I open this thread on the subject of "motivation" so anything someone wants to add on this subject in general is welcomed -

a few questions to start

would be nice to hear people here explain whats their motivation -  not asking of course all the people here who "just do" and mediate ect ... but people who need motivation still

what was the motivation when you started ?
why do you meditate ?
whats your meditation when things get really really hard - before a meditation or even during a meditation when you cant take it and stop meditating for sometime - what do you tell yourself to keep going and to put the effort to return to the meditation ?

what is motivation - is it annica ? can we increase our motivation?
did the buddha say anything about motivation ?
how to improve ones motivation ?
ect ect

howdy,
good question.  instead of 'anicca', 'dukka' would fit my case more. what drew me to be interested in solutions outside of the materialist model to search for 'happiness'?  perhaps because such a solution is not on offer by science and anything less than perfect happiness is unacceptable.

additionally my motivation has changed along the way.

the hole in my soul is not as great as it once was so my motivation has changed in that my level of contentment and my level of acceptance have allowed me to accept the fact that i should have no guilt about engaging in such a personal and intimate search. it is personal development but maybe there's more.

if some of the wider benefits to all beings are a side effect, thats great.  i can't say for sure if thats the case but a vary large part of my practice had been dedicated to the benefit of 'all sentient beings'.  somewhere along the line a large part of the 'doubt' about the benefits of practice fell away as did an attachment to the 'grander' motivations of bodhicitta.

i like the pragmatic approach to enlightenment and my personal progress reinforces that feeling.