Origin of Motivation

Motivation and desire are often confused, but they are distinct concepts. Desire is wanting something, while motivation is the drive to act on that desire. Many people may have strong desires but lack the motivation to pursue them.
Desire, Loneliness and Companionship, Weight Loss

There are a lot of people who want all sorts of stuff like I really, really want a yacht, but I’m not motivated to go out and work towards one.

• Have you ever experienced a strong desire for something without the motivation to pursue it?
• How can you cultivate motivation to act on your deepest desires?

Motivation and habit are also distinct. Habits are automatic thoughts and behaviors, while motivation involves intentional thought that can overcome habits. The yogis saw motivation as the ability to hold one thought persistently in the mind.
Habits, Intentional Thought, Yoga and Motivation

Motivation is actually what allows me to overcome my habit. So habit is almost automatic thought and motivation is almost intentional thought.

• Think of a time when motivation helped you break a habit. What thoughts fueled that motivation?
• How can you use intentional thought to create new, positive habits?

New Year’s resolutions illustrate how motivation can wane over time as the mind becomes less focused on the goal. On January 1st, the mind is laser-focused on the resolution, but as time passes, other thoughts trickle in and dilute that focus, leading to decreased motivation and action.
New Year’s Resolutions, Focus and Motivation

If we stop and we like, look inside the mind of what happens in this person what we actually see is there’s a fluctuation in what their mind is focusing on, because on January 1, their mind is laser focused on one thing losing weight, and as time goes on, different kinds of thoughts literally trickle into their mind.

• Have you experienced the rise and fall of motivation with a goal or resolution? What thoughts pulled your focus away?
• What practices can you implement to maintain a concentrated mind and sustained motivation?

The yogis developed the practice of dharana, training the mind to focus on one point. By concentrating the mind’s power on a single point, we can achieve much more, like a laser beam compared to a diffuse light bulb. Gamers exemplify this, with highly motivated minds focused on playing video games.
Dharana, Focused Mind, Gamers and Motivation

Dharana is the practice that allows us to cultivate our thoughts in a particular direction. It’s the ability to hold our mind on a particular point.

• How can you apply the principles of dharana to focus your mind on your goals?
• In what areas of your life could you benefit from a more concentrated, laser-like focus?

A strong mind has all its attention focused on one spot, while a weak mind is dissipated, with energy dispersed in many directions. To find motivation and follow-through, start by training your mind to sit on one thought and direct it in a particular direction. As you master your mind, motivation will follow.
Strong Mind, Weak Mind, Mastering Motivation

At the end of the day, if you want to find motivation, if you want to learn how to follow through, don’t worry about the external stuff. Don’t worry about how to find a job or how to go to the gym. Start with what’s happening in your mind. train your mind to sit on one thought, direct your mind in a particular direction and teach it to follow you and then you’ll be motivated.

• What thoughts currently dominate your mind on a daily basis? Are they aligned with your goals?
• How can you start training your mind today to focus on thoughts that will motivate you towards your dreams?

Notes

Motivation is NOT Desire. Wanting is misunderstood as motivation.

Something that gets in the way despite of the presence of desire, something stops us from acting in the way of what we want.

Motivation is not Habit either. Motivation can often help you overcome a habit. Habit is automatic thought, motivation is almost intentional thought.

In Sanskrit there is no word for motivation.

Yogis discovered that motivation is basically holding one thought in our mind over a period of time(that basically comes off as motivation).

New Year’s Resolution example, how motivation plummets overtime, as their mind focuses on other things. Thinking about things makes you lose focus, concentration, one thought that isn’t dominating the mind anymore. Motivation is one pointed mind. Dharana

By default Mind doesn’t know how to concentrate. Mind like light bulb diffusing everywhere but what you want is a laser. That is what Dharana teaches, concentrating power of the mind on a single thing.

What you think about becomes the direction of your motivation. A Bias.

Train your mind to sit on one thought, to follow your command.

Trataka, or fixed point gazing, is a powerful technique to build concentration and one-pointedness of the mind. It also has a shuddhi or cleansing effect on the ajna or third eye chakra. In this practice, I’ll explain the basics of fixed point gazing.

see also:: Trataka Fixed Point Gazing, Yantra Internal Trataka