See It Be It

The best possibilities

If every wish were to instantly come true, just imagine how many awful things you would have to endure. The gap between desire and fulfillment may often seem frustrating and unkind, but it serves an essential and beneficial purpose that we often fail to consider.

Most of us have no shortage of ideas or desires. The effort necessary to manifest those desires plays a key role in discarding the ones which have little or no merit. We have unlimited possibilities; yet our resources are indeed limited. That happy combination serves to focus our efforts on the very best, most promising possibilities.

If you had all the time in the world, and all the money in the world, most of it would be wasted in meaningless indulgence. Where is the joy in that? To have everything would be to have nothing.

As it is, each moment, each effort is refined and purified by the fact that life is a constant struggle against very real limitations. The necessity of effort is not a punishment. Take delight in it, for it is indeed a blessing.

Glimpse the light

How do you know that things are bad? It is only by seeing that they can indeed be better. How do you know that you have failed? It is only because you have a very real concept of success. How do you know you’re in the dark? It is only because you have glimpsed the light.

The longing which accompanies misfortune is an undeniable confirmation of the very real possibility of good fortune. Even the slightest twinge of discontent is evidence of the greatness that is surely possible for you.

In your disappointment is the affirmation of your possibilities. In the bitter is the grasp of sweetness. The pain of defeat does not prevent victory. Rather, it demonstrates that victory is indeed possible.

Do not be dismayed by your dismay. Find in it the resolve that it carries, and let it push you in a more positive direction.

A tourist in your own life

Tourists usually experience life at their destination with a sense of urgency. They know their time there is limited and so they want to make as much of the visit as possible. Tourists often appreciate a place even more than the people who live there.

If you have four days to see the sights, you can get around to quite a few of them. If you live there and you can see them anytime you want, somehow you rarely find the time.

Consider what it would be like to visit your own life as a tourist. What things would you make sure to do? What things would you stop taking for granted? How much more deeply would you appreciate the good things around you? How much more would you take advantage of the possibilities available to you if you knew you had to leave them behind in a few days?

Look at your life through the eyes of a tourist and you’ll find much that is special indeed.

Lasting joy

The best moments you have ever known are still with you. All the happiness and joy you have ever experienced is a part of you. Indeed, it lives in you. Circumstances most certainly change, from moment to moment, but the good things which you’ve known never go away.

Deep down inside, you are still the same person you were on the happiest day you’ve ever experienced. And deep down inside is where things truly matter.

Joy is cumulative and persistent. Think of a happy time and you are happy. The world will often attempt to drag you down and when it does, summon the power of your happiness. Think of the best moments you have ever known. They are still with you. And there are many more to come.

Joy is more than the pleasure of the moment. It is an affirmation that life is very much worth living. It may sometimes get covered up, but it never has to go away. Keep it with you and add to it all that you can.

Easiest or best?

Rather than doing what is easiest, do what is best. Doing what is easiest at the expense of what is best will cheat you out of challenging experiences and the valuable results they bring.

It is easy to watch, yet it is best to participate. It is easy to complain, yet it is best to take positive action. It is easy to take, yet it is best to give, to make, to create. Doing what is best challenges and compels you to be your best. What possible alternative could be better than that?

Doing only what is easy leads to a life that is hard. Doing what is best brings a life that is full. With each decision you face, keep in mind that making the easiest choice may very well preclude you from making the best choice.

Effort is a privilege, not a punishment. Make full use of your considerable abilities. Forget about easy. More often than not it is a deception. When you have the choice, do what is best.

It’s all for the best

In a sense, it is useless to make judgments about things that have already happened. You can put your judgment to better use by applying it to the things over which you have control. And all those things are in the present, not in the past.

So whatever has happened before right now, consider it to be for the best. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway. When you truly think of everything that has already happened as being for the best, something almost magical takes place -- you actually start making the best of what has happened.

Indeed, “it’s all for the best” is a self-fulfilling appraisal. Certainly there are tragedies, major and minor. Yes, there are many disappointments, too. Are these really for the best? They might as well be. They’ve happened; they’re a done deal. Your best strategy is to emerge with something positive and useful.

Make the best of what has already happened, and you’ll get the best of what is to be.

Be necessary

There’s a very basic question which will point the way to success in just about any kind of situation. That question is, “What can I do to be useful and essential?"

Find a way to make yourself necessary, and you vastly improve the whole dynamic of any relationship, job, project, organization or business venture in which you’re involved.

What can you contribute that is useful and unique? You have plenty of material from which to draw. You have knowledge and experience which no one else can claim. You have values, opinions, interests and points of view which are uniquely yours and which can add real value in countless endeavors.

Rather than being obsessed about what you can get, focus on what you can offer. In whatever venue you’re able to make yourself necessary you’ll enjoy all the success you wish to pursue.

— Ralph Marston