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Sailors, Horses & Belief

by Janice Terra

During World War I, the German Navy experienced a strange phenomenon. When a battleship was sunk, the sailors were often cast adrift for days or weeks before being rescued. This, in itself, was not uncommon. However, what was uncommon was the fact that the first to die were the young sailors. The young ones! The strong ones! They were the first to die! The older sailors survived. This set some curious minds to analyzing why this was so. The conclusion that they came to was that the old sailors had been shipwrecked before, and knew that eventually they would be rescued. They, therefore, held on to hope. The young sailors, not having had this experience before, and after spending days and perhaps weeks adrift, believed that there was not hope. They believed that death was inevitable - and so it was! They died!

Do you grasp just how profound this is? Believing in the possibility of a rescue kept the crusty old sailors alive. A belief in death brought such to the young and healthy. They actually died from their thoughts. Their beliefs. The profoundity (Is that a word? It is now!) of this is enormous. The application is universal. This was the major tenet of Jesus' teachings. "As a man thinketh - so he is" Believe it, and it is so" Believe in life, and you will have life; believe in death and you will have death. I find it so very incredible that those young men's belief systems were powerful enough to kill them.

Do you see? Do you comprehend how powerful your mind is? Your belief system and your expectations control your life. Not merely your surface beliefs. If someone had rowed up to those young men in the ocean and said, "Excuse me, but would you like to live?", I am sure that they would have unanimously chorused "yes". Their surface belief was that they wanted to live. However, their very life force was governed by their subconscious, or internal belief, which told them that they would not survive.

I find amazing comfort in this story. I take comfort in the fact that belief and expectation kept the older sailors alive. For me, it brings to life and validates the words of Christ 2000 years ago, and the words of other masters of many religions through time. We have enormous power and potential with our thoughts. Our beliefs can change what appears to be.

Someone famous (I forget who) once said, "The mind is a mansion, but most of the time we're content to live in the lobby." I love that! So true. So true.

Another aspect of this story that endears itself to me, is that it supports what I have been teaching in my "Language & Psychology of the Horse" seminars. A horse forces you to come from your true beliefs, not your surface beliefs. They will read right through you and demonstrate for you what you actually believe to be so. When my students are learning how to halt in their lessons, my "guys" show them no latitude. If the rider does everything physically correct, but doubts that the horse will stop - he usually won't. Pulling more on the reins is counter-productive and never works. Only a convicted belief, combined with correct procedure will produce the desired result.

No matter what the behavior problem of your horse, dog or cat may be, believe that they are gentle. See them that way. One of my favorite quotes is from Goethe; "Treat a man as he is, and he will stay that way. Treat him as if he were what he could be, and he will become what he could be."

I love that! I successfully used this concept when I used to retrain horses that others had labeled as untrainable. Horses teach the wisdom and validity of this quote - they will reward you every day by enabling you to witness and be a part of the spiritual teachings of BELIEF!

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