can fill your moments with substance. Instead of fighting to prove others wrong, you can listen, learn and understand.

If you want the world to be kind, considerate, honest and sincere, show the world how. Living your values is much more effective than preaching and lecturing about them.

A light in the darkness is always noticed, even when it is not acknowledged. Shine your light often enough, and it cannot help but make a difference.

You have the option to live a good and valuable life every day. Live well, be a persistent positive example, and allow the world to follow along.

— Ralph Marston

THE UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

― Socrates

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

Positive Influence

The actions you take do not stop with you. They travel far beyond you, to people and places you may never know about.

Any time you create new value, that value does not merely benefit you. It takes on a life of its own, setting the stage for more positive value throughout the world.

Some positive action you took in the past has made someone’s life better today. The world just became a better place because you made the choice to do the right thing, weeks, months or even years ago.

Once you take action it begins to have an influence, and you cannot control how far that influence extends. What you can do is to make your action a meaningful and beneficial one.

Each time you act, you have one chance to make sure your action has a positive influence as its consequences spread throughout life. Put the best of yourself into your actions, so they filter through the world in a beneficial way.

The consequences of your actions go far beyond you. Put goodness, truth and integrity into all you do, and you’ll lift up life in more ways than you’ll ever know.


— Ralph Marston

CHOOSE WELL

Choose Well

Doing what’s best is not that difficult. It’s just a matter of making the choice.

Focus, discipline, commitment and persistence are all within reach. You just have to continue choosing them.

Even when the situation is disappointing or frustrating, you can take positive, effective action. All you have to do is make the choice, and follow through.

You can choose a life of quality and achievement. You can choose the most beneficial path rather than the path of least resistance.

There are people you love, ideals you value, dreams you treasure. Support them all with the choices you make every moment of your life.

Each time you’re faced with a choice, remind yourself of your opportunity and your obligation to make it the best one. Choose well, and let all of life benefit from the good choices you make.

— Ralph Marston

CHOOSING YOUR THOUGHTS

Choose Your Thoughts

What are you saying to yourself with your thoughts? Does your self-talk keep you stuck where you are, or does it push you forward?

You can choose each of the thousands of thoughts passing through your mind every day. You can choose thoughts to encourage, inspire, enable and energize yourself.

Every moment you have the opportunity to say something beneficial to yourself with your own thoughts. Whatever the situation, you can make use of that opportunity.

Moment by moment, what you do and the way you do it flow directly from what you think. Positive, empowering thoughts lead to effective actions and valuable results.

What you think does not have to be an impulsive reaction. Instead, make it an intentional choice.

Your thoughts have great power. Remember always that you have the ability to decide what they will be.

— Ralph Marston

JUMP FULLY INTO LIFE

Jump Fully Into Life

Any energy you put into avoiding responsibility is a waste. You’re going to have to step up and take responsibility sooner or later, so do it now.

Dealing with life is often difficult. Yet the alternative makes life far more difficult.

You cannot avoid consequences. However, you can determine what they will be by the way you live.

Today, you can choose the consequences that will fall upon you tomorrow. Choose positive, desirable consequences by engaging in responsible, value-creating behavior.

When there are challenges, put forth the effort to successfully get past them. When there are opportunities, do the work to transform them into achievements.

Hiding from life and its demands is never a good strategy. Choose instead to jump fully into life with the best you have, and make it the best it can be.


— Ralph Marston

YOUR HIGHEST GOODNESS

Your Highest Goodness

You cannot take more than you give. It is impossible to sustain for longer than the blink of an eye.

You can, however, give more than you take. And that is what makes your experience of living so beautiful.

Value exists for you to the extent you invest yourself in it. Fulfillment is generated by what you do with what you have, not by what you seize or possess.

You cannot sneak past the necessity of providing a contribution to each day. The desire to make a difference is part of you, and the more readily you embrace it, the better.

Don’t spin your wheels in a futile attempt to gain something for nothing. See that the gain is in the doing, and do.

Let go of what frustrates you and let in what empowers and fulfills you. Give your highest goodness and effort to life, and know how good life can be.


— Ralph Marston

STAY AWAY FROM EASY

Stay Away From Easy

Let go of any wish or expectation for life to be easy. You deserve far more than easy.

Easy bores you, does not fulfill you. Easy wastes your time, erodes your strengths and skills.

Sure, by all means employ technology and other tools to make your efforts more effective. But don’t expect even the most powerful tools and systems to create original value without your continuing input.

Nothing of value comes from easy. Keep in mind that value is a measure of the difficulty necessary to create it.

Physical, social, and financial comfort can all be empowering, as long as they don’t make you complacent. Enjoy fully the good, pleasurable things, letting them inspire you to seek higher challenges.

Stay away from too much easy. You have so many better things to do.

— Ralph Marston

A LITTLE EFFORT

A Little Effort

In the next half hour, with a little effort, you can have one less problem than you had before. With a little effort, you can quickly gain some positive momentum.

With a little effort, and a little more, you can build great value, one step at a time. With a little effort, you’ll be getting yourself hooked on the satisfying feeling of making a difference.

Instead of wasting time with worries and complaints, invest that time in effective effort. Instead of getting caught up in shallow, worthless distractions, get yourself captivated by the good things you can do.

Time is passing and you cannot hold it back. What you can do is make it count.
What you can do is fill this day with rich experiences and meaningful achievements. What it takes, is a little effort.

Go ahead and energize your life by making a little effort. You’ll always be thankful, every time you do.

— Ralph Marston

THE BRIDGE

The Bridge

You are worthy of great things, yet that’s no guarantee you’ll have them. You are worthy of greatness, and that obligates you to put work into creating greatness.

Anything is possible, yet the possibilities don’t manifest themselves. You must be realistic about the effort involved to improve your reality.

Desire motivates you to achieve, yet desire alone does not create achievement. Desire strongly pushes you, but does not do the work for you.

You have the good fortune of being able to transform your circumstances in the way you choose. The effort required of you makes the deal even sweeter.

Not only can you create richness, you can add to your strength and capability in the process. Because the work is what gives the rewards meaning and value to you.

Your persistent action is the bridge between what you envision in your thoughts and what you create in reality. Make that bridge strong, robust, productive and fulfilling.


— Ralph Marston