Internal Motivation, Carrots and Deception: The Sequel

We spent focused time and sharing as a Group discussing the concept of motivation. We each provided examples of what motivates us with the intention of learning the difference between internal and external motivation. Internal motivation requires each of us to make adjustments in our thoughts and behavior so that we can shift away from old patterns. We all agreed that we are predominately externally motivated. Examples put out there were bargaining with our parents to get something in exchange for doing what they asked so we could get our gaming equipment back, get our car keys, and stay out later. So we did things such as promising to clean our rooms, tried quitting cigarettes, and made it look like we were trying to improve our grades. That whole dishonesty thing we deny 24/7.

Many times we didn't even follow through. Some people refer to external motivation like having a "carrot dangled out in front of you." We all agreed that we only did what others asked because we wanted the rewards so we could get our stuff back and return to  business as usual. We really didn't learn anything except how to manipulate to get more, more, and extra more of everything that we wanted. 

As we explored the concept of internal motivation, we felt anxious while delving deeper. Our Expedition Instructors asked us, "where each of us stood in relationship to our willingness to commit to developing internal motivation"? This is not something we can do in an hour. Don't they realize we do not want to change nor do we have an endless amount of time. All of this blah, blah, motivation stuff seems so urgent! Then, we talked about the process.... the steps we can take to understanding and learn to be open to practicing these concepts. We can begin in the here and now with relationships, while on Expeditions, writing our families, and in our everyday lives.

We had ingredients to make pizza from scratch for dinner. We made two XL pizzas, one Veggie and another with Pepperoni. The chilly wind created a situation where the dough took hella longer to rise. Well worth the wait. They tasted really quite garlicky good. We had tea by the campfire and relaxed on the benches A.G. made for Expedition Camp this past week.

Relapse was a topic we were being asked to think about for this evening's Group. OUCH! Relapse is something we'd all rather avoid discussing altogether.

To be continued....