“The more you relax, the more you See. The more you See, the more you relax.” – Joshua Benavides, Founder of The Center for Profound Wellbeing

There's a bridge I have to cross en route to the stables. If boats are waiting to pass through, the bridge rises on the hour and half hour. I have it timed so I know I can usually get across it within ten minutes. But without fail on Saturday mornings, I always end up in the middle of some chore or an email and before I realize it, it’s 9:20 am. I have to gather up my water bottles, my sunglasses, my phone, shoot out the door and then stress all the way to the bridge. What if I get behind a slow driver? What if the bridge has to stay up for 15 minutes to let a big barge wallow through? That would be valuable horsey time just wasted sitting there!

This past Saturday, I crossed at 9:31 am and was surprised to see that there were no boats in sight despite the beautiful weather. I scolded myself for getting stressed out over nothing. I took a deep breath, and as I continued driving I took in the beautiful scenery of the river, the blue sky, the trees blowing in the wind… Wait, wind?

“Oh no, Tara was really jumpy the last time it was this windy. I don't know if I can ride today.” Then the worry wheel kept going on from there. “She’s still not feeling completely comfortable with me…maybe we're not a good fit after all…I wish I were a better rider…”

I suddenly put the brakes on that wheel, as I reminded myself I had already wasted 10 minutes stressing. I was absolutely not going to spend the remaining 10 minutes of my drive stressing and then arrive at Tara’s side a jittering mess. I focused again on the blue sky and warm sun, and by the time I arrived at the stables, I was stabilized. Thankfully, the wind had calmed down just as I had.

My drive home was spent with warm fuzzy thoughts of how well Tara was adjusting to me, how she walked the trail with her head relaxed and low, how I was too blessed to ever be stressed.