Let your light shine
That's it
That's the message from the horses to humans
That's what horses are whispering to us
We were all born with this light, but then we had to adapt to our environment. And depending on that environment we were able to keep our light or it was dimmed. Our thoughts are made from memories but are also dependent on our state. It could be described like a river. If there are no rocks the river can flow smoothly and unhindered. If there are many rocks the opposite can happen.
How to recognise your light dimmers
The key is mindfulness. Mindfulness is "the practice of paying purposeful attention with a sense of openness, curiosity, and kindness for whatever is arising in the present moment". (Dr. Daniel Friedland)
One of the challenges is to train yourself to look at your thoughts, feelings and behaviour as well as the behaviour of your horse with a non-judgemental and kind attitude.
"Start with low hanging fruit"
says Michael Singer, the famous spiritual teacher and author of the bestselling book "Living untethered", that actually has a horse on its cover. He advises to start with something as simple as the daily drive to work and observe yourself whether - and if so how - you become reactive when someone cuts you off on the driveway. And instead of asking "why did I react that way?", ask "oh I wonder why I reacted that way", as Dr. Gabor Maté explains. So you ask with curiosity. He also explains how one can recover the Self by going back to childhood, finding old wounds that impact current thoughts and behaviours and allowing healing in the present moment.
This is possible for everybody
Recovering your light and keeping it is possible for example by working with the Internal Family System (IFS).
“IFS is a transformative tool that conceives every human being as a system of protective and wounded inner parts lead by a core Self,” as quoted from the IFS Institute website.
IFS was developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in family therapy. It became an evidence-based methodology ie. there are many scientific studies available to prove its efficacy. Lately IFS has found its way into leadership and coaching. Dr. Richard Schwartz has worked with people from all walks of life and discovered that everybody has that Self. And the more people become aware of and access their Self with its 8 major “c” qualities which are confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity, and connectedness they can lead their life and others.
When you allow your horse to truly open your heart, and allow feelings of negative emotions, pain and suffering, because you know they move through you once you stop resisting them, you can start leading with the 8 c’s and shine your light.
And the horse wants to be with you