Friday, May 15, 2009

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm: a feeling of lively interest, positive expectancy. We have all heard and believe the saying by Mr. Cousins that “laughter is the best medicine”. I propose that enthusiasm is very good medicine. What do men, women, children, parents, employers, co-workers, friends want? They want what we are all naturally drawn to - the apparent joy and happiness expressed by enthusiasm in “ourselves and others”. Without it, the destructive stress of too much “don’t want to” and “have to” and “shoulds” is significant. Depression, anxiety, negativity, procrastination, passive-aggressive behavior, lethargy and many other symptoms can result. Complaining becomes too central to the conversation. Most of us have responsibilities that are not always “fun” but if we lose our “want to” we can become increasingly negative in our interactions with ourselves and the world around us. There is no need to settle into helplessness or long for dreams far out of our reach. Look within your current context and practice looking for, and focusing on, specific “want tos” and build your mood there. Even specific positive details, no matter how seemingly minor, can improve your health.

Wayne Townsend (recent post from his website under the title Best Medicine)

I especially love the last few sentences and am presently working on filling my life with "want tos" and enthusiasm. Some of the things I'm enthusiastic about today are:
that our community garden is growing beautifully and all the plants are flourishing
that I got into an intriguing looking wetlands workshop next week
that my daughters lives are going so well and they are happy and healthy
that my family is coming down to the beach and spending the day with me tomorrow
What are you enthusiastic about today?

10 comments:

  1. a beautiful weekend is very nice - hope yours goes well too - enjoy the beach

    ReplyDelete
  2. I couldn't agree more!

    I'm enthusiastic about having 3 days off in a row! I'm enthusiastic about going out to tour Mountain View Conservation & Breeding Society tomorrow. It's one of my favourite places and I'm so pleased that I can support their work with endangered animals in some small way.

    I'm enthusiastic that I'm feeling better after a weird bout of some kind of virus that literally sucked the enthusiasm & energy right out of me.

    There's lots more, but I'll leave it at that. :o)

    Happy Weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Maria ... wonderful post. The wetlands workshop sounds interesting! Let us know how that goes. :)

    I'm enthusiastic about having a long w/e, and like you will be visiting family.

    I hope you have a wonderful w/e.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The message is simple, yet profound. The guy who wrote that must be some kind of shaman! Or more likely, life taught him some hard lessons and he is finally "getting it".

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post Maria! I think lack of enthusiasm is like a miasma and a plague that settles...being enthusiastic doesn't necessarily mean being manic and over the top -- it means feeling passionate and having a "want to" attitude -- so well said.

    I'm presently enthusiastic about completely a family history and getting to know some very distant relations (ideal for me who is now an "orphan" and looking for those connections), about spring and the joy of the garden, about my children and how their lives are working out, about what I'm going to read next, what I'm going to have for dinner tonight...some large, some small...but feeling the "want to" in all things!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the pictures of your calves below!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm enthusiastic about getting out and working in my garden and working with my little filly. Can't get enough of either!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog Maria :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm glad you left me a message because I lost my blog list. You are back on my roll now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enthusiasm, yeah,
    I am enthusiastically endorsing that!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enthusiasm? I was divorced for it. In England, by legal precendent, enthusiasm appears to be classed as "unreasonable behaviour" and grounds for divorce.

    These days I keep myself to myself and have taken up the solitary hobbies collecting postage stamps and the registration number of railway trains.

    ReplyDelete