Gratefulness Part 1
I am very often asked by BodyMarc and OneHorseLife Students how to make changes permanent. I hear very often that it was easy to grow Awareness and see changes, but later these changes were reversed. It feels like growing and shrinking balloon of Awareness. When the balloon is big and is growing, you can experience the beauty and happiness of life. When the balloon is shrinking, you can experience less support from life.
How to fill this balloon?
What can fill this balloon?
You can fill this balloon with your Gratefulness.
When you are Grateful for all the good changes that you experience when your Awareness grows, then you cam make these changes to stay with you. When you are not noticing these changes, or you think that you have taken them using some techniques, then you express ungratefulness, and all these changes revert.
Your horse can teach you how it works in a very simple way. When you are Grateful to your horse, you receive more. When you see and appreciate the walk that your horse is offering you, then you receive trot. When you are Grateful for trot, you can receive canter. You can open this beautiful path of gifts by expressing your Gratefulness when your horse comes to be with you.
It is enough to say thank you, to open all the possibilities in your life.
Roots of Gratefulness
Gratefulness starts when you see that important things that you want in your life are coming to you as the gifts. When you believe that you control and take them, then you block Gratefulness, and it cannot happen.
When your horse does beautiful piaffer, and you see that it is a gift from him and the whole Nature, then you become very Grateful. When you believe that you have taken this Piaffer using some techniques, then Gratefulness is blocked, and beautiful Piaffer disappears.
It is very easy to understand. When you make your friend a tea because you like him, you would be very happy when you receive back simple and honest “thank you”. When your friend is thinking that he somehow manipulated you into making him tea, you would be very disappointed. Maybe your friend thinks that is shaping your behavior with rewards. Maybe your friend thinks that he is your leader and you are following his orders. Maybe your friend thinks that you will be able to relax when the pressure of making tea is over. It does not matter. You made this tea because you liked him. And if he likes this tea, simple “thank you” would be the best what he can do.
When your horse is offering beautiful movement for you, he does it because he wants to give you the gift of beauty. Accept this gift and thank for it. It is enough. Do not develop any theories how you have tricked your horse into doing it.
You can support your horse in expressing himself. You can bring your whole knowledge about movement and horses and support and inspire your horse. But, you cannot take anything that would be really beautiful and important.
Many horse people dream about an engaged and motivated horse. How engaged and motivated would you be, when someone would be tricking you into doing something?
Gratefulness starts when you stop taking. You cannot take with Gratefulness. You can receive with Gratefulness.
Opening for Gratefulness
Opening for Gratefulness is opening for Communication. It is like opening for the message someone is telling you. It is like during a conversation, someone is talking to you, and you are disagreeing, and you stop listening, you want to say immediately what you think. But then, you start realizing that it is not important to say your thoughts. You realize that what you hear you hear for a reason. You realize that this message is important for you and is coming to you to help you. And you start listening, and you became Grateful for this message.
We have seen this process hundreds of times with our students and horses. We have seen it during clinics and visits in our place. When a student started to listen to a horse and started to see that what horse is showing is an important message for the student, then Gratefulness is coming.
Gratefulness is a base of Communication. When you are not open for what you hear and see, when you are not thankful for what someone tries to tell you, then Communication and Connection is not possible.
When you start listening and seeing that what you see and hear is FOR YOU, then you become Grateful, and Communication and Connection are open.
Tensions can block Gratefulness. When tensions are blocking Gratefulness, then seeing the Truth is difficult, because what we see are our tensions. When you release these tensions, your Awareness grows, and you can see the Truth.
Gratefulness is a gift that is opening the door to the Connection and Communication. Communication and Connection are built from Gratefulness.
