> And the very notion of motivation — striving to obtain a more desirable future — implies some degree of discontentment with the present, which seems at odds w

> And the very notion of motivation — striving to obtain a more desirable future — implies some degree of discontentment with the present, which seems at odds with a psychological exercise that instills equanimity and a sense of calm. 'at odds with' is sort of a funny way of putting it: the realization that 'striving to obtain a more desirable future' often ends up being a trap is part of the very foundation of meditation, and explicitly so. The other aspect of what's being said here is sort of a subtle problem, and one of the things that freaks people out about getting too into meditation: if I'm totally content, I would have no motivation to do anything then, right? In practice however, that's not the case. 'Motivation' in this sense is about making yourself do something you don't want to do. For instance, someone highly motivated to succeed at work might put in super long hours and make sacrifices in other aspects of their life in order to get ahead. If you were more content with where you were, it's true you probably wouldn't do that—but instead you might start writing a novel or building a house or doing charity work or whatever. It doesn't mean you're going to be lazy (in fact, meditation can be quite energizing; often times after finishing a restful session I pop up and effortlessly start cleaning and taking care of whatever needs to be done), just that you won't feel pressure to change your situation.