Therianthropy isn't a deep connection with some kind on nonhuman animal. Many Therians don't feel such a connection. Therianthropy is simply the state of being a Therian. Philosophies can be constructed around therianthropy but it's not a philosophy. It's not magical. And all too often, people who find out about us quickly realize that we're boring. We're not particularly fanciful. We don't dramatize or romanticize ourselves nor is it realistic to do so from the outside.

We have a physical basis - just like all beings. We also have a spiritual basis - just like all beings. We are no more exciting or excited than Mainstreamers and one is no better than the other.

Anyone can be excited by life or bored. It's more a matter of attitude than anything else. My hobby is continued learning and I never loose the fascination nor will I because there's always new things to learn. The world doesn't come to me; I go out to the world. I sometimes (often) get stung but even that's part of the fascination. I'm often driven out of the areas in which I'm comfortable into new and dangerous places - in the mind as well as in nature.

The key to living well is to develop relationships with everything in your environment - in being aware of the life around you. Many people are so jaded no days that they can't be excited unless there's explosions in their ears and continuous explosions of color in their eyes. To be totally immersed in a waterfall or a stickbug, to be totally devoted to the life around you - that's the good life. Therians are tied to life by their nature; but Mainstreamers are never rejected by life except by their choice.

To live is to live intentionally. All else is mere existence.

There's different ways of changing yourself. If you want to be a doctor and it's within your reach, then go for it. That's not changing what you intrinsically are. But if you're trying to change what you intrinsically are, in the first place, you're not going to succeed, but even if you did, you would be making a mistake.

Personally, I believe that we're what we are for a reason. The human endeavor needs us as we are. If we don't live true to our essence then that gap will remain unfilled.

Anyway, people optimize themselves when they're strive to be the best at what they are.