Walk the Same Path with a New Perspective

After recovering from another flair-up of laminitis, my Equine Coach, River, has been cleared by her veterinarian to be ridden again!  River's exercise had been  limited to ground work only to this point in her recovery.  Exercise is a double-edged sword for River after she is out of the acute laminitic phase -- Exercise is essential to her recovery and hoof health, but heavily monitored so as not to compromise her recovery.

River and I have been down this path before, but I come this time with a new perspective -- a perspective that is borne out of prior experience and greater knowledge than when I last trod this path a year ago with her.  I feel better equipped to bring River through her rehabilitation phase as I know what to do and what to look for as we move forward.

How many times in life have you encountered the same or similar problem or circumstance more than once, but find that  you look at it from a new perspective?  This new perspective may be due to similar experiences or just a fresh outlook on an old issue, which offers opportunities to resolve or at the very least navigate the issue in a different, but more effective way.

It doesn't take a major illness or other life changing experience to have these shifts in perspective.  Sometimes it can be as easy as setting a problem aside and sleeping on it, or being creative and thinking beyond your current self-imposed boundaries.

Got a recurrent problem gnawing at you?  Try approaching it from a new perspective.  The results may surprise you!

"Share and Share Alike"

I just finished reading the latest racing romance, Share and Share Alike, by Hannah Hooton.  If you love horses, romance, and a great mystery story, this is the book for you!  Great character development and vibrant descriptions make the books just come alive.  I was right there as a virtual member of the Syndicate.  While it was sad for the book to end (always a sign of a great read!), I can't wait to read more of Hannah Hooton's books!

To find Share and Share Alike, check out the links below:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo 

Apple 

Scribd 

Inkterra 

Embrace the Mundane

 "I like to make the mundane fabulous whenever I can." ~ Rufus Wainwright

 

This past week was a departure from the mundane.  Events that were not pleasant for the most part, which made me realize how much I appreciate my normal, daily routine and how much I take it for granted.  We tend to go on autopilot through our days until something shakes up our routine -- sometimes for the better, sometimes not.  While it is good to shake things up, it also behooves us to be more aware of our daily routine, to embrace  and revel in how special "the mundane" really is.  When you think about it, the mundane really isn't mundane -- it is very special!

Today, I gave River a bath.  Normally, that can be a chore, but today I looked at it with new eyes.  It is truly amazing to be able to care for such an amazing creature, and for her to trust me to care for her.

Today, embrace the mundane, and as Rufus Wainwright says, make it fabulous.

 

River after her bath.

Bullies

There are bullies in the horse world,  horses that seem to plainly not like each other and take every opportunity to take it out on the other horse through biting and kicking.  The "bullied" horse takes pains to stay away from the horse doing the bullying.  In a domestic horse environment, humans can help the process by keeping the "bully-er" and the "bully-ee" in separate pastures.  In a wild horse environment, that type of behavior can result in expulsion of the horse from the herd.

As always, the human world is more complex in this arena.  Bullying can take many forms in human:  physical bullying or psychological bullying.  And cyberspace and social media make it easier for the bullies to take out their aggression toward others but in a more insidious manner -- you can't always get away from the bullying when it is appearing on your Social Media account or being texted to your phone or being broadcast to the world.  Sure, you can "block", but bullies can find other ways to harass by changing account names or using new phone numbers.  And because cyber-bullying is so easy to do -- it can be anonymous and just type your message and send -- it is a technological epidemic as it becomes very easy for those that bully (or who might not do it face-to-face but feel comfortable doing it over cyberspace) to bully others on a wide scale, potentially taking an emotional toll on the bully victim and sometimes a physical toll as well.

And it is not just limited to teens.  Adults have climbed on the bandwagon as well. Over the past several months, I have had the misfortune of dealing with cyber-bullies.  And like the advice we give our children regarding bullies -- walk away, don't engage, talk to a responsible adult authority -- we adults have to follow similar advice.  Bullying is a learned behavior, one that carries immediate gratification to the bully-er, a sense of power and control over someone else.  The bully-ee needs to learn methods for effectively dealing with the bully' behaviors that wrests the control and power from them.  At that point, the bulling is rendered inffective.

Let's stop the epidemic.  Teach yourself, your children, and your friends measures to protect against bullies -- cyber or otherwise.  Stand up for those being bullied.