经典英语美文：Enthusiasm takes you further_美文

经典英语美文：Enthusiasm takes you further

How do you rediscover the enthusiasm of your childhood? The answer, I believe, lies in the word itself. "Enthusiasm" comes from the Greek and means "God within." And what is God within is but an abiding7 sense of love -- proper love of self (self-acceptance) and, from that, love of others.

Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money or title or power. If we cannot do what we love as a full-time8 career, we can as a part-time avocation9, like the head of state who paints, the nun10 who runs marathons, the executive who handcrafts furniture.

Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan, was 68 before she began to draw. This activity endedbouts11 of depression that had plagued her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, "I am tempted12 to call Layton a genius." Elizabeth has rediscovered her enthusiasm.

We can't afford to waste tears on "might-have-beens." We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after "what-can-be."

We need to live each moment wholeheartedly, with all our senses -- finding pleasure in thefragrance13 of a back-yard garden, the crayoned picture of a six-year-old, the enchanting14beauty of a rainbow. It is such enthusiastic love of life that puts a sparkle in our eyes, a lilt in our steps and smooths the wrinkles from our souls.