“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Maya Angelou

You know that feeling of being stressed? Of feeling overwhelmed, not sure how to find your way through? Yep, of course you do!

So you also know about trying to ease the stress, trying to live a life with less stress, looking for a way to find a more peaceful life.

How about turning it on it’s head? Instead of trying to ease the stress, how about striving for a state of thriving? This is an idea I picked up from Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s book, The Stress Solution. Until I read this book, I was trying to find a place of happiness in my life, or of contentment, or of peace. But I knew that ultimately, I could not stay in any of those states for any length of time. We cannot be happy all the time, since we must know unhappiness in order to feel happiness. We cannot be content all the time, since we must know discontent to feel content.

But if, instead, I reframed my goal as ‘thriving’, then that could include times of peace and times of stress, times of happiness and times of sadness, times of contentment and times of discontentment which drive change for the better.

It seems like such a small thing, but as many of you who know me will understand, I am a very literal person. I take words at their meaning, sometimes to the detriment of myself, and of the others around me who get bored of listening to my explanations! So for me, this small, simple adjustment in my goal feels like a big thing.

What small change have you made, to lead to the big change?

© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2021

Treating your horse with care, connection, curiosity and compassion