Intentional Living

When Mr. Emmanuel Tweh Friday visited me, a stash of books welcomed him. Books are almost everywhere; dining table, reading table, couch and others in storage boxes. His wondrous question was familiar; "Ivan, do you read all these books?" I smiled demurely, saying that I have re-read some more than twice. You should have seen his face [clouded and torn between doubting and believing]. I am motivated by seeking knowledge and knowing where to obtain it. Reading to me comes naturally, it's things like withholding that I struggle with (I just can't keep my mouth shut quite long enough).

The hardest two things in life are to know who you really are, and to know what you really want. Once you know those two core aspects of your Self, then motivation follows. In my opinion, motivation is the stimulant of doing what you really really want and that what makes you fulfil who you really are. It is a combination of doing what you love in order to become who you want to be and realize your potentialities. I believe that formula is undefeatable when it comes to leveraging your motivation for personal success in life.

True motivation is both intrinsic and extrinsic. This is actually a good thing, and I would say it means your inner-world is aligned with your outer-world. Most of us are motivated by external things like money, benefits, cars, status, name it. It is the innate purpose we lose sight off. The best motivation is to first believe in yourself and your incredible mind and body. Next to it, is love and faith in what most people see as god and the nature. Then love for other humans and everything worth loving.

With reaching perfection in mind and life, it is very easy to always motivate oneself, and the possibilities are endless. The distinction between what works for you and what does not is always limpid. Our minds are with endless possibilities but our biological bodies are with limitations. As a by the way, I guess this was the motivation for spirituality and subsequently religions. As our minds are very busy with taking care of our bodies, we should nourish them. That is to be taken into account every time when working on improvement in mind and life.

Great motivation is very important when creating the goals in life, and the goals are very important for successful living of the future humanity.