Creating Enthusiasm by Acting Enthusiastically

 Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote that our outer movements arouse our inner feelings (Mesilas Yeshorim, chapter 7). This is  tremendously powerful. This means that if you want to  experience joyful feelings, if you act as if you were actually joyful, you will experience a greater amount of joy.

  This concept also applies to enthusiasm. Imagine a crowd of thousands of tremendously enthusiastic people showing their enthusiasm by their expressions and by waving their arms and cheering. Now imagine that you are in this crowd, experiencing th same enthusiasm as all these enthusiastic people.

  Now take this a step further and imagine that you are the one who is leading this great gathering. See yourself enthusiastically telling the crowd, "Everyone together now: Enthusiastic thoughts! Enthusiastic feelings! Enthusiastic words! Enthusiastic action!"

  As the large crowd gets more and more enthusiastic, you too experience greater and greater enthusiasm. You feel the enthusiasm from head to toe and this feeling gets stronger and stronger.

  Experiment! Practice this looking in a mirror for a few minutes. What will happen? You,  too, will experience the jubilation of enthusiasm.