One morning last week, as I walked across Central Park on the way to my office, I saw a sweet, exuberant black and white dog playing with other dogs.  The thing that was so inspiring about her was that she had only three legs and yet was able to chase balls and roughhouse with dogs she met along the way. 

As I watched her, with her eagerness to engage in play and the energy that radiated from her body, I was inspired by the ways in which the loss of one of her back legs didn’t slow her down a bit.  She reminded me of the many people I’ve run across over the years who have forged ahead in spite of limitations or losses of any and every kind in their lives, and how powerfully we seem to be able to transcend experiences or conditions that look like they could stop most of the rest of us in our tracks.  But, it seems that life has a deep need to express itself, and enthusiasm has a way of emerging even when it looks like it would be crushed by life circumstances or physical limitations. 

I recall, after 9/11, how many of us felt crushed, with all the joy of life squeezed out of us in that single, terrible event.  And then, as I wrote about at that time, life slowly began to return, spontaneously and naturally – slowly for many, more quickly for others – even in the presence of that level of devastation.  The reemergence of people’s capacity to enjoy life inspired me at the time, and helped me to know that we have a powerful core of a zest for living inside each of us.  It seems only to need time and permission to emerge in its spontaneous and natural ways.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to notice those places in your life where you’ve moved through loss or limitation and emerged out the other side still able to meet life with exuberance and enthusiasm.  It takes time to process and resolve the sometimes dramatic interruptions life throws in front of us, and yet the seeds of our capacity to live life enthusiastically can still be there, waiting for time to offer opportunities for them to come to life. 

As you take time to notice where you meet life with enthusiasm in spite of limitations or losses, please be sure to leave judgment behind – or at least allow any judgments that may arise to move through as if they were no more substantial than clouds moving through the sky.  There may be places in your life where enthusiasm isn’t yet possible, and it’s important to make room for the truth of where you are in the process of adapting to losses or limitations.  We can’t rush the natural journey of healing back into enthusiasm and exuberance.  These emerge when and as we are ready.  And, there are times that moving back into a zest for life creates mixed feelings, as it may seem that to do so denies the reality of whatever we have lost or whatever limitation has emerged in our lives.  It’s important in these experiments to always leave room for mixed feelings, as they are a natural and inevitable part of the process of moving through challenging experiences.

As with all the experiments, remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion.  The invitation here is live more consciously, rather than to live in a particular way.  Whatever you notice about yourself and your way of moving through the world is the gift to you.  There are no right or wrong answers.  There’s just the opportunity to discover what enhances, or detracts from, your quality of life.