Keeping your eyes up
You can find useful life lessons in a wide variety of places. Today's comes from my riding lesson.
I am still working on getting the whole timing-thing when jumping down. I'll do it great and then the next few times will be less than spectacular. (But at least I stay on the horse.) What has made a huge difference in figuring out how all the various pieces fit together is my upper body posture and where my eyes are looking, especially if the approach to a jump is particularly long.
I don't necessarily like jumps with a long approach because it gives me far too much time to over think the whole process. The longer I have the more I worry about what is coming up in front of me. I focus on the jump instead of anything else. And when I'm focusing on the jump, I start to look at it instead of where I'm going. My shoulders begin to hunch over so I lose my center of balance. I tend to hold the horse back too much in anticipation of what is coming instead of meeting the jump at a good pace.
When I'm doing it right, which is about a quarter of the time at the moment, it feels, I keep my eyes focused on what it past the jump, looking up and straight ahead instead of looking at the obstacle. This lets me keep my upper body straight and balanced on my horse. Because I'm not focusing on the hurdle in front of me, I can focus more on the rhythm of the horse and not hold him back, allowing him the momentum he needs to jump with ease. The whole thing is just smoother and easier and more comfortable when done this way.
Isn't this true of so many things? We see an obstacle in front of us and become fixated on it. This could be a minor issue or a major problem, it doesn't matter if that is what we fix our attention on. As a result, this obstacle becomes bigger than it really is. I can tell you, a small 1 1/2 foot jump, which is really nothing, can seem rather large if you spend too much time thinking about it.You may get past the obstacle, but it wasn't graceful or easy or beautiful. Instead of letting obstacles become larger than they need to be, how much better to keep our eyes up and looking ahead? Sure, you'll still have to clear the obstacle, but when it comes time to actually do so, the effort required is hardly noticed because you are thinking about what is coming up, planning for that, and moving forward.
___________
I have a new article published: How Can I Prepare to Parent an Adopted Child? Feel free to read and share as much as you want.
I am still working on getting the whole timing-thing when jumping down. I'll do it great and then the next few times will be less than spectacular. (But at least I stay on the horse.) What has made a huge difference in figuring out how all the various pieces fit together is my upper body posture and where my eyes are looking, especially if the approach to a jump is particularly long.
I don't necessarily like jumps with a long approach because it gives me far too much time to over think the whole process. The longer I have the more I worry about what is coming up in front of me. I focus on the jump instead of anything else. And when I'm focusing on the jump, I start to look at it instead of where I'm going. My shoulders begin to hunch over so I lose my center of balance. I tend to hold the horse back too much in anticipation of what is coming instead of meeting the jump at a good pace.
When I'm doing it right, which is about a quarter of the time at the moment, it feels, I keep my eyes focused on what it past the jump, looking up and straight ahead instead of looking at the obstacle. This lets me keep my upper body straight and balanced on my horse. Because I'm not focusing on the hurdle in front of me, I can focus more on the rhythm of the horse and not hold him back, allowing him the momentum he needs to jump with ease. The whole thing is just smoother and easier and more comfortable when done this way.
Isn't this true of so many things? We see an obstacle in front of us and become fixated on it. This could be a minor issue or a major problem, it doesn't matter if that is what we fix our attention on. As a result, this obstacle becomes bigger than it really is. I can tell you, a small 1 1/2 foot jump, which is really nothing, can seem rather large if you spend too much time thinking about it.You may get past the obstacle, but it wasn't graceful or easy or beautiful. Instead of letting obstacles become larger than they need to be, how much better to keep our eyes up and looking ahead? Sure, you'll still have to clear the obstacle, but when it comes time to actually do so, the effort required is hardly noticed because you are thinking about what is coming up, planning for that, and moving forward.
___________
I have a new article published: How Can I Prepare to Parent an Adopted Child? Feel free to read and share as much as you want.
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