Enthusiasm Leads to Change

two people in silhouette jumping with a purple sunset in the background

The end of the summer season often makes me feel sad. The transition between the easy, playful nature of summer toward the slower, more reflective energy of autumn can be a difficult one. So, it wasn’t a surprise when the message of “Enthusiasm” came to me today. No matter the time of year, it’s always a good to meet life head on, and not let enthusiasm wane just because of nature’s cycle.

Enthusiasm ties in perfectly with the Niyama** known as Tapas. Self-discipline, spiritual effort, heat, transformation, or “burning enthusiasm” are all used to describe or translate Tapas. Tapas asks us to welcome the difficulties in our lives in order to tap into our true spiritual nature.

Whether the difficulty is smaller like the sadness from a seasonal change, or bigger like whether or not to change jobs, life will always bring opportunities to choose a path. When coupled with right action, the struggle helps to transform us just like the oyster using friction to make the pearl. If we instead choose to tune out and/or avoid the difficulty, we may create prolonged suffering.

So ask yourself, “How comfortable can I be within my current discomfort?” Change happens just outside our comfort zone. When we couple self-discipline with burning enthusiasm, we transform into the next best version of ourselves.

**The Yamas (social codes) and the Niyamas (personal ethics) are the first two branches of the eight-limbed path known as “Yoga.” The other limbs consist of Asana (physical posture), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (absorption/bliss). Although this is called a path, you don’t have to master one before moving to the next. Some people freely skip around to different limbs, and combine others. However, the only way to Samadhi, aka enlightenment, is to spend ample time with the other seven limbs.