As I’ve grown older I realize that, worse than anything we can eat or otherwise take into our bodies, is the damage caused purely and simply by STRESS!  Naturally, what is stress for one person might truly be fun and games for the next.  Believe me, you can’t go through a life of competing in a quarter of a century of Olympic games as well as World Championships and World Cups without a whole lot of stress!

I used to tell students starting out at Grand Prix that they could consider themselves green until they had shown in about 100 classes.  Only then should they really start ”kicking themselves” for making little mistakes.  How one accepts mistakes and even failures determines, to a great extent, their ability to learn and grow from them. The job of a good teacher or coach is to make the student aware of what the mistake is, explain and show them the solution, and ensure that they can move beyond the problem with as little stress to the horse aand themselves as possible.
And yet, both with people and horses, there is a fine line between poitive and negative tension.  Brilliance comes when huge energy maintained in positive tension is directed outward at the will of the artist, athlete, or even business person, to produce the desired effect.  Watch down-hill skiers going 60MPH or more down the slope and, to the disbelief of most of us mortals, wishing they could even go faster by a few 100’s of a second. What would be beyond stressfull and just plain terrifying to us, is just another race to them. In other words, their EDGE is where they are most content as they literally try to push their boundaries further and further.

So, at the end of the day, life is full of stress and the key is how we look at it and deal with it. If we are very wise, with every new and diffcult situation that arises, we take a deep breath and talk to our inner “higher self”, whether we choose to call it our spirit, God, our just that side of our consciousness which, when calm and in a meditative state, has proven its ability to cope with even the most terrible situations. The peacefulness one sees in terminally ill children and adults, the steadiness of the surgeon performing a life saving operation, and the ease with which the pilot brings the 747 in for a landing with only one engine, are all results of finding that inner calm in the most stressful circumstances.

My father and mother had to move out of their home for the month while theirs is being worked on. My Dad, who has Altzheimers but still is pretty good around family, shocked my Mom yesterday when twice he asked who she was. The stress of being out of his normal surroundings has greatly deminished his memory in a matter of days. It is very sad, but unavoidable, even with the best drugs available. Thankfully, it is still episodic and he was better today, but who knows about tomorrow. My Mom shows amazing strength in these situations  and holds and calms him down, showing him pictures of them together and the rest of his family. That is amazing and typical of my Mom, whose own health issues have been more than enough stress for anyone to cope with already. I’m not sure how she does it.

What I am sure about is that being good to yourself, loving what you do,and having fun every day are our greatest responsibilities in life. Being of service to others and doing at least one good deed for someone or something without wanting something in return also brings that return without ever having to ask for it. And recognizing that any great endeavor comes not easily. Like my mentor, Col. Ljungquist said, ” The Gaits To Brilliance Are Surrounded By A Cloud Of Sweat And Tears.”  But through hard work and embracing our failures and learning from them as well as our victories, we learn to love even that edge which once scared us and made us tremble. When we find our inner peace in the most difficult situation we experience GRACE!

Cheers!

RD

Posted: Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized