The Life Enthusiast Chronicles with Rebecca

Sometimes we need to hear the perfect quote at the perfect time. Whether we’re feeling low or we’re on a high, words from another person’s soul have a way of romancing us, don’t they?

In this month’s segment of The Life Enthusiast Chronicles, I reached out to a person who always has the right things to say…Rebecca Budd of Chasing Art, who many of you know as Clanmother.

Besides the wonderful historical stories she writes about on her blog and the gorgeously uplifting images she sends us on Twitter, Rebecca has a knack for sprinkling our lives with inspiration.

These are just some of the quotes she has left me in the comment section of my blog over the years I have known her…

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” – Mark Twain

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.” – Hellen Keller

”The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.”
– Lord Byron

So, I had to ask Rebecca to join my band of Life Enthusiasts and tell us what it is that makes her so enthusiastic about life.

Connect with Rebecca on Twitter and Facebook.

Take it away, Clanmother!

______________________________

I am absolutely delighted to join the remarkable group of “Life Enthusiasts.” That title alone gives me goosebumps.

Britt’s message was a serendipitous prompt to reflect on the joy of connecting. For that is what makes our lives strong, builds resilience, gives courage to the circuitous path we follow, and grants enthusiasm to our days.

Over the past few days there have been profound reminders of why I am enthusiastic about life. For me, it all begins with engagement in the world around me.

Recently, I had a telephone conversation with a young woman who is in the process of setting up a Gaelic on-line course to revive an ancient language. I was moved when a young man shared a new song that he wrote and produced. A few weeks ago, I watched my son perform in a mass bagpipe band at the Victoria Highland Games.

I find pleasure in reciting a poem aloud to an audience of one or sharing a coffee with a dear friend. And then there was the call at midnight from my neighbour asking me to stay with her while she waited for an ambulance. The journey, the story of humanity, the miracle of living: that is what makes my life enthusiastic.

I have entered my sixth decade! I lived during the counterculture revolution of the 60’s and early 70’s, the excesses of the 80’s, the technological advances of the 90’s, and the globalization that accompanied the dawn of a new century.

I now live in a world where communication takes place in seconds and ideas really do spread like wildfire. Looking back, I smile at the memory of a young girl, wearing a floppy hat, strumming a guitar and singing “Let the Sunshine In.” She believed that life was full of possibilities.

Now, nearly a half century later, I can confirm, without hesitation, that her conviction was well-founded.  Life is indeed full of possibilities. That is what makes my life enthusiastic.

We live in a fast-pace, ever-changing mercurial world that offers complex, even contradictory problems that have no easy solutions. But together, the likelihood of problem-solving is given exponential strength.

Creating an environment that encourages participation and the exchange of knowledge allows us to envision a wider range of positive outcomes. What better way than to celebrate the efforts of those who strive to make a difference; to recognize the successes of others; to applaud, from the sidelines, when someone accepts the risk of the unknown.

That is what makes my life enthusiastic.

What is it like to be in my sixties? I feel powerful, simply because of the connections that I have made over my lifetime.

Aging is not frightening; rather, it is liberating for there is an appreciation that what we do, even in a small, seemingly insignificant way, can introduce a fresh attitude, a spontaneous change in a new direction. My dear friends, that is what makes my life enthusiastic.