The Tremendous Value of Enthusiasm
“Ouf, at last we managed it, we reached it, yeah, here’s the church!” I shouted to my friends full of enthusiasm. It was a typical summer afternoon of August in the south of Greece. Which means there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky and the sun was burning so brightly that the estimated temperature of 38 degrees of Celsius in the shadow seemed extra cool compared to being under him. Taking into account that we had to climb a steep hill to reach this magnificent church, my enthusiasm at that moment looks quite understandable, even now.
It was a well preserved orthodox church of the 12th century. Even though most paintings weren’t quite clear due to the passing of time, their look and heritage got us really interested.
After examining the church and taking the appropriate photos, we sat in the small yard.
As I was still sweating a bit, I joked to my sister. “Even though I am full of sweat I still smell perfect, probably it has to do with the wonderful soaps you gave me, good job!”
“I can give you as many as you want”, she said, “I have plenty and I am gonna make many more. Actually, I don’t know what is happening with me. Even though I return late and tired from work, after eating I start making some. And suddenly, I look at the clock and it’s 2 or sometimes 3 am. I may have been making soaps for more than 4 hours and it all looks like seconds to me.”
Enthusiasm in practice and what do we mean when we say difficult?
I was struck once again about this example coming from life, once again it all looked crystal clear to me. I wanted to share the insight with her instantly but somehow the discussion changed the subject and I didn’t get the chance. It doesn’t matter, though, I am writing it now.
So look what was going on. She was returning from work, physically and mostly psychologically tired and instead of being out of energy, she could easily go all through until these morning hours making soaps! How could she miraculously have this amount of energy to operate at this level?
What do we mean when we say that something is hard? Let’s define it a bit. The level of difficulty has to do with how much effort is required or with how much we really want to do this?
In my experience, the major catalyst is the wholehearted enthusiasm. When you are driven by your enthusiasm any amount of effort looks irrelevant, we don’t think about it and we don’t realize it. When we operate through our enthusiasm tremendous skills seem to arise in us, our energy levels seem to be unlimited to the level that even classical physics have to be reexamined. At that moment we experience enormous fulfilment, we lose track of time and we actually become one with everything and forget the concept of “self”.
On the other hand, what seems to me standard in the regular jobs is employees spending many hours mostly waiting for the end of the workday while in the meantime would do their best to avoid any extra work that may be needed. In this situation, it looks normal to me to experience low levels of energy and general disappointment due to the lack of fulfilment at least for the vast majority of the day.
Intellect alone is not enough, you also need the heart
I also see a lot of courses or books that teach techniques of how to build a habit or to be more productive during the day. I have tried many of them and you can surely find fantastic tools. However, I always thought that something was missing. Even if it was my fault that many of them weren’t successful, it still means that there was an issue in their application. I always sensed that a deeper approach was missing from many.
Even if our intellect is well trained to understand and process information and techniques, it doesn’t look that is the major player in the game. In order to maintain your focus for a long period of time, an external method doesn’t seem adequate.
But following your enthusiasm, because you’re into your inclination can be. It is the enthusiasm that will give you the motivation to be your best self. At the same time due to the fact that you are doing what is natural to you, it all looks easier. By definition, you become less outcome driven because you love the process. You are waiting for the time to work on your thing again, you fall asleep over your project because you never feel like leaving it. You may not even sleep for days.
For example, when I first created my ebay business I remember that I was sleeping every two nights. And I was enjoying myself, I was feeling perfect and this amount of sleep looked more than enough.
I don’t know of any person that has ever regretted following their enthusiasm. Not a spark of enthusiasm, no. Instead a mature and well-grounded confidence that you go towards your natural tendency. And above all with a profound love for your own being. With a flame lighted inside you always reminding that you are doing this for your good. Because in the very end as long as it is your own choice, it will definitely provide you with plenty of lessons.
At the same time the experience of too many people is that when you have the enthusiasm on your side suddenly things seem to become more positive. Opportunities arise for you from places you couldn’t imagine, fulfilling experiences become more usual in your everyday life, optimism and self-confidence grow even if you do not get results in the physical world.
Looking with an open mind and specificity
In my view, everybody has just a few inclinations. From the whole spectrum, everyone just takes a tiny piece in life. The irony especially in the western world of 2017 is that we go from here to there trying this and that and never focus. In the meantime, I don’t think that most people ever look at their tendencies. They practically prefer to go towards what promises money and status without looking inside themselves. Unavoidably this will lead to spending the vast majority of the day in activities that boredom is the best possibility.
When we uncover the layers that have been put over us through the process of our lives, less and less is left. Until we understand that there are just a few specific pieces that in reality fulfill our existence. It can easily be understood then how much simplification this process offers to us but at the same time how unpopular it sounds.
Synthesising your Inclinations
I have also understood that the processes that are enjoyable to us, most of the times combine several and not just one piece of our proclivities. I decided to start writing again after 2 years because I realised that I love very much the subjects I am writing about here, the meaning of life, how we become better human beings, how the mind works etc. I also understood that I just can’t keep myself from talking about these ideas, my heart was bursting loudly. As well, I write because I hope that I can help others improve their way of thinking and being the way so many others have helped me, are helping me and will be helping me. Because I sense a lot of disappointment, psychological issues and lack of purpose in the people. Furthermore, it’s a process of self-cleansing for me. I put my thoughts out and I see them more clearly, I realise better what vibration they are sending to me. There are many times that I read them again and I can’t believe it, “Is it me that has written this?” I ask myself. It’s interesting to start to understand how many thoughts we forget.
All the above are driving me. Because of them I am looking forward to engaging in the process of writing without a purpose, rather than the action itself. I can write more than 3000 words unstoppably between 2 and 6 am. I try to write quickly and with not many stops till the end. The syntax can be corrected later. This way I want to let it flow naturally, as it is meant to come out, same way I talk, confident that the process will handle itself. As aforementioned, I don’t even remember writing some of the sentences. After that, usually, the sleep is really relaxing.
Hard means with no enthusiasm
Maybe, I am exaggerating things or I am a bit harsh but I can’t see how someone can keep operating for a long time in processes that aren’t enjoyable. And the main reason that they aren’t enjoyable is because we aren’t following our inclinations. We don’t care about the processes as long as we take the results. But this way, without enthusiasm, I think it’s impossible to learn well what you do. And most importantly what the psychological effects will be as the lack of meaning seems to be a very important issue for nowadays’ people. Either they feel too much vanity or they seem to focus on staff that doesn’t actually help them.
It seems very clear to me that there can’t be another way than a road with as many processes that fulfill us in life. The way we are grown up we are taken away from looking inside ourselves so the older we are the harder it is to start and to change. However, the more someone matures, the more he understands the importance of this shift in perspective. At the same time another process I think is taking place. You start caring more about the good of the whole. Thus your understanding of your tendencies together with the sincere care about others’ good can be shaping the manifestation of your actions. What your best self has inside feels the deep need to be offered to the universe and you are not much more than the catalyst of this.
