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HOLD YOUR HORSES

Saturday Sept. 19, 2015 

 

Living life, sure, but how?

Are we living life as it happens vis-à-vis living it on purpose? Or on accident?

On a prescribed path, developing our own plan, seems important – so, where do we fit?

And how are we at getting anyone to do anything …

We are in such a hurry to get our way. We get in our own way more than we need to, tripping on the very things we need to be effective at doing, leading, accomplishing, influencing …

We all share a deeper yearning for a sense of place in the world, don’t we? We want it, need it, act out, wander, delve, work and play in search of it. We just aren’t so good at admitting it out loud to another human being.

We are not lost. Nor found. We are wandering around. Sometimes we find meaning in life, sometimes it knocks us upside of the head when we weren’t looking very hard at all.

Intellectually we all understand the importance of relationships – but we tend to stick with the ones we know, the easy ones, the comfortable ones. How often do we reach out to strangers, how often do we stretch to meet someone half-way, or more than half-way?

The art of communication is most obviously one of the visible, actions and words – conversation, greetings, handshakes. Body language, and real language. But what if our languages are different, if one party can’t speak or won’t speak, how are we then at getting our message across, or having any clue about what the other party wants?

Reality is fragile. So is fantasy.

Reality is harder. Better.


Mark Kolke

P.S.: I’d never been on the dirt side of a horse arena before. One day of horse sense discovery. Without getting in a saddle. No riding. Up-close, personal with horses. Learning to deal more effectively with people by leading/managing a horse. Leader extraordinaire Nancy Lowery ’s program – The Natural Leader where I spent quality time with 1,250 pound Maddie and Oliver – gender and behavior polar opposites. Learned about horse behavior – learned more about my own. Developing, a relationship (quickly!), then getting it to do what you want – less intimidating, more illuminating, that I expected. I went ‘less for the program’ and more for ‘get cozy with horses’ than other attendees, some of whom were there to work out HR problems at work. I wanted to learn about the program, wanted to spend a day watching Nancy in action – one very cool seasoned presenter – and to meet a horse. We’ve all heard that common sense isn’t common. Horse sense, seems similarly obscure … unless you have a good teacher. The Reins of Responsibility are worth looking into. Loved it. Thanks Nancy. Fantastic Friday! – she normally teaches corporate groups (she’d trained hundreds of ATB Financial managers for instance) but a few times a year she lets individuals sign up as I did. Lucky me.

written / published from Calgary, AB

morning walk:  8C/47F, clear, a few clouds – sturdy shoes, steady walk – feeling lighter on my feet, so much simpler to mindlessly lead a dog …


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