The U.P. Equifest took place in October at the Fairgrounds in Escanaba. I was captivated by a horse trainer whose task was to turn an ornery horse that had thrown a previous trainer, into a usable animal. First, the new trainer put obstacles in the ring and agitated the horse with his training whip until the horse had to acknowledge the obstacle. As soon as the horse put its nose to the object, the trainer withdrew his harassment. The ideal horse-in-training would quickly learn to acknowledge each new item in order to avoid the haranguing whip. But for some reason, this animal continued to expend energy on avoiding the lesson rather than use the 'thinking' side of its brain and address the matter at hand. The trainer claimed the animal was deliberately side-stepping the obstacle out of laziness. Avoidance rather than action.
Watching the demonstration gave me pause. How many times did I expend energy attempting to avoid a situation rather than quickly addressing a crisis before I felt the bite of its whip? How often did my own procrastination take up more energy than the task itself?
When I can identify my behavior, I can correct it. It goes against my grain to use the 'thinking' side of my brain when its just plain easier to avoid uncomfortable stuff. But when faced with the 'energy output' vs. 'immediate action' equation, I can choose the better - and ultimately easier - solution.
