Trouble finding motivation

On the cultivation of insight/wisdom
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LonesomeYogurt
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm
Location: America

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

i don't think there's a Buddhist alive who hasn't felt exactly the same at some point - it's a struggle that everyone has!

Mainly the best thing is to try and set specific, hard-and-fast times that you will meditate. An hour a day every day is better than six hours one day and then a week of nothing.

Good luck!
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
Digity
Posts: 1445
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:13 am

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by Digity »

LonesomeYogurt wrote:i don't think there's a Buddhist alive who hasn't felt exactly the same at some point - it's a struggle that everyone has!
Good luck!
It's really just the hindrance of sloth & torpor. If anything, this is all part of treading the path. We need to overcome all the hindrances.
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DAWN
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:22 pm

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by DAWN »

My consil - :computerproblem:

We have to not let our ego be conditioned only by one thing, for exemple computer. More it is conditioned by one same thing - more there is dukkha when this condition is not present.
Why?
Because condition is stability, stability is calm, calm is absence of dukkha.
When there is no stability, there is instability, absebce of calm, and dukkha.

When the arm is contaminated - cut off this arm ! Or you will die. :computerproblem: :roll:

I wish the unconditioned happynes to everyone. :anjali:
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
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DAWN
Posts: 801
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:22 pm

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by DAWN »

Actualy,

what peoples find intresting on the web ? why they go on? :thinking:
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
barcsimalsi
Posts: 385
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:33 am

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by barcsimalsi »

BryanRoberts wrote: I will be browsing the web and will tell myself, alright, in 20 minutes I will tear myself off the computer and go meditate, and then 20 minutes pass I am still on it.
Meditation is not about wanting to do, it is about don't want to do anything. Instead of finding motivation to meditate, i suggest that you first analyze your daily activities and slowly make an effort to let go of those which you find less or not beneficial at all. The more activities you afford to ditch, the more easier and undisturbed your meditation becomes.
Perhaps you can try substituting part of FB socializing with listening to Dhamma talks from youtube or elsewhere. Some Dhamma talks did gave good motivation but also keep in mind the motivation will fade away very soon, it is a temporary platform that will be crushed by the burden of attachment.

BryanRoberts wrote:I feel glued to it at times, like a moth flying around a light bulb. I am at a loss to find the motivation to go and sit, it seems such a simple thing yet I am often unable to muster
Meditation practice is never a simple thing, every advice is easy to say but hard to do.
By the way, here's one of Ajahn Brahm best talk for med-tivation. I hope you are not deaf.

DAWN wrote:Actualy,
what peoples find intresting on the web ? why they go on? :thinking:
The attraction of the world wide web has no end. From social to porn, movies to music, gaming to business, information to crazy debate...There is always something that really grabs our attention. Although i was mindful enough to remind myself of guarding my sense door, it's hard not to lose grip when the hindrance keep ambushing from every direction.
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DAWN
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Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by DAWN »

barcsimalsi wrote: Meditation practice is never a simple thing, every advice is easy to say but hard to do.
By the way, here's one of Ajahn Brahm best talk for med-tivation. I hope you are not deaf.

DAWN wrote:Actualy,
what peoples find intresting on the web ? why they go on? :thinking:
The attraction of the world wide web has no end. From social to porn, movies to music, gaming to business, information to crazy debate...There is always something that really grabs our attention. Although i was mindful enough to remind myself of guarding my sense door, it's hard not to lose grip when the hindrance keep ambushing from every direction.
So it is...
They try to find somethink to flood their mind and not feel dukkha... Poor beings. :|

Thank you a lot for this vidio, i will try to listen to it. :anjali:
Sabbe dhamma anatta
We are not concurents...
I'am sorry for my english
Javi
Posts: 479
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:40 pm

Re: Trouble finding motivation

Post by Javi »

Sometimes I have little motivation, so I do several things to get myself motivated.

1 - Listen to dhamma talks, read about the benefits of meditation
2 - Use a guided meditation for my sitting, the structure and guidance helps when one is unmotivated
3 - Read some short suttas before sitting, especially ones which have to deal with the shortness of life or the importance of practice (the mountain simile for example)
4 - Reflection on death and mortality, it is not hard to find videos of death and dead bodies on the internet...I'll leave that to you guys to find them on your own.... :spy: This is pretty powerful stuff, so if you have a weak stomach just think about your own mortality abstractly.
5 - Find a teacher, sangha, buddy - this is very powerful as well, if you're doing it alone, you don't have to.
Vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā — All things decay and disappoint, it is through vigilance that you succeed — Mahāparinibbāna Sutta

Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice. — Diogenes of Sinope

I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind — Ecclesiastes 1.14
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