Back to Work

This morning I got my Monthly Motivator from Ralph. You guys, if you’ve been around for a while, have met Ralph. He’s Ralph Marston, a professional consultant and personal motivator from Austin, Texas who operates online from his website, http://greatday.com/

Some of his pages, and his newsletter, require membership. There is a nominal fee for becoming a member, but one of the perks is a Daily Motivator, sent in an email, of a video/poem that is always inspiring. He allows for occasional sharing, so I have occasionally shared bits with you guys, when it seemed that they were in sync with discussions going on here. One of my favorites of his free video motivators shows pictures from around Austin – just a hundred miles from my home, and also on the border of the Texas Hill country.

http://thegoodnessoflife.com/

And, members also get, once a month, a Monthly Motivator. This one seemed especially synchronistic. It wouldn’t be proper to share the whole thing, but I can quote a few little bits of it for this blog.

His message this month involved making absolutely certain that something you are doing is something you truly want to do.

Quote :

It’s an enormous waste of time, not to mention a real bummer, to throw yourself headlong into something you don’t really want to do. So be sure you’re not doing it just to impress somebody. Be sure you’re not doing it just to fit in. Be sure you’re not doing it just because it sounds good. Make sure you’re not doing it just because you’re envious of someone else who has done it.
In short, in choosing how to invest the precious and irreplaceable moments of your life, don’t do something just because you have some good-sounding reasons to do it. Do something because it comes from the essence of who you are…..Will you make mistakes? Of course… [D]isapproval, on its own, won’t stop you. What will stop you is if you let it get to you….you don’t have to let it get to you. It’s totally your choice. Remember that, and keep going…..There’s a reason why you chose your particular goal. There’s real meaning behind what you’re doing…But you’ve also got a job to do … So…[F]eel a little bit sorry for yourself… And then get over it. Pick yourself up, slap some sense into your awareness, and remind yourself how very much you want to achieve what you’ve chosen to achieve…. Then get back to work.

So, here I am, getting back to work.

Sometimes it is hard to focus on “the goodness of life.” Sometimes the dark stuff just gets so dark and heavy that the light is hard to find. But it is always there, hiding in the darkest of the corners of your mind, waiting for you to get the courage to explore them and find the good part that is always hidden there, just waiting to be discovered.

There is a reason for the dark places. They help us to appreciate the light. And it is sometimes hard to tell the difference. Take the contrast of sunshine and rain, for instance – that’s one that we Texans have been learning about the past few months, and one I’ve mentioned here.

The yin/yang symbol expresses it so well:



Every circumstance or value contains the seed of its opposite. The masculine, red, yang and the feminine, green yin each include and involve the other - the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine, the complementarities of light and dark, persona and shadow, even good and evil, are all parts of the whole of the Universe, all necessary components of life.

So much of what we perceive is illusion, and so much depends on our perception, especially of that which we see as other.

We are all part of the same whole, and together we create the future that we will all live in.

When we focus on the goodness, it is the goodness that will materialize.

Maybe it is time for many of us to shift our focus. That is all it amounts to: choosing what we pay attention to, focusing on what we perceive to be beautiful and uplifting over what is ugly because it pulls us downward - and anything that pulls one of us down will eventually effect us all.

We co-create our worldview. Why not create one that includes both ends of the spectrum, that resolves the duality of the extremes, and focuses on the understanding and compassion that can be found at the center.

Just me again.

Ann

Shelagh wrote:

I agree.