What if I were to challenge you and say that now is an even more important time to embrace what is? What if we were to look for one positive thing every day? What if we developed our practice of gratitude so that we appreciated things that went unnoticed before?
It’s important to know we’re not alone. Having some sort of safety net in times like this can make the difference between navigating the crisis mainly intact, or picking up the pieces when all is said and done.
We, as horsewomen, have a safety net, therapist, warm fuzzy, and amazing listener all rolled into one – our horses. Horses have a way of grounding us (and I don’t mean by bucking us off!) Their daily routine doesn’t involve watching news of the latest death tolls, getting a swab stuffed so far up their nose they expect to have it come out of the back of their head (seriously, COVID tests are NOT fun), and heading out to shop at 6:00 a.m. in hopes of finding some toilet paper and avoiding too many other shoppers. Horses can be our ultimate path to being grounded in the present – and to embracing what is.
Being present is something I talk a lot about in this blog (you can read other posts HERE and HERE). It’s so easy for us to let the noise in our heads take over. When things are “normal”, we have a constant playlist of inner conversations, what we need to do, what we wish we hadn’t done, what on earth we could have been thinking when we did THAT… Pre-COVID we were rarely fully present – we had a routine (read: rut) that we’re in, we become automatons marching through our days. That was then…
In these during-COVID, and hopefully (eventually) post-COVID times, it’s all too easy to cling to those patterns to try to maintain some semblance of normality in our lives. There are big changes taking place, and undoubtedly more to come.
Changes, especially ones out of our control, can be frightening. It feels safer to block out as much as we can and try to keep going. Here’s a challenge your horse and I have for you – the next time you see him (or her), stop for at least 30 seconds and just observe him. Is he relaxed? Is he holding tension anywhere in his body? Or is he just busy frisking your pockets for peppermints? Whatever he’s doing, chances are he’s embracing what is (especially if “what is” involves peppermints!) He’s not worrying about the future or regretting the past – he simply is.
I realize that horses have the luxury of not having to deal with groceries and masks and hand sanitizer and a lack of toilet paper, but we can still take a page from their playbook. For 30 seconds, just stop. Take a breath. Relax your shoulders. And think of one good thing about right now. It can be something as major as not having had any of your friends or family becoming ill, or as trivial as the fact that the store not only had toilet paper, but they had your brand!
Will this change your life? Probably not. It won’t make COVID go away, it won’t stop racial and political unrest, it won’t bring people’s jobs back; but, it will give you one tiny piece of your day that you can own. It’s your chance to embrace what is.
Embracing what is is a choice. It’s a very conscious choice that needs to be made over and over until it starts to become a regular part of your life. Next week, I’ll be discussing the difference between response and reaction.
In the meantime, stay safe, and do your best to emulate your horse, and embrace what is.