Mikes Blog

Take good care of yourself
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It’s wonderful that you’re so good to others. Always remember to be just as good to yourself as well.

Compromising your own well being does not benefit anyone else. It is when you are satisfied with yourself, confident in yourself, that you can benefit those around you.

When you wish to give, you first must have something of value to offer. If you seek to be of service to anyone else you must take good care of yourself.

Get your work done, indulge some small but important desires. Then you’re able to give your full attention and genuine care to those you love, and to many others.

Yes, it is a challenge to take care of yourself and to balance that with your care for others. It is not a challenge to be ignored or avoided.

If you want your life to matter to others it must matter to you. Take good care of yourself, and give life the best you have to offer.

— Ralph Marston

What could you imagine?
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What you imagine does not exist. What you imagine can in many ways be more real than anything else in your life.

What you imagine influences what you see, what you do about it, who you listen to, how you respond. What you imagine sets the scene for the way you live your life.

Take a deep breath, then think of all you care about, all you wonder about, all you dream, all you love. Then ask yourself a couple of questions.

What do you imagine? What could you imagine?

Imagine the present in a way that energizes you, motivates you, disciplines you, balances you, challenges you. Imagine the future in a way that entices you to make life better for all who live it.

You live in a world of material reality that you cannot successfully deny. Yet with imagination you can rise above that reality and find countless ways of shaping it to everyone’s benefit.

— Ralph Marston

Invest your thoughts
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It might seem like you’re stuck with your current thoughts, but that’s not the case. A more effective frame of mind is just a thought or two away.

Yes, the outer world has an influence on what you’re thinking. However, you have the final say.

If you feel trapped in a certain frame of mind, much of what’s keeping you there is your own choice. When it would serve you better, you can make a different choice.

Whether you’ve been surprised, insulted, praised, intimidated, satisfied, or ignored, you can move quickly past any kind of negative or unproductive mindset. Choose now where you want your thoughts to go and they will go there.

Compare the likely end results of continuing in your current frame of mind or switching to a different one. Choose your thinking based on the outcome you prefer.

What’s the optimum way for you to live your life during the next thirty minutes, or three hours? Invest your thoughts there, and the rest of you will follow.

— Ralph Marston

View from the mountaintop
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You cannot have every sensation all the time. You cannot have every pleasure, comfort, indulgence all the time.

Yes, increasingly such things are possible. But just because something is possible doesn’t mean it is desirable.

The enjoyable times are enjoyable because you have gone through the less enjoyable, more difficult times to get there. If all you ever experienced was enjoyment, it would quickly cease to be enjoyable.

You have to pay the price or you cannot possibly experience the full benefit of the reward. You have to do the work, make the sacrifices, invest yourself to create an outcome that has meaning for you.

By definition, the exceptional moments are exceptional because they are rare. If you expect them all the time, and especially if you somehow manage to get that, you’ll be miserable.

Give yourself the ability to truly enjoy the feast by not feasting all the time. The view from the mountaintop is most meaningful when you’re familiar with all that’s in the valley.

— Ralph Marston