Anger, Fear and Impatience

I ran across the following quote from "Horse Smarts for the Busy Rider" by Rick Lamb and realized that it not only applies to our relationship with horses, but also to our friends and family.

Anger, Fear, Impatience

There are three human emotions most of us feel every day that will sabotage communication with a horse.
It's normal to feel angry when a horse misbehaves, afraid when you think you're in danger, or impatient when training takes longer than expected. But in every case, responding emotionally makes the situation worse. Since we can't simply turn off our emotions, Dr. Robert M. Miller offers this suggestion.

"We have to discipline ourselves that when that occurs - not if, because it will occur - we're human beings, we're going to get angry sometimes, we're going to be afraid sometimes, and we're going to be impatient sometimes. And what you do is stop right there and walk away from that horse, because you have lost the ability to communicate with a horse when you are impatient or angry or afraid."

Walking away may require swallowing your pride. But that's one more emotion you can't allow to rule you.

That's not a bad rule for our interactions with other folks.

Today is August 28 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: LeAnn Rimes (country singer), Jack Black (actor - "School of Rock" and "King Kong"), Jason Priestly (actor - "Beverly Hills 90210), Shania Twain (country singer), Billy Boyd (actor - "Lord of the Rings"), Scott Hamilton (Olympic gold medal ice skater), Daniel Stern (actor - "City Slickers"), David Soul (actor - "Starsky and Hutch"), Donald O'Connor (singer/dancer), Charles Boyer (French actor), Leo Tolstoy (author - "War and Peace"), and Elizabeth Ann Seaton (first American Catholic saint).

On this day in 1922 the first radio commerical aired on WEAF in New York City. It was a 10-minute ad for Queensboro Realty Co. who paid $100 for the ad time. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. And, in 1996 Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana were divorced after 15 years of marriage.