Community (Sangha)

Sangha

The simplest way to create and sustain motivation is through changing your orbit — who you are around and what your community is.

For example, the most crucial thing to succeed in meditation is sangha, which is Sanskrit for “community”. Even though meditation may feel like a solo practice, being part of a community anchors people to their practice, and pulls them out of the need for motivation.

Staying excited for a goal is different from following a task through to completion. Dharana will help you stay on task and complete something. If you do dharana and tell your mind to stay on something, it will stay there and follow through. However, maintaining excitement is not about focus or follow through.

Excitement, by definition, is going to fluctuate. Our brain is wired for homeostasis. Homeostasis is our body’s tendency to return back to an equilibrium point.

For example, emotions, by nature is temporary. You may feel angry, and your brain has mechanisms to make the anger fade over time.

Caution

However, when you have excitement (or any emotion) that persists over time, then that is pathological. That is not how our mind is supposed to function. Excessive excitement over a period of time is called mania, and excessive sadness over a period of time is called depression.

Therefore, the maintenance of any emotion is not something our body is wired to do. Hence, the answer to this question is to find a community (Sangha).

How do we stay excited about a video game? The more we immerse ourselves in a community, the more excitement we feel for it.

Let’s say a new game comes out, like Cyberpunk. The more your community talks about Cyberpunk, the more hype there is going to be for the game, and the more excited you will be for the game. This is why preorders exist, even though they turn out to be really bad products.

For example, meditation communities are very important. You are going to get bored of meditation eventually — everyone gets bored of meditation. The trick is to find a community where people talk about meditation.

Sangha is like a gravitational orbit. Your mind has different forces pulling on it. The more things you immerse yourself in, the more your mind will be affected by these forces. What your mind gets moved towards naturally is going to be dependant on your community.

Danger

This has an interesting implication. If you are surrounded by toxicity, then you are more likely to be toxic.

If you structure your community properly, your mind will be geared towards a particular direction. It is one of the most powerful ways to maintain excitement.

References and Related Content

1. Why You Fail to Maintain Motivation | Ask Dr. K