"When you don't feel like doing what you know you must, that's the best time to go ahead and do it anyway. That's when you can break through your old habit patterns to a new level of focus, performance and achievement.

"That first step will require you to go against your natural tendency to put it off until later and to stay comfortably where you are. So how do you get beyond that?

"Use your power of visualization to do two things. First, use your thoughts to make it even more uncomfortable, even more painful for you not to take action.

"Next, visualize in great detail all the positive and desirable rewards you'll create by going ahead and getting it done. In your mind, make it so compelling to take action that you cannot avoid doing so.

"Many times in the past, you've successfully avoided action by telling yourself why you can't or why you won't. Now, choose to use that same power to tell yourself why you can and why you will.

"You control the awesome power of your thoughts. And with your thoughts you can successfully visualize yourself into action every time".

~~ Ralph Marston

"Life would be easier if we had the source code."

~~ On an Anonymous T-Shirt

"Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything and love is all there is.” 

~~ Gary Zukav

"It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities." 

~~ J K Rowling

"When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you."
~~ Lao Tzu

"You don't have to settle for anything less than the absolute best for yourself and your world. For you can act in every moment with the positive, purposeful energy of your own unique life".

-- Ralph Marston

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step".
~~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Life isn't a matter of milestones, but moments".
~~ Rose Kennedy

"Everyday I wake up and expect magic. Some days I'm disappointed and some days I have to look a little harder. But the day that I stop looking and expecting, I might as well just stay in bed". 

~~ One Wink

"We need to give up the secrets that keep us from others. We need others in our lives. Our spirits need to be close to others". 

~~ Keep It Simple

"Faith is the seamstress
who mends our torn belief
who sews the hem of childhood trust
and clips the threads of grief".
~~ Joan Walsh Anglund

"There is no stronger bond of friendship than a mutual enemy".
~~ Frankfort Moore

"The secret of patience is to do something else in the meantime."

-- Spanish Proverb

"Making a little bit of progress is much better than making no progress at all. Even though the going may be slow, keep going.

"Moving slowly toward your goal is much better than not moving at all. Do what you can, when you can, with what you have.

"Time will work in your favor when you use that time for positive purpose. Over time, even the small efforts bring big results.

"If you waste your time wishing you could do more, you end up doing less. Cheerfully use your time as it comes to do the best you can.

"Even when you're not able to take a major step forward, you can always take a small step forward. Keep taking those small steps, and the opportunity to take that big step will surely come.

"A little bit here and a little bit there will soon add up to a lot of progress. Even when you can't do much, you can always keep yourself actively headed in a positive direction".

-- Ralph Marston

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." 

~~ Unknown

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk,mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn,burn,burn, like 
fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..." 

~~ Jack Kerouac

"There is only one of you in all time... If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost"
~~ Martha Graham

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” 

~~ Carl Jung

"Enlightenment is understanding that there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be except exactly who you’re being right now". 

~~ Conversations with God

"We need men who can dream of things that never were". 

~~ John F. Kennedy 

'Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?"
~~ Martin Luther King Jr

"Pure fun happens when we are fully engaged with ourselves and our world in each moment. It is the spontaneous delight that bubbles out of us when we let go long enough to bring it through; it is the experience of natural, organic pleasure that springs up from our bellies, through our souls, up through our faces, and down to our toes. We've naturally known how to have pure fun since we were babies and the flicker of lights caused us to jump to attention from the sheer enjoyment of being able to see. Approach your life today with the knowledge that pure fun isn't something that is given or done to you; rather, it is something that you allow yourself to experience". 

~~ Daily Om

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity". 

~~ Joseph Addison

"Everyday I wake up and expect magic. Some days I'm disappointed and some days I have to look a little harder. But the day that I stop looking and expecting, I might as well just stay in bed". 

~~ One Wink

"When we were small, we dreamed a thousand dreams about what could happen in our lives. Anything, even magical things, seemed like they could happen, and our world was full of visions. That part of us that believes wonderful, magical things can happen is still in us. It may have been beaten down for a while, but it is still there waiting to help us seek the wonderful, lovely, and good things in life". 

~~Today's Gift

"We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns". 

~~ Anonymous

"There is no duty we so underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world". 

~~ Robert L Stevenson

"There are no ordinary moments." 

~~ Dan Millman 

"If you cannot be a poet, be the poem."
~~ David Carradine

"I enjoy being old and the compensations and perspective that age brings."

-- Davis Page Platt, 1923-2008

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you".
~~ Maori Proverb

"Don't worry about the wind; Adjust the sails. "
-- Ted Turner

"The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery, even when they have to take a detour". 

~~ Sir James Jeans

"If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves". 

~~Thomas Edison

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."
~~ Hugh Downs

"Those who are Awake live in a state of constant amazement."
~~ Jack Kornfield

"It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. Do you know what I mean? It's awfully difficult."
- Little Edie Beale 

"What you think you want is usually not really what you want. Most of the time, what you think you want is merely a clue, a hint, a pointer to what you truly desire... Every purpose within you has countless avenues for expression. There's no need to abandon the purpose if just one or two of the many possible expressions don't work out... When you feel that you want something, challenge yourself to find the deeper desire that's responsible. Ask yourself why, and be completely honest with your answer... If you pursue life's fleeting, superficial wants, you're setting yourself up for disappointment, even when you get what you want. Instead, take the time to understand your deeper desires, and you'll find countless ways to bring real, meaningful and lasting value to life... The more deeply you connect to a desire, the more options you'll have for fulfilling that desire. When your conscious desires align with your true purpose, you will always find a way... When there's something you want, ask why, again and again until you uncover a purpose so authentic that it cannot be denied. And when you do, you'll also see that your desire has already begun to be fulfilled".

~~ Ralph Marston

"Prepare your mind to receive the best that life has to offer."
~~ Ernest Holmes

"The moment you feel yourself slipping, take action right away to get back on track. If you catch yourself quickly, you won't fall very far... It's great when you can stay disciplined and focused for long periods of time. At some point though, you'll get distracted and stray a little bit off course... That's not the end of the world. Don't beat yourself up just because you've momentarily lost your focus... Instead, give genuine thanks for how far you've already come. And then step right back on to the path you've set for yourself... Being disciplined doesn't mean being perfect. Remember that what really matters is what you choose to do right now... Even if you slip back one step for every two steps you take forward, you'll still be moving steadily ahead. Catch yourself, get back up, keep going and you'll get there".-- Ralph Marston

"It is now, and now is different. Even though you may have experienced an overwhelming amount of disappointment in the past, the past is over.
Perhaps you've failed again and again. Now is different... That was then and this is now. Now you have the opportunity to move forward... Now you can do what you've never been able to do before. Now you can follow through on the things you've been unable or unwilling to do in the past... Now is your moment to live. Now is the time to act... Now is when you can truly make a difference. Stand up, step forward and live".
-- Ralph Marston

"Wonderful, wonderful, day. Just so quiet. I just love to listen to the quiet. It always has a message. Today's was just a wisp of thankfulness. Thankful for living in a place that is quiet. Thankful for being able to enjoy the quiet".

-- Zane, ZaneJabbers

"If you wish to get something done, stop telling yourself why you can't. Begin telling yourself why you must... Of course there are obstacles to every achievement. Yet you can work through any obstacle when you have a clear and compelling reason to do so... Zero in on that reason. Make it your priority to keep that reason ever present in your thoughts... Though the challenges may be powerful, you can always make your purpose even more powerful. Keep telling yourself, again and again, why you must... Make a solid connection between your actions and your purpose. That will cause your effectiveness to soar... Remember always why you must. And you will." 

-- Ralph Marston

"Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it".
-- Dalai Lama

"Praise the bridge that carried you over".
-- George Colman

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
-- Antonio Smith

"Think today of how good life can be. And you'll see that life's true goodness comes not from what you have, but from how much you value and appreciate it.

"There is no end to the possibilities for richness and fulfillment in your life. There is no limit to what you can make of whatever you have.

"Consider what you are able to be thankful for, and you'll discover something wonderful and empowering. You can be thankful for it all.

"Look back and you'll see that the pleasures and the pains have both pushed you forward and given you countless opportunities for real growth. You've been supported by the good things you do have and inspired to reach for those things you do not yet have.

"The triumphs have given you joy and the disappointments have strengthened your determination. All of it has enabled you to more richly fulfill the beautiful, genuine person you are.

"Treasure all that is around you, whatever it may be, and open yourself to the positive possibilities. Be truly thankful for it all, and every day is even more rich and fulfilling than the day before".

-- Ralph Marston

"If I try to be like him, who will be like me?"
--Yiddish Proverb

"One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life".
-- Edward B. Butler

"A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders".
-- Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 114

"Every decision you make is NOT a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are".
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"Be Authentic - Acting authentically with others basically involves acting with integrity. At its core, authenticity is simply acting in keeping with your own values. It means being truly honest with both yourself and others. In a power relationship authenticity is based on being yourself, and avoiding acts that create false appearances. You know how easy it is to spot someone that is putting on an act - we all have this intuitive capability. Being authentic creates deep levels of mutual trust and true respect".
-- Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler

"Power Listening - Effective communication is far more than just talking - the real key is effective listening. Power communicators focus on what the other person is saying, rather than worrying on how they will respond. If you have trouble communicating clearly with others, you may want to try the following communication power tool: Mirror their thoughts back to them, and ask them if you properly understood what they said. The simplest way to do this is is to paraphrase what they just said to you, and ask them if you properly understood what they meant".

-- Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler

"A loving heart is the truest wisdom".
-- Charles Dickens

"Happiness is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment".
-- J. Donald Walters

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness".
-- Chinese Proverb

"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You won't become successful by complaining that life is unfair. Certainly there are many injustices in the world, yet you won't get anywhere by using those injustices as excuses.

Your best response is to work over, under, around and through them. Accept the fact that life is unfair, and choose to experience outstanding success anyway.

"It is admirable to fight against injustice. But fighting against injustice may very well make that injustice even stronger.

"A better way to end injustice is to make it irrelevant. When you create ways for yourself and others to succeed in spite of unfair circumstances, then you render those circumstances powerless.

"The world is filled with inequity and unfairness. And yet, there are always plenty of workable and creative ways to rise above those negative circumstances.

"When something in life is unfair, choose to succeed anyway. And make that unfairness so small and insignificant it won't even matter".

-- Ralph Marston

"Never permit the behavior of other people to tell you how to feel." 

-- Vernon Howard

“Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature beyond which we cannot trespass with impunity.”

-- W.H. Auden

" I’ve been struck by the paradoxes I kept confronting. The opposite of a great truth is also true. I try to embrace these contradictions:

1. Accept yourself, but expect more of yourself.
2. Keep an empty shelf, and keep a junk drawer.
3. Take yourself less seriously—and take yourself more seriously. 
4. Use your time efficiently, yet make time to play, to wander, to read at whim, to fail.
5. Think about yourself so you can forget yourself. 
6. The days are long, but the years are short.

Often, the search for happiness means understanding both sides of the contradiction".

-- Gretchen Rubin, the Happiness Project

"Is there something you desperately need? Your sense of desperation and your need will work against you, and will make it even more difficult to attain what you're after... By very definition, whatever you need you do not have. When you continually reinforce the idea that you do not have something, you continually push that thing away from yourself... Replace your desperate need with a passionate desire. That will frame your situation in a much more positive, powerful perspective... With desperation, you feel like giving up. With passion, on the other hand, you create the energy to move decisively forward... With need, you feel an emptiness that drains your every moment. With desire, you constantly motivate yourself to create fulfillment... Let go of your needs, for they will only keep you needy. Replace them with positive desires, and feel the empowering passion that will make those desires happen..."
-- Ralph Marston

"I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine."
-- Neil Armstrong

"To me, success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the world, that I am able to change it in positive ways."
-- Maxine Hong Kingston

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
-- Leo Tolstoy

"There is only one rule in all of metaphysics: Don't complain!" 

-- Emma Curtis Hopkins

"The work you're doing has a purpose that means something to you. As you do the work, feel the purpose... You can work your way cheerfully through any obstacle as long as there's something truly desirable on the other side. Feel the satisfaction of accomplishment and let that feeling pull you toward it".
-- Ralph Marston

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”
~Lao Tzu

"The best way to secure future happiness is to be as happy as is rightfully possible today."
-- Charles W. Eliot, educator

"You can never have a happy ending at the end of an unhappy journey; it just doesn't work out that way. The way you're feeling, along the way, is the way you're continuing to pre-pave your journey, and it's the way it's going to continue to turn out until you do something about the way you are feeling".

-- Abraham-Hicks

"Look with favor upon a bold beginning."
-- Virgil

"Play by the rules, but be ferocious."
-- Phil Knight, founder of Nike

"The man who does not make any mistakes does not usually make anything."
-- William Connor Magee

"Bantering and joking around and seeing things in a funny way, maybe a cynical way, even a skeptical way, is second nature for New Yorkers."
-- Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for the New Yorker.

"We discover that who we are has always been good enough. It is who we were intended to be."
-- Marianne Williamson

"You are a three-fold being. You consist of body, mind, and spirit. You could also call these the physical, the nonphysical and the metaphysical. This is the Holy Trinity, and it has been called by many names". 

-- Meditations from Conversations with God

"Life will flow easily and gracefully when you simply allow it. Choose right now to simply allow it... Allow the problems to come and then allow them to go just as quickly. Peacefully accept the disappointments and you'll have no trouble with peacefully letting them go... Stop fighting against what is, and you'll clearly see how to make the most of it. Welcome each new experience and you'll quickly find the value it brings... Leave the worries and anxieties behind, for they add nothing to your life. Be at peace, and you will feel the fullness of your power... Allow the rich abundance to flow naturally and unhindered through your life. And delight in the fulfillment that is yours to create".
-- Ralph Marston

"Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule."
-- Stephen King

"There is great power in truth. There is great power in authenticity.

"It can be comforting for a while to overlook or deny who you truly are, in order to go along with the crowd. Yet it is a false comfort that never does last.

"There is no person you can pretend to be who is as powerful and effective as the person you really are. No identity you might try to manufacture will ever work as well as the identity that has always been a part of you.

"With authenticity, no effort is needed to maintain your sense of self. It flows easily and naturally through everything you do, freeing you and enabling you to live life fully.

"You are real and you are unique and you are of great value. It is in your best interest to mine the magnificent treasure of the authentic you.

"Do not merely go along with life. Be authentic, and you will make it great".

-- Ralph Marston

"...Change cannot be avoided in life. So do not resist change, embrace it. Life is changing all the time -- and certainly the day-to-day conditions on our planet are changing now in ways we could not have expected -- so the fact of change is real, and very present. Our invitation from life is to not let changes get us down, but to lift ourselves up, and move past them."
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"You don't have to go back and deal with childhood issues, because those childhood issues produced a vibration within you that you are still offering -- which is producing today issues. You can shift your vibration a whole lot easier when you're dealing with today issues, than trying to deal with childhood issues. It's the same vibration. That vibration that was creating childhood issues, now it's creating today issues. Deal with it in your now. 'Which thought feels better? Which thought feels better? Which thought feels better?'"
-- Abraham-Hicks

"I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up - they have no holidays."
-- Henny Youngman

"...Your light is seen, your heart is known, your soul is cherished by more people than you might imagine...If you knew how many others have been touched in wonderful ways by you, you would be astonished. If you knew how many people feel so much for you, you would be shocked...You are far more wonderful than you think you are... Rest with that. Rest easy with that. Breathe again. You are doing fine. More than fine. Better than fine. You're doin' great. So relax. And love yourself today".
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up".
-- Jesse Jackson

"The time has come to get clear about who you are and what you choose... There come moments in every person's life when a decision is necessary... A big decision. A major choice... Such a time is now... What you get to choose today is who you are and who you choose to be, and what you wish to experience in your life... Remember, not to decide is to decide".
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working the engines."
-- Gary Sinise

"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B."
--  James Yorke

"It may seem that you cannot control exterior circumstances, but you can always control interior ones... Your internal world -- the reality that you encounter within your mind and emotions -- is a world that you and only you control and create... How you experience everything is up to you. Your reactions need not be automatic or similar to ones you
have had before".
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."
-- George Bernard Shaw 

"... The biggest question in life is, How much good can you accept?... Good is flowing to you every day. How much of it you experience depends on how much of it you can accept. And how much of it you can accept depends upon how 'worthy' you believe that you are".
-- Neale Donald Walsch

"To successfully move away from an undesirable situation, decide exactly where you wish to go. Create a powerful intention for yourself, and feed that intention with the energy that's in your desire for change".

-- Ralph Marston

“It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop".
-- Confucius

"One should not give up, neglect, or forget for a moment his inner life, but he must learn to work in it, with it, and out of it, so that the unity of his soul may break out in all his activities". 

-- Meister Eckhart

"Non-action is the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can't tell the dancer from the dance". 

-- Stephen Mitchell

"Have fun with this. Be playful about it. Be light and easy about it. Pamper yourself more. Be nicer to yourself more. Care less what others say. Complain not at all. And praise as often as you can. And if you can't praise, at least say nothing!"

-- Abraham-Hicks

"For every task that is given me, there is also given me all the power necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to hold back".
-- Twenty-Four Hours a Day

"Be thankful for what is. And be thankful also for what has not yet come to you. For that is where the possibilities are. And those possibilities have no limit". 

-- Ralph Marston

"Long after a bitter failure, some of us still cling to the hope that we can erase the defeat in some spectacular way. One dream is to “prove ourselves” to those who scorned us or put us down.This never really works, even when we do become winners at some later time. For one thing, we may be proving ourselves to people who never will like us. If we are striving to show others that we can succeed, we are still dancing to their tune. We are accepting their idea of what success should be".
-- Walk in Dry Places, as quoted by Scott.

"Life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy".
-- Florence Scovel Shinn

"The way you say your truth can be hurtful. So speak your truth, but soothe your words with peace".
-- Neale Donald Walsch