Daily Reflections for Living Strong

You have the strength to choose your thoughts. You have the strength to choose your actions, your attitude, and your feelings in any given moment.

You have the strength to decide what to focus the energy of your life upon. You can be strong in any way you choose to be strong.

Life will often come at you fast and furious and in an unrelenting way. Yet as intense as it may become, it never has to overwhelm you.

For you can choose to be as strong as you must be. You can think strong and positive thoughts, and follow through with strong, decisive actions.

You can reach inside and feel the ever-growing strength that comes from the truth of who you are. You can connect that strength to everything you do.

You have the strength because you have the choice to live in accordance with your deepest, most treasured values. Choose to be strong, and bring those values more fully to life with every experience.

Until next time, be black belt strong and live life courageously!

Right now you have available to you everything you need to take one step forward. Once you take that step, you will have even more available to you to keep going.

The more persistently you move forward, step by step, the more momentum you build. And it is a process that you can begin at any time.

Focus on the one step that you can take right now. Let go of all regrets and resentment about what has already happened.

Let go of all fears and anxieties about what may be yet to come. Put your energy into where you are, and use that energy to do what you can in this moment.

Though there may be noise and confusion all around, you can transcend all those distractions. Decide to focus on the task at hand, for that is what will move you forward.

Think of how great it feels to be moving in a positive, productive direction. Focus your energy right now and make it happen.

Whatever holds you back also compels you to build the strength and determination to move forward. Though the effort is difficult, that is precisely why it can bring such a great sense of satisfaction.

The disappointments are painful, and yet they enable you to truly appreciate the positive possibilities. When your path is blocked, you have the opportunity to find a more promising path.

You are stronger, more determined, more flexible, innovative and creative than any difficult circumstance you encounter. You have within you a purpose that keeps rising to the surface and urging you forward.

Instead of giving away your energy in a fight against the problems, choose to adopt a more effective strategy. Find the positive energy in each problem and use it to move ahead.

Take the energy that pushes against you, and redirect that energy to work in your favor. Seize the valuable opportunities that arise from every turn of events.

Whatever happens, there is something positive and useful that you can take from it. Know with certainty where you want to go, and you’ll find plenty of energy to get you there.

No situation is going to solve all your problems. But that’s okay, because the existence of problems is not really such a problem.

Much of what makes life good is the satisfaction of dealing with its problems. If there were no problems, such satisfaction would be impossible.

Go ahead and be thankful for the problems. Then get to work dealing with them in creative and enriching ways.

Let go of the fantasy that you can somehow make your way to a perfect utopia that’s free of all problems. Instead, use your creative energy to envision and implement ways to thrive and to spread joy even when problems keep cropping up.

Rather than letting the problems nag you and disappoint you, allow them to energize and inspire you. Appreciate the power they have to direct your focus toward what truly matters.

Look confidently out at life, and see every problem as an opportunity to enrich your experience. Then go out among those problems and reap the rich rewards of a life well lived.

To be highly effective in what you do, enter a special state of being that you can create with your own intention. Enter a state of focus.

In this state, trivial outside events do not have the power to distract or annoy you. You simply accept them, move past them, and continue working on what’s truly important to you.

In your focused state, there is no hesitation or worry about getting it wrong. You move ahead with steady, persistent efforts, knowing that even the mistakes will lead to learning and improvements.

Always with you in your state of focus is a clear and authentic sense of purpose. The energy to keep going and to keep focused comes from remembering why.

When you are focused you are curious, flexible, and open to new ways of creating value. At the same time, you’re able to keep yourself solidly on track toward the specific goals you have chosen.

Enter a peaceful, powerful focused state. And make good things happen for your whole world.

Ideal conditions are nice, but not necessary. You can get good work done no matter what the situation.

A less than perfect environment does not excuse you from responsibility. Sure, things may be difficult, but you can push forward anyway.

Stop making a mental list of reasons why you can’t, and start making progress. Let the difficult circumstances empower you to take action.

Your time and energy are limited. So don’t waste them fighting against your own possibilities.

Instead, put your time and energy into getting good work done. Take every opportunity to do so, even if those opportunities are far from perfect.

Don’t wait or wish for troubles to leave you alone. Push forward anyway, and the troubles will no longer trouble you.

When one path is blocked, you’re forced to look for another path. There’s a good chance that other path could be a better one.

When the usual options are unavailable, you must look for other options. That could very well lead you to a more valuable option.

It’s easy to get complacent when things are going smoothly. But if you remain complacent for too long, you’ll wake up one day to discover you’ve been left behind.

Sure, unexpected challenges can be bothersome. But they can also keep you on your toes.

That sudden, difficult situation can lead to new, valuable skills, knowledge, wisdom and power. When events don’t go as expected, it’s your opportunity to expect more from yourself.

You are flexible, adaptable, resourceful, able to transform setbacks and surprises into new progress. Decide to thrive on the challenges, and you’ll always find a better way.

You cannot be certain of what you’ll encounter, yet you can be sure of this. You must either find a way to make it work, or navigate your way beyond it.

Every new day comes with its share of unknowns. You’ve successfully made your way through many of those days, and you’ll get through many more.

Let go of your need to categorize each effort as easy or hard. Instead, put your energy into doing what must be done to achieve the best outcome.

You’ll find your best possibilities when you step away from your most comfortable certainties. Proceed with care and confidence into the unknown future, and discover new strength, expand your skills, enrich your experience.

No one knows all the details of what tomorrow will include. And that gives you the opportunity to influence those details in positive and meaningful ways.

Gather your well-known values, dreams, priorities, preferences, and go forward. Though you don’t know what the future holds, you do know how to make the best of it.

Give yourself a reason to live at your highest level today. Set a goal that compels you to pull the best values, thoughts, words, efforts out of yourself and to share them with all of life.

Hope is never lost unless you choose to ignore it. Choose instead to build each glimmer of hope into a spark, then a steady flame, then a brilliant blaze that lights the way forward.

Within you are specific desires, your own concepts of what can make life good. Bring those desires out into the open where they will engage your full attention.

Give yourself something good, meaningful, valuable, inspiring, satisfying to do with this day, with this life. Realize what a massive opportunity you have right now, and take it.

What a terrible shame it would be to possess great capability and to never use it. Give yourself a reason to make full use of all you have, of all you can do, of all you can be.

Focus the power of your life on the beauty and fulfillment of all you love. Give life the full benefit of the purpose that lives within you.

Welcome the day with open arms, with a grateful heart, and it will be a good and productive day. Welcome the challenges, the obstacles, as being necessary, and they will strengthen rather than stop you. Welcome the opinions and perspectives of others, especially if they differ from yours, and your own perspective will grow more valuable.

Accept what is, and you will increase your ability to do, make or have whatever you wish. Live as though there is possibility for good in every circumstance, and you’ll discover that there is indeed.

Welcome and celebrate life in all its ups and downs. Relish the cold, dark days just as enthusiastically as the bright, warm ones. Find as much value in the defeats and mistakes as in the victories and successes.

The majesty of the sunrise would not occur without the darkness of the night. Effort would be impossible without rest, and likewise rest without effort. Seeking only a select portion of life serves to diminish it all. Embrace the world in all its fullness and delight in the experience of being thoroughly alive.