Pondering Peace

Where is everybody???

This windy morning I turned Journey out to pasture and put Honor in the corral so that I could come out and work with him later. What I didn't plan on was him working himself up into a first-class tizzy over the fact that he couldn't see where the other horses were. Round and round and round he went, trotting, head tossing, and generally stirring himself up. By the time I made it back out there, he was one distracted horse. So I started out with some de-sensitizing exercises--flipping the end of the lead rope all over head, legs, etc. Added some yeilding exercises--backing, one-rein stops (from the ground) and that type of thing. What I found fascinating was that as I gave him something else to think about, he became progressively calmer, forgetting his preoccupation with being left alone, he settled down and focused on what we were doing together to such a degree that when I took his halter off at the end of the session, he had become calm and relaxed.

Peaceful.

I've been thinking about peace lately--specifically the contrast between peace within and peace without. Outer peace is a many-faceted thing. I can create it in my enviornment. Well, sort of. But because it often depends on elements I cannot control (such as other people, the economy, or the weather), it is also a fleeting and fragile thing. Yet I have spent so much time and energy in my life trying to force exterior peace to exist.

And, I wonder--is it truly peace if I must control people and circumstances in order to create it? Honor, for all his running back and forth neighing and carrying on, wasn't able to cause the separating fence to dissolve, hence restoring his peace. In fact, the harder he tried to alter outside circumstances, the less peace he found.

The correlation is painfully obvious. I have wasted huge amounts of time and effort in that same pursuit. Hmmm. How much more effective it would be to bend my efforts toward cultivating peace within myself than trying to get others to behave in ways that create it around me.

Toots demonstrates inner peace in the midst of outer chaos.

(While I aspire to this, I hope to maintain consciousness at the same time).

My new goal? To walk in the ways which make for peace. Inside peace. I'm a bit perplexed as to how to do that, though intellectually I know some of the elements. (This will undoubtedly give me food for future posts). All I can say right now is that it's a pity I've spent so little of my life getting good at caretaking  peace within myself. However, I'm not overly bummed about it because I have confidence that not only will the Prince of Peace give me assistance in my endeavors, but surely it must be easier to try to control one mind and heart--mine!--than to control everyone else.