The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org.

Good morning. Thank you, Martha. I'm, as Martha said, I'm Diana Clark, and for those of you who don't know me, I teach her on Monday nights and occasionally substitute for

Gill here and there. So this morning I want to talk a little bit about what is it that motivates us to practice?

What is it that motivates us to come here on a Sunday morning or to have this daily meditation practice or listen to

darma talks on YouTube or audio darma or read darma books or you know whatever

it might be.

Like what is it that are aspirations that are related to practice?

And it can be helpful to reflect on this on occasion taking some time

to think about what is it that, what is our motivation or what is our

aspiration? Maybe as I'm speaking you can ask yourself this question. What is maybe like the North Star that is guiding you or

supporting you in practice.

And there's a way in which when we align with our aspirations,

there's a sense of maybe some openness or some ease

or a sense of well-being.

In contrast, when we have like this goal that we got to get,

that's kind of associated more with a feeling of tightness or maybe some clinging or leaning

forward.

Maybe an aspiration is something that's more of an uplift in a sense of, I don't know, some ease and inspiration.

Because there is great power available when we are aligned with our aspirations,

when the heart is connected with that which is important to us.

When the heart is connected to something bigger than just what we're doing at that moment is it important

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