Setting your motivation

We are beginning a retreat this weekend. I just want to welcome you all to the Abbey.

It’s always good when we begin a new activity to spend a moment on our motivation. This is a practice that actually we do every day in the morning to renew our motivation, start the day, and so we make a very strong aspiration for three things.

• The first one is, today as much as possible, I won’t harm anybody.
• Today as much as possible, I will be of benefit and service,
• Today I will also hold very clear in my mind the bodhicitta motivation to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

We hold those three motivations very strongly in our mind each day, and if you start out the day like that, then it influences the rest of your day because when different thoughts come up and you’re about to say something mean to somebody or you are about to be very selfish or whatever, then you remember your motivation in the morning, and it helps you recognize the negative thought and release it and let it go and then to cultivate your good motivation towards yourself and towards others.

Just introducing you to a very precious practice that is very good to do every day when you wake up. If you forget it when you wake up, have a Post-it on your bathroom mirror. That way, you’ll remember. Better than looking at your face and your pimples. [laughter] Or put it on the refrigerator. Better than rereading the coupon ten times. It’s something so that you’ll remember and generate that virtuous motivation.