motivation.cause.reason.

What is motivation? Well, a motivated person is someone who has cause to act or do something.

Where does motivation come from? It follows that motivation is the prompting of an individual to action by a desire to accomplish a said 'cause'.

Why do we experience motivation? A person sees a cause and it is valuable enough to that individual to be acted upon.

Inversely, why do we experience a lack of motivation? Again, it follows that the said cause that motivates us is not as worthy of our energy as we thought. So too it is possible that the cause is worthy of our energy but we face barriers that seem more pertinent at the time. Barriers being anything from ourselves to financial insufficiency.

What/Who motivates us? It has been suggested that a 'cause' motivates us; however, someone is usually behind a cause. The cause to acquire a form of employment can be initiated by our parents' desire for us to move out or by our own desire to buy the latest iphone (which is ridiculous by the way).

Have you ever just stopped and wondering, "Why am I doing this?" In the midst of everyday life you don't often think about motivation. You get up. You get dressed. You go about your business. You just do it. Yet when you are faced with an obstacle the cause is crucial because it determines your success. If your cause is not more valuable then the net impediments you will lose. It's important that your cause be congruent to your being.

Sometimes, I have to convince myself that my cause is more pertinent then my obstacles. I know it is but how I feel comes and goes everyday. Knowledge of the truth is what gets me through it all. Knowledge has more power then feelings but I feel deeply. Thus it's hard (sometimes beyond words) to remember truth when your feels are in the way, but if you give into your feelings you value them over the said knowledge. And thus how you feel (which is by no means a constant) is more valuable to your inner being then the truth that you have claimed to live by. That is a scary reality of how important it is to have a worthy cause and to know it well. Otherwise your ever-changing feelings will be what motivates you.

Now, the first thing that should come to mind is 'well, feelings motivate me every day'. This is not the point. The point is that under neither those emotions should be your constant, the cause. Yes, feelings prompt us to action everyday but the feelings we act upon should be the ones that are congruent with our cause. In fact, they are.

That all made sense to me but I don't know if it did to anyone else. That's alright I guess. Now, what is my motivation to do homework...finals tomorrow.

Blessings,

-Shanna

Winter, 2011-UW Arboretum

Favorite: "Careful"-Guster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEFRELihaxA&ob=av2n