The goal is the fun is the journey is the goal

Copyright © 2011 Lif C. Strand
www.spiritualhorsemanship.com

I subscribe to the Abraham Daily Quotes and this is what came today. It so perfectly describes Spiritual Horsemanship!

Abraham Daily Quote - 07/03/2011: You think that the goal is to be over there, and we say the goal is the journey over there; the goal is the fun you have along the way on your way to over there.

If your goal is to use a horse to get to some future point in time or space, please stop reading. This information isn't for you, because when your relationship with your horse is end-goal oriented, you block possibility of a partnership and enter into a master/slave or owner/object relationship. Spiritual Horsemanship is partnership, where each party has input that is respected and taken into consideration when choosing next steps, and where the input is not simply physical interaction but communication on intellectual, emotional and spiritual levels.

Living in the future is not what horses do – it’s a human skill, or maybe curse. So to be end-goal oriented with a horse is to deny a horse its essential nature to live in the moment. Further, for you to focus on an end-goal is to live in and for the future, and therein lies the cause of many problems with human/horse relationships.

Whenever you are there mentally (focused on your end-goal) and your horse is here (living in the moment, focused on you), your communication is confused. You’re talking about then, your horse is talking about now. You’re talking about something that doesn’t exist and your horse is talking about what is. You aren’t talking about the same thing but you think you are – and from this comes frustration and as it continues, the negative emotion escalates until it triggers your horse’s limbic response: flight or fight.

To communicate effectively, you and your horse need to be in the same place. Your horse isn’t capable of dreaming with you about the future and you are the only one who has the choice, the one in the partnership who can decide to be with the other or somewhere else. 

This is not to say that the desire to reach a future point in time or space is not possible, but that such goals should rather be icing on the cake rather than the whole meal.

What is important is the whole meal. Which brings up the point of fun: If your goal is pleasure at this moment – not a deferred (and by no means assured) pleasure in the future - then the whole meal is enjoyable.  The end-goal becomes a natural outcome, just more pleasure in an ongoing span of pleasure for both you and your horse. Your horse will be happy and so will you.

What works best with horses is the whole relationship, which can only be accessed in the moment you are living in. What is important in Spiritual Horsemanship is positive moment-to-moment living in partnership with your horse – it is this relationship that not only can get you to some future time and space of your mutual agreement, but it can enhance both your lives right now.