What is zeal, or enthusiasm, and why is it important in our spiritual growth and maturity? Most of us are familiar with the Law of Attraction. We know that what we focus on grows and expands through electromagnetic attraction. The universe doesn’t discriminate between our positive intentions and desires or negative thoughts, resistance, or fear – it only delivers to us what we focus our thoughts, feelings and energies on.

We also know that when we want to manifest something that is not currently being expressed in our reality there is a tendency to want to manifest out of a feeling of lack, rather than from a place of knowing that the object of our heart’s desire is already manifest, it’s just not (yet) in our field of experience. Law of Attraction teachers admonish us to act ‘as if’ so that the universe responds to our vibration of already having that which we desire. But when something is lacking it can feel unnatural, untruthful even, to act ‘as if’ when our minds are vehemently telling us that is most certainly ‘is not’ already manifest, and to “please, for the love of God stop lying to ourselves.”

As we grow spiritually, enthusiasm is such an important tool for us to have in our spiritual ‘tool bag.’ Along with faith, strength, wisdom, love, choice, and all of the other tools we have at our disposal, zeal is important to understand and master because we are electromagnetic beings, co-creating our reality in every moment of our existence. Our entire lives are created by the energetic signature we vibrate out into the multi-verse.

Having low zeal we walk around like Eeyore (Pooh and Piglet’s adorable, downer Donkey friend), with little zest for life. Eeyore’s are unmotivated, uninspired and coincidentally uninteresting to just about everyone around them. To these people, everything is arduous and they have difficulty carrying anything through to completion. And the Universe responds to zestlessness with…guess what? A perfect vibrational match of experiences that align with the energy that is put out in the world. Blah! Blah! and guest what? More Blah!

On the other hand, we’ve all been around someone who radiates insincere dripping, oozy enthusiasm. Sticky sweet, I call them. These people appear impulsive, zealous, impatient, compulsive, overly ambitious, and just plain “off.” Everything is over the top, they bop around from project to project acting like overbearing ogres, and they seem insincere and phony. You’ve met them before, and while they may appear upbeat, there’s just something about them (you may not be able to put your finger on it) but you don’t trust them.

I invite you to explore your relationship with zeal / enthusiasm. If you find it difficult to muster enthusiasm, look back at some of your past experiences to see where your energies are stuck. Allow yourself to remember some of the things you used to be passionate about, and try incorporating some of them into your experience. If you find yourself having to ‘fake it’ to be enthusiastic, give yourself permission to feel into the places that seem empty within you. What seems to be missing from your life? What are you trying to compensate for? Try dropping the pretense and allow yourself to be authentic, to feel what is really there, not what you want to be there. Try expressing your needs and desires honestly without being overbearing. Notice the response you receive from others. The balancing point of zeal is enthusiastically being our most authentic Self in every moment.

“One person with a divine purpose, passion and power is better than 99 people who are merely interested. Passion is stronger than interest.” – Israelmore Ayivor, Michelangelo | Beethoven | Shakespeare; 15 Things Common to Great Achievers