I think the three I talked about were Dedication of Intention, combined with Death and To Care and Not To Care. So, we remind ourselves what is important to us, and keep our resolutions to have more equanimity towards things that are not so important, and to keep our compassion for ourselves strong.
Give any suggestions about what is important and what is not? Well, formal meditation is very important! Because it's very easy to be swept away in day-to-day living and forget to give ourselves time. Time to reflect on something that is more important than just going around and around in day-to-day living, and in our dealings with the moment to moment feelings. You may feel, "Oh, I don't feel like doing this," but in order to be able to understand what is important you have to be able to reflect on it daily, what is important, because it's easy to forget.
One thing that is very important in determination is to have strong confidence. Strong confidence in the Four Noble Truths, strong confidence in the Noble Eightfold Path. Strong confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. Confidence inspiring meditations are very important to keep determination going. Because sometimes the practice seems boring, sometimes the practice seems disappointing and difficult. If you have strong confidence and keep the determination going, then at least you keep going in that direction along the Noble Eightfold Path. Reflect on the Noble Eightfold Path, to know actually what your direction is. That's the way out! But if we don't actually know what the factors are, we can't actually see the possibilities within our normal life to develop them and how to go in that direction. It's a bit like a roadmap. If we're going out on a journey we have to actually have some directions on where to go, otherwise we may have strong determination, but we don't know where we're going. So, reflecting on the Noble Eightfold Path is very helpful for getting determination, and confidence is very important.
Sometimes if you feel that you haven't got any suffering in life, then you may not have such strong determination. If everything is rather pleasant, and we forget about reflecting about Dukkha, we may not have such strong determination. Reflection on Death helps with this, that is part of the three that I gave you. We need strong confidence in the path leading out of suffering.
Sometimes people feel like the practice is a burden. But they don't reflect on how many people are burdened by the work of normal activities in the world. That's a burden, too! But at least with our practice we get some benefits beyond just supporting the body. So, understanding what our spiritual practice is for, that it shows Compassion for ourselves, helps keep our determination going. And when we get discouraged, use confidence inspiring objects.
Who would you rather be, the person you are now, or the person you were prior to any training in meditation? Good question. One of the things that keeps my determination to teach going, is that I remember who I used to be, before I met the Buddha Dhamma, and reflect "Well, what would have happened to me if nobody had wanted to teach me?" So, reflecting about whom you used to be and what the Dhamma has done for you is very inspiring. Not only to keep your practice going, but perhaps to be of benefit to others also.