Episode 106: Make your dreams a reality in 10 minutes

Announcer: [00:00:03] Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill, this is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy’s goal is simple: to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Stacy Westfall: [00:00:23] Hi, I’m Stacy Westfall, and I’m here to teach you how to understand, enjoy, and successfully train your own horses. If you’re listening to this podcast when it’s released, happy day before Thanksgiving. And if you’re listening after the fact, do not panic. This podcast still contains information that is useful even if you don’t listen to it the day before Thanksgiving. In fact, this podcast contains a quiz and we’re going to start with the quiz. Are you ready? I’m going to ask you a question and then I’m going to give you a little bit of time to answer it. So here’s the question list: 3 things that you want or desire. If you’re driving or cleaning stalls, just think of the first 3 things that come to mind, but if you have access to a pen and paper or notes on your phone or your computer, feel free to hit pause and write down 3 or more things that you want. So what do you want? And here is 10 seconds of music for you to ponder up 3 or more items that come to mind–items or experiences, things that you want. Go.

Stacy Westfall: [00:01:55] OK, now that you have your list of at least three items, let’s go ahead and review. Now. Here are 3 items that we can use that as an example. They show up on my list. So 3 things that popped into my mind, a new living quarters horse trailer, number one. Number two, more pasture. Number three, a new desk. Now reflect on yours, and I’ve got another question for you. How many times in your life have you made a list of things that you want? You might have done it in different forms. So for me, over the years, I’ve done it in these different forms. Maybe it was a financial list. So maybe I was making a list of things I wanted to buy in the future. And it showed up on kind of like a financial planning list. So maybe it was like, the next time I have this much money, I want to buy such and such thing. Or maybe you’ve made a list in a different way where you were making a list and it was more of a goal oriented list. So maybe it was a list that sounded more like, I want to show at the Western Dressage World Show, or I want to take a trip and go somewhere. Or maybe it was on something that was even more casual. Maybe it was like one of those bucket list kind of lists that might exist in actual writing or it might just exist in your head. Those tend to be things you can kind of only dream up. You know, it’s almost like maybe you don’t even dare to write it down. That was kind of my whole stop and ride with Denny Emerson thing. That was like a bucket list thing that I was a little bit like hesitant to even reach out for. And so how many times in your life have you made different lists of things that you wanted? Well, here’s my challenge for you, and this I highly recommend that you do on a piece of paper. You’re going to hear what’s going to happen if you just keep listening to this. But it’s still worth doing on a piece of paper, because at least when I did it the first time, it was shocking. So what I want you to do when you have a chance is I want you to write down a list of at least 10 things you want in the future. Now, the first time I did it, I did a whole page of them before I knew the next step, which I’m going to give you next. And so it might be things that are items. Maybe it’s something like a living quarters horse trailer, or maybe it’s something like experiences like a trip somewhere. But what I’d like you to do is write down that list and then make sure that you now copy it over or leave space when you’re writing it in between each thing. So, for example, on mine, it would be living quarter horse trailer and then I would have to leave a blank line and then it would be more pasture and then a blank line. So once you’ve made the list and you’re done now, I want you to go back through, and here’s the kicker. Go back through and between every future item that you’ve listed. Look and see, first of all, was there anything that you wrote down on that list that you already have? Did it even occur to you to write down on your list of things you want, something you already have? So for me on my list, I could have written down that I want an indoor riding arena. But it’s interesting because I already have an indoor riding arena. So at least when I have done these lists before I was clued into this. What I’ve noticed is that when we think about things we want, they tend to be things we don’t have. But on this piece of paper, I want you to go in between each of the things that you want and write down something that you have that you want to have. So for me, that might look like living quarters horse trailer is written down on something I want to have, but I don’t have. And then the next line might be something like indoor riding arena, which is something I have and something I want to have. And then the next would be more pasture, and after that, it might be followed with paddocks and run in sheds, which is something I already have. So can you see how tricky our minds are? So the first time I did this exercise and wrote the entire page of wants after the fact, it was then very obvious, when it was pointed out to me, that not one of the things on that entire page was something that I currently had that I also wrote down as a want.

Stacy Westfall: [00:06:44] I’m telling you, it is such a fun exercise. If you’re listening to this before Thanksgiving, totally pull out pads of paper and have people do this. It’s kind of fun to watch people go like, oh my gosh, I never even thought about wanting something I already have. And it’s interesting to do it on a list for any day or a list for Thanksgiving, because it is a different way to look at being thankful. But I’ll tell you what’s really fun is when it becomes a part of your daily life. And here’s where I realize it may be right now more than anywhere. That is for me, that when I go out to the barn and I do certain things, I am very aware of the desirable level. Now, when I say it like that, let me see if I can explain it a little bit more. I realize I want to clean stalls. Does that sound interesting? Like I want to clean stalls. This could be an example for any of you in different situations. There might be something that you do right now, maybe it’s cooking dinner, maybe it’s cleaning the house. There might be something that you do right now, and for me that’s cleaning stalls, that I could hire it done. I could have interns do it. I could have employees do it. And what’s interesting is I’ve actually done all of those things in the past. But what I never realized in the past is I want to clean stalls. I want to be out there and feed the horses. What is so fascinating is to be in the middle of doing something like getting up, going out, feeding the horses, and cleaning the stalls. It is so fascinating to me to be doing it and to say to myself, I want to be feeding the horses. I want to be cleaning the stalls. Because when I do that, I can feel a little bit of push back from outside of me where it feels like society is telling me I should use my time more wisely. And maybe that sounds like a, you know, some whisper in my brain that sounds like it’s just talking to me. But when I look at it, I know I want to be out in the barn. So then it makes me wonder where this feeling of, I should hire this done. I shouldn’t be doing this anymore. Someone in my position shouldn’t be doing this. Whatever those whispers are that are coming up, since they don’t feel true to me, I’m just going to say society for right now. So it’s interesting to me that I can be out doing something I want to do and I can feel this pressure coming from outside of me that’s telling me basically that I could be doing something and I’m doing like little air quotes I could be doing something, “better with my time.” I want to be cleaning stalls. I want to be feeding the horses. I am aware of the blessing that it is, even though there are days when it’s hot and there’s days when it’s frozen and there’s days when I’m not quite as aware. But I’m telling you that this walking meditation or whatever this is of actually saying while you’re doing something I want to be doing, it has been so helpful to me. I really hope it’s helpful to you. If you’re inspired to share some of your lists or some of your discoveries after listening to this podcast, go on over to stacywestfall.com And you’ll find this episode and leave your list or your discovery in the comments so that we can all kind of experience this a little bit together. I’ve shared some of mine. Maybe you share some of yours. You know, you could look at it as another thing to be thankful for. I’m just saying it’s really interesting to do this as a thing I want. So thanks for listening. Happy Thanksgiving. I’ll talk to you again in the next episode.

Announcer: [00:11:16] If you enjoy listening to Stacy’s podcast, please visit stacywestfall.com for articles, videos, and tips to help you and your horse succeed.