Change can be hard … but it doesn’t have to be.

Chances are, that if you made a new year’s resolution back at the start of the month , then it’s probably already gone by the board. John Elder in the New Daily says that the second Friday of January is Quitter’s Day, the day when those promised changes go finally by the board. Forbes magazine is a little kinder, claiming that by the end of January, 80% of people will have abandoned their plans.

Why as a species do we tend to see change as being so hard? Actually, the reason is quite simple. We normally associate change with loss rather than gain. The fear of losing something or missing out drives us. Change can be scary because it forces us to look at ourselves and acknowledge that something isn’t working, even when it has long since stopped being of help to us.

In the work we do with the horses; we see people who are wedded to behaviours and practices that they know don’t serve them well. But even so, they can’t let them go because they have come to rely on them. They can’t envisage what change might look like and how a new alternative might serve them better.       

People learn from the horses because horses DO let go. They don’t bear grudges or malice and they don’t have any regrets for the past nor apprehension for the future. They live in the moment in direct contact with what is going on around them. They are accepting of their place and go out of their way to adopt practices and behaviours that keep them safe.

The Greek philosopher, Socrates said- ‘The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new’.  So best wishes from us here at Hamer Equine Assisted Learning for a happy and fruitful year ahead.

If you’d like to learn more about equine assisted learning please call Annie on 0411 549562 or e mail her on annie@hamerequine.com

You may also like to check out a short video about us that ran on TV in early August.