Life can be both magnificent, and challenging for everyone. No one is excluded from life’s personal inner battles, which begin every day, the moment we get out of bed. In this constant internal to and fro, it is very easy to lose sight of your aspirations and desires, and end up reacting automatically to whatever happens during the course of the day. Simply setting goals can help overcome inactivity and demotivation, so why is it that more often than not, we aren’t able to make this work?
Well, the human body and mind are programmed for inactivity, or rather to achieve and maintain a state of calm, but this condition cannot be achieved without effort. The body, once fed, well rested and safe, wants to sit back and take it easy, and so does a specific area of the mind. Meanwhile, another area of the brain knows it must continue to be alert and ready for any event that may arise in the future, which often creates an inner state of conflict. Prudence and control over one's own destiny are in fact distinctive human traits that have allowed humanity to survive for thousands of years.
Nowadays, this survival instinct - biologically speaking - comes up against even more obstacles in a society in which we are constantly expected to meet certain superficial standards. To break free from this loop, and find the willpower to set goals and pursue them, it is important to understand where the motivation for certain habits comes from. Many of our daily actions or life choices can be influenced by external factors (such as social media, our parents, friends and many more) and do not have the same strength as our intrinsic human instinct. Being able to cultivate one's own motivation is therefore the first step towards a solid and successful path to growth.
According to Anthony Raymond, to succeed in finding our motivation and forging our own personal path, we can look to the many forms of knowledge that humanity has developed over the centuries, and his particular focus is on some key concepts from Chinese and Japanese culture.
