Desire and Purpose

Desire and purpose
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It’s all too easy to get locked into a pattern of chasing one desire after another. Though you often end up getting what you want, it never seems to be enough, and is quickly replaced by more desires.

To get beyond that dilemma, turn your focus toward purpose. Each time a desire arises, stop and consider whether what you want in the moment aligns with a more enduring purpose.

Desire drives you to achieve. Its energy can push you into action and sustain your efforts.

Make sure all that energy is pointed in a meaningful direction. Rather than merely satisfying a fleeting desire, you can use the energy in the service of a fulfilling purpose.

Though you certainly must address immediate needs, seek to do so without compromising your long-term goals. You’re actually very skilled and experienced at achieving what you choose to achieve, and it’s in your best interest to use that power thoughtfully.

Before jumping and striving for what you desire, ask if it will matter a year from now, and if not, then what will? Turn your energy and awareness toward deeper purpose, and create the fulfillment of which you’re capable.

— Ralph Marston

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What you can when you can

What you can when you can
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You don’t have enough time to get it all done. But you always have enough time to do what you can.

The clock is ticking. But then, it always is.

You can fret and complain about your limited amount of time. But that will drain even more time away.

Instead, go ahead and do just a little bit of what needs doing. And although it might only be a fraction, it’s a whole lot better than nothing.

Then eventually you’ll have a little more time. With that time you can do a little more, and even more with the time that will surely come later.

And you’ll discover that by doing what you can when you can, something amazing will happen. You’ll get it all done.

— Ralph Marston

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The Response you choose

The response you choose
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Smile at the setbacks, laugh at the frustrations. Life is the way it is, yet you have wide latitude in the responses you choose.

You can be serious while also having fun. You can be tolerant and open to new ideas while also standing firm in your deeply-held values.

It’s completely possible for you to be imaginative and at the same time realistic. Those things other people assume to be in conflict, you can bring together in creative and valuable ways.

You don’t have to get caught up in an assumption that going with one option necessarily excludes all the other options. Many things can be true, many things possible, at once.

When conventional wisdom seems to make no sense, give yourself permission to be unconventional. Dare to say what’s obvious, and dare to see beyond the obvious.

Just because it’s always been done, just because everyone is saying or doing it, doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you. Take all you know and feel and care about into account, and go with the response you choose.

— Ralph Marston

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It comes back

It comes back
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You gain more by giving than you do by demanding. Whatever you need or want or otherwise seek, find ways to offer.

If you wish to learn, a powerful way is to teach. To be better understood, do the work and spend the time to understand.

Life, and the people who live it, reflect your attitude back to you, often with remarkable fidelity. Those around you regularly pick up on and mimic your priorities, your actions and expressions.

You can’t compel anyone to treat you better. Yet you can choose precisely how you interact with everyone else, and that has a big impact.

You have much more power than you may realize. That power is best exercised not through complaints and demands, but with the contributions you make and the genuine favors you offer.

Listen patiently, care sincerely, engage respectfully, speak and act honestly. Because one way or another, it comes back to you.

— Ralph Marston

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