In this life, you don’t need more skill, you don’t need more knowledge, you don’t need a better plan, you don’t need most anything, but maybe to sip a cup of French Roast coffee, read Dr. Sues, relish the moment and flabbergast your competitors.

            You don’t need more money, you don’t need to have all your stars aligned, you don’t need a faster car, a smarter set of great grandparents, a bigger house, a more expensive suit, a finer pair of shoes.

            No, in this life, there are so many things that you don’t need to proceed, to succeed, to create more, to have more, to attend and tend to the miraculous parts of yourself that can enlighten a mundane moment, that can strive to thrive and get out of the way  of just surviving.

            And you do not need a fan base, and you do not need a better job, and you do not need encouragement, and you do not need to be younger or older, smarter or wiser, taller, shorter or better looking, yes…you do not.

            But, say you may, ask you might, what is it that I do need?  What is the hidden secret to success, the riddle in the middle that is the profound truth, the sagacity to unlock all the wisdom, to living a happy life, to leave a wake of wonder and perfection, to sail the seven seas with ease, to run the gamut, to chase the rabbit, to wander and love and get and become and cherish and sing and have all the pleasure and love you can ever hold in a single heart?

            Well, though misled as they have convinced, you really don’t need a better education, a more heightened relationship, a chance, an invitation to the ball.  You don’t need an investor, a beach house, or a trip to Xanadu.  You don’t need most things that you think will get you there, break you on to the other side, no enlightened experiences, though these are readily available at any observing moment in time.  You don’t need to struggle or bleed, fail or hail the new president, or know history or the even the dazzling mystery.

           Well, to start, you do need to please read the transcendentalists, the American metaphysicians, and take heart these simple yet monumental words that can guide your every day, turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, that can raise you up, lift a life into the skies, the heavens above and leave you breathless as you live the race, chase the adventure and enjoy every minute of your, yes your—proverbial life.

            So here is the answer, the engine that will fuel everything you want, your desires; this is the quotation of the first and coming centuries, the simplest proverb to live by:“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your mind.  Put your whole soul to it.  Stamp it with your own personality.  Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object.  Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

And, oh, by the way, he was one of America’s great transcendentalists.