How to Get Your Enthusiasm Back

Have you lost your enthusiasm?  Turns out there's some things you can do about that, and some things you can be about that.

Here's an excerpt: "Turns out there is stuff we can do to be, and stuff we can be to do, and that when we do stuff to be and be stuff to do, we end up doing and being more better. "

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, hello, hello, hello, everybody. This is Reverend Karen speaking to you with another episode of Fearlessly Feral Living. And today's episode is titled How to Get Your Enthusiasm Back. Before I dive into this, I just want to read the introduction to you. If you've listened to this podcast before, you've heard it. Welcome to Fearlessly Fair Living. This is indeed Reverend Karen broadcasting to you from the Woogie Ranch in rural northern Nevada, where I'm a half an hour away from the nearest gas station and the nearest grocery store. And our mission here at Fearlessly Feral Living is to provide a strong and unshakable inner foundation that works for successful long-term living. And our purpose is to activate inner self-awareness. And our vision is a world in which everyone lives wild and free. In other words, fearlessly feral. So I got up this morning and started writing. And what came out was this dark, dark, dark article. It was so dark that I knew I wasn't going to publish it. It was an article about losing my enthusiasm and wondering if it would ever come back. And musing on all the times I had lost my enthusiasm and gotten it back. And how my fear was that this time it wasn't going to come back, that I wasn't going to get that enthusiasm back. And by the end of the article, I had worked my way into oh, yeah, there's really a way to get it back. And it's called treatment, affirmative prayer. And if you want to know what treatment is, just before this episode in the podcast, there's a series, there's four episodes. It's called the treatment series. Go listen to that series, then you'll know what treatment is. Anyway, I knew I couldn't publish that article. Oh my god, it was so dark. I get so dark sometimes. It's just really, really dark. But writing it served its purpose. After I wrote it, I sat there for a while and went, Well, shit, okay, here's what's going on with me now. What do I do now? And an idea occurred to me. And the idea was this: let's go to ChatGPT and ask my robot friend what he has to say about all of this. And I noticed that I was thinking that thought, I had that idea, and there was some enthusiasm there. So I went to ChatGPT and I asked it something about how do you get your enthusiasm back from a science in mind perspective. And it was very enthusiastic in its answers. So obviously, I'm getting some enthusiasm here. Now, here's what happened after I got that answer. First of all, I went and fact-checked a lot of the answers that I got from them because I do that. And then I realized that things were starting to get really interesting with the answers I got from Chat GPT because I just finished writing my third book. It's called How to Live Fearlessly Feral. It'll be out in a month or two. And uh, don't worry, I'll keep you posted. You will hear news about it. This book is about applying spiritual principles to your life, among other things. And the spiritual principle it was talking about specifically was oneness, which is my most favorite of all of the spiritual principles. And so I started to write what I'm what I'm um podcasting to you now, what I'm recording. And I got so enthusiastic about what I was writing that I couldn't type it fast enough. Now, guys, I'm a fast typer, very, very, very fast. I'm a touch typist, and uh I can type without looking at what I'm typing and have it come out pretty good. And uh I couldn't write fast enough. But what was coming out was really, really, I felt enthusiastic about it. I felt enthusiastic about it. So I want to do a little background into science of mind here. Science of mind is based on spiritual truths that go back through the ages. We're not just something that just began in the early 1900s. Well, we are, but our teaching is based on teachings that go back way, way, way before that. Did you know that the Greek word for enthusiasm is enthusiasmos? Enthusiasmos could be a tongue twister there, but it means literally possession by God or divine inspiration. I love that. I love that. So I got this idea to contact ChatGPT and say, how do you get your enthusiasm back from a science of mind perspective? And it gave me some answers. And I realized that the yes is in the idea, and that's not the first time I've thought about this. I have a workshop called The Yes is the in the idea, and this is where it comes from. Oneness, it comes from oneness, and it comes from when we are connected with with the divine, when we are possessed by God, as it says, we get these ideas, and if we get these ideas when we have that connection, there's a yes there. Yeah, I'm enthused about that. I'm very enthused about that, which is why I'm sharing it with you today. Turns out enthusiasmos derives from the word enthios, it's a Greek, which means in God. Enthios, in God, oneness, it's talking about oneness. Basing our life in spiritual principle has validity, guys. This is how we get to live our lives. Something comes up, we explore it, there's a spiritual principle behind it, and it turns out if we're not experiencing what we want to experience, chances are we're not living in principle. It's just as simple as that. So after I did that little research about the origins of the word enthusiasm, I went to the sign-sewing textbook. Turns out there's actually a definition of enthusiasm in the glossary of the textbook. And Ernest Holmes, in this definition, he calls enthusiasm an exaltation of the soul and a lively manifestation of zeal. I just love that, and and then he follows it up with this: he says, Enthusiasm is a king, keen interest in people and things. Now, I don't know about you guys, but part of this darkness that I've been experiencing is I haven't been real interested in people and things lately. I really haven't. I have not enjoyed that, I have not wanted to be there. So I'm in a place of willingness here, which is a pretty good place to be in if you want to start applying spiritual principles in your life. So I want the enthusiasm back. And Ernest Holmes brings it back to oneness when he says that we are enthusiastic when we are filled with God power. And I love that. So, in my new book that's coming out in a couple of months, I explain that oneness is both principle and practice. So, oneness is actually listed. Well, I talk about it a lot more than twice, but it's listed twice. It's listed in the spiritual principle section and it's listed in the spiritual practices section. And as I explain in the book, here's what I say about oneness in the principle section. For me, this is the biggie. This is the spiritual principle from which all others stem. This is the foundation. Get oneness, and you will lay the groundwork for a life more successful than you ever could dream dreamed could be possible. And so then the question came became for me: how does one get oneness? How do you get oneness? How do you embody it? How do you show up in the world at one with the one? So I went back to Ernest Holmes again. There's a big ass clue in the science of my textbook that I just love. And it's actually much more than a clue. Sometimes I love Ernest Holmes for this because this is like a huge whack upside the head with a giant two by four. This isn't just a clue. Here's what he says about oneness. It has been said that we can know God only insofar as we can become God. Take a deep breath and pause and breathe. And notice what feelings that statement brought up for you. When Ernest Holmes writes, and I repeat, it has been said that we can know God only insofar as we can become God. What does that do for you? What does that bring up within you? Now I will tell you that for some folks, this statement is so blasphemous that they simply will not even begin to consider it. They simply won't. And then for some folks like me, who've internalized this statement ever since I was a little kid, and my dad gave me a book called The Three Magic Words. When I was asking him these big life questions, he said, Here, read this book. The three magic words were I am God. So I didn't get indoctrinated with the belief that God is a guy in the sky, always separate from me. So those are the two extremes, but most people fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. My point here is that in order to feel enthusiastic about life, we need to somehow get that we are one with that thing called God. At whatever level it is comfortable for us. When we forget the truth of who and what we really are, as I am prone to do, and maybe you are too, then we have to have some things in place to remind ourselves of that truth. And here's where spiritual practices come in. Here's where they come in, and they are so valuable. So let's talk a little bit about spiritual practices. The first thing we have to do when we find ourselves in a very dark place where we don't like people and places and things, and we just want to stay at home and be like a hermit crab and be a crappy, grumpy person is we pause. You know, in the textbook of AA, it says pause when agitated. So yeah, we pause, we stop doing and we start being. So I'm thinking about all this, and I'm rummaging around with this, and I'm writing things down, and I'm creating this episode for you. And and I'm also going to Facebook and checking in. And one of the things I do on Facebook is check in with my memories feed every day. And in my feed today, there's this thing that I've been posting for several years, and it's about doing versus being. And I had to laugh because it has to do with everything I'm talking about here about being enthusiastic and being enthusiastic because we are simply being. We are one with the one, we are being, we are not doing. So this thing is about being versus doing, and here's what it says from Socrates: to do is to be, from Shakespeare, to be or not to be. That is the question from Sartre. To be is to do, from Frank Sinatra, dooby dooby doo, from Fled, Fred Flintstone. I'm getting tongue-tied here. Yabba dabba doo. Kate Bush, dabba dabba-doo. From Miss Louise and Romper Room, doobie a doobie. From Scooby-Doo. Scooby-dooby-doo. From Yogi Bear. Hey Boo-Boo. And from a friend of mine, another minister named Liz Luoma. Yippie-doo! She actually had a version of that on her car license display. So I'm reading all this and I'm getting more and more enthusiastic. Are you enthusiastic yet hearing me repeat all these still silly things? I hope so. Hopefully, you don't think I've totally gone off my rocker. Whatever. I go off my rocker all the time. It's okay. We get back. My point is here, in a silly roundabout way, what I'm trying to point out is that I'm not the first one to explore this being versus doing thing. And I'm not the last. I won't be the last. But it's important to remember that there's a difference between being and doing. There's being, simply sitting, just hanging out, letting the thoughts flow where they will, willy-nilly without judgment and noticing. And then there's doing, going here and there with places to be and people to see and things to do, and we're always doing, and busyness is like a status symbol for us. And then there's multitasking. Now, if you're anything like me, you've probably read the articles that say don't multitask. Multitasking is a bad thing. Well, I disagree. I think multitasking has its place. After all, some of my best ideas have come to me while I've shoveling horseshit. Other ideas flow quite nicely when I'm doing dishes. If I cleaned my house, I'm sure that those ideas would flow then too. I don't clean my house. I've got much better things to do with my life. So I hire a housekeeper to come in every other week and she cleans the house. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Part of being enthusiastic is being silly. So yeah, we're on this journey from being and doing, being to doing, doing to being. There's stuff we can do to be, and there's stuff we can be to do. And when we do stuff to be, and we be stuff to do, we end up doing and being more better. And that's that's my own saying, but I'm reminded of Ernest Holmes because he says stuff like this once in a while. Let me repeat it. There's stuff we can do to be, and stuff we can be to do. And when we do stuff to be, and when we be stuff to do, we end up doing and being more better. So think about that. Think about that. So then I started thinking, okay, these people that you're talking to, Karen, they don't know anything about being, they just know to do. So what can we do to bring back the beingness? What can we do to allow someone to step into this thing called oneness that creates the enthusiasm in our life? So I have some suggestions for you, and they're coming in no particular order. I accept two of these suggestions, sitting and treatment, I recommend doing first rather than the other things. But the first suggestion is to just sit and be for a while. Or do the dishes or shovel horseshit or fold the laundry or whatever you do that is sort of mindless that will let your mind wander. Of course, you can just sit. Take a chair and go outside and sit, or sit in your favorite chair in the house. I don't care where you sit. Sit in the car if you want. Just be. And while you're being, think about God. Think about your relationship with it. Think about how close you can get to that statement that says we can only know God insofar as we become God. Or think about how God is something separate from you. And while you're doing that, think about does that work for you in your life? Or is that just something that was planted in you early on? It's okay either way. The point is, it has to work for you, it has to give you a sense of peace, it has to give you a sense of power, it has to work for you in your life. If it doesn't work for you in your life, change it because God's big enough to handle it all. And while you're sitting there being, do some inner exploration exploration to discern the fear that's behind this lack of enthusiasm. Because here's the deal, folks. I was talking with someone the other day, my hairdresser actually, she was cutting my hair. She said, You know, I've really been getting into the Course of Miracles lately. And I said, Well, have you? Really? That's great. Lots of science of mine folks study the Course of Miracles. She said, Really? I said, Yeah. I said, How do you what do you think about this? What the Course of Miracles states, it's a principle that says there's only two states of consciousness, either love or fear. And they're mutually exclusive. In other words, we can't be in fear and be in love. We're either in fear or we're in love. And lack of enthusiasm is a sign that there's fear. So think about that. Think about what fears you might be experiencing with this lack of experience enthusiasm. I know the fears I'm experiencing, I don't need to share them with you. You've got your own. While you're in there thinking and exploring this stuff, release it. Don't judge it. Notice it and let it be. Now I released it by writing that dark, dark article this morning. It just kind of popped out at me. And as soon as it came out, I felt better. That's what releasing does. Because, see, if we try to fight it, it just makes it more powerful. It makes it hang on. You ever play tug-of-war with a bulldog? If you pull, he's gonna pull even harder. But if you release the tug-of-war toy, he usually will just let it go. Sometimes he'll give it a good vigorous shake and then he'll let it go. But that's what releasing does. If we hang on to it and judge it and try to fix it, makes it more powerful. But if we just let it be and say, Yeah, I hear you, it takes all the wind out of its sails and goes, Oh, okay, and it goes away. Also consider while you're sitting there being and contemplating and thinking, but you might just need a break, you might need a rest, particularly if you're addicted to busyness. If busyness is a status symbol for you, if people come up to you and say, Hey, how are you doing? And you're and you say, Oh, I'm so busy. Guess what, dude? Busyness is a status symbol for you. It's an addiction. Take a look at that. Take a look at that. I recently had a conversation with a lady who just lost a family member. And I was asking her how she was, and her response was basically, Oh, I'm really busy. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, this lady needs to learn to grieve. Actually, it's not that she needs to learn to grieve, she needs to allow herself to grieve. So we talked about that for a while. And she was so busy that her speech was busy. And she talked on and on and on and on and jumping from one sentence to another. And I'm over here listening and going and recognizing, yeah, she's busy. And I'm saying a quiet little prayer for her while she's moving and talking. And I finally got a word in edgewise. And I said, you know, it's not going to hurt you to let yourself feel these feelings that you're feeling behind the death of your brother. In fact, if you will let yourself feel them, they're going to lessen in intensity. I said, why don't you just take some time to be? And she said, Oh, I know what I'll do. I'll stop doing all this busy stuff. I'm going to take my dog for a walk in the forest and work on his training. And I'm like, oh God, okay. And then you know what she did? She ended the conversation just like that. And I thought, all right, she's not ready yet. She's not ready. Later, we had a chance to sit down face to face and have a talk. And she heard it. Well, mostly she heard it because I had for I forced her to sit. We were just sitting, looking out the window. We were just sitting, chatting once in a while, but mostly just sitting. And it was okay for her. While you're sitting and do the sooner rather than later, create an affirmative prayer for yourself, a treatment. And again, if you want to know what that is, go listen to the podcast series on treatment. And when you're done with all that, feel free to go do stuff. But while you're doing it, try this. Be as a little kid. Stop to observe with wonder and joy and amazement all the little things that you encounter on your journey of doing. And see if doing or being any of these things doesn't help you get your enthusiasm back. I promise you it will. I promise you it will. So that's my little journey on enthusiasm and being versus doing. I hope you've had some fun with this. I have. It's caused me a little bit of giggles and a little bit of laughter. And yeah, I'm enthusiastic again. And I thank you very much for your listening and your support. And I will let you know when the book is coming out. In the meantime, I'm knowing Fearlessly Fair Living for me and for you. And Fearlessly Feral Living is a focus ministry of Centers for Spiritual Living. And thus, your financial support is always tax-deductible and very much appreciated. And you can find out more information about us and donate and do all that wonderful stuff by going to our website at fearlesslyferal.org. And so once again, I do thank you very much for listening. And yep, I am knowing Fearlessly Feral Living for me and for you.