Enthusiasm materializes your opportunities

Enthusiastic girl
© Carey Hope

Heidegger, one of the brightest philosophers of all times, and a loathsome fervent Nazi head authority, —which shows us “how reality surpasses fiction”—, reminds us that one of our salient traits as human beings is that we are constantly concerned and live within an unrealized future.

I strongly suggest you follow this link to watch the fascinating series of six BBC videos which depict Heidegger’s life.

If living in the future is one of our emotional spaces, or moods, then we must be totally irrational about it. Fortunately, most of us are genetically endowed with optimism. Normally, we have a great outlook on our opportunities.

If you stopped to rationally think about the insurmountable challenges most activities entail, then, you would stunt your development. If you are trapped within a rational (or limiting) opportunity emotional space, your potential will not only be limited, but, dwarfed.

We do great things out of our enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm is no more than being excited about the opportunities you visualize.

I still remember my visit to the sandy white beaches of the sunny and small tropical island of Aruba. For a couple of weeks, the time it took to get my immigration papers to enter Venezuela, I was left behind by my group to sell books on my own.

It wasn’t easy to start the day by planning the area to cover, move there, and build up the enthusiasm to compensate the negativity one gets now and then from some of the door to door encounters.

Eventually, one afternoon I found myself in front of this very small and weathered down house. While I knocked, I was thinking to myself “total waste of time, total waste…”, but, out of the house came this nice little old lady.

I honestly can’t recall the exact figure, but, after a couple of amazing hours the lady had bought from me something like $3,500 in books (in today’s dollars). It turned out that the harmless little lady ran the underground lottery in the island.

After that sale, it was all down hill —nobody could resist my enthusiasm.

You never know when you’ll find a nice little old lady at the other side of the door.

I really liked this theme because it appeals to our irrationality, akin to our natural tendency to make errors, both make us human, and propel us to find and do unexpected and great things.