When someone complimented me by saying they thought I was a good evangelist for mindfulness, I was disturbed. Soon after, someone asked me how best to share advice to a friend about applying mindfulness to skillfully manage emotions in the face of a parent's illness and impending passing.
When you come upon something "good", something that works really well, it is natural to want to share it. How do you share without evangelizing?
Evangelize
To evangelize is "to preach the gospel; to convert to Christianity" according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The Free Dictionary adds "to promulgate or promote (a doctrine or idea, for example) enthusiastically." Microsoft employs evangelists to promote its products and services. Firms cultivate customers who believe in their products so strongly that they try to get others to buy them. Adherents to religions, spiritual practices, methodologies and ideas attempt to convince others (and maybe themselves).
