How My Horses Are Teaching Me To Live In The Moment

"The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift-that's why it's called the present."
I just love that quote!  I love it because all of my life I've struggled with staying in the now.  I'm either obsessing about the decisions I made yesterday or worrying about what decisions I'll need to make tomorrow.  But what I've learned just in the past year is that horses ONLY live in the present moment, and so they can be my very best teachers for learning how to be in the now!

Horses evolved to live in the moment because being in the moment was crucial to their survival.  In Allan J. Hamilton's fascinating book "Zen Mind, Zen Horse" http://www.allanhamilton.com, he describes this ability for them to be so exquisitely in the moment as being influenced by several different factors.  One is that they are prey animals rather than predators.  Many traits which distinguish predators from prey influence the horse's ability to be in the moment, from the way they travel, to how they learn, to how they pursue their food.  Another is that because horses lack language, they essentially have no ego.  There is no "autobiographical self", or identity that exists outside what their body feels.  Lastly, their brains are structured differently than ours.  He makes an argument that horses, because they lack language which is controlled by the left side of the brain, are right brain dominant.   Many traits that are heavily influenced by the left brain are precisely the same ones which prevent us from being able to live in the moment.

I learn a lot about being in the moment by just watching how horses in pasture eat.  Horses graze on the grass that's there, moving slowly in order to conserve their energy for when they really need it.  Horses do not live in the past, wondering why this year's grass isn't the same as last year's grass....they just eat what's in front of them.  Horses also don't fret about the future, worrying about what they'll eat tomorrow....they just eat what's in front of them.  What fabulous teachers for this idea of being in the moment they are!
Over the course of time in this blog I look forward to exploring further the ideas behind predator/prey, left/right brain dominance, and the impact that the lack of language has on the horse's way of being.  So many interesting ideas to explore!!  Happy trails and I look forward to hearing your comments and thoughts about all of this!