"Exuberance is an abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion. It is kinetic and unrestrained, joyful, irrepressible. It is not happiness, although they share a border. It is instead, at its core, a more restless, billowing state. Certainly it is no lulling sense of contentment: exuberance leaps, bubbles and overflows, propels its energy through troop and tribe. It spreads upward and outward, like pollen toted by dancing bees, and in this carrying, ideas are moved and actions taken. Yet exuberance and joy are fragile matter. Bubbles burst; a wince of disapproval can cut dead a whistle, or abort a cartwheel. The exuberant move above the horizon, exposed and vulnerable.
Variation in temperament is necessary. Exuberance, indescriminantly apportioned, is anarchical. If all were effervescent, the world would be an exhausting and chaotic place, driven to incoherence by competing enthusiasms or becalmed by indifference to the day-to-day requirements of life. Our species, like most, is well serevd by a diversity of temperaments, a variety of energies and moods. Exuberence is a fermenting, pushing-upward-and-forward force, but sometimes fixity is critical to survival. The joyous, and the not so, need one another in order to survive."
And thank you for this Post. It made me do some thinking (Ut oh!). That this state of mind is truly a wonderful joyful feeling, but it is so transitory, that I personally try to use a sensing of balance, for what goes up, MUST come down. And we all know that one.
I believe that we can feel a joy of living, and loving life in the framework of Peace of Mind, that can be of a much more enduring place. Sobriety first in everything, and within that framework of Sobriety, putting God first in everything in that Sober Living state of mind, can be a pathway to that Peace. I will take that sunlight on a quite lake over the bubbles of white water rafting any ole day. Must be a sign of getting older, and that is o.k. too. I think? Yep, it is O.K, it is, what is.
Thanks for a great post. I needed that today. I sometimes feel that if I'm not permanently happy and full of the joys of life then I must be doing something wrong. I really am working on my sobriety and doing everything that is suggested to me. Logic tells me that no-body is happy all of the time, but I needed to see that today.
I guess I was waiting for a drum-roll, a fanfare of trumpets and a sign pointing the way to the path of 'happiness ever after'. What a crazy alcoholic mind I have!
Take care and have a great day,
Q
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
