Motivation with a little “m”

Once you’ve decided you actually want to do a practice like meditation or guided imagery, you’ve got the “big M” motivation – you see the ultimate value of it in your life.  Then one of the biggest barriers to starting up meditation is inertia.  Overcoming inertia requires boosting that “little m” motivation – the day-to-day drive to get yourself going.  How often have you felt, “I don’t have the motivation for this?”  It’s a real difficulty. 

On the one hand, many people feel better quickly when they meditate or practice guided imagery.  On the other, it sometimes is difficult to remember how it can impact survival – it’s not immediately about filling your stomach or protecting you from predators, or helping you figure out how to keep your shelter intact.  While it may help all of those things over time through its various benefits for brain health, improving focus, and strengthening relationships, closing your eyes and detaching from the immediate environmental stimuli that beckon so appealingly for even a few minutes is extremely challenging. 

If getting started is your challenge, it can be helpful to think about the two types of reinforcement that you can use to modify your behaviors.  One is negative reinforcement, or avoiding an unpleasant experience.  When you are a newcomer to meditation and don’t have a long history of feeling its benefits, it can be hard to use this practically because when you are in the middle of strong emotions – such as anxiety or low mood – it doesn’t often feel like you can truly get out of that emotion by using meditation.  Perhaps some people can hold that perspective, but at least in my experience, not the majority. 

The other type of reinforcement is positive.  Now this can help you with starting a practice.  Take a look at the video above of BF Skinner training a pigeon to turn in a circle.  A pigeon.  To turn in a circle.  Crazy!  Easy!  Surprisingly easy!  And it is the same with you.  The fact is that if you associate your meditation practice with an immediate “survival” reward – such as a favorite food – you will get into the habit of meditating fairly readily. 

Here’s where many people get it wrong.  Many people deny themselves the reward if they don’t do everything they set out to do.  They feel like they shouldn’t be able to have that special reward (Cup of tea? Piece of chocolate? Delicious fruit?) unless they 100% complete what they said they would do.  But that wouldn’t work for a pigeon – and it won’t work for you either.  You have to reward the small movements toward the goal – just like BF Skinner did with the pigeon – in order to help your brain accomplish the bigger task. 

So the first time, perhaps you get your reward just if you turn on the recording – not even if you actually sit and do it.  Perhaps the next time, when you sit and meditate even for 30 seconds.  You get the full reward, to train your brain.  Because we are not pigeons, there are other rewards you can use besides food as well.  A favorite song.  Doing a happy dance.  Smiling.  Juggling.  Playing the guitar.  Playing a board game or a computer game. 

Once the habit has sunk in, you can reduce the amount of the reward, or the frequency you give it to yourself.  But actually getting started with a new practice is often worth the temporary indulgence.