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Add Fun & Humor to your Tool Box, by Barbra Schulte

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Barbra Schulte

Barbra Schulte

We all love to laugh. But, what you may not know, is how important humor is regarding your ability to ride a horse at your highest ability. Researchers learned years ago that for anyone to be “on”, to be their best, and to be successful, they must enjoy themselves, and have fun. So, humor you might say, is serious business. It is one of the most effective and quickest routes to attaining a focused, energized state of emotion… commonly referred to as “The Zone” or, “The Ideal Performance State”. This mental and emotional state is actually a combination of emotions, i.e., focus, calmness, incredible energy, and (drum roll), fun. Amazingly, of all the individual emotions that make up the whole of being in “The Zone”, FUN is the most important whether you take riding lessons, ride recreationaly, or compete. In fact, without fun, you won’t continue doing what you’re doing for very long… whether it be riding, working in your career, living where you live, or hanging with someone. I’m not talking about being giggly-silly all the time. But, I am talking about enjoying yourself.

Here are four powerful reasons to add fun and humor to your tool box of mental and emotional strategies:

1.) Humor can be an instant, positive energy booster. From a new, relaxed place, it’s an easy road to fi nd focus, confi dence, and subsequently get tapped into the job of riding your horse.

2.) Humor can instantly snap you out of a bad mood, feelings of discouragement, or negative thought cycles. There are any number of ways to turn a negative energy roll into a positive one, (taking a break, or changing your thoughts to name a couple), but when you understand that humor works wonders in a moment you can use it as a strategy.

3.) Humor can be a POWERFUL mental training coping mechanism to turn a super diffi cult situation into the best it can be. For example, when our son, Zane went through numerous hospital stays and surgeries, we made it our personal combined mission to make everyone around us laugh. We had fake arms, and legs, and snakes, and things like singing fi sh. Everyone couldn’t wait until Zane arrived at the hospital. I believe, through humor, we made our situation be the best it could be.

4.) When you consciously inject humor into a low energy moment, you proactively DO something to change your emotional state. You can make a silly face, or make a deliberate funny comment to lighten the heavy mood of a group. You will not only give yourself more energy, but you will add life to those around you.

Now that you know why humor and having fun are so important, here are a few ideas you can do to use humor as a source of positive energy:

1.) Laugh at yourself, (boy, don’t we all have a rich, constant reservoir of everyday life events to draw on here)!!!

2.) Make someone else laugh, (one of my personal favorites).

3.) Tell a joke.

4.) Do a silly little dance to a song on the radio. (Now, I know that one may sound a little off-the-wall, but it works wonders, although every one might scatter when you dance.)

5.) Listen to a humorist on a CD.

6.) Send a funny text message.

7.) Watch a YouTube video that makes you laugh, and share it.

8.) Hang a fake arm or leg out of the back of your horse trailer.

Always have fun!

By the way, did you hear about the fight in the bakery? The bread got fresh and punched a hole in the donut!

About the Author Barbra Schulte is a personal performance coach for all riders, a cutting horse trainer, author, speaker, and clinician. Visit her Blog and signup to receive her FREE monthly email newsletter, “News From Barbra”. You will also receive the high performance secrets of great riders, inspiration, cutting strategies, news, and much more. In addition, you will also receive via email Barbra’s special FREE report: “Five of the Most Important Skills of Riding”. Go now to https://www.barbraschulte.com

 

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