Couple of things you can do, some more expensive than others, but each will help in attaining a lighter feeling and more nimble bike for your given situation.
For starters, if your budget allows, you may want to consider building/buying a light weight wheelset that is aimed more towards the trail/xc end of the spectrum. You'll be surprised what a lighter wheelset will do for the feel, namely acceleration, and how much the wheels will take if built and maintained properly.
Next, tires will make a huge difference. Get some faster rolling tires, namely on the bike, such as a Kenda Small Block 8 or Maxxis Larsen TT. There are a ton of other options out there, so judge based on what the riders in your area are using.
Finally, and this goes against what most riders typically do with full suspension, but set your suspension per normal....not air'ed way up for that no-bob, not plush, rock hard feeling! I'm guilty of it years ago and I find a lot of the people I end up riding with set their full suspension bikes up way to stiff, making them ride like bricks. The bike was designed with a certain suspension setup (sag, air pressure, etc) that gets the bike as a whole to work in it's sweet spot. I know my current trail bike feels infinitely better when set up with proper suspension sag and feel in mind....v/s the flying turd that it feels like when I've tried to increase the air pressure in the shock thinking I would benefit on the super buff trails we have in the immediate area.
