You get more of whatever you think about. It’s true! Anything you give your attention to increases. That includes the bad stuff. This rule doesn’t have an opinion about “good” or “bad.” It just is.
You humans live in a “fix it” culture. You are trained to search for what’s wrong. That’s fine, if you’re looking for a stone in my hoof or a burr embedded in my saddle pad. But when you focus on what’s amiss with everything and everyone around you, you can really mess up your life.
The best example of this rule causing trouble is in relationships. It doesn’t matter if it is the relationship with your mate, your boss, your best friend, or your horse. If you spend more time looking for what’s wrong with that person/horse or the relationship you have together than you do looking for and appreciating what’s right, you will become out of sync with that person/horse until you will feel compelled to fight with her, or leave her. It’s a rule. It will happen!
Riding is all about being in sync. As a horse, I feel Jane’s body move to accommodate my movement, and my body moves to accommodate hers. She leads the dance, but we are in sync with each other. Because she rewards me when we are in sync, I want to follow her lead even more. It feels good. Her attention to the “good” I do, makes me want to do more “good.”
So, my advice is: concentrate on what you want more of. Ignore what you don’t want more of. Don’t give what you don’t want any energy. This is such a simple rule, but one that, if applied all the time, will change your life.
What do you like best about your horse? Think about that as you ride today. I promise, you’ll have a great ride.
Love, Moshi
From Indy:
I got left at home today. I’m very sad. The weather is really bad and there is a lot of mud out there, so Jane told me I had to stay home. I’m considering tearing up the couch just to let her know how upset I am.
Naw… I won’t do that. I know that would be wrong, and I’m a good dog. Even when I do things that might not be right, Jane reminds me that I’m a good dog. Jane and Rhett are my most powerful authority figures, so when they say I’m a good dog, I listen. Good dog. That’s me. Good dogs don’t eat couches.
I’ve learned that, generally, you get whatever you expect to get from your people and animal friends. I heard someone tell a dog at the barn that she was a “bad dog.” The dog believed her person, and made sure to look for ways to be who she was, a “bad dog.” She chewed up some leather shoes and buried her person’s favorite horse brush, because she knows that’s what “bad dogs” do. And bad dogs get yelled at, so it was natural to her that her person yelled at her a lot.
I wonder how she would have behaved had her person said, “you’re a good dog, but this was a bad thing you did, which doesn’t match who you are. Since you’re such a good dog, it would be more appropriate for you to leave the shoes as they are.” That would have been a very different way of looking at things.
Is your dog a good dog, or a bad dog? I’m a good dog! Jane reminds me all the time that I’m a really good fellow, and my behavior should naturally reflect that. It makes it easy for me to make the right decisions, because my behavior matches who I believe I am.
Love, Indy
Jane Savoie
1174 Hill St ext.
Berlin, VT 05602