SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

There are many people in this world who would dearly love to have what you have. Plenty of other people would love to know what you know, to experience what you’ve experienced, and to live in the way you live. Don’t let yourself become so accustomed to your many blessings that you discount them. There is enormous value in your life, and so many great things you can do with it. Real gratitude goes beyond just thinking thankful thoughts and saying thankful words. The power of gratitude comes when you make good and meaningful use of all those things for which you’re thankful. You have been entrusted with a whole lot of great value. Your best response is to find delight and fulfillment in making it into even greater value. Truly enjoy all the good things you have, and then go beyond enjoyment. Expand and share, magnify, multiply and utilize all those things. Let your achievements set the stage for new achievements. With thankfulness in your heart and in your actions, create a constant upwa...

When you try too hard to be creative, all you get is trying and not much creating. Let go of the trying, let go of the striving, and let the creative thoughts flow. You are filled with spectacular thoughts and ideas for making life more beautiful and fulfilling. The problem is, most of those ideas never reach the surface because you’re trying so hard to think of other things. So just ease off the trying and enjoy watching and listening as your thoughts naturally come into your awareness. Instead of getting all uptight with the goal of a particular thought in mind, just pay attention to what your authentic self is telling you. Before long, if you simply let your thoughts flow, something very useful and appropriate will come along. It will have the added benefit of being elegant and original. There is so much value in your authentic thoughts that you don’t ever have to settle for contrived thoughts. Be grateful and joyful about who you are, and you will easily come to understand what you...

Today is a great day to celebrate freedom. It’s also a good time to remember to use your freedom wisely and responsibly. When you are free to think, speak and act as you wish, anything is possible. It’s up to you to follow the best, most loving, beneficial and life-enhancing of those possibilities. Freedom is best maintained by those who make good use of it. Rather than taking your freedom for granted, take it as a challenge to make a significant, continuing contribution to life. The way to truly celebrate and show appreciation for freedom is to make it even more valuable for yourself and others. Follow those great opportunities that freedom makes possible. You can choose how to live your life, and from that fact springs a never-ending flow of great possibilities. Whether life has been fulfilling or difficult, satisfying or disappointing, you can always choose to move forward toward a more rewarding place. Celebrate and value your freedom today and every day with the way you live. You ...

In every single moment, you’re able to form a unique and useful picture of life. When you think about it, that’s pretty amazing. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you always have a story to tell in a way that’s never been told before. Consider the profound value of that. You’re thinking all the time, and each thought helps you to more clearly understand and express the purpose that is uniquely yours. In even the most seemingly trivial thoughts, you have the opportunity to better know yourself. You don’t have to always demand to be entertained by others. Take some time to be enlightened and enriched by your own thoughts about your life and your world. Allow the thoughts to come, allow them to go, and take note of the ones that feel interesting, intriguing, and right. Your story is always adapting and evolving, and you can gain great value by learning from it. Your mind is an endless source of great and appropriate ideas. Pay attention, and enjoy living your own unique greatness.

What are you waiting for? Whatever it is, stop waiting and start living. The purpose of your life is already here, so live it. The meaning, the beauty, the opportunities, the resources, the time and the inspiration are already here, so go ahead and make full use of them. Just dive right in to the substance of life. Start where you are, for the sooner your efforts begin, the more you’ll achieve. Indulge that persistent longing to be creative, to say what you really mean and to live the reality of what you truly love. Everything necessary is already here, and so are you. Let go of the excuses and silly rationalizations and let yourself live this day in all its beauty and glory. Stop searching and wondering and start letting your heart lead the way. Your most promising moment is already here. Grab it and joyfully go with it.

Wouldn’t you agree that we are all selfish to some degree? Many equate selfishness with self-preservation. But those who are seeking a higher spiritual existence or improved emotional health should analyze selfishness and its root causes carefully. When we are concerned primarily with our own interests and benefits regardless of others, we are being selfish. Selfishness means that we serve our own pleasure regardless of how our actions affect others. The opposite of selfishness is altruism, which is the self-less concern for the welfare of others. A selfish person doesn’t have room in their thoughts or considerations for others. They are completely self-absorbed. To be self-absorbed is to have tunnel vision on yourself and your own personal needs. In short, a selfish person’s entire world is completely about themselves. They don’t have the ability to imagine the thoughts and feelings of others. They have little or no ability to empathize. A selfish person feels overly entitled to have ...

What limits you is not the way things are. What limits you is the perspective from which you see the way things are. Change your perspective, and you change your options. Change your perspective, and you can change the world. If you think the world is filled with unfairness and injustice, and that everyone is out to take advantage of you, that perspective will seriously hinder you. If you truly see life as filled with opportunities and positive possibilities, that viewpoint can remarkably empower you. The amazing and powerful thing is this. You can choose your perspective regardless of past or present events or circumstances. Yes, the world is as it is, and objective reality is what it is, no matter what you think about it. However, what you make of that objective reality depends entirely on what you think about it. Your perspective is yours to choose, whatever the situation. And your perspective will make all the difference going forward, so in each moment, choose the best, most posit...