“Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.”― Steve Maraboli

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to resign themselves to the same habitual life and thoughts where they choose not to get too excited?

Have you also wondered how some people seem to embody excellence and have a twinkle in their eyes and a burning passion in their hearts?

The missing ingredient in a life that seems unexciting and beaten down is enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm for new things…

Enthusiasm for change…

Enthusiasm for living a life of excellence…

Enthusiasm to connecting with people…

Enthusiasm to do work of great interest to self and of great value to others…

When I looked up enthusiasm, the wonderful integrated dictionary on my computer gave this meaning:

enthusiasm |enˈTHo͞ozēˌazəm| noun

Intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval • a thing that arouses feelings of intense and eager enjoyment

ORIGIN early 17th cent. ( sense 2): from French enthousiasme, or via late Latin from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthous ‘possessed by a god, inspired’ (based on theos ‘god’).

Some of the synonyms of the word “enthusiasm” are words such as keenness, eagerness, passion, zeal, energy, zest, gusto, verve, interest, commitment, devotion, earnestness, approval, support and encouragement.

What are some of the ways that we can increase enthusiasm or deepen a feeling of passion and experience unbridled excitement in our life?

1. Decide On A Big Picture, A Mission, A Purpose Or Your Dharma

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it”― Gautama Buddha

If you want to infuse your life with enthusiasm, either find your purpose or Dharma or allow it to find you.

The quest begins with a few simple questions: 

Ask: How interested are you in what you are doing?

          What are the deeper reasons for your interest or the lack of it?

          What do you like and what is it that you do not like?

          What are you attracted to regardless of fame, money and status?

Be: The embodiment and an example of the life that you want to create and the Dharma or purpose that you want to manifest. 

Know: It is never too late to shift directions and begin something new.

Do: Take small actions on your passions and interests.

Take the time today to decide on what you really want to do. If you are not sure, it is even better because you get to choose and pick from the endless possibilities!

Most of us have such busy lives that finding a single big meaning or purpose seems impossible. Have the courage to let go of the things that do not resonate with you deeply and allow them to fall away.

When we silence our minds and actions for long enough to listen to our intuition and the voice of inspiration, our paths unfold in ways that we never expect.

2. Increase Your Skills In Things That Interest And Inspire You

“Enthusiasm spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.”― Norman Vincent Peale

A sure way of increasing enthusiasm is to learn more about something that makes the application of that skill a pure joy. Jump right into the skills that appeal to you. I was always drawn to writing but did not experience great enthusiasm for it till I began writing regularly.

As my skills began improving, my enthusiasm for the skill of writing increased many fold. And I am still learning new ways to express myself!

Enthusiasm magnifies when you strive to increase your knowledge. The more you know and understand something, the more you will show an eagerness and enthusiasm to engage with it.

Set up triggers and reminders that enhance the skill that you are learning and inspire you to move forward. For me, playing the uplifting music of “Adiemus Radio” on Pandora and sitting in my favorite creative writing space with a cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee is usually enough to get the creative juices and inspiration to flow through me and on to the paper or the computer.

What triggers your imagination and inspiration?

“I kept reaching for my muses, my wandering muses, floating on clouds filled with their passions.”― Chimnese Davids, Muses of Wandering Passions

3. Strive To Find Experiences That You Love

“Enthusiasm is that certain something that makes us stand out, pulls us out of the mediocre common places, and turns us into powerful influencers.”― Michelle Moore

Make a list of things that make you really excited and schedule time to do those things.

The anticipation of great excitement is a sure fire way of infusing enthusiasm into your life!

4. Recharge Your Mental, Emotional And Physical Batteries

“You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it there are only alibis.”
– Henry Ford

If you are too mentally tired, too emotionally occupied and too physically exhausted and sleep deprived, it is very difficult to feel and live from a state of joyous enthusiasm.

If you are a go-getter and relish the stress and tiredness that you have gotten habituated to, it may be time to let some of that go. Get a lot of sleep and schedule in down time doing nothing and just being.

I learnt a while before from the wonderful teacher Shakti Gawain that the path to success is not to Do, Have and be. In contrast, the effortless path looks more like: Be, Do and have. 

Be first the picture of enthusiasm and what you want from your life, and then do from that energy and viewpoint and reap the benefits of having your desires come true.

A few things to consider…

Eat well 

Exercise regularly 

Keep your mind active and use your thinking power

Sit in silence or make time for your spiritual nourishment of choice

The energy state that you are in will determine your levels of enthusiasm. Keep your energy levels up in a positive balance by finding and choosing to take good care of your own self. 

5. Hang Out With Enthusiastic People

“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you keep company with people who bring you down continually, it is difficult if not impossible to feel enthusiastic. Much like the crabs in a pail that pull down the others that begin climbing out, there will always be people who will attempt to pour the cold water of their doubts and derision on your enthusiasm.

You have a choice to keep company with people who inspire you and lend you a hand to pull you higher and higher. 

6. Smile And Increase Happiness And Joy In Your Life

“To succeed in any field, Our enthusiasm-eyes must sparkle and our enthusiasm-hearts Must dance.” ― Sri Chinmoy

Smiling instantly transforms your mood and makes you receptive to the flow and the presence of enthusiasm in your life. A genuine, heartfelt smile is a great ice-breaker and an unequivocal display of overflowing enthusiasm. 

7. Make A List Of Five Things That You Are Grateful For And Why

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” ― Meister Eckhart

Feeling deep and heartful gratitude is another great way to feel a deep and lasting feeling of enthusiasm for your life and those things that make a difference. When you are expressing deep gratitude and appreciation for the good in your life, you naturally feel enthusiasm for what you have.

When we take things for granted and forget to be appreciative for all the good in our life and choose to dwell on the “I have not,” you feel agitated and separated from your natural feeling of enthusiasm. 

8. Choose radical positivity and embrace a PMA or a Positive Mental Attitude

“Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Being positive is a great way to embrace enthusiasm. Excessive negativity is a very quick and effective method to drive away all enthusiasm. Even a normal everyday task becomes magical and special when done in the light of positivity and enthusiasm and makes you and others feel great.

9. Get Fascinated Like A Child Or Have A Beginners Mind

“I wept because I was re-experiencing the enthusiasm of my childhood; I was once again a child, and nothing in the world could cause me harm.”― Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

Children are endlessly curious, creative and express an unhindered enthusiasm for life. Children make little effort to suppress their natural enthusiasm but as people grow up, they forget this remarkable ability to seek and feel enthusiasm.

Once you make an attempt to reconnect with the inner child and let go of excessive heaviness and seriousness, you will gradually feel more enthusiasm in common things.

 “The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” – Aldous Huxley 

10. Infuse Enthusiasm In Your Interactions And Assist Others To Reach Their Goals

“Daring enthusiasm And abiding cheerfulness can accomplish everything on earth without fail.” ― Sri Chinmoy

Encourage others! Assist others to reach their goals. Show and shower your interest and enthusiasm and undivided attention on someone else and the unintended effect is that some of it is bound to get rubbed off on you. 

You cannot be enthusiastic to others without feeling it yourself. We cannot give away what we do not have.

 Give genuine praise to others and show that you care. When you uplift others, you will experience a deep sense of happiness and enthusiasm.

11.  Do Not Be Excessively Concerned With The Opinion And Judgments Of Others 

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”― Winston Churchill

An easy way to kill enthusiasm is to be overly concerned about what others think about you and your enthusiastic nature. The solution is to choose to disagree with others and still maintain your state of positivity and enthusiasm.  

12. Believe in your self and feel great about your life

“True enthusiasm is a fine feeling whose flash I admire where-ever I see it.” – Charlotte Bronte.

Find something that makes you feel good in your life and amplify that. When you believe in yourself and your abilities, you feel a surge of natural confidence and enthusiasm to engage with your life. If you have excessive self-doubt, you will be brought down to the ground as you begin to soar.

“It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.”― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

13. Make Time For Your Creative Ventures

Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity. – Bo Bennett.

When you give yourself a creative outlet and allow your creative juices to flow, you will experience greater enthusiasm for everything because you allowed yourself let go of a major block. We are all highly creative by nature and not allowing an outlet for that to express only ends up suppressing your enthusiasm.

14. Act Enthusiastic

“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.”― Gordon Parks 

Make enthusiasm a habit. Approach your life with a deep sense and feeling of enthusiasm. 

With an enthusiastic outlook, you can literally change your life very quickly. If you allow yourself to find the passion and zest of life and engage your problems from a state of creative enthusiasm, you have just discovered a major ally.

Now over to you. Let me know if this post resonated with you and increased your levels of enthusiasm even a tiny bit!

Photo Credit:  Martin Fisch via Flickr CC