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| Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan Me and Geeves |
Do you live in the moment? Can you do it? This is a challenge for a lot of people, myself included. But I'm working on it.
When I was a teen-ager, I decided that Thursday night is my favorite day of the week because the weekend is just about to start. I still have Friday and Saturday to look forward to! But by Friday afternoon I would start to feel sad, because in my mind the weekend was almost over! Don't even ask how I felt about Sundays! And then, many years ago a colleague recited a quote she had heard: "It's always better to travel hopefully than to arrive." That really resonated with me, because I had long been someone who prefers to plan and look forward to something than to get down and experience it. Since then, I have recited that quote many (read, hundreds) of times over the years.
In his book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and it's all small stuff), author Richard Carlson, Ph.D., addresses the importance of living in the moment. He points out that people spend so much time worrying about what will happen tomorrow and fretting about what happened in the past that they miss opportunities for joy right now. When I read this, my jaw hit the floor. What have I been missing? I need to pay attention! Having a horse helps me to do this.
Several years ago, I went up to the barn to see my horse. I was preoccupied out about a project I was working on, and I thought riding Geeves would help to relax me. It did--but not until I stressed my horse out, first! I was so caught up in my anxiety that it wasn't until I felt my 16.2- hand Thoroughbred's muscles tense and he started to jig beneath me that I realized how toxic my thoughts had become. Geeves had picked up all of my negative energy and started to reflect it right right back to me. I knew that if I didn't pay attention to what is going on right now, Geeves was likely to bolt and I could get hurt. I apologized to my horse, took a few deep breaths and cleared my mind of everything except what was going on between the two of us.
My new horse, Galahad, also lets me know when I am not focused on what is going on right now. A few times I have become so distracted that he has had to bring me out of my past/future reverie with a well-placed tap on my foot. It wasn't his fault; I wasn't watching where I was standing and I was in his blind spot. I got the hint. I could certainly explain or rationalize the incident by telling myself that I became so overwhelmed by my thoughts (message units) that I put myself into a light trance (like missing my exit on the freeway). My horse stepped on me because I was standing in the same spot where Galahad wanted to put his hoof when he shifted his weight. The metaphor was painfully obvious to me, though: I expect my horse to pay attention to me and do what I ask him to do. It is only fair--and respectful to my equine partner--that I devote full attention to him when I am working with him.
When I was a teen-ager, I only wanted to get on a horse and ride. I didn't want to waste precious minutes of riding time on "just grooming." These days, I am happy to brush, curry, pick hooves, give him a Reiki treatment or massage because that is precious time I get to spend in Galahad's company. Grooming becomes a moving meditation in which I can express my love for and appreciation of him as one of my life's great blessings.
Having the opportunity to ride him is the great joy of today...every day.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
