Feeling unmotivated about things (to include meditating)? Try using the 3 words “I get to…”

I recently revisited a book that I bought a number of years ago called ‘Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within’ by Chade-Meng Tan. (My Kindle 'book shelves' are 'groaning' under the weight of all the mind/body books I have bought over the years, so I've been trying not to buy any new ones and am rereading the old ones with somewhat 'fresh eyes'.)

The book ('Joy on Demand') is about encouraging and feeling joy and happiness through the breath, through meditation.

In this passage the author mentions “I get to…” three times:

“The one I most highly recommend, however, is this: every time you have to wait, take a mindful breath. I spend a lot of my time waiting, and I imagine you do too. I wait at traffic stops and at lunch queues. I wait at the airport, at the train station, and at the taxi stand. I wait for meetings to begin, for VIPs to arrive, for my computer to start up, for webpages to load up. So much waiting. Every time I need to wait, I take one or more mindful breaths. This is a wonderful practice with many benefits. First, I never waste any time anymore, because every moment I wait is a moment I get to spend productively, practicing mindfulness meditation. Second, if the waiting causes me any agitation, I get to use the breath to calm down. And perhaps best of all, once you do this practice often enough that it becomes a habit, you will never be bored anymore because boredom itself becomes a cue. At the first sign of boredom, the mind goes like, “Yay! I get to meditate.” And then the mind just spontaneously engages in meditation. No more boredom.”

After reading this passage I decided not to just let my mind, over the course of time, develop the habit of greeting meditation with "Yay! I get to meditate", but I also proactively now take the approach of saying to myself “I get to...meditate” leading up to and/or while doing some breath meditation. And, upon finding that doing this considerably lightens and lifts my mood and willingness to meditate, I thought, “What if I applied saying to myself “I get to…” to other things that I don’t fancy or want to do?”. And my goodness when I tried it out, I found that it works a treat! (for me, anyway)

For example, recently, instead of saying to myself, “I’ve got to go to the dentist tomorrow” I said, “I get to go to the dentist tomorrow” and instantly the underlying dread (at the prospect of the dentist finding that I need a filling or something even more daunting) simply wasn’t there!

You can add for good measure something like “I get to go to the dentist tomorrow; I’m looking forward to having that great feeling of nice, smooth teeth after she’s cleaned them for me” to feel and express some gratitude (or some might say to add some extra ‘positivity’, it depends on how you look at it). However, I find it works well with just simply prefixing things with thinking and/or saying “I get to…” and you don’t have to necessarily look for 'the upside' and be ‘Pollyanna-ish’ about stuff.

Okay, so I just thought I’d mention this in case thinking and saying (and having an attitude of ) “I get to…” helps anyone else, not only with meditation but with other things too.

Namaste!

BM

 

I'm laughing @BloodMoon , because I did need to go to the dentist last week. Need, as in I had a cavity.
What is so funny is that my dentist himself changed it to a "get to" as in...if you stick around for half an hour, you get to come down to the beach and watch me surf on my lunch hour. And I look really good in a wet suit!
(He had also just told me he looks really good in a tux!).
It's hard not to "get" to go to the dentist when the dentist is a crack up!
Finding something positive about these things is very good advice. You might to "get to" talk to the kind receptionist, or "get to" enjoy the feeling of really clean teeth.

I hate cleaning. There is no way around the fact that my unconscious HATES to have to do "menial tasks" because of how much criticism was paired with them from the past. However, I found I enjoy cleaning much more when I focus on the outcome. "I get to have clean floors, and that feels great on bare feet!".

This fits in really well to Monty Huftle's "Thinking Clean" strategies which I found from posts long ago on this forum and this is what I am working on most now. Watching how negativism and self-criticisms can be sneaky like a cockroach and get through every nook and cranny.

Today's quote on Insight Timer: "if you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading" - Lao Tzu

 

Now, don't you go eating lots of candy just so you can 'get to' see Dr Tux again soon! lol

But all joking aside, I want to thank you for reminding me of Monty Huftle's "Think Clean" - I shall definitely revisit his strategies.

Like it! One to add to my select collection on the fridge door!

 

@BloodMoon —thanks for this post! Fantastic! I like the idea of using boredom as a cue to do something good for yourself—like meditate. Boredom can also lead to trouble, so this is a great plan. Just get meditating!

Love this! Loved the story about your dentist.