Motivation and Entitlement
I had a moment today when I corrected a child (I am a nanny of sorts). She said she wasn't feeling very motivated and I made a joke about how she shouldn't wait to be motivated to do things in life (or she'll be alone petting her cats when she's old). There was more to the joke but it's not about the joke or really about saying someone who lives alone with cats is necessarily a bad thing.
It just made me think.
Motivation is point #1.
What does motivation have to do with anything?
Do you always wait on motivation before you do something?
What is this voice inside you, the voice that essentially is you, saying to you day in and day out?
Does it speak life to you?
Or are you trying to get on with some sort of goal, dream, or purpose,
but all the voice offers you is criticism and negativity?
If you hope to be successful. If you hope to live your life to the fullest you ought to be paying very close attention to that voice. That voice OWNS YOU and what it says is what you will do. If it says you aren't good enough then it will be true. You won't be good enough. If it says it doesn't matter or it's not important anyway, it won't be. If it says you'll never get there, you will NEVER get there.
Some people think success is about being smart or having the right answer (i.e. like the perfect diet or exercise regimen, or the perfect house, family, and job). None of that is true. There are millionaires who have everything most people could ever want at their fingertips and they're more depressed than a person with a spinal cord injury who will never walk again. The difference is that one fully understands the voice and knows how to make the most of every situation and the other does not. If you have a voice inside berating you all of the time you will be depressed. If you have a voice inside reminding you to be grateful, love yourself, and to get the most out of each day of life you have, you are a lot less depressed.
It comes down to what you believe about yourself.
Stephen Hawking can only move his eyelids at this point in his life and he is still contributing to the world because he has done some serious inner work. I'm not implying that he is super man and never has a negative thought. To the contrary, he has every thought known to man cross his mind but can you imagine him producing the work he's made if he dwelled on the negative voice? His response to the circumstances in his life may seem like a paradox but it is not a paradox when you understand it.
You actually make the same choices every day that Stephen Hawking does. We all feel unmotivated at times but I think the key is to understand that we speak to ourselves nearly every waking moment of our lives. No one speaks into our life more than we do so we get to write the narrative. We become like the people we spend our time with so if you want a good influence in your life, you have to be that influence! I have come to understand that when we begin to feel depressed, chances are we are speaking the wrong things to ourselves. Yes bad things happen and yes we will be bummed about them. LIFE. But what about the rest of the time? What do we do after bad news?
The world is a mirror. When we lose faith in ourselves we lose faith in other people.
When we have faith in ourselves we are then able to have faith in others. We project our insecurities and fears and the world shines it back to us. Our inner foundation is a foundation worth strengthening.
Entitlement is point #2.
Do you feel you've been robbed in life?
Did you want something you didn't get?
Do you want to feel a certain way but you don't?
Did you work hard and dedicate a lot of time for something and it didn't work out?
I think we forget that we were born naked and knowing nothing. Are we really being cheated out of something we didn't have in the first place? Yes...I know for some of you this will sound especially ludicrous. But if from nothing you have something- clothes on your back, a language to speak, the ability to read, or a friend you trust, or happy memories...you are ahead from where you began. Most of us do not think about life this way, especially those who feel they are in competition with others. Most of us have the problem of not knowing what to do with success. No matter how little you think you have you can give something back to the world. If you do not realize you have something to give you are in effect not using your success. It doesn't have to be money. You can give any good deed, help, or support to another and it all counts.
You don't have to do anything specific in life to be successful. You get to chose your own path and your own way. You are unique and amazing and your life is a gift to the world. You have the freedom to go out and give what you wish to give. I ask you to give your smile, your laugh, your words of love and encouragement, and so forth...give these things freely and see how abundant your life really is. And I ask that you listen to the voice inside because it will tell you what you need to work on to make yourself better, to become enlightened so to speak. It will tell you all about your insecurities. It will tell you where you can stand to improve. But understand this, the voice will always be one of love and acceptance of you. It may want you to change something you're doing but like a loving parent it wants you to change because it will be best for you in the long run.
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