At some point in my life I must have expressed a wish to face and tackle all my irrational fears because, just as soon as I believe I have conquered one, another one arrives!

As regular readers will know, I very recently got over my lifelong fear of walking in mud and learned a great deal in the process. Now, the boundaries have shifted a little I am being presented, almost daily, with the opportunity to stretch myself even further.

I’m not afraid of the dark in the usual sense - I’ve been sleeping with the light off for as long as I can remember! – but I have never had very good night vision so, unless there are streetlights, I never walk anywhere alone at night.

But, as I have said before, a strong enough ‘WHY’ will get you through anything so my latest challenge has been walking through a muddy field – in the dark! The WHY, if course, is to bring in the horses for the night.

Some evenings I can get there while it’s still bright but sometimes night has well and truly fallen before I arrive.

Occasionally, they all very kindly congregate at the gate and I don’t have to trudge blindly across the field, but often, especially when the weather is particularly nasty, they seem to enjoy making me come and find them!

Last night, in a hail shower, as I stumbled over the deep ruts and strained my eyes for sight of a horse, the thought struck me that I was walking in the almost pitch black, across a muddy field and it was okay!

It was okay only because my passion for those horses and my determination to get them in and bedded sown for the night was far, far stronger than my fear of the dark or the mud.

Before these horses became such an important part of my life, I couldn’t imagine leaving the fireside on a freezing Winter’s night to stand outside and watch a young horse being put through its paces.

Everybody, without exception, has a passion that will melt away comfort zones and have them doing things the rational mind would have labeled impossible.

All you gotta do is find it!

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog Passion

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Last night I watched two very different methods of working a horse.

One man was using patience, a calm, quiet voice and mutual respect and the other was wielding a big stick and doing a lot of shouting.

As I watched how each animal responded to their handlers it was obvious which method was more effective.

One man was pulling and pushing and fighting.

The other was directing, correcting and flowing.

One was battling and the other was dancing.

The horse being shouted at was frightened, so he made mistakes, and then he was shouted at some more and made more mistakes. All he was learning was to be afraid.

The other horse was listening to his handler and doing his best to understand what was being asked of him. When he got it right, he was showered with praise. When he made a mistake, it was corrected gently but firmly.

Although he would never admit it, and maybe isn’t even conscious of it, I believe that the man with the big stick is afraid of his horse and feels that the only way he can have control is to dominate him, so he makes the horse afraid of him.

The other man deeply respected his horse and was willing him to learn and the horse responded accordingly.

I don’t know either of these two men very well, but it struck me that if I looked at the results they were achieving in their lives, I would find that one was struggling and the other was sailing through.

The man rooted in fear will see reasons to be fearful everywhere he goes and live in a defensive way. People and situations will confirm his belief that he must dominate or be dominated. Life is a battle.

The other guy, living from a place of respect, finds no reason to defend himself and his life is a dance.

Think about your own life. Is it a battle or a dance?

The answer will reveal the truth of your core beliefs!

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog

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Everybody has their own way to creating some headspace.

Some people meditate or exercise or walk on the beach.

For me, when my mind is so full of ‘stuff’ that nothing’s getting done, I shovel sh*t. There is nothing more grounding than mucking out stables!

I’m lucky because I work from home, I’m my own boss and not half a mile away from where I live is an inexhaustible supply of horse manure that needs shoveling on a very regular basis. So, when I get stuck, all I have to do is put on my boots and head for the wheelbarrow.

Half an hour of shoveling is guaranteed to have unknotted all my conumdrums and freed up my thinking.

Hanging around horses (and the stuff they excrete) doesn’t boost my brainpower or fire my imagination. In fact, it does exactly the opposite. The simple but essential task of cleaning stables and being around horses causes my mind to totally switch off.

I am there, doing a job that needs to be done and that is all there is to it.

Because I am 100% present and 100% focused on what I am doing my subconscious mind to gets on with sorting out whatever complex challenges my conscious mind could not solve – and everybody’s happy!

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog

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Another Monday!

How fast the weeks are flying by!

Winter has really set in here and we’re experiencing true November weather – damp and dark and cold.

But, like everything else in life, November will be over for another year in a couple of weeks and before we know it, Spring will be back and Nature will begin to show us that life is a continuum.

The trees that now look dead will bud and bloom again, because, in spite of how it all looks now, there is always life just waiting for the right time to emerge.

To everything – really, everything – there is a season.

If you don’t like the season you’re experiencing right now, there will be another one along shortly!

PS:

Mike Dooley, creator of www.tut.com and author of the wonderful Notes from the Universe and contributor to The Secret, will be in Dublin on November 22nd to present his transformational workshop 'Playing the Matrix: and getting what you (really) want.

Mike will present a detailed program designed to walk you through the entire process of reality creation, from thought to manifestation.

Click here to view more details

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There is no doubt in my mind that the present moment is only one that actually exists. Past is over. Future hasn’t arrived yet. So Now is all that matters.

Now is the only time you can do anything; think a thought, take a breath, smell a flower, hug a friend.

Maybe you have done all those things in the past and maybe you will do them again in the future, but right Now is the only time you can actually experience anything.

However, it has become apparent to me recently that the epidemic of fear that seems to be spreading across the world, especially in relation to the global economy, is being fuelled by the fact that many people are fixated on Now in an unhealthy way.

If you look at Now in isolation, without the wisdom gleaned from Past or the hope invested in Future it can portray a very scary picture, especially if you forget that whatever Now presents, is always only temporary.

For many people, Now is a terrifying, unexplored, volatile, uncomfortable place, but Now is transitory.

By using the lessons learned in the Past and creating a vision of a better Future we can all relax and simply fully experience Now, in all its colorful and eventful glory.

Now is all that exists in this moment, but you will get to enjoy another moment, followed by another, right up until the end of your life, when fear and uncertainty and lack and war and hunger and disease won’t matter any more!

So, if Now is not everything you want it to be, so what? It’s just a temporary discomfort.

Take your eyes off what is ‘wrong’ Now and focus instead on what is right. Look for the best in every person and every situation and that is what you will see.

How you handle Now sets the tone for your Future so take a deep breath, stand up tall and tell the world that your vision is full of hope and love.

Now, together, we can create brighter tomorrows.

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog

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This morning I discovered that, when the alarm clock rings on my mobile phone and I want to snooze a little longer, whatever number I press dictates how many minutes before it rings again!

So, if I press 5, I get five minutes snoozing time and if I press 9 I get nine minutes.

(Most people probably already knew this, but it came as quite a revelation to me!)

For some reason this got me thinking about how we don’t always ask clearly for what we want.

We all say things like ‘I wish I was thinner/richer/healthier’ or ‘wouldn’t it be nice not to have any money/health/whatever worries’ when it would be much better if we came right out and said ‘I want to be thinner/richer/healthier’.

Maybe we’re subconsciously afraid of saying it out loud in case we have to do something about out current situation!

Maybe we’ve all been taught that it’s not polite to say ‘I want…’

But, unless you are clear and focused about what it is you want in life – whether it’s five more minutes in bed or an end to your financial worries – and prepared to state, in no uncertain terms exactly what that want is, how can you expect to ever get it?

We could all spend the rest of our days nearly missing our dream lives simple because we have never actually spelled it out.

We hedge our bets and tell each other that we’re ‘making the most of things’ and ‘muddling through’ but deep down inside we are dissatisfied with life and feel bad because, after all, it could be worse!

But it could also be better.

So, if better is what you want, say it.

My life is pretty okay now. Everybody is healthy and reasonably happy and settled, but I want more.

Specifically, I want the kind of financial freedom that will allow me to enjoy all my passions and do what I do best in the world without having to think about paying bills.

There! Now I’ve said it!

It’s like the intentional equivalent of pressing the snooze button and telling my phone how much longer I want to sleep.

What do you want?

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog

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The world is shaped by the people who don’t accept the rules; the ones to refuse to believe that there is no other way or that ‘the way it’s always been done’ is the only or the best way to accomplish anything.

Without those courageous individuals who push the envelope and challenge the boundaries and question the status quo there would simply be no progress. We would all find a comfort zone, take root there and spend our lives defending our position.

So let’s give thanks to the rebels, the square pegs in round holes, the seekers and questioners, the sh*t stirrers, the visionaries and the anarchists.

They are the people who constantly push us forward, expand our horizons and help us become all we are capable of becoming.

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog

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We are living in an era of great change, great turmoil, great opportunity and great hope.

Regardless of political opinion, Barack Obama’s conclusive victory yesterday symbolizes the transformational climate around us.

As Bob Dylan said a very long time ago, ‘the times they are a changin’’!

It’s natural that change is very often accompanied by an element of fear. As the whole world ventures into economic, social, political and environmental uncharted waters, fear is a very healthy emotion to be feeling; as long as fear of the unknown is never used as an excuse for not moving forward!

It’s a cliché, but it’s true; we are standing on the brink of something amazing.

All we need now is strong and courageous leadership.

While we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.

Barack Obama

President-Elect of the United States of America

Tags: Eileen Bennett Blog Barack Obama Hope

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