I had the great pleasure of attending a retreat last weekend.  It was at the V6 Ranch in Parkfield, CA.

I had never been to a horseback retreat… and it was, indeed, a treat.

Besides the incredible Sunday mass on horseback (Wow!) which I spoke about earlier… One of the parts of this retreat revolved around our guest speaker, Whitney Cartrite Huckaby, who not only prepared warm and enlightening chats, but she also rode with us, ate with us and hung out with all of us.

Wow!  So refreshing!

Usually guest speakers are holed away with special food and special passes… but we were all together.  And it was lovely.  She was lovely.  And, her messages were clear as a ringing bell.  So easy to relate and understand.

I wanted to impart one to you today… SIT THE STOP.

SIT THE STOP

So, I’m not a cutting horse person or a reining horse person.  I can appreciate the skill, but I’ve never sat on a reining horse or cutting horse.

But, I know what ‘sitting the stop’ indicates from that standpoint.  Here is an iconic pic.

What does ‘sit the stop’ mean – to me?

So often, we are going a million miles an hour, and we don’t ever… stop.

We are like clothes tumbling in the dryer… thoughts constantly filling our minds, overlapping and interrupting whatever it was we were supposed to think about…forgetting and remembering…berating and rushing – constant churn.

We forget to sit the stop.

When that beautiful moment, the sunrise, the baby smile, the minute egg, the perfectly drawn eyeliner, the smile of the barista, just the right coffee, the best piece of bacon, your clean car, your clean suit, the way the leaves blow, the fragrance of cut grass, the purr of your cat, the snore of your dog, snow falling, Fall rain… the great idea, the child of a stranger, the laugh of a friend, the call from a long lost, the wink from a loved one, the sound of the wind through the tree, the croak of a frog, the memory from the best song ever, the feeling of wanting to dance…

…So many perfect moments – that we overlook each day – in order to fret.

Sit the stop.

Take the time to sit and reflect on the beauty in a moment…   Feel it.   And all of a sudden you are no longer in the dryer.

You.

So, sit the stop.

Breathe.

Take in the beauty of these moments.

This life only happens once.  Grab the ring as often as it comes around.  Feel the joy instead of the pressure.  This is your choice.  No one ever knows what will happen from one moment to the next.  So, choose to be happy.  Sit the stop.  Wait.  See.

… and share it.

Just.  Sit.  The.  Stop.

And let the way to proceed – reveal itself.

We are all in this together… Hang on, Cowgirl.  There are friends everywhere.  Just sit the stop… and listen to your heart and the hearts of others.