In Zen Buddhism, they talk about our minds as good horses and bad horses, and that good horses can be bad horses and bad horses can be good horses.
I.e., the challenging mind can lead to the most growth.
Flossie’s pony, Cookie, has recently started thinking he’s a rodeo pony! Flossie, who’s only been riding properly for four months, rather than getting scared absolutely loves it. She rides like a cowgirl and has become a very good wee rider in a short space of time.
The badly behaving pony has caused her to grow as a rider far more than the well-behaved pony.
I’m impressed with her, because it takes courage to deal with the naughty pony with a smile.
We all have ‘naughty ponies’, and we can all wrangle them like cowgirls or cowboys, or we can lament them and complain.
Wrangling seems like a lot more fun!
One of the greatest lies we tell ourselves is that we’re falling behind. That someone else is ahead.
As a young man I associated strength with force; louder voices, sharper opinions, firm lines in the sand.
There’s a strange kind of pride we’ve developed in being exhausted. But even lions, the king of the jungle, rest.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have ambition.
We sometimes believe strength means self-sufficiency — that being independent means being isolated.
We often try to outrun the storm, emotionally, physically, spiritually.
We’re entering an age where machines do our thinking before we’ve even had a chance to try.
In church the other day, the pastor gave a sermon that really stuck with me. He talked about two people.