Life returns the favor

When you encounter resistance, it means you are moving forward. When you come across a challenge, it means you have reached the point where you can successfully meet that challenge.

Life becomes more rewarding as it becomes more demanding. You are destined to achieve, and each successive achievement positions you for an even greater, more challenging achievement.

Each new challenge is an opportunity to stretch beyond your previous limits. Most of the advantages you enjoy today were born in the difficulties through which you traveled in days past.

Every day brings a new way for you to more fully give of yourself. It is by so giving, in ways that are familiar and in ways not yet imagined, that you create the life you most sincerely desire.

In everything there is treasure to be found. The richest treasures are those that ask the most of you, for they resonate wholly with your deepest purpose.

Delight in the living beauty of each challenging effort. Give your best to life and life returns the favor, a million times over.

A little success

If you can't bring yourself to be positive about the big things, then be positive about the little things. That's easy enough to do, and it can make a surprisingly significant difference.

You're not going to solve the world's major problems before bedtime. And yet, you can surely make a little positive progress in your own way, and that can be a big help.

The little annoyances, distractions, challenges and difficulties in your world may seem minor when viewed separately. However, they can all add up to create a major negative drag on your life.

You can easily choose to rid yourself of those little negative influences, one by one. Before long, the positive effect will be dramatic.

If you spend the next few minutes doing nothing except worrying about your problems, you'll just end up even more anxious and worried. If, instead, you spend that same five minutes to overcome a relatively minor problem, you'll end up feeling a little more empowered and in control of your own destiny.

A little bit of success will motivate and inspire you, like nothing else can, to create a little more success, again and again. Soon, you'll discover that those little successes are adding up to a life of big and meaningful achievement.

Happiness is now

As long as you are preparing to be happy, you will not be. If you continue to see happiness as some distant goal to be reached, you will not experience it.

Happiness is now. The only time you can ever experience it is the moment that you are in.

Happiness is unconditional. When you put conditions on happiness, it immediately disappears.

Happiness makes no judgments or demands. When you focus on judging others and making demands of them, it drives happiness away from your life.

Though happiness is simple and uncomplicated, it is at the same time profound and sophisticated. For when you allow yourself to be truly happy, the positive energy can reach into every corner of your life.

Set aside the complaints, excuses, conditions and demands, and make a place for happiness in your world. Be happy, and you'll discover a whole new level of life's richness.

Calm your Mind

You can choose your thoughts. And you can choose, for a while, to be free of those thoughts.

Serenity does not require any particular environment or conditions on the outside. Serenity is a state you can achieve on the inside, whatever else might be going on.

At any time, you can choose to calm your mind. Clear your thoughts away and for a while, feel the refreshing and renewing peace of simply being.

Discover how easy it can be to let go of the thoughts racing through your head, and let in a feeling of serenity. Choose to put yourself in a state where even the distractions cannot affect you.

See that the disappointments of the past are far, far away. Let your peaceful, accepting experience of the moment fill you with a solid, confident energy.

Step back for a little while and feel the calm reality of who you are, of the life you are living. Enjoy a serene moment, and your eyes will be opened to the positive possibilities that are all around you.

Willingness

Talent and ability have an influence on your level of accomplishment, yet there is another factor that plays a much greater role. That factor is willingness.

You can come up with all sorts of excuses and reasonable explanations for why you are where you are. The truth is, you are precisely where you have been willing, up to this point, to bring yourself.

You can know just what to do, and have every ability and resource with which to do it. And yet you also must be willing, or it will never happen.

Willingness comes from knowing why, on a deep and undeniable level. Willingness comes from making a solid, consistent and persistent connection to your most meaningful purposes.

Willingness comes from understanding that every action has consequences, as does every failure to act. Your most authentic and abiding desires are faithfully expressed by what you are willing to do.

Seek to remember, perhaps for the first time in a long time, who you are and why you are here. And find the willingness to bring your own unique purpose to life.

Rediscover

Some of the greatest treasures in your life may be things you set aside long ago. Often it pays to go back and take a look.

A book you read years ago may now hold much more meaning. A friend from whom you once grew apart may now have much more in common with you.

There is a reason why people, places, things and events come into your life. Be careful that you're not too quick to discard them.

The things that interested you in your youth still have a message for you today. They can tell you about who you truly are.

Just because something is old and familiar, does not mean it is irrelevant. Values, passions and purposes grow more robust with time and experience.

You've arrived at this moment carrying a lifetime of valuable treasures. Now is your opportunity to see those treasures in a whole new light.

Expect the best

Some people make a practice of expecting the worst, in an effort to avoid being disappointed. Yet when you expect the worst you also focus on it and visualize it, thereby pushing yourself in a negative direction.

A more positive and effective strategy is to expect the best. Then build upon that expectation with preparation and action.

Expect the best, and visualize, in great detail, your own participation in it. That puts you into a powerful frame of mind, orients you toward success, and brings your expectations to life.

Expect the best, and you enable yourself to recognize and make full use of the opportunities coming your way. Expect the best, while preparing to handle whatever may come along, and you'll be ahead of the game from the very beginning.

No, life will not always live up to your highest expectations. Yet when the disappointments do come, choose even then to expect the best eventual outcome, and you're much more likely to get it.

Base your expectations on the best that you can imagine for every situation. More often than not, you'll go precisely where you expect to go.

Yours to fulfill

Right now, there is something you can do to make a positive difference in your world. Instead of just speculating about it or wishing for it, go ahead and do it.

Positive, effective action is what changes things. And you're fully capable of taking those actions that will bring your highest visions to life.

Avoiding, delaying and making excuses will just waste time and produce regrets. The time has come to take action.

Until you take decisive, committed action, your problems will continue to hound you and your dreams will continue to elude you. Get moving now, and your actions will surely begin to bring those dreams to life.

You are designed from the inside out for meaningful achievement. Go ahead and feel the delightful satisfaction of doing what you are meant to do.

Get busy, take action, and make it happen. Life's best possibilities are yours to fulfill.

Get unstuck

If you feel like you're stuck, in many ways that's a positive sign. It means you're eager to get moving.

The feeling of being stuck shows that there's somewhere you truly would like to go, and you're ready for some real progress. It means you're highly motivated, and that's a powerful state to be in.

Instead of focusing on the particular problem of the moment that's making you feel stuck, step back and look at the big picture. Recall the reasons why you originally chose to be on this path in the first place.

Most likely, the challenge you're facing right now is trivial compared to the goal you've set for yourself. Put things in perspective and you'll realize that what's really keeping you stuck is not the situation itself but rather your response to it.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, choose to start working your way through the challenge one step at a time. There is a little bit you can do now, a little bit of progress you can make later, and bit by bit you'll make your way through.

Take advantage of the frustration you feel, and redirect the energy of that frustration into positive, thoughtful action. You'll soon be looking back on this moment with the grateful realization that you just cleared a major hurdle and are quickly moving forward again.

Get a purpose

If you're not clear about your purpose on this day, random events, distractions and circumstances beyond your control will impose a purpose upon you. You'll end up spending your precious time in the service of things that won't bring any value or fulfillment.

In contrast, when you're solidly connected to a personally meaningful purpose, you're able to focus on making real progress. Though the same problems, frustrations and distractions will come, they will not have the power to overwhelm or consume you.

The more fully you understand why you wish to do something, the more clearly you'll see how to do it. Strong, solid, meaningful reasons will ignite the energy to create worthwhile and lasting achievements.

It is well worth the time and effort necessary to understand why you seek what you seek. When you know why, anything is within your reach.

To get maximum results from your efforts, look beyond the outer concerns of what you're doing. Look at why you've chosen to do it.

Give this day a real, honest purpose that truly means something to you. And you'll build value that continues long after the day is over.

Strengthening your beliefs

To strengthen your beliefs and assumptions, challenge them regularly. You'll rid yourself of those outdated assumptions that hold you back, while at the same time strengthening those valuable beliefs that can move you forward.

There is no doubt that challenge builds strength. It is a key theme of life.

Muscles that are challenged to lift heavier and heavier loads become stronger as a result of the training. Minds that are challenged to solve more and more difficult problems become increasingly adept from the experience.

Questioning and challenging your beliefs can transform them from mere beliefs into absolute certainties. The willingness to challenge a belief demonstrates your commitment to, and confidence in that belief.

By being your own most effective skeptic, you add real depth and substance to your beliefs, perspectives and assumptions. By continuing to ask why and why not, you learn much and grow stronger.

When you challenge your beliefs, you compel yourself to make them a reality. You transform them from vague concepts into living, breathing certainties upon which you can build great value.

Real treasure to be found

If you're always chasing happiness, it will never be able to find you. Relax, simply give happiness a place to live in you, and it will be in great abundance.

When you put conditions on enjoyment, it turns into just another chore. Let go, and sincerely enjoy the miracle that is your life as it comes to you in each moment.

If you become overly attached to specific results, you set yourself up for disappointment and disillusionment. Be ambitious, yet do not be your ambition.

Sometimes, when things fail to go the way you planned, they turn out better than you could have possibly expected. Welcome life's surprises and choose to see the positive value that is in each one of them.

Don't be too quick to place judgments on the people, situations and events in your life. In everything that comes along, there is an opportunity for you to more fully discover and express your true purpose.

Be open to whatever life brings your way. There is real treasure to be found in it all.

Live with joy

Find joy in doing nothing and you can find it in everything. Experience happiness without a reason and you can create happiness for any reason.

Realize that happiness is not the result of good things, but is indeed the cause of good things. There is nothing you need in order to be happy other than the choice to be.

Imagine living this day filled with joy, happiness and positive purpose. Imagine it, then take one more step and actually do it.

Let go of any concern you may have for what does or does not come your way. Focus instead on the good and valuable things that you can give, create, inspire and choose to experience.

Don't allow the world to pull you down with its negativity. Choose to transform the world around you with your own positive outlook.

Real joy is always a choice you can make. Live with joy, let happiness flow out from you, and life becomes more radiant with each passing moment.

The depth of life's richness

For every tragedy, there are a thousand joys. For every setback, there are countless ways to move positively forward from it.

Though the world may sometimes seem cold and dreary, there is always a bright new sunrise on the way. Though life can certainly be unfair, it is at the same time filled with an unending supply of positive possibilities.

As painful as the losses can be, love will heal to an even greater degree. In the darkest of times, hope shines more brightly than ever.

Your own existence is so thoroughly familiar to you that you rarely think anything about it. Yet it is a wondrous miracle that is utterly beyond compare.

What you have is so much more than what you can touch or see. What you have is everything that is, and all that can ever be.

You will never fully grasp the depth of life's richness. For the more of it you experience, the more of it there is.

Your imagination

There are no limits to what you can imagine. And what you create in your imagination sets the stage for what you will create in your life.

Your imagination can take you to any place and any time you choose. In your imagination, you can construct and explore whatever set of circumstances you wish to experience.

Imagination can help you prepare to do things you've never done. It can also help you improve and perfect the tasks with which you're already familiar.

Pay close and careful attention to the realities of your life. And then fully explore the possibilities present in those realities by sifting them through the wondrous power of your imagination.

When it seems that you've run out of options, imagine for yourself some new ones. If you let it, your imagination can pull you toward the truth you need to know.

The reality of your life is rich indeed. And imagination greatly expands your access to that richness.

Who you know you are

Many of the good and valuable things you do will go unnoticed by everyone else. Do them anyway, because you will know.

Many of the contributions you make will not be fully appreciated by others. Make them anyway, because they're the right things to do.

It's great when you receive recognition for the work you do and the high standards you maintain. Yet even when there is no possibility of recognition, there is still plenty of reason to give your very best.

Even when no one else is watching, you are watching. Even when no one else appreciates the value of what you're doing, you understand that value.

Your honest, authentic view of yourself influences all that you do. And that view is formed largely during the times when no one is watching.

Be ever true to yourself and to the values you hold dear. Your life is a living expression of who you truly know you are.

Venture out

Can you find it within yourself to appreciate and even enjoy what you do not like? By so doing, you will experience a sense of acceptance, peace and power.

Can you learn to be understanding and patient when you have been angered, frustrated, or inconvenienced? Do so, and you'll discover a highly effective way to move forward no matter what.

Are you able to respect and explore an opinion or perspective with which you disagree? That can add real strength and conviction to your own perspective.

Life's richness does not come from just staying with what is familiar, comfortable and pleasurable. It is when you venture out, away from the familiar, that you grow stronger and more capable.

Hold tightly to your core values while at the same time opening your mind and your heart to new thoughts, feelings and experiences. Your own perspective will grow stronger when you look at it from other perspectives.

Find ways to provide a healthy challenge for your understanding of life. And you'll learn to understand, to discover and to experience so very much more.

The power of forgiveness

Inflicting pain on someone else cannot do anything to ease your own pain. When you have been hurt, there is nothing to be gained by passing the hurt on to another.

When others have caused you pain, give forgiveness. Sincere forgiveness is the fastest way to begin moving positively forward again.

Forgiveness does not mean that you agree with or condone whatever has been done. It means that you no longer choose to let those past actions hold you back.

Your willingness to forgive does not mean that you are willing to be hurt again. In fact, forgiveness frees you to take positive steps that will make you stronger and much less vulnerable.

When you feel the desire for revenge, stop and remind yourself that there is a much more powerful response. Forgiveness is the way to put yourself in the best possible position.

Can you find the strength to forgive? Forgive, and you will surely grow stronger.

A positive way

How do you keep yourself positive when the people around you are so negative? How can you maintain a positive approach when the situations and events around you are so troublesome?

A sincerely positive attitude is not a reaction to the way things are. Rather, it is an expression of the way you choose for things to be.

Being positive is not an unrealistic or naive view of a negative world. It provides you with a solid foundation for making real improvements in the world and creating meaningful value.

Being positively focused enables you to see, and to make the most of, opportunities that would otherwise be invisible. Being positive gives you the energy to move forward no matter what the obstacles may be.

When you focus on the positive aspects of a situation, there will be plenty of people who disagree with you. But that is their problem, not yours.

Look beyond those who argue for defeat, and find the path to victory. Whatever the current situation may be, you can always choose a positive way forward.

Make yourself lucky

Do you wish you had better luck? Then stop wishing and start making it so.

Good luck does not just randomly appear. Good luck comes to those who attract it.

Live this day as if it is the most precious and important day in your life, and you'll make yourself lucky. Seek ways to provide real, lasting value to others, and you'll make yourself lucky.

Be anxious to learn, to explore, to hone your skills and you'll make yourself lucky. Live with patience, discipline, integrity and a commitment to truth, and you'll make yourself lucky.

Focus on the positive possibilities, and you'll make yourself lucky. Take the actions that will manifest the best of those possibilities into reality, and you'll make yourself lucky.

There's no limit to the amount of good luck you can enjoy when you take the positive, productive actions that will bring it your way. Make yourself lucky, and experience for yourself how great it can be.

Life changes

Even the most pleasurable experience can become dull and unpleasant if it continues on and on with no end. Even the most magnificent surroundings can feel like a prison if you're unable to take a break from them.

Life thrives on variety and change. When you keep yourself stuck in a rut, no matter how satisfying that rut may be, it gets old and can be very draining.

When you're constantly fighting against change, even if you succeed in keeping things the same you render yourself unable to enjoy them. Because you're always worried that they will not last.

When, on the other hand, you accept that change is part of life, you will enable yourself to enjoy and to fully live every moment you're in. You'll also be able to look more confidently and enthusiastically toward the future instead of dreading it.

Yes, with change there is risk, yet there is also enormous opportunity. Change gives life richness and meaning, and makes possible all sorts of achievements that no one has yet even considered.

Embrace and celebrate the dynamic, changing nature of life. And you'll find each day to be a unique and joyful blessing.

No worry

Here's a simple, easy way to make an immediate and profound improvement in the quality of your life. Stop worrying.

The next time you catch yourself wrapping your mind around a worry, choose to let that worry fall completely away. Notice how much more positive and effective you suddenly are.

Worry poisons your thoughts and keeps life's best opportunities hidden from you. Worry actually increases the power and influence of those undesirable things you worry about.

Certainly it's important to look clearly and realistically at life's dangers, problems and challenges. Yet there is nothing to be gained by worrying about them.

Choose to replace each negative worry with positive action. Instead of looking down, pick yourself up and move forward.

Every moment is filled with countless opportunities to create lasting value. Stop worrying, and start living with richness, purpose and real joy.

Now is what you choose

There was a time when you thought you could change the world. You were right, and you still are.

There was a time when you knew that life was filled with limitless possibilities. It still is, and so are you.

Perhaps you're dismayed that so much time has passed without much noticeable progress. Yet the longer you've waited to move forward, the more quickly and powerfully you can do so when you choose to start.

To change the world, and to fulfill your greatest possibilities, does not require anything from your past. It's a matter of making a choice, in the present, to act with positive purpose.

Now is the place where your life resides. And now is what you choose to make it.

With a thankful, joyful heart, look around you at the possibilities that stretch out in all directions. Choose one of those possibilities now, and proceed to lovingly give life to it.

One more attempt

If you are always willing to make one more attempt, you can reach whatever goal you choose. No matter what results you get, the only real failure is when you stop making the effort.

When you are mistaken, you can learn. When you are knocked down, you can get back up.

When you find that you've veered off track, you can correct your direction. When you discover that circumstances have changed, you can make adjustments accordingly.

Eventually, you'll reach the point at which the next attempt you make is the one that will complete the desired accomplishment. What a shame it would be to stop just one effort short of success.

For that next effort will make all the others pay off. Commit yourself to making one more effort, one more attempt, as often as necessary, and anything is within your reach.

Keep making that one more attempt, keep getting back up, and keep moving forward in the direction of your goal, one step after another. And you will surely get there.

Positive purpose

Certain opportunities will come and go. Yet it is never too late and never too early to experience the richness of living with positive purpose.

Circumstances change from moment to moment, week to week, and year to year. And in every circumstance there are ways to find true fulfillment.

You can always make a difference. You can always make a valuable contribution.

By so doing, you connect yourself to life's greatest treasures. For the treasures that bring fulfillment are the ones you have a part in creating.

The joys of this golden moment are yours to live, no matter how you arrived here. For in this moment you have the opportunity to give the best of yourself.

This day is as fresh and wonderful and filled with opportunity as any you've ever known. Live it with positive purpose, and taste the richness you will surely create.

Something to appreciate

What's the quickest way out of a negative attitude? Have something ready and waiting that you can immediately and genuinely appreciate.

How do you find the hidden value in any situation? Look for something to truly appreciate.

When you seek to find things to appreciate, what you'll discover are hidden treasures upon which you can build great value. Look for what you can appreciate, and you'll find positive, powerful tools that will pull you forward.

Get in the habit of starting each day by thinking of something for which you can be thankful. Then, whenever you catch yourself falling into a negative thought pattern, you'll already have something positive toward which you can redirect your thoughts.

Each time you meet a new person, make it a point to find something, at the very outset of the relationship, that you can sincerely appreciate. Every time you find yourself in a new place or situation, look first for what you can appreciate about it.

Find something to appreciate, and your effectiveness will increase dramatically. Find something to appreciate, and you'll uncover real treasure.

Learn from frustration

In every frustration there is a powerful message. Frustration tells you, in no uncertain terms, that something is not as good as it could possibly be.

There's a reason for every frustration. And when you choose to be brutally honest with yourself, there's also a positive and potentially life-changing response.

The best response to frustration is not to fight it or resent it or let it break you down, but to learn from it. Perhaps frustration is attempting to convince you of the need to speak out against injustice, or pointing out changes that you know you must make in your own behavior.

Frustration may very well be telling you that what you're doing at the moment is not at all in line with your most deeply held values. Frustration may be your way of telling yourself that you need to more fully prepare for life's various challenges.

It could be that frustration is helping you to realize that there must be a more effective, more efficient, more compassionate, or more sensible way to do some particular thing. Many great achievements and advances start out as frustrations.

Feel the frustration, and then listen very carefully. For that frustration is giving you some priceless advice.

Be specific

The more specific you are about what you intend to do, the more likely you are to get it done. The more specific you are when asking, the more appropriate will be the answer you receive.

Be specific about your goals, and you'll find the means to achieve them. Be specific about your concerns, and you'll find ways to successfully address them.

It is impossible to complete a journey if you only have a vague, general idea of where you're going. By contrast, when you know exactly where you wish to go, then every step you take brings you closer.

Be specific, and problems are transformed into opportunities for achievement and growth. Be specific, and your most treasured dreams begin to pull you toward them.

Be specific, and misunderstandings disappear. Be specific, and life will more often unfold the way you want.

Challenge yourself to go beyond the easy, comfortable generalizations and put in the effort to be specific. When you're clear about where you're going, you'll get there.

Make it count

Don't miss out on the value in this moment by wishing that it had somehow been different. Live it for all that it can be.

Don't let this beautiful day slip uselessly through your fingers while consumed with worry about what tomorrow will bring. Make full use of the time you now have, and that will put you in the best position to face anything that may come.

Whatever your age, or level of physical ability, or financial situation, there is something positive and valuable you can do right now. Consider all the beautiful choices that life is currently making available to you, and then seize the best of them.

You already know how satisfying it feels to make a positive difference. Realize that you now have the opportunity to experience that satisfaction again, right where you are.

Life is happening all around you right now. This moment is precisely what you make it.

Make it full, and rich, and memorable and valuable. Give your best to this moment and truly make it count.

This is the time

Everything that is, exists in this moment. This is the best time of your life because this is the time when your life is being lived.

If you have been planning to take action, now is the time to do it. Within you is a vision of how great life can be, and now is the time to make it real.

Now is the time when accomplishment happens. Now is the time when dreams are brought to life.

Now is when you are free to choose the direction of your life. Now is when you are able to do what must be done.

Life is now and you are here to live it. Do you realize what an enormous opportunity is now within your grasp?

Breathe in deeply the sweet, powerful fragrance of this now moment. This is the time to fully and truly live.

New possibilities

A new year is here. It's a great opportunity to re-examine your assumptions, and to get rid of the ones that no longer make any sense.

Assumptions can be very useful because they free you from having to think through every little detail. Assumptions are a practical way to make positive use of your extensive past experience.

Remember, though, that change is a constant part of life. People change, conditions change, the world changes, and all those changes can quickly make your assumptions obsolete.

Outdated assumptions can keep you stuck when there's really no reason for you to be stuck. Outdated assumptions can prevent you from connecting with good and valuable things that are easily within your reach.

As you go through each day, make note of the assumptions you rely upon. Select a few of those assumptions and seriously challenge them.

You'll find limitations you thought you had that are no longer there, and opportunities you never knew about that are now open to you. As the new year begins, free yourself from outdated assumptions, and you'll find all sorts of new possibilities popping into view.