Urgency & Continuity
We keep going with good qualities for starting out the year, and talk about urgency (saṁvega) and continuity in practice. Urgency is also inspiration, so points to all the factors that keep us engaged with the path. Not giving up or wasting our time on things that don't serve our well-being. It is also an attitude that directly challenges inertia, laziness, and nihilism. If you don't think your actions matter much, and don't think any aspect of your experience of pain lasts past your death, then it's hard to stay motivated. Saṁvega cuts through these freezy parts of the psyche and tries to wake you up. Once your passion for practice is lit, things become much easier.
Continuity means keeping the heat on. It's not only easier to move when you have energy, but when you're already moving. So there's getting your steam up for the work of practice, and then there's keeping it going. It's not a race, so this doesn't mean rest is anathema to practice—the opposite is true. Rest is golden. But dissipating energy through forgetting to be mindful or tend your state isn't.
