I often feel down.
Do you? Now, before you go judging me (or yourself) for being defective in some way, consider: do you often feel physically hungry? I know I do - several times a day! Do you often feel dirty? I know I do.
I need a couple of showers a day! Do you often feel sleepy? Sure! I need plenty of sleep every day - and a nap if I can help it! So why do we beat ourselves up when we feel down and unmotivated and lost? Zig Ziglar was a master at this: he often reminded his listeners that they had to motivate themselves daily.
It's not a one-time thing.
If you feel down a few days after a great motivational seminar or the day after an inspired worship service or an hour after you heard news of a job promotion, there's not something wrong with you.
You're normal! You get hungry a few hours after every meal.
You feel down a while after every high! There's not anything wrong with you.
You just need to learn how to feed yourself! This is a big part of Daniel Goldman's discovery in his groundbreaking work, Emotional Intelligence.
People of high "EQ" know how to make themselves happy.
And how do you make yourself happy? How do you motivate yourself? Well, take mental awareness of your state when you were experiencing a high moment.
We tend to take those for granted, not paying much attention to what made us happy in those moments.
But think about it.
Who was with you? What were you eating or drinking? What were you wearing? What time of the day was it? What kind of building were you in? What smells did you encounter? I'll tell you some of mine if you'll tell me some of yours: Particular happy, intelligent and - more importantly - empathetic friends of mine.
Cathartic conversations with said friends.
A banquet hall or ballroom.
Good morsels of protein, preferably some shellfish.
Heaps of steamed or lightly cooked vegetables.
(I'm thinking of broccoli right now!) A cafe.
A bookstore.
A cafe in a bookstore.
The smell of brewing coffee.
The smell of citrus (not so much of flowers).
A heavy pen in my hand, with a gel ink nib.
Fine paper that feels like skin - much like one would find in a Moleskine notebook.
An elevated view with a balcony.
Holding my iPhone in my hands, landscape format, and writing in plain text.
Reading my own blog, in reverse chronological order.
I do each of these things when I can.
I ask divinity for such experiences as grace would provide.
Some things I do to feed myself are fundamental, "big-ticket" items, like meditating or writing or brainwave entrainment.
Some things are little experiences for which I'm grateful and which inspire even more gratitude in me.
Like a hand-ground tumbler of filtered African coffee - made with my son's help.
Like a whiff of CK One perfume.
Like a moment with myself at a quiet cafe (not a Starbucks) and a book - physical or digital.
Whatever floats your boat, whatever turns you on, whatever feeds your spirit - take many moments to do that.
But you know what? To round it off, keep a journal and turn to it regularly in moments of need for inspiration.
It's the one thing that's made the biggest difference for me, and I'll bet it'll be the same for you, too.
I keep a txt file journal in the cloud and a public journal - my blog.
I read/write them often.
It's the best way to motivate yourself when you need a boost.
Do you have a journalling system in place?