Meditation is making me lack motivation

Woah93

Can any of you relate? When ever I have a day with various activity's planned like going to the gym, get a new haircut, meet a friend I loose interest in those things after a meditation session. I usually feel sudden calm and stillness combined with frequent positive moods. So much so that I possible get a little too satisfied with the present moment and I eventually end up just relaxing sitting around and not doing much. How do you go about walking that line between accepting the present moment, living in it but still make steps forward you deem positive? Is there a way to be "mindfully lazy" and then consciously counteract it in some way?

Citta

It may be a particular phase Woah93..after all if you are a westerner you have been conditioned to be either highly active or a potato.
The idea that one can be active AND deeply relaxed is something most of us have to learn..but its doable.

Woah93

I guess that's true. Now that you put it this way I'm either highly driven and goal oriented or lazy and totally relaxed. Like a "potato"...

genkaku

Much of what passes for bliss or peace or ease is nothing more than a contrast to what is confused or war-like or full of dis-ease. In this regard, bliss (to pick a word) is a good warning signal -- an indicator that the student has not yet settled in the present moment s/he cannot escape.

Do-ing is present.

Not do-ing is present.

Relief is not the point.

how

The possible effects from a meditation practice are as endless as a humans ability to trip over them. The important factor is "how present & accepting can you be with what ever that is". As others have pointed out, meditation is about the awareness of what is, regardless of whether that happens to be positive/negative/satiated or agitated.


Trying to foster or remove yourself from one or the other is not acceptance.
Meditatively,
there is nothing to counteract except how we habitually try to control everything.

misterCope

Hm. Meditating usually has the exact opposite effect on me.

Woah93

Ah yeah I'm always driven the entire day. The nagging feeling that whatever I'm doing is wasting time. Like there aren't enough hours in the day and I should be doing more with those hours... if that makes sense. That nagging feeling dissipating is what gives me that feeling of bliss/peace. I have come to expect that feeling and treated meditation as relief, but I got out of that mindset a while ago. I don't meditate to get away but this lazy feeling of not wanting to do anything comes naturally if I focus on the now instead of goals or getting somewhere if that makes sense, when I start to do things again I become almost totally unaware, the wakefulness seems to slip and I get lost in unconsiousness again...

karasti

You can't really blame meditation for your lack of motivation I actually have the opposite effect so I don't have much advice for you, other than to get yourself into a routine. Meditation is what sets my routine, or starts it. When I don't meditate, my whole day goes cattywhompus. I have a much harder time exercising if my meditation routine is missing, not to mention staying mindful of my words and action.

Sometimes when I find myself in that "I could/should be doing something more productive" that is when I catch myself and change what I'm doing. There are times I say "meh, I'd rather just sit here and watch cartoons with my kids" and then there are times I say "whoa, what am I doing? It's a beautiful day and I'm on the computer!" and I shut it and walk away. Once I do that, I rarely return before nightfall. It's taking the one step to do it that makes a difference. Just like working out. Some days it's the last thing I want to do. But I know that if i just start, I"ll probably finish, so, I make myself start and 99% of the time, I finish the workout. Sometimes the first step is all you need.

Jeffrey

Neither right nor wrong. Just sit and open to your feelings let them come and go. Perhaps have a time of less activity and get a lot of meditation done. In the end meditation is of more value than other activities, but you still have to fix dinner and do the laundry.

I would be glad to be in your shoes feeling so good that you are lazy!

MaryAnne

Hey! I'm not lazy.... I'm just .... Well, ok, I am lazy.

I read something the other day that really got me thinking. I wish I could remember where I read it (probably somewhere on FB- I'll check later), but it was a short essay/blog on the word lazy and how we negatively label ourselves and others as "lazy"...
Why is it always a bad thing to be/feel lazy?
Why do we always feel guilty about being 'lazy'?
Who wrote the rule that we must always be moving, always looking, always cleaning, always seeking, always planning, always DO-ing?

What is actually so wrong with doing - nothing?
Really, think about it. You only need to answer to yourself. If you feel you deserve time, a lot, or a little each day, for doing absolutely nothing - but breathing, blinking, or smiling blankly at your dog while she stares back at you; so what. Do it.
At least you're doing something!

misterCope

karasti said:

cattywhompus

You have made my day.

pegembara

It is fine if one loses interest in parties, making money or going to the gym.
But are you motivated to find out the real truth about yourself?

lobster

Can any of you relate?

Yes.

Happened to me yesterday. Bike ready. Was going to cycle (mindfully of course) and then meditate on arrival. However meditated first. Too chilled, too relaxed, 'am where I am' . . . been dudeified and grabbed by @karasti and the cattywhompus . . . oh the humanity . . .

Time for kick ass meditation.

We are in an ideal situation for a change in practice. I would probably end the meditation with a mantra, which gets the blood and brain back in gear or standing meditation tai chi style or walking meditation or prostrations as meditation (not mechanical repetition as the number dependent, dharma factory often does them). Or I might do Hatha yoga real slow. Or martial arts kata or qi ong. If mindful sufficiently, you can of course go about your day as meditation but we can leave that for another chilled day . . . :wave:

Woah93

pegembara said:

It is fine if one loses interest in parties, making money or going to the gym.
But are you motivated to find out the real truth about yourself?

That is my main motivation for meditating yes. The difficult part is a lot of the "truths" I thought were real actually turned out wrong in the end. I find it hard to put a lot of trust in my own mind when I know of the tricks it has up it's sleeve to disguise motives and desires..

genkaku

I find it hard to put a lot of trust in my own mind when I know of the tricks it has up it's sleeve to disguise motives and desires..

@Woah93 -- Welcome to the rock-and-a-hard-place that is sometimes called "meditation." The difficulty you mention is the difficulty that is addressed by a literal, physical sit-down-straighten-your-spine-sit-still-shut-up-and-focus-the-mind practice. Bit by bit, strength and courage grow. Bit by bit the demand for relief recedes. Bit by bit the tricks become just tricks ... no need to be tricked by them.

Best wishes.

footiam

Woah93 said:

Can any of you relate? When ever I have a day with various activity's planned like going to the gym, get a new haircut, meet a friend I loose interest in those things after a meditation session. I usually feel sudden calm and stillness combined with frequent positive moods. So much so that I possible get a little too satisfied with the present moment and I eventually end up just relaxing sitting around and not doing much. How do you go about walking that line between accepting the present moment, living in it but still make steps forward you deem positive? Is there a way to be "mindfully lazy" and then consciously counteract it in some way?

Monks, in that case, would not shave their head, too. But then, really, if meditation makes you lose your motivation, you should stop meditating immediately. If meditation is a human like us, it probably would that it should not be your scapegoat. Worse still, it may start get its lawyer to squeeze some money out of you.

Woah93

Well maybe I put it the wrong way in the title, meditation isn't itself making me lack motivation but it simply happens during meditating, of course the activity itself isn't responsible for it. Nonetheless I have to say your post is neither helpful nor insightful. What is your point?

Jeffrey

@Whoa93, which person are you saying is unhelpful? If it's me then sorry.

Woah93

No Jeffery, it was aimed at footiam, seems like he is assuming I'm blaming all my problems on meditation which wasn't what I meant.