I am not a neat freak. In fact, when I was a kid my bedroom contained a very distinctive purple shag carpet. If you could actually see said carpet, which was a rarity, considering the piles of clothes and stuff, there was a rising fear of what could possibly start up a colony or a little village in a carpet that hadn’t seen a vacuum cleaner in a terrifyingly long time.
A few weeks ago, I walked in the door from a healing session on my mare Diva and myself and I couldn’t get my butt planted at my computer fast enough. If you know me, you know that my relationship with my horse is, well, unusual, deep, fascinating. After eleven years we are best friends, partially because of the passing of much time, but there’s a lot more to it than that. You see, Diva and I are connected in our purpose and our soul journey.
It’s a big question when it comes to pets. Just how connected are you to your animals? If it came down to it would it be the big juicy steak or you? That pasture full of grass? Now that’s tough competition! Stomachs aside, connection is one of those things that we all strive for as animal owners whether we know it or not. The mere act of asking your dog to come or your horse to listen to your aids is based in connection. The more tuned in they are to you the easier things get and the more fun you have together. But what do we need to do get tuned in? What are the steps of connection?
Comfort zones are exactly that, zones of comfort, or more accurately, the areas in our lives where we feel a sense of ease, competence and understanding. We’ve all had the experience of moving out of a comfort zone. Most of the time it feels, well, uncomfortable. Which is why we like staying inside them. You might see this in your animals when you find yourself in a situation that is unknown to them. There is a natural tendency to want to return to what is comfortable. The inborn problem with this strategy is that it can make it difficult to learn, grow and integrate new skills and information. And these are some of the things that make life fun and fulfilling.
Let’s get a little better acquainted with the idea of a comfort zone. What rules this aspect of our human and animal nature anyways?