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Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity.
-- Daniel Barenboim
 

 

The MONTHLY Motivator - April 2011

kauai

Living richly

What a shame it would be for you to go to all the trouble of living your life, and not live it with extraordinary richness. What a waste it would be to let even a single day go by without experiencing the unique richness it has to offer. How arrogant it would be to assume that you’ve got better things to do that preclude you from diving fully into the richest life you can imagine. How sad it would be for you to go through life thinking you’re too old, or too inexperienced, or too much in debt, or not well enough connected or educated or sophisticated to enjoy the extreme richness that’s available to you in every moment.

You are made to live richly and you have a desire to live richly. So what are you so afraid of? Why are you avoiding the richness that is your birthright? Decide right now that you’re not going to avoid it any longer.

It requires just as much effort to live poorly as it does to live richly. And filling your life with richness is a whole lot more fun. As long as you’re going to put in the time and effort to go through the day, doesn’t it make sense to get the very most you can from it? Most of your perceived limitations are not really limitations at all. They’re simply boundaries that you’ve set for yourself. Have you ever wondered what’s outside those boundaries? Today would be a great day to find out. What you’ll find outside those boundaries is extraordinary richness.

You wait in line for what seems like forever. Finally you get on. It starts off fast and furious. You’re bombarded with sights, sounds and feelings you’ve never known before, and you excitedly drink it all in. Just when you’re getting used to things, you whirl around a sharp corner and everything changes. It slows down for a while, then gets fast again, faster than ever. You climb up. You fall down. It gets dark, then bright, then dark and bright again. Wind blows through your hair. Water sprays in your face. It’s cold, then hot, then perfectly comfortable, then everything changes again. You get tired. You get excited. You never know exactly what’s next yet you learn to enjoy and deal with whatever comes along.

This is no amusement park ride. This is an adventure that’s more exciting than any ultimate roller coaster by orders of magnitude. It’s your life. It’s real, it’s here, it’s now, and it is filled with possibilities. Life is the ultimate adventure, filled with challenge, color, sensation, thrills, discovery, excitement, surprises and so much more. It is at the same time difficult and wonderful. This awesome adventure is yours for the living, right here, today.

So jump in and live it. Experience the richness for yourself. Breathe in the rich, new wondrous possibilities that are continually being born. Realize what a grand opportunity exists in even the smallest of matters. Today is a day like no other, and you are magnificently blessed to be a part of all that it encompasses. The wind blows, the sun shines, night falls, and some days bring brutal cold while others offer stifling heat. There is beauty, there is tragedy, and there is exquisite fulfillment along with bitter disappointment. On the surface, life is filled with much adventure, activity, change, confusion, excitement, joy and frustration. Underlying it all you’ll find abiding peace and goodness that can never be denied. You have the unique, unmatched good fortune of being you, right here and right now. Take a brief moment to realize and remember who you truly are. Then look out at the vast expanse of possibilities that surrounds you. And dive lovingly into it in your own special way.


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--Ralph Marston

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