What Moves You?

The connection between enthusiasm and motivation is obvious. When you are enthusiastic you are motivated. You are not ‘reactively excited’ but consciously moved to act in positive and proactive ways. But what exactly is it that is moving you? And is it sustainable or just a temporary flaring of energy that is destined to dieback into a comfort zone at best, or apathy at worst.

What motivates you? What gets you out of bed in the morning? And more significantly what are your first thoughts when you awaken. They are always a good indicator of your levels of enthusiasm and motivation for the coming day. Some years ago a survey in the USA asked employers what they thought motivated employees? Money came top of the list. Then they asked employees what actually motivated them and money came fifth in the list. At the top of their list was appreciation/recognition. If you ask people who deliberately sacrifice their income potential why they choose to do a job with less financial reward the reason is often because they find greater ‘meaning’ doing something with less material return. All of which serves to remind us of the age-old question, is motivation extrinsic or intrinsic? Does motivation come from outside in or inside out?

The prevailing belief built into our education, our culture and most societies is that motivation comes from outside in. A success driven life is usually measured by acquisition, achievement and accumulation. We are taught to attach our self-esteem and self-worth to external sources like wealth, relationships and recognition. Most of us will set out in pursuit of worldly riches and reputations. And yet, when we take that path, over time many of us will also find our enthusiasm and motivation waning, accompanied by a creeping disillusion at the shallowness of such a way of life. Burnout will befall others as they feel the pressure to accelerate their efforts to achieve. And cynicism will likely strike a few who see through a paradigm that so obviously does not honour the human spirit. And for those who have done their inner work it’s obvious that to be motivated by anything external is unsustainable and is likely to end in tears, if not clinical depression! And the reason lies in one word…emotion.

The Latin root of ‘motion’ is motus anima, which means the spirit that moves us, or the energy that moves us. Motive and motivation also have their roots in moving. To ask what motivates you is to ask what moves you, what sets your consciousness ‘in motion’? Which is to ask what does the self ‘use’ to motivate the self? Do you need something ‘other’ than your self to motivate your self?

When you use something outside your self to motivate you, to move you, then desire will be present and dependency will be the result. When you are motivated by desire, by wanting something, the emotion of fear will be built in. Fear of not acquiring/achieving i.e. failing. Fear of not getting ‘it’, or not reaching ‘there’, before someone else does. Fear of losing what may be acquired/achieved. And fear and enthusiasm are like oil and water, they do not mix. More accurately they are more like fire and water, as fear is what eventually dampens or drains our spirit. Although it can ‘appear’ to enliven, fear driven motivation is tiring over time. Adrenaline will become the drug of choice and exhaustion a high probability. Ask those that work in target/deadline driven jobs and most will tell of their addiction. They will seldom feel happy without needing some form of external stimulation.

When you are motivated by anything outside your self then ‘attachment is inevitable’. And where there is attachment there must be eventual loss and therefore sadness, which is usually followed by anger. It doesn’t matter what or who we become attached to, both the worry (fear of loss) and the inevitable loss (sadness) and the urge to blame (anger) must arise from within. Unless we are enlightened about these ‘inner matters’ the regular creation and accumulation of such emotions over time will turn into unhappiness at best, or what we have come to know as depression at worst. Getting out of that bed in the morning just becomes harder and harder!

In summary, when we believe our motivation is extrinsic we will not only attempt to spend our life outside our self, we will find our self in a state of dependency as we seek the external stimulations that we believe will ‘move us’. We will then distort the energy of our consciousness into the emotions of sadness, anger and fear. In fact there is no better way to suppress and sabotage our enthusiasm and therefore de-motivate our self. And yet it’s fairly obvious that this is how most of us have learned to live. We are taught to be ‘moved’ by something ‘in the world’ and not something within our self. Perhaps this is why our levels of contentment and joy tend to fluctuate, and ultimately ‘seem’ to be out of our control.

So what is the alternative? Is there another way? If the ‘extrinsic’ is the least effective way what does it mean to be ‘intrinsically’ moved? What motivates us from inside out? When asked this question many people start to look somewhat perplexed indicating how little they are aware of what is actually going on within their consciousness. The secret of self-motivation is almost too simple, almost too close to home and so we easily miss it. The secret of intrinsic motivation lies in the one thing every human being is doing all the time. It is ‘thinking’ and another word for thinking is creating or being creative. It’s just that many if not most of our thoughts are either not very pleasant, or that they don’t always seem to come from us personally, so we miss the reality of our own creativity.

Have you ever noticed your deepest satisfaction in life doesn’t come at the end of something but in the process of creating something? You know you are deeply satisfied because the one thing you never look at is the clock; you lose all awareness of time passing. You are giving your self wholeheartedly to what you are creating, forming, shaping, manifesting. Every human being is a born creator. It’s what we are all designed to do. Unfortunately our awareness of our deepest intrinsic motivator is more often suppressed and buried by our education and upbringing. That’s where we learn not to be creators but consumers. And consuming is almost the opposite of creating. It’s much harder to control and rule over a society of creators than one of producers and consumers. But even within such a culture there is still the opportunity to choose and walk the creative path. And many do. We call them artists or entrepreneurs, and if they still choose to stay within an organization or institution they will probably be seen as ‘the maverick’!

The deepest source of our creativity is the impulse of our heart. This is the intention to connect with others, which is love in action. And as we connect we co-create. Our joint creations may not be physical manifestations but simply the cultivation of a relationship based on love, wisdom and an openness that accepts and embraces all who enter your sphere. This movement of the human heart is not driven by desire but by its natural inclination to connect with others. This is the spiritual pulse that beats in the consciousness of every human being. Unfortunately it tends to be drowned out or suppressed by our conditioned desires and dependencies. Hence the efficacy of some form of meditative or contemplative practice in which we learn to be quiet enough to hear that pulse, to follow its call, and be moved by our heart. To be moved by love and not by desire or attachment, for they are not love, they are the origins of fear. When we are ‘moved’ by our natural intention to care, to share, to know and understand the other, we co-create a world in which beauty and truth can be seen, felt and lived.

For what is the creative imperative of every human being but to create their life, to create their journey through life, and in so doing to co-create the context of all our lives, which is sometimes called community!

Question: What motivates you and why?

Reflection: What is the difference between being motivated by emotion and moved by your heart?

Action: What can you change in your life this week that will allow you to align more consistently with the creation of community?

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