Enthusiasm

I've learned something in the last few months; or perhaps a better way to put it is that I have re-learned something.

Enthusiasm is contagious.  Everybody knows this.  Everybody surely has had an experience in which an enthusiastic teacher, or athletic team captain, or business development team leader whose visible an tangible enthusiasm for the subject, sport, or project seemed to magically spread to the rest of the team (or class).  With the inevitable end result being that at the end of the process all members of the group found that they had achieved more than they had previously thought imaginable.

But it goes further than that.  One's own enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for one aspect of one's life is also contagious to the remaining aspects of one's life.  In the past few months, my enthusiasm for certain subjects that I had claimed to have been of great importance to me -- but for which my enthusiasm had somewhat ebbed -- has been rekindled.  And that enthusiasm has bled over into many other aspects of my daily efforts.  I find myself writing prolifically and thoroughly in ways that had seemed to difficult to accomplish before; and I find my progress at work in my research has also benefitted tremendously.

So, if there is something you are enthusiastic about, nurture and cultivate that enthusiasm.  Even if it seems to be a thoroughly self-serving venture, that enthusiasm you have for self-growth will likely enkindle enthusiasm in many -- and perhaps all -- other aspects of your life.  And perhaps in so doing, your newfound enthusiasm that you then find in many things that you do will spark to new life to the efforts of those around you.