Mikes Blog

Doing what matters
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Do things that matter. Avoid things that don’t.

Think thoughts that exert a positive influence on your actions. Gently let go of thoughts that waste time and needlessly push you into dark desperate places.

Your time is precious beyond any measure. Spend that time doing what you know is good, and right, truthful, helpful, appreciative and supportive of the wonder that is existence.

Every moment, every action has a cost. You are fully entitled and obligated to make sure each cost produces a genuine benefit.

That does not in any way give you an excuse to avoid the difficult pursuits. Rather, it summons you to focus the whole of your being on meaningful pursuits, as challenging and inconvenient as they may be.

You are here today to make real, meaningful, beneficial progress. Respect the miraculous nature of that opportunity, and spend this day doing what matters.

— Ralph Marston

Wonder and richness
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Listen, watch, and read more of what makes you think and less of what makes you angry or smug. Do less of what gives you regret and more of what offers you meaningful challenge.

You are more complex and able than you usually give yourself credit for being. Explore that complexity, engage that ability.

Stop paying so much attention to those who say only what you already knew they would say. Seek every day to discover some new bit of insight that resides outside your existing assumptions.

The reality where you’re immersed is rich and diverse in countless dimensions. Actively open yourself to its possibilities, and reach levels of value and fulfillment you cannot now imagine.

Go where you expect to encounter what you were not expecting. Pleasantly surprise yourself with how curious, flexible and adaptable you can be.

Life and all those who live it will never run out of new facets, qualities and nuances to amaze and enlighten you. Continue to let the wonder and richness freely flow.

— Ralph Marston

Do today
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Do today’s work today. Pushing it into the future accomplishes nothing other than to increase its toil.

Address today’s problems today. They will only grow more complicated and intractable as time goes on.

Live today’s joys today. If you postpone them until later, they’ll go away and never come back.

Life is now. If you are to achieve, be happy, connect with others, and experience the wondrous richness that is yours to know, now is when to make it all happen.

Whatever dream you are following, or wish to follow, has its next essential step today. Now is when you do the amazing, fulfilling work to transform all you have experienced and accumulated into all you can be.

It is an opportunity that has no equal, that will never come again. Don’t let it pass you by.

— Ralph Marston

Pay attention
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Pay attention, and attention pays you back in great abundance. Be willing to see clearly what is going on around you, and act on what you see.

Even the most obvious truths can be easy to ignore when they first become evident. But ignoring the truth does not make it go away.

When you sense an opportunity, pay attention. When you feel something isn’t right, do the work to pay close attention.

What starts as a frivolous trend can soon become an unstoppable force. What first appears as a minor annoyance can morph into an overwhelming burden.

Pay attention, and notice new developments while you still have the power to create maximum benefit with them, or subdue them, or at least get out of their way. Pay attention today, or tomorrow you will desperately wish you had.

Blissful ignorance can feel good for a moment, but it’s a tragically insufficient long-term strategy. Pay attention, and gain the wherewithal to thrive as present realities give birth to their consequences in the future.

— Ralph Marston