Exuberance, Kay Redfield Jamison
Exuberance: The Passion for Life - Kay Redfield Jamison, Knopf (September 21, 2004), 416 pages, ISBN:037540144X
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Kay Redfield Jamison defines exuberance as "a psychological state characterized by high mood and high energy...". She offers accounts of many exuberant people, including Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Robert Louis Stevenson, and P.T. Barnum. Even fictional exuberants like Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Ratty (Wind in the Willows), and Snoopy make an appearance.
Scientists, including Richard Feynman and her meteorologist father, are at the focus of her study. She recalls, "My father . . . was surrounded by ebullient friends and colleagues who were scientists or mathematicians," she recalls. "They were utterly captivated by the same things that enthral children -- stars, fireflies, wind, why a frog is marked the way it is."
Exuberant people approach the world with passion and a desire to engage. Kay Redfield Jamison engages us with people who have this exuberance, and thereby transmits their exuberance to us. Can we catch it permanently? With Kay Redfield Jamison helping us, it might be possible.
In Exuberance: The Passion for Life, Kay Redfield Jamison describes exuberance as a desirable state of heightened awareness that gives rise to courage, discovery and creativity. She notes a link between extraversion and exuberance, and emphasises the importance of play. Play encourages fearlessness and allows us to discover the world through controlled adventures.
Kay Redfield Jamison takes us on a fascinating tour of exuberance enhancers. She mentions drugs, but gives a sharp and precise health warning, "pharmacological law: what goes up must come down". She mentions many other risky and "out there" exuberance enhancers, including: gambling, fasting, self-mutilation, sleep deprivation, bleeding, immersion in ice water, ... and so on. More positive exuberance enhancers include: music, discovery, meditation, and a passionate quest for knowledge.
Kay Redfield Jamison reminds us that exuberance, like most areas of positive psychology, has not receive the focus it deserves from researchers and writers. In Exuberance: The Passion for Life she makes a great start in changing this.
- Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jamison will leave you feeling exuberant.