First Steps

I live with someone that made a living putting horseshoes on horses. His specialty was standardbred racehorses. He had a good reputation for getting horses to run faster and smoother on the track. So, he has explained to me that the important part was that the owner or trainer let him see how the horse moved and stood and ran.  From there he could assess if one leg swung out or if there was a leg that crossed in and bumped another leg.  If the hips were square and just overall what the current situation was.  Then he could start the magic of forming horseshoes that started to correct the issues, tipping feet a certain way, adding weight, having an extra clip.  Lots of things could be tried for a smoother action on the track. This made me think about how important the first step was, he did not form a committee at the barn to talk about what could be adjusted, he did not just start adding a tip and hope for the best, he had to see what was already happening.  Sometimes I think we must spend a little more time just watching, reviewing, and seeing what it is that we are facing.  Seeking to understand why a person is doing things a certain way, checking how we are showing up in a situation, seeing the other side of the track in a situation as it is, not how we want it to be. Then we can begin the work of figuring out one small change that would have an impact in smoothing the situation.  Lifting the side of one practice, changing the weight of one opinion, altering one small habit, and then checking in again to see if the small changes and review have brought us the winners circle we were racing toward.