It goes without saying that it takes a lot of courage and a lot of motivation to commit to months and sometimes years of solitary meditation. – Have you ever wondered how a Buddhist Monk/Nun keeps himself / herself motivated?
To get up every morning at 4am and meditate up to 12 hours a day?
Each meditator might have his/her own methods – but interestingly – there is a prescribed set of 4 meditations that Tibetan Buddhists are taught to help keep themselves motivated.
And these seem to work for most people. At least they worked for me on my retreat.
These meditations – or contemplations to be more precise are below:
As you can see they are a combination of stick then carrot, then stick again and finally carrot – to encourage us to make meditation a high priority.
Go ahead and try them out an see if they work for you.
- Contemplation that suffering is prevalent
- Contemplation on the appreciation of our life
- Contemplation that our life could end at any moment
- Contemplation on the best use of the present moment
