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Where does your motivation come from?

ravkesravkes Veteran
edited February 2011 in General Banter
I love being lazy. I hate going to school or work. I dislike learning. I'm not a fan of the general life track - family, mortgage, die.. I think it's all stupid. However, I'm in school and I do go to work. Where can I get my motivation from? Where do you get your motivation to live? Where do you get your motivation to wake up everyday and do what you do?

Comments

  • zenffzenff Veteran
    edited February 2011
    I try not to think about it.
    :)
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    I was never motivated to do what other people said I should, i.e. school, but find plenty to motivate me based on my own thought. The first and foremost motivation/factor is the search for truth. This has been a factor since my early teens, or summat. Having fun or doing pleasurable things used to be a motivating factor, but that's died out rather severely due to progress with the first factor. :D

    There's still much work to be done, and insomuch as life is suffering the new secondary factor is peace; for myself and others. So, truth and peace, or wisdom and compassion.

    I used to have all sorts of dreams, some actually doable, but really the foremost thing on my mind has always been the search for truth. Not just a truth to make me happy, but rather happiness could only come through knowing the absolute truth, regardless of whether it had meaning/purpose or not.

    Motivations change as we get through the hurdles of life and complete prior goals. :)
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    Dang Cloud, you trying to be a monk then or what? What do you for a living?
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    Work in computers. I'm of half a mind to be a monk, but find that progress can still be made in lay life for now.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I love being lazy. I hate going to school or work. I dislike learning. I'm not a fan of the general life track - family, mortgage, die.. I think it's all stupid. However, I'm in school and I do go to work. Where can I get my motivation from? Where do you get your motivation to live? Where do you get your motivation to wake up everyday and do what you do?
    You could drop out, not work and not go to school.
    is anyone forcing you?

  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited February 2011
    That's true Federica. But if I don't go to school I won't be able to survive in the best way possible, low-paying jobs will likely result combined with hardship. Perhaps easing the financial load off my parents back is a motivation for going to work.

    Like, I really don't want anybody else to suffer either. So if I don't get my stuff done not only would I not be in a position to help ease their suffering I'd probably be a burden.

    Wow, excellent question Federica. I'm not sure if you meant it like that, but it really got me to thinking. I can be very narrow-minded and stupid sometimes. Because even though I have come across meditation and mindfulness that helps me ease my suffering I know that a lot of people haven't and they still suffer. That reminds me of when I suffered, that gives me a lot of motivation to help them. Because I know when I suffered it was hell and I can see a lot of people going down the same paths, blindly.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    There's your motivation then.

    Nobody said it had to be Buddhist or practice-motivated.
    You implement practice INTO your motivation.
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited February 2011
    Thank you Federica. I feel like I always search for some ultimate motivation for myself, when motivation to help others is always around me. Regardless of my career path I think as long as I'm helping myself and doing what I can to ease others pain life is worth it and I can continue to wake up and do stuff. It would be foolish to throw away what I've learned in Buddhism, because I know they could help so many people. Thank you.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    It reminds me of the comment by Joan Crawford who being a bit of a Prima Donna, and expecting rose petals at her feet, questioned the director during a scene where it seemed she could not get the right inflection or emotion in her part.

    "Well, what's my Motivation, here?" She demanded angrily.

    "$150,000, now start acting!" retorted the Director, having none of it.

    Sometimes, it's simpler than we think.
    HH the DL stated that the purpose of Life was to be happy and to make others happy.
    Difficult as it may seem, face what you must do each day, with a happy heart.
    it won't last forever, and we have no guarantee when it will end, or how.


    Nobody knew, going to work in the Twin Towers one morning, that the "what are we having for dinner tonight?" discussion they had at the breakfast table would be irrelevant....

    Aaron Ralston never knew, when he set out on a hike much the same as many others he had done, that he'd be coming home with only one arm.

    make the best of what you have, with everything you've got.

    :)
  • TreeLuvr87TreeLuvr87 Veteran
    My motivation, when I can get out of my head long enough to take the time to identify it, is that I'm blessed to be able to live another morning, day, or evening in this world of impermanency. When I feel something nice has been done for me, I want to spread it around. So the Universe being nice enough to let this body wake another day definitely deserves some love and compassion, which is what my practice focuses on. It doesn't always motivate me to make the right choices, but it does sometimes and that's a good thing :)
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited February 2011
    @Federica: Ha! Yeah, that makes sense. I myself can see that I'm acting like a Prima Donna, lol. I suppose if I hadn't had my basic needs met I wouldn't be posting these rants in the first place. I'm grateful that my parents can provide for me and I can provide for myself in terms of schooling due to a part time job I just landed. Yeah, we can't really know anything. However, we can make intelligent decisions and strive to see things objectively on a daily basis. Meditation/Mindfulness helps to clear things up. We really do impose our own interpretations onto an objective reality.. by habit really. I've been learning that the hardest part is admitting to oneself that you really haven't got it all figured out. And that I probably never will.

    On a side note, Federica your posts are so concise and accurate. You seem to have a lot of experience and compassion for those who you can see are going through some rough patches, even if you can see that they're obviously simply not seeing things clearly. That's wonderful. Thank you for what you do.


    @TreeLuvr87: That's really awesome. Having that type of attitude is really beneficial to one's well-being. And yeah I feel you on the good choices part. It's a bit of a task but if we can be compassionate but still be objective at the same time that's a good way to go.
  • TheJourneyTheJourney
    edited February 2011
    My motivation is happiness. For me that means having a lot of my wants fulfilled, even though i'm not forcing it or clinging to it, and being one with the truth.
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    @TheJourney: Fair enough man, nothing wrong with wanting stuff.
  • CamCam
    My motivation is that what I'm doing with Buddhism will benefit others.

    That's it.
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited February 2011
    @Cam: Legit. I've found that it does have a great impact because as you remove your suffering, people who interact with you suffer less too.
  • TheJourneyTheJourney
    @TheJourney: Fair enough man, nothing wrong with wanting stuff.
    Exactly. People don't understand that wants and buddhism are not incompatible. It's the great coming together of the two different truths of the ego and the egoless.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    The way I find purpose in the modern economy is by picking a path in the division of labor. There's a job for everyone, and they're all needed. Whether its delivering mail, preparing food, making pins, brewing beer, or whatever, there's a job that needs to be done to make sure society has all of its necessities and comforts met. I think everyone should do their job well, and that includes paying labor right as much as laboring right. This all doesn't work in an ideal manner though. I know. People don't get paid directly by the quality and quantity of their labor, just by a nominal value imposed on the end product that's completely based out of the self interest and leverage of the buyer
  • KartariKartari Explorer
    I love being lazy. I hate going to school or work. I dislike learning. I'm not a fan of the general life track - family, mortgage, die.. I think it's all stupid. However, I'm in school and I do go to work. Where can I get my motivation from? Where do you get your motivation to live? Where do you get your motivation to wake up everyday and do what you do?
    You sound like me when I was young. You may, or may not, change your mind about family etc. as you get older. For now, I'd say, find what you love and pursue it. When you love something, you will be very motivated towards accomplishing it.

    Some Buddhists I've encountered think desire is a bad thing in itself... I think we need to be smart and ethical about our desires and their fulfillment, but that desires themselves are not inherently "wrong." To desire is to be motivated. It's only the desire for unskillful things that leads us into trouble, such as desiring to be slothful. :)
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    Some Buddhists I've encountered think desire is a bad thing in itself... I think we need to be smart and ethical about our desires and their fulfillment, but that desires themselves are not inherently "wrong."
    "Then there is vibhava tanha in spiritual life, which can be very self-righteous: ’I want to get rid of, annihilate and exterminate these defilements.’ I really listened to myself thinking, ’I want to get rid of desire. I want to get rid of anger. I don’t want to be frightened or jealous any more. I want to be brave. I want to have joy and gladness in my heart.’

    This practice of Dhamma is not one of hating oneself for having such thoughts, but really seeing that these are conditioned into the mind. They are impermanent. Desire is not what we are but it is the way we tend to react out of ignorance when we have not understood these Four Noble Truths in their three aspects. We tend to react like that to everything. These are normal reactions due to ignorance.

    But we need not continue to suffer. We are not just hopeless victims of desire. We can allow desire to be the way it is and so begin to let go of it. Desire has power over us and deludes us only as long as we grasp it, believe in it and react to it.

    Grasping Is Suffering


    Usually we equate suffering with feeling, but feeling is not suffering. It is the grasping of desire that is suffering. Desire does not cause suffering; the cause of suffering is the grasping of desire. This statement is for reflection and contemplation in terms of your individual experience."

    - Luang Por

    http://www.buddhachannel.tv/portail/spip.php?article20257
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