Let’s cultivate our motivation. Remember how important good motivation is. It can make the difference between whether we feel happy or whether we feel upset, whether we’re angry or whether we’re content and peaceful. It’s really important to continuously generate a good motivation, even in the face of hardship, even in the face of adversity, because that’s the time we have to practice. If we just practice when things are comfortable, then we’re not really practicing. If we abandon our good motivation when things get difficult, then yeah, we’re abandoning ourselves, basically. So there’s no choice but to continually cultivate a motivation of love and kindness, of forgiveness, of hope, of compassion, and going forward in our lives with that kind of motivation, because the only time we ever have to live is now, and the only time we ever have to practice is now.
If we say, “My happiness or my good motivation depends on external conditions, and until the external conditions are good, well, what to do? I’m just angry and unhappy,” that doesn’t do us any good, and it’s quite unrealistic. It’s living in our head, dreaming up all sorts of things that we’re not sure will happen. It’s best to, in all situations at all times, come back to a motivation of love and kindness, and especially a motivation that looks beyond a cyclic existence, knowing that this world does not exist in the way it appears to us, putting the events of this world in perspective, knowing that there’s countless living beings in this universe, all of whom have their own experience and want happiness and not suffering. So to continue to have that big mind, that really takes everyone into consideration, and knows that attaining full awakening is possible. However long it takes to do that, whatever it takes to do that, we’re committed. With that motivation, let’s listen to teachings and go forward in life.
