Finding Positive Motivators in Life

“I have nothing to prove and no reason to compete” he said. And I wondered what got him out of bed in the mornings

I decided to explore what he said, after all, he was up and about. I sometimes think there’s a danger to self-examination. That’s to say, looking to closely, at what motivates us. We can end up thinking that what motivates us is a negative. And when we remove that we start to struggle with finding the positives. Or a least finding positive motivators, that do actually get us out of bed, so to speak. I feel this is ever more prevalent when it’s been negative motivators that we’ve been working off all our lives. Needing to be liked, or loved, or approved of – being good examples. And yet, isn’t it these things that motivate most of us, most of the time?

So what can we see as a true, positive, motivator? Could this simply be love of life and what we do with it?

For the above to be true and sufficient to motivate us, I feel we do need reminding, occasionally, of what fundamental and essential aspects of life we must focus on. That being, the extraordinary nature, of life itself. The absolutely, magical reality, that we are here living, right now. That we, humans (and all life), are the children of a star only because that star has been stable for billions of years. That the exact position we are from this star – and that we have a stabilizing moon – mean the conditions for life, and for it to have had sufficient time to evolve, have been just right.

All of this means we are extremely rare. My personal opinion, is that we may represent the only intelligent life, in the galaxy. And that this brings a certain responsibility with it. The responsibility to actually live this life, to the best of our abilities, moment by moment. Is it the case, as suggested by people far more intelligent than I, that it’s our existence that gives meaning to the universe?

Mindfulness is certainly key to carrying this responsibility successfully

Can being reminded of the above facts (raising our awareness to them), be sufficient to get us out of bed, when we have nothing to prove, and no reason to compete? How about when we have no one to please except ourselves? I reckon I’ll meditate on all of these points tomorrow. How about you?