How do you feel when you’re stuck in a traffic jam? What do you do with your time?

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I spend a lot of time on the road, travelling to and from yards where I treat horses. Because I live close to the M6, I spend a lot of time stuck in the traffic jam that is the M6/M5 junction! Thankfully, traffic jams don’t generally cause me stress, unless they are going to make me particularly late. On the mornings when I am travelling down the M6 and M5, I leave enough spare time that on an ordinary day, I will still arrive on time.

Thankfully, I love listening to audiobooks and podcasts, so they help me to pass the time. It always helps me to remember that someone else is having a far worse day than I am. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a traffic jam. I’m grateful to be warm, dry, and safe. People talk about being stuck in a traffic jam being a bad start to the day because they have been held up, but I like to believe that there is no good or bad, there just is. For example, when it’s raining, it’s not a horrible day, it’s just a wet day.

It’s not always easy to stay calm, and all we can do is try. I aim to meditate at least once a day. I think of meditation as strengthening my ability to calm my thoughts. If I wanted to strengthen my muscles, I would exercise in a way that improved my strength. If I want to be calm, and for my mind to be at peace, I need to practice being calm, and I need to practice my mind being at peace. I can practice this whether it is an easy day, or a more difficult day, in just the same way that I can exercise, whether or not I feel like exercising.

What do you do to help self to stay calm, when it appears that all around you is in chaos?

Keep an eye out for my next book, “Harmonious Horsemanship: How to use the Ridden Horse Ethogram to Optimise Potential, Partnership, and Performance”. This ground-breaking book is co-authored with Dr Sue Dyson, and will be available summer 2023. Sign up at www.harmonioushorsemanship.co.uk to be kept up to date with new information as it comes available. Watch a FREE 30-minute documentary on the Ridden Horse Ethogram here.

Here’s a FREE 30-minute presentation by Sue Palmer on how to be confident that your horse is comfortable.

Other books by Sue Palmer M.Sc. MCSP:

‘Horse Massage for Horse Owners’

‘Understanding Horse Performance: Brain, Pain or Training?’

© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2022