Accentuate the positive

For those of a certain age -which includes us !!– you probably recall the old Bing Crosby song- Accentuate the positive.  The chorus goes –

Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-between

For many people we work with, this is much easier said than done.   In his work on human emotions, psychologist Paul Ekman identified 7 primary universal human emotions  (Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Contempt. Sadness, Surprise)  – only one of which could be fully described as positive.  It’s no wonder then that people find it much easier to describe and experience the negative rather than the positive.

In  order to address negative thoughts and feelings psychologists will encourage clients to work on pleasant event scheduling.   It’s basically taking time to reflect on the positives in life not the negatives.   Again, easier said than done.

However,  working with horses often features in people’s pleasant event schedules.  Clients learn to expand their repertoire of positive feelings and emotions.   They experience positivity through courage, connection, achievement, acceptance and affection.   We reinforce pleasant event scheduling  with photographs and videos.   Clients draw on these to remind them of what they have done and to encourage positivity.   Many clients use them as a resource to reinforce positive memories and keep themselves grounded.    As Bing once crooned ‘Ya got to spread joy up to the maximum. Bring gloom down to the minimum.’

If you would 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.