Friday, January 31, 2014

Interaction and Communication

Interaction is needed in all forms of communication. The definition is, an action when 2 or more things have an affect on one another. It is a form of cause and effect in many ways. Magnets communicate through interaction by pushing apart or pulling themselves together. There are many subtleties in all forms of Interaction. The radiation of the Sun interacts with all living things, plant and animal. As well as the Earth and rock. Without the subtle Interactions with the Sun, plants wouldn't grow, there would be no evaporation, warming, and it even produces vitamin D naturally in the human body. The Suns energy interacts and effects everything in and beyond our solar system. Its the reason all the Planets orbit around it. These are just a few simple examples of Interaction.

We have Interactions in so many ways on a daily basis. Whenever there is anything in close proximity, there will be interaction of some kind. There are even interactions with things that are light years away and still they  have an effect on us. Just passing someone on the street is an interaction. You may have needed to move over so to not run into them. Maybe you admired something they were wearing, carrying, or the smell of their perfume or cologne. Sometimes a moment of interaction becomes embedded as a memory. It may be forgotten only to reappear decades later. The simple idea of catching a cold, or disease is interaction related. Transferred from one to another and travels throughout. Some of which started generations ago, maybe even century's ago.

We tend to go through life almost totally oblivious to our interactions with others. Not paying any attention to cause and effect in any way. Our focus tends to be more on our own wants and needs. Other things tend to be outside of our acknowledgment or understanding. Only people who work at obtaining a heightened sense of awareness will even begin to acknowledge it or try to understand it. The more we are aware of these things, the more we can evaluate and learn. Increasing our knowledge and understanding as well as our ability to communicate.

I can barely show you a puddle compared to the oceans of knowledge and understanding you can find on your own if you work on making yourself more aware of things. Evaluate, Read and Interpret simple interactions you may not even give a second thought to every now and then.

When it comes to your horse, you are having interactions all the time. As soon as they hear you coming, there is an effect of some kind. You can be a mile away, but if they can see or hear you, you are interacting. Interpret what cause and the effect this cause has on you, and your horse. Open your mind to a more heightened awareness. This will get you closer to the truth about what is happening. Most of us just assume. This leads to making excuses for a happening of some kind. Not allowing us to decipher what is really happening and why. In this way we have no idea on how to make it better. Sometimes we are not even aware there is a problem in the first place.

Working with horses opened my mind to so many things. Things I would otherwise think don't even matter. Trust me when I say, "it all matters, every bit of it"  I am finding the more I learn and understand, the more there is to learn and understand. The one thing I understand best is that it is never ending, and that my understanding will change from time to time as my knowledge and experience increases.

So I invoke a challenge in all of you. Evaluate your Interactions. Search for better understanding. It's a well groomed path to enlightenment, and the view along the way is so inspirational.
Thanks for reading along.

4 comments:

  1. A very thought provoking post, Ron. It made me think about not only how I interact with my horse, but how I communicate with my family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances.

    Some of what I've acknowledged doesn't make me very proud.

    I can be an impatient person, I want things NOW. Sometimes I interrupt others or finish their sentence...how rude! I try to be aware of this shortcoming and NOT allow myself to be this way with people I interact with. I know I don't always succeed but I do make an effort.

    It makes me realize I'm probably like this with my horse too. I'm sure I don't always give him time to process my requests. I make assumptions that he understands what I'm asking him to do, when in reality I've probably confused him. I know I've blamed his refusals or misbehaviors on being obstinate or spiteful. When in reality, I haven't made decent headway in learning how to speak his language so that he can comply.

    With your help, I'm hoping I can begin to interact and communicate with him in a more respectful and
    understanding way, just as I try to do with my human friends.

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    1. I really enjoy your comments and remarks. It tells me you read to understand. Many would read to find faults or contradictions to what they think or know. It's clear to me you are looking for better understanding. You will keep getting closer. it will never be 100% but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying. Thank you Robin. As always you've helped me as well.

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  2. Speaking of interaction,, my mare Sugar was getting quite grumpy last month throwing her head with attitude, turning her back to me when I would stop to say hi as if she was upset. Very unlike her as she has bonded with me greatly.. Then I realized,, once winter got real cold I slowed down on my daily interaction and when I did have interaction it was more of a lets get busy in the saddle, definitely not the amount of connection I put in during warm weather. Then out of no where the light bulb moment happened, when I realized, she is like a lot of us in a relationship,, if the connection is lacking we get moody. So I started to spend more time, even though it was things like just letting her stand in the aisle with me while I did chores instead of in her stall, and wouldn't you know she came out of it. All of a sudden she was back to her usual loving nature. Sometimes its easy to forget that we all work off of interaction, communication and emotions.

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    1. I love how you broke down your example. I am also happy to know you did have a realization of your horses needs. It can be hard for us to take the time to analyze our interactions where we are so based on verbal communication. The more you do it the more it becomes second nature. Every conversation (with horse or human) has more meaning than we normally understand. Of course we can never understand completely but we should try to understand the best we can. Thank you for this comment. This is a common thing others may have experienced and if they read your example it may help them as well.

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