Why Choosing Optimism is Worth It

This week it’s been cold, windy, and rainy, so I stayed inside and made a video for you to explain two benefits of choosing optimism over the doldrums!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Heh, it’s Barb, and I have a short message for you today, and it’s a very powerful one.

I have two reasons why being optimistic is beneficial for you personally and for your riding.

The first is that when we feel more highly charged positive emotions, like focus, confidence, fun, enthusiasm, joy, and optimism, as well as the more soothing, subdued, and lower energy emotions, like pausing, calmness, reflection, feeling grateful and being grounded, from a mental point of view, we see possibilities. We’re ready to go, or we’re planning our next moves.

It’s a creative and surely enjoyable place to be.

On the other hand, when we feel angry, frustrated, fearful, nervous, anxious, or start blaming, giving up, feeling overwhelmed, or fed up, we shut down possibilities for ourselves. It’s easy to get ‘stuck’ in rehashing why we feel that way without clear direction.

So when riding, part of our job is to see and feel our horse, so our mind, body, and emotions facilitate that – or not.

Now, this is not to say we need to be in a positive state all the time. Of course not! That would be impossible and certainly not part of our human experience. But we can be aware of how we feel and then do our best to make it to a more positive place – in our own time. It’s our choice.

The second point is when we are more optimistic, our body is also in a more optimum state. We are engaged and stimulated (but not overly,) our muscle tension is just right, we’re breathing, our eyes have a wild field of vision, etc., so again, we have the capability to ride at our full potential.

Choosing optimism is worth the investment of energy for our well-being and our riding.

What do you think? Be sure and leave a message for me.

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