Horses support us in remembering our true self. The self that is beyond any one identity, thought, definition, or judgment. Our true self, or you might say our soul, higher self, or authentic self. The self that is always here, witnessing, present.
I thought I knew this, since after all, it’s what I love sharing with people when they come to be with the horses. Cue humility! I have been on a journey with this recently, overtaken with a false self masquerading as my true self.
Victimhood. I had a strong sense of victimhood around my own personal wounds that had become louder and louder for me internally. This victim wasn’t always in the driver’s seat, but it was becoming very familiar in my inner landscape. And it had become increasingly challenging for me to return to center, to my authentic self. It felt like I was drowning and cycling in this victimhood mentality some days.
One way to spot a false self is: how does that voice in your head make you feel? Your true self would never make you feel like crap. Your true self would never criticize, judge, demonize, attack, or harm. Only a false self would do that.
Once I recognized my personal victimhood inner voice was a false self, a wall crumbled. The voice in my head and thoughts around comparison, lack and envy…not actually my true self! Aha!!! That awareness has been a bright light for me recently, a remembering of how powerful it can be to return home to our true self, again and again.
Now did the voice go away? No! And I’m not wasting energy trying to make it disappear. My awareness of it offers the spaciousness for my authentic self to arise, and that alone shifts everything for me.
One of the most potent aspects of being with horses in my own life is the invitation I feel with them to be with what is true. In each varying moment. There is no expectation that they hold for me to show up as perfect. In fact, it’s not safe for me to show up pretending that everything is perfect, because for the horses that feels inauthentic. The energetic discordance in pretending that everything is perfect is dangerous, for it puts them on alert, as they sense the lack of coherence in energy. They invite honesty with ourself, and horses often reflect what we are unable to let surface within us.
This means they are incredible guides and partners in self connection, for they are absolutely true to themselves. The spaciousness many of us feel in their presence is a reflection of this: no expectations, no agenda, simply presence.