17

SHAMANIC DIRECTIVES

FOR ADDRESSING MOTIVATION

And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:1–5 

SHAMANIC TEACHING

To God be the glory for those times in which inspiration flows. The days and nights fly by, infused with a motivation that is effortless, unlearned, and unearned. It is simply there, powering us to fly through our life. And then it stops, and we are left stranded on an island of immobility. How do we get inspired and motivated to move again? This dilemma visits us throughout our lives. It is part of the ebb and flow of everyday living. The presence and absence of motivation is a breath that goes in and out with its own natural cycles.

When motivation becomes an issue, we may worry, fret, and concern ourselves with recharging our inspirational batteries. When the absence of motivation is upon us, we try to pick ourselves up and get remotivated. The shaman who understands the four-cornered cross knows that something can be done—and undone—when we are left stranded with no desire to live fully. Shamans recognize that motivation runs dry in the absence of creative expression and absurd merriment. When one is caught in motivational depravity, it is time to call for an infusion of playful absurdity. This, in turn, gives rise to creative impulses and the subsequent flow of the life force.

Enter into the dried motivation spells and counter them with an incantation of absurd play. Allow the voice of unreason to quiet the overly trained problem-solving mind. Think of your rational intelligence and your emotional intelligence. Now consider your nonsense intelligence. Give it some playtime. Allow it to sweep away the cobwebs that prevent you from seeing rays of hope and newfound inspiration. Allow yourself to plunge into the absurd.

DIRECTIVE: SHAMANIC MOTIVATION STRIPS

The next time you find yourself thinking, “I wish I had more motivation,” do the following. With scissors cut out twenty-five strips of paper. On each piece of paper write the words SHAMANIC MOTIVATION in capital letters.

Obtain a medium-sized glass jar. Place your strips of shamanic motivation into this jar. Do this every time you worry whether or not you have enough motivation. When the jar becomes full of shamanic motivation strips, you can proceed to the next step.

The first time you catch yourself being motivated to pray and actually do it, take one shamanic motivation strip out of your big jar. Write down what you prayed about on the back side of the strip of paper. Place this strip inside a brand-new Bible you have never opened before. Continue filling this Bible with your descriptions of truly motivated prayer.

When you have fed your Bible all the strips, find a spiritually oriented person who is having a motivational problem and share this procedure with him or her. Make them promise that they, too, will pass on the knowledge to someone else when they finish making their motivated Bible.

Considerations

• What difference might it make if you cut out strips of cloth instead of paper and hung them over your Bible instead of placing them inside its pages?
• Do any of the motivational strips seem stronger to you than others? Consider coloring these with colors you like and placing them in your Bible, perhaps on a page with a favorite passage.
• Rather than place the strips inside your Bible, imagine taping them to the outside of the Bible.
• After the strips have lived in your Bible for a while, consider taking them to your yard or someplace in the woods and burying them near a tree.
• Rather than bury your strips, ponder attaching them to helium balloons and releasing them into the atmosphere.

DIRECTIVE: THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

Purchase three different-sized beach balls so you have a small, medium, and large one. On each ball write the words, “I think I can. I think I can.” The next time you worry about your motivation, determine whether it is a small, medium, or large motivational problem. Choose the beach ball that fits the size of your problem.

Now blow up the beach ball in this special way: After each puff of air, say, “I think I can. I think I can.” Make certain that you do this in the presence of two things: a lit candle and the classic children’s book, The Little Engine That Could. Keep your three balls, a candle, and the book together and never do this procedure unless the candle, the book, and the beach balls are all present.

Every time you notice a motivational success in your life, purchase a new copy of The Little Engine That Could. Give the old copy that helped you get motivated to a school, a library, or an organization that will give it to a needy child. Make sure to drop a little candle wax somewhere inside the book. Bless the wax in a way that makes you feel good about your deed.

Considerations

• Think about how you will drip the candle wax in the books. Make certain it creates some kind of symbol that has meaning to you. Use different colors of candle wax.
• Consider writing an inscription inside the books you give away. Perhaps you can write and sign as if you are the little engine. For example: “From one engine to another engine—I know you can. The Little Engine.”
• Write the initials I.T.I.C. and glue them to a photograph of a train engine. Place this photograph inside your car engine. Think about it being there whenever you need a boost.
• Gather a collection of train photos. Attach all of them to a string, and hang a sign at the bottom that says, “All of us can.” Sign it “The Spirit Trains.” Hang this string of trains inside your closet.

DIRECTIVE: YELLOW PAGES POWER SPOT

Take one whole day during the weekend to accomplish this shamanic task. Begin the day by consulting the yellow pages of the phone book and looking up entries under the letter m. These may include entries for machine, magazines, magician’s supplies, mannequins, maps, massage, meditation, mirrors, museums, and musical instruments. Choose a place that you have never visited. Make certain it arouses your curiosity. Call to make sure the place is open and then go on a drive to visit this new place.

When you arrive at the new place in your life, ask for a business card. In a notebook, write down the three most interesting things you find in the place. Ideally, these will be things you never knew existed.

When you finish with m, you will need to return to the yellow pages and look up the entries under the letter o. These may include office equipment, oils, optical devices, organ tuning, and oxygen. Choose a place and repeat the same steps as for the m entry.

Do this for the letters t, i, v, a, t, i, o, and n. You may find that you are only able to make one trip per day. It may take several weekends to complete the required journeys.

When you are finished, you will have visited ten new places and have ten new business cards. You will also have a notebook listing a total of thirty interesting things you found in your explorations.

From this moment on, do the following when you struggle with turning on the motivational juice. Get out your ten business cards and shuffle them like a deck of cards. Randomly select one card. That card will tell you where to go. You are to return to that place and look for the three interesting things you found there previously. If something is missing, inquire as to what happened to it. Stay in the place for at least five minutes.

The first time this exercise engages and inspires your motivation and lifts your spirit, which may be on the first try or not until later, throw away all the other cards and only keep the card of the place that helped get you motivated. From that day forward, remind yourself of that particular place whenever you need to get motivated.

Make this place your shamanic temple of motivation. The only place you will think, wonder, strategize, or do anything with your motivation will be at this special place. If you move to a different location, repeat this procedure so you can find a new motivational power spot.

Considerations

• If you feel that your power spot needs a boost, consider finding a new place or doing something to recharge the old place. Perhaps you need to find another new thing in the place you hadn’t noticed before. This time, purchase it and gift wrap it. Place it in the trunk of your car when you go on subsequent trips to the power spot.
• Find a map and mark the power spot. Write the words, “Power spot for motivation” near the marking. Place this map inside an empty bottle and leave it in an interesting place.
• Open your yellow pages to the p section and write in a new entry: “Power Spot.” Spell out the address and phone number.
• Take someone to your power spot and tell them what you did as you walk through the place. Invite them to try it for themselves.
• Send a thank you card to the place and say, “Thank you for creating an important place. I go there to get motivated. It provides a wonderful service to the community.”

DIRECTIVE: DISTILLING MOTIVATIONAL EXPERTISE

Go to a place where a “motivational expert” is offering a speech or workshop on motivation. Do not attend the workshop. Instead, wait until there is a lunch break and, with a notebook in full view, talk to at least ten people who are in attendance. Ask each person you interview to tell you in one sentence the most important thing they have learned about motivation. Write these sentences down in your notebook.

Make certain you select ten different people who look motivated. Do not bother with anyone who appears unmotivated. Similarly, if someone tells you something in a manner that sounds unmotivated, it is best to reject his or her offering.

Take these ten motivational statements and type each one on a separate index card. Arrange the cards in some kind of order so that each sentence seems to be connected to the next.

Now write a letter in which you pretend to be an expert on motivation. Briefly say you have found ten important things to know about spiritual motivation and list the ten motivational statements in the order in which you arranged them. After each statement, give the name of an animal or plant you believe symbolizes the point you are making.

Send this letter to three friends who you think may be interested in shamanism. See what you can learn from their responses.

Considerations

• Do the best statements about motivation come from those who look the most motivated?
• Consider doing the directive again and interviewing the people who look least motivated. See if there is any noticeable difference when you compare the things they say with the statements made by people who look highly motivated.
• Send a letter about your study to the motivational speaker.
• Collect photographs of the animals and plants you chose to symbolize the motivational statements. Place them in an open shoe box and consider it a shamanic nature preserve.
• Select the plant or animal that you feel is the supreme example of motivation. Make this your private symbolic ally. Imagine talking to this ally about your motivational challenges.

DIRECTIVE: A LITTLE NOISE, PLEASE

Go to a party store and purchase three party noisemakers. Call them Gabriel’s horns and ask for their permission to be used in a shamanic way. If they do not talk back, assume they have granted their permission. Keep these shamanic noisemakers with you when you go to work. You may conceal them in a bag or briefcase.

Whenever you find yourself feeling spiritually unmotivated, go to a private place, perhaps a rest room. Take your shamanic noisemakers along with you. When no one is looking, make noise for ten seconds. Use each noisemaker. Under no circumstance should you make noise for longer than ten seconds.

After you make the noise, try to keep the memory of the sound in your head. Tell yourself that the reason you are unable to get spiritually motivated is the noise in your own head. If your mind forgets the sound of your noise, reach into your arsenal of noisemakers, pull one out, and sneak in a little reminder.

Considerations

• Will you make one noise at a time or make all three noises at the same time?
• Recall the name of the noisemakers. When you use them, speak Gabriel’s name before letting them sound off.
• Experiment with other noisemakers and names.
• Ask someone to help you. Have them make noise upon your command. Then have them direct you to make noise. Consider a duet.
• Listen to whether the world sounds the same after you make noise. Is it quieter? Calmer? Or does it seem more full of sound? Are there times when making noise makes a clearing for your mind? Study the aftereffects of making noise in this way.

DIRECTIVE: CLUES FOR FINDING THE MISSING MOTIVATION

Before setting off on this directive, choose the task in your life that you are least motivated to accomplish. Then think of your search for motivation as a great mystery story in which someone has stolen your motivation. Pretend that some imaginary villain has stolen, kidnapped, or even murdered your motivation.

Your assignment on this case is to find ten possible clues for the crime. To create this list, you must go to your Bible or any spiritual book and randomly open it ten times to find ten sentences or verses. The only clues you can put on your list are those you actually find printed in this book.

When you have located ten possible clues, identify the one that makes the least sense to you. Write this sentence or verse on a dark piece of paper and carry it with you for at least twenty-four hours.

The next day, carefully analyze the clue and select one word from the sentence or verse. This word should be the word that is most representative of the meaning of the clue. Write that word on the palm of one of your hands.

For the next twenty-four hours, think of creating one sentence that explains the motive behind your missing motivation. This sentence must contain the word written on your hand.

The next day you may wash the word from your hand. At noon, write your sentence on a legal pad. Tear out the page it’s written on and carry this sentence with you for at least a week. During that time, have a minimum of three conversations in which you explain what you did. Tell each person you simply followed some instructions from a book. Ask them to come up with an elaborate, mystical explanation for your sentence. Continue until you have collected three mystical explanations that you find interesting. They cannot be trite or obvious explanations. They must be understandings that are fascinating and bring mystery to you.

Considerations

• Vary the spiritual books you use in the exercise. Try religious books you know nothing about or books from religions you think you wouldn’t like. What surprises come forth?
• Imagine that the person who stole your motivation is a character mentioned in a religious book. Do not assume that this person stole your motivation for a bad reason. Perhaps they stole it to help you evolve spiritually.
• Pretend that the elaborate mystical explanations given to you by others actually hold deeper clues about your motivation. Examine them for clues. Choose one clue that seems to speak most directly to your curiosity. Write it down and place it in the bottom of your shoe. Take a walk and work on solving the mystery.
• Make up a motivational issue that is not a part of your life and act as if it were really an issue for you. Aim the directive at this fantasy issue.

DIRECTIVE: DICTIONARY MEDICINE

Look up the word motivation in a dictionary. Choose any word the dictionary uses to define it and then look up that word. Repeat this procedure with the definition of the new word. Continue until you have worked yourself through six words in the dictionary. It doesn’t matter whether you are familiar with the words you look up.

After finishing with motivation, repeat the process with the word spirit. Again work yourself through six words.

Do this every morning before you go to work, again at lunch, and then after dinner. Always begin with the words motivation and spirit. It doesn’t matter if you find yourself revisiting familiar word territory. This “dictionary medicine” is to be taken three times a day for two weeks.

Considerations

• Wait sixty seconds between looking up each word. Allow each definition to sink into your mind as a meditation.
• Randomly open the dictionary and point to any word. Imagine that it is the definition of motivation. Do the same for spirit.
• Open the dictionary ten times. Each time, write one letter of the word motivation across the entire page with a colored pencil. Start with the letter m and proceed to the next letters of the word. When you have spelled the entire word, think of the word lying within the dictionary. Imagine it floating inside the book.
• Write down a word that you think means the opposite of motivation. Spell it backward, and consider the reverse spelling to be a motivational word.
• After you have conducted this practice at least twenty-five times, write “Dictionary Medicine” on the cover of your dictionary.

DIRECTIVE: KNOT MOTIVATED

Go to a printing company and make an order for a minimum number of business cards for yourself. On this card, have printed only your name and the following words directly underneath your name:

When someone asks you to do something you aren’t motivated to do, immediately hand out one of these cards. Before they ask any questions, read the following to them, “Motivation is like a knot. Knots are stuck spots or lumps on an otherwise straight string or rope that sometimes bind, connect, or tie things together.”

Then say, “A knot is also the name of an Old World bird, a bird that doesn’t like solitude, but enjoys being with its fellow birds. Sometimes this bird was known as the ‘great knot.’ ” Ask the person whether they have ever heard of the “great knot.”

Do not discuss the card any further. Tell the person you are conducting a research project for a shamanic teacher. Your job is to ask them what they think the card means. Keep a written record of their responses.

Considerations

• Consider someday writing a booklet or creating a Web site entitled “Knot Motivated” that includes these responses.
• Consider tying a knot in a string and carrying it with you.
• Draw a picture of a bird with this caption: “Related to the knot.” When you catch yourself having motivational despair, look at this drawing and imagine that your motivational knot (the way you feel tied up or caught in an existential tangle) can fly away.
• Contemplate what it would mean to be motivated about knots. Then reexamine your new business card that says “Knot Motivated.”
• Make other “Knot Motivated” cards in different sizes, colors, or designs. Remember that the knot likes company. Always carry several cards so they are never lonely.
• When you have to sign your name somewhere, add the middle name Knot.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The shamanic practices set forth in this chapter set the stage for tricking yourself into becoming motivated about those times when you are not motivated. The best method for learning how to get motivated is tinkering with the times when you can’t get motivated. We don’t learn a thing about how to be motivated, or become more motivated or motivated in a different way, if we remain contently motivated. Learning and growth is only possible when things aren’t working. The only mistake we make when we find ourselves stuck is that we stop tinkering, experimenting, and playing. This is true not only for motivational issues, but for all human problems and suffering.

As you may be learning, the key to being a Christian shaman is accepting whatever life brings, making your prayer, walking forward with trust, and then throwing yourself into the playpen. This is why you must become like a child to enter the heavenly kingdom. Children always play with what is set in front of them. This keeps them full of vibrant energy and life. The kingdom of God is found in the sacred playpen or playground where all experiences are gifts for divine play. Praise the times when you are unmotivated. Use them to discover new and exciting pathways to becoming fully enthralled with life.