The Tied Up Horse
I saw a post the other day on facebook where a person was asking advice on how to deal with an unruly horse, it wouldn't tolerate being tied up. She took a picture of the horse tied up to the back of the stable block, the photo showed the horse was clearly distraught and unhappy, hooves pawing the ground with pure, raw intent to ease itself from anxiety.
This horse had no choice, it was under the control of another, as are most domestic animals, no surprise there. But what surprised me, was the person had lost connection by the reason for the horse's distress, anxiety, of which she was personally responsible for but seeked guidance elsewhere. We all make mistakes and we all seek advise, but the more we can go within, become aligned to our true nature, the kinder the training techniques will be and the more sincere and magical the union will be.
I think there is a link between self abuse (I'm not talking serious self harm) and animal sadness and ill health.
Think about it, if you're unable to recognise the subtle needs of yourself, how are you to recognise the lack of happiness, lethargy, fear or emptiness in another?
This article isn't to highlight the training habits of the horse training industry, but aimed at using it as a tool to help put a little light on how ignoring raw emotion leads to disease.
Anxiety can be suffered by all creatures, it's part of our make up, it's part of life. However, one of my greatest interests and personal calling is to help people recognise disease in themselves, prevent imbalances and reduce suffering. Offering guidance may even prevent long term disease from occurring and would definitely benefit animals.
Avoidance
When we see an animal obviously having a hard time excepting something, what do you do:
Do you see the animal as having a behaviour problem?
Do you believe the animal should be trained in order to have a more desirable way / behaviour?
Are you a good enough observer to be able to read the raw emotion in the animal?
Do you use your language and beliefs to override what is seen?
All these are distractions to the obvious message, you are distracting yourself from what you see with mind and thought concepts and with quick relief and avoidance via using other peoples versions on what you should do.
Now apply these ideas to yourself, When you feel pain, does your mind override your emotion?
Do you believe it is someone else's fault?
Do you distract or relief yourself with food, distract yourself with something by consuming or reacting, gratifying yourself with a quick fix? If so, it is all avoidance.
The best thing you can do, is take responsibility for yourself, change how you see things outside of yourself, become self realised, learn to self enquire and give meaning to your existence.
Self care isn't simply about food, shelter & company, it's about finding a reason to live, to feel joy, to truly connect from the heart with another, to feel excitement and it's about lifting the spirit and knowing with true conviction that you have purpose in this world.
Don't become dull
All through our childhood and through life, discomforts have arisen. In order to avoid internal pain and trauma usually egoic in nature we naturally develop distractions, avoidances, life style choices, thought patterns, body postures, lifestyle patterns, rigid opinions, stereo type relationships, personality traits and ways of being, all to avoid and mask superficial discomforts.
After a while most of us start to question life. We then become dull, thick skinned, mediocre, we don't always know we suffer, we learn to get by, shuffle along with brief relief every now and then. If we get triggered we either blame another or turn deeper into our life long comfort zones and habits, we can put on weight, stop being loving to ourselves, we stop noticing, we even stop liking our lives and anything in it and sometimes we become depressed and internally our health may suffer.
And then comes a catalyst a trigger & anxiety arises, we bury ourselves deeper and deeper & before you know it you've become a shadow of your true self under tons of low self esteem patterns and a life style you're questioning.
Celebrate your triggers
Learn to feel again, through emotions or physically, expose yourself to personal rigidity, resistance, pain, discomfort and vulnerability, Realise they are all signs of infinite intelligence communicating with you and they are positive signals of your aliveness.
Hold space for yourself, look at your whole, celebrate the message, cry, be depressed, allow your system to express, feel pain at times, avoid tablets be vulnerable, it'll pass.
I was watching an interview with a remarkable lady, who managed to heal terrible emotional scars from her abusive childhood and physical problems through fasting. This lady suffered scoliosis, epilepsy, suicidal thoughts and cured herself from cancer. She fasted for long periods and her story is an incredible account of faith and pain. Knowing deep down her body would heal itself she journeyed through layer upon layer of subconscious pain, damaging thought patterns even going as deep as ancestral influences she transformed and remoulded herself. She realised she had the power.
When you start to understand the gift of pain, you can start to heal deep rooted unearthed diseases, they'll start appearing, issues will start daring to be seen in hope of you casting light on them. They will seem like problems because that's how you have learnt to perceive them. "Problems only become painful and intense when you cast light on the areas, when you consciously choose to change and heal them. Consciously choose to dig yourself out of old habits, watch and observe what arises, you may have a few healing crises, but through self love you'll learn to ride the waves. Walk your disease out of the door consciously. When we learn to notice the unearthed issues that gave rise to pain and discomfort in the first place we can start the journey of recovery".
"We can't always pre-plan emotional memory / anxiety, these feelings tend to come up on their own, in their own time unannounced. When a discomfort announces itself, notice it, work through it, trust the process, hold light on it and then shove it out the door, that way we become fully aware of how we get it & how we could get it back".
Learn to see how imbalances and diseases develop and how to avoid them from developing into negative habits by watching your triggers and by deliberately changing your life by facing life.
Start to find ways to feel true joy, expression, love from the heart not the mind. Express yourself freely and give compassion and aid whenever you can. Give where possible, and pass a blessing to all, forgive and be receptive to beauty around. Feel for yourself and others.
Coming back to the analogy of the tied horse, it is intended to be seen as your system, the horse is in fact your mind / body / spirit complex compromised. You are the tied up horse, longing to be heard, it's desperate need to be seen is your true nature. When we fail to see or ignore this nature, disguise and harness our freedom we start to die, it's only through unearthing the layers that we come alive again. Look after yourself and others will flourish.
Ask yourself these questions
Do you deny yourself freedom, expression, compassion and do you truly listen to yourself?
If you answer no to these questions, then chances are, you're denying these qualities in your pets live too!
Do you get irritated when your pet expresses itself in its own language, be it body language or tongue? When he bubbles over with excitement, when she tries to seek your attention albeit at the wrong time? Take a leaf out of their book and receive their non verbal love, fun and excitement, don't always admire conformity and the perceived right behaviour. Learn to enjoy, receive & absorb their positive energy and frequencies, likewise your high vibe energies can help to uplift them.
Some animals are amazing mirrors, as their reactions are driven by raw emotion. Animals are driven by survival instincts in the wild but pets pick up learnt negative habits, very often this is raw anxiety due to our lack of compassion but seen as behaviour displacement. Sadly they don't have the ability or luxury to question why and they don't have the choice to distract and consume their way out of discomfort because they are naturally congruent.
Be honest
Happy or sad, it is this honest nature that we can learn from.
If I could offer advise to the lady with the horse, I would say feel into it's behaviour, the behaviour the horse is displaying is in fact you, you are watching yourself suffer but you have become too thick skinned to notice your own suffering.
Try rewiring your life. Yoga is a great start, Shoshin yoga is a therapeutic yoga aimed at using the body as a tool to discover what we are, I would highly recommend Ayla Sarnoff's online yoga classes. Also, Meditate, change your diet, fast for a few days, try giving up coffee for a while or alcohol and stretch yourself out of your usual comfort zones. Look into self realisation, Bentinho Massaro's free online course is wonderful. Look for soul purpose in your life, try therapeutic healing, animal communication, create, express, Give, Love and listen to yourself.