Exuberance: Where does it come from?

I've really never thought too much about the word "exuberance" until I met a land developer in northern Virginia by the name of John Clark. We were talking about ways to describe his passion for land development and in particular for his vision of Haymount, a new urbanist community near Fredericksburg -- a project he's been working on for many years. It was more than passion and certainly more than joy that flowed from him. He was nearly giddy.

To be exuberant is to be "joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic," according to Webster's dictionary. It's more than just having enthusiasm or passion -- it's more like unbridled enthusiasm that's somehow in one's blood and running through their veins rather than an attitude one professes.

So how do we believe so deeply in our vision -- whether for ourselves or for our company -- that we have this unrestrained joy that exudes from us? Is that possible? Realistically, it's not possible to maintain it through the trials and tribulations of life -- or is it? Is that a choice we have?

I remember Anthony Robbins once talking about achieving the point of "sustained joy." I mentioned it to a couple of colleagues and we all talked about how that seemed so impossible to achieve in one's life. Yet Tony, the eternal optimist and NLP expert, believes it is possible. That if you enjoy and love what you're doing so much, that nothing bars you from the feeling and belief that you are truly doing your life's mission. You know, what God intended you to do in it's closest form. And when we're in that place, we experience that joyfully unrestrained enthusiasm (en-theos = in God) that is better referred to as exuberance.

Have you ever experienced that profound joy in your life? When you just could feel yourself enthusiastic beyond belief? Like you were so happy about what you were doing in your life that you couldn't even see straight?

Could you imagine if we were to feel like that more times than not? Rather than experiencing it once in a blue moon -- we would feel it most of the time? Can you imagine the sustained energy that would be with us if we could only figure out what to do that makes us happiest? It's so simple. Find our life's mission and just do it. Do you know what your life's mission is -- what you were put here on earth to do?