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Positive & Negative Tension

Archie and Nic 2** XC
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POSITIVE TENSION
vs
NEGATIVE TENSION

Lessons from my days as a professional horse rider…


Me riding my horse, Bells Park Archibald Prize
on cross country at a competitive equestrian event,
two grades down from Olympic standard. ~ May 2014

When you’re galloping towards a solid obstacle the size of a small car, you want to feel plenty of POSITIVE tension in the horse’s body.

It feels like AVAILABLE ENERGY. The horse is responsive and relaxed, but there’s also this quality thats something like a coiled spring waiting to propel you in whatever direction you choose.

This is compared with negative tension, where it feels like that coiled spring could just explode at any moment in ANY direction…

A good rider knows how to notice when the horse is bringing negative tension, and then work with the horse to teach him to channel that into positive tension…

Most people try to control their life circumstances so they MINIMISE tension, or better yet, avoid it altogether.

But this is (as we’ve seen illustrated throughout the pandemic), simply not possible. – Sometimes, shit happens!

If you need your life to be a certain way for you to feel okay, then your capacity to turn negative tension into positive, needs work. 😉

Positive tension is FUEL! You just need to know how to access it.

Stop trying to calm the sea, and start riding the waves!

How can you access more positive tension in your world in the week ahead?

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Never underestimate the power of your past. Because it’s not in the past. It’s here in this living moment with you – woven into your responses, choices and perceptions; baked into your nervous system and psyche through and reinforcement and repetition.

That doesn’t mean your past has to define you, not at all.

Though, you’re lying to yourself if you say ‘its in the past’, yet have done no work to clear the ripples of that past from your system to create space for something new.

Yesterday, in a session with my coach, I went ‘back in time’ to the end of 2020, when I went through an experience that was somewhat challenging for me.

Here is a sublime example

Despite acknowledging the challenge at the time, I realised looking back that I hadn’t fully resolved or digested what happened there.

Part of me stayed frozen in that experience, and on the subtlest of levels, I have gotten in my own way unconsciously ever since.

That past experience was with me in every moment. It informed my capacity and energy levels, choices and perceptions.

And this is how the past shapes us – you have experiences that your system ‘learns’ from, and you then – often completely unconsciously – adjust accordingly to avoid repeating painful or difficult events.

We are such clever adaptive creatures.

But, those ‘adaptations’ will inadvertently shape your behaviour, attitudes, thoughts and feelings in a way that can begin to inhibit your ability to fully show up for your business or career, relationships, and life in general.

If you bring the process of ‘learning’ from these past experiences into consciousness, you gift yourself the chance to mine the gold from the past, get the learnings and gifts link example: and then move forward with your life.

„ QUOTE DESIGN: I CALL THIS PROCESS ‘DIGESTING’ YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES, AND HAVE SPECIFIC PRACTICES I TEACH TO SUPPORT YOU TO DO THIS.“

I call this process ‘digesting’ your past experiences, and have specific practices I teach to support you to do this.

The challenges of the past – and your adaptations – can become like a cage you find yourself living in if you’re not aware, but this digestion process ensures your continued liberation…

Which past experiences do you need to free yourself from?

And this is how the past shapes us – you have experiences that your system ‘learns’ from, and you then – often completely unconsciously – adjust accordingly to avoid repeating painful or difficult events.

We are such clever adaptive creatures.

But, those ‘adaptations’ will inadvertently shape your behaviour, attitudes, thoughts and feelings in a way that can begin to inhibit your ability to fully show up for your business or career, relationships, and life in general.

If you bring the process of ‘learning’ from these past experiences into consciousness, you gift yourself the chance to mine the gold from the past, get the learnings.

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