Motivation is a burst of energy for a short period of time; making long-term decisions based on motivation not only causes a slew of problems. Trying to stay motivated all of the time puts a lot of strain on the body.
For the last 5 years, a friend of mine has been going to the gym… in the 1st week of January. Last year it was for 3 days in a row, and that was a record.
What more? He spends his entire December motivating himself. We also know that friend who started a business under the influence of this short-lived drug called motivation.
We all know such a friend right? … I’m sure we do, because we are never that one.
Okay, jokes apart, but motivational impulsive actions do come with a cost. Sometimes only money but sometimes we also end up losing our confidence in ourselves for not being able to commit.
… I’d say there’s no need to lose our trust in ourselves, but what is indeed required is understanding that a long term project needs a long term fuel and motivation uses a very primitive mechanism to take actions on, which is not meant to last for a long span in time.
Motivation pumps adrenaline into our bodies. Our body naturally secretes adrenaline in situations of physical threat; we all know that when a caveman faced a life-threatening situation like coming face-to-face with a tiger, the body would release adrenaline as an immediate effect, leaving the instinct of the caveman with excess energy and with the two options of fighting or fleeing to choose from. This sudden gust of energy is useful but short lived.
We cannot rely on running our daily life based on this pumping of adrenaline for two reasons
It is not viable because our projects are long term and require consistent effort with a calm mind, not just a spike of urgently claimed energy.
Speaking of side effects: if we try to ride on motivation and regularly pump adrenaline, it causes stress in the body because guess what message is our biological system getting? … Yes, that our life is continuously under threat. This kind of stress in the body eventually leads to diseases and ill health.
In this context, if you feel like taking an action, say signing up to a training course based on feeling motivated, say because they are glamorous and motivating right – If so, tell yourself that you are going to a weekend fun programme but don’t falsely promise yourself a long-term life benefiting transformation.
For a long term effect, choose with a calm mind, evaluate the expected results, see if it makes sense. Make sure that the advertisement of the training is inclined towards motivation. Make sure that you take up Gym, or any decision for that matter, based on a calm and quiet mind.
Shoonyo is a visionary and spiritual mentor. After 18 years of meditation and significant research into mind powers, NLP, martial arts practice with a black belt, healing practices, and deeper spiritual practices, he experienced the clarity of awakened space and began sharing with seekers.
Shoonyo worked as a business intelligence manager in London for 10 years. He abandoned an opulent international corporate career to guide people towards awakening space.
Shoonyo now runs 3 ventures in India; Corporate training and leadership, One:One mentoring , and a mental wellness NGO known as Shoonyo Foundation.
Other than business ventures, he has authored two books: " Looking for the obvious", an amazing work of spiritual fiction; and "Embodying Bhagavad Gita," a nine-month practical course on the Bhagavad Gita. He is Amazon's # 3 best-selling author and is cherished by elite readers.