Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Hello, friend.
[00:00:11] Skip here. And I'd like to welcome you to Imagine the Possibilities.
[00:00:17] I really appreciate you joining me today. Really do. Thanks a bunch.
[00:00:23] I woke up early one morning, earlier than I wanted to.
[00:00:28] And no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't go back to sleep.
[00:00:34] So after spending a bit more time tossing and turning, I just decided I was going to go ahead and get up, fix myself a cup of coffee, and see what the day had in store.
[00:00:49] You know, sometimes an unplanned moment turns into something more than we expect.
[00:00:57] Living in the country is a bit different than living in the city.
[00:01:03] And on that particular morning, it was about to remind me of that in a big way.
[00:01:09] In a way I didn't see coming.
[00:01:13] As I walked into the kitchen, I glanced out my dining room windows and I saw a couple people in my yard.
[00:01:22] Now, that's not something I see every day, especially given the fact that my nearest neighbor is over a quarter of a mile away.
[00:01:33] So I headed to the front door. Let me explain.
[00:01:37] I didn't see a car looking out the window, so I wanted to see if there was a car further down my driveway. Well, there wasn't. But I did see a pickup truck and a sheriff's car parked a little bit down from my driveway out on the road.
[00:01:54] So I slipped my shoes on.
[00:01:57] Now, fact is, I might be a country boy, but gravel still hurts my feet.
[00:02:05] And I headed out the back door.
[00:02:09] When I got outside, I realized one of the people was a lady and the other, of course, was the sheriff's deputy.
[00:02:17] Now, they were just standing there, not doing anything and just looking at my garage.
[00:02:24] Now, I couldn't figure out what that. Why they were looking at my garage.
[00:02:28] But then all of a sudden, I saw it.
[00:02:32] A horse.
[00:02:35] He was just wandering around beside my garage.
[00:02:39] It didn't take me long to figure out what was really going on. The horse had gotten loose and they were trying to catch him.
[00:02:50] So I walked over toward him. And as I got close, the lady said, where have you been for the last 45 minutes?
[00:02:59] I told her I'd been asleep.
[00:03:02] She then handed me a lead rope and said, catch him if you can.
[00:03:08] I looked, and he had a halter on, so I figured his halter broke, so I didn't see a problem catching him.
[00:03:16] I turned toward the horse, and he looked right at me. And then he started walking toward me.
[00:03:24] So I decided to do a little horse whispering. So I started talking to him softly, calmly, nice and easy. Took small steps. He took small steps toward me.
[00:03:39] He just kept Coming. Walked right up to me. I reached up, took a hold of his halter, snapped the lead rope on, and started rubbing his head.
[00:03:49] In that moment, standing there in my yard on a morning I hadn't planned, holding onto a horse that didn't belong to me, I realized something.
[00:04:05] This.
[00:04:06] This right here is what I love about life.
[00:04:11] It wasn't anything big I didn't plan, wasn't on my calendar.
[00:04:18] And if it weren't for sharing the story, no one would ever known it happened.
[00:04:24] But it was real.
[00:04:27] And for just a few minutes, nothing else mattered.
[00:04:31] No schedule, no expectations, no noise.
[00:04:37] Just a moment that I didn't have to chase because it found me.
[00:04:44] And all that got me thinking.
[00:04:46] How often do we miss moments like that because our minds are somewhere else?
[00:04:53] And if we're being honest, this shows up more places and more times than we realize.
[00:05:01] Sometimes it shows up at work, but we're so focused on getting through the day or getting to the next thing that we miss that small moment that could actually add meaning to our day.
[00:05:15] Sometimes it shows up at home.
[00:05:18] We're there physically, but oftentimes our mind is somewhere else.
[00:05:25] Maybe we're thinking about tomorrow or replaying something that happened yesterday.
[00:05:31] And because of doing that, oftentimes we're missing what's happening right in front of us.
[00:05:40] And sometimes it.
[00:05:43] It shows up. When we compare ourselves to someone else, we get so focused on what they have that we stop seeing what we've already got.
[00:05:56] We've all heard the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side.
[00:06:02] And if we're being honest, we've probably all felt that way at one time or another.
[00:06:09] But what if that's not really true?
[00:06:12] What if the grass only seems greener because that's where our focus is?
[00:06:19] I think if we're honest with ourselves, this isn't just about where we live.
[00:06:28] It shows up everywhere.
[00:06:32] Sometimes we look at someone else's success and wonder why ours doesn't feel the same.
[00:06:41] Sometimes we look at someone else's life and think, wow, they must have it all figured out.
[00:06:50] But then there's little things we don't see.
[00:06:54] We don't see what they've gone through to get to the point they are today.
[00:07:01] Or we don't see what they might be dealing with right now that we may never know about.
[00:07:11] Fact is, we compare our everyday life to someone else's highlight reel, and that's a comparison we're never going to win. No how, no way.
[00:07:25] I think some of that's because our minds have A way of doing something subtle but powerful.
[00:07:34] We focus on one part of our lives, and because we do that, we start to elevate it.
[00:07:43] And at the same time, everything else starts to feel like it's missing something.
[00:07:50] When we're at work, we think about home.
[00:07:53] When we're at home, we think about work.
[00:07:56] When we're relaxing, we think about something we needed to do.
[00:08:03] When we're doing something we needed to do, we're trying to wonder why we don't get time to just relax, just enjoy the rest of our day.
[00:08:15] Sometimes we find ourselves looking at someone else's path and wondering if that's the path we should be on.
[00:08:27] And sometimes we're so focused on what's next that we don't even see what's right in front of us.
[00:08:38] Now, here's where all this gets a little tricky. Because sometimes the grass is actually greener somewhere else.
[00:08:49] Sometimes a change is needed.
[00:08:52] Sometimes growth requires movement.
[00:08:56] But if we don't learn to see clearly where we are first, we'll carry that same way of thinking with us wherever we go.
[00:09:07] But here's the truth. I keep coming back to where our focus is, our values follow.
[00:09:18] Now, I guess that sounds simple, but when we really think about explains a lot.
[00:09:28] It explains why two people can be in exactly the same situation and walk away with completely different experiences.
[00:09:40] One sees what's missing and the other person sees what's there.
[00:09:47] Same place, same moment, different focus, different value.
[00:09:55] And the interesting part is nothing actually changed.
[00:10:00] Same situation, same environment, just a different lens.
[00:10:08] And that lens is something we control more than we think.
[00:10:15] Just take a moment and think about that.
[00:10:20] I was reading something the other day, and it alluded to the fact that a large percentage of our thoughts tend to lean negatively, and they also tend to repeat themselves.
[00:10:36] Now, if that's true, it explains a lot.
[00:10:42] I believe part of the reason we see things the way we do is because our brains are wired for survival.
[00:10:51] They're wired to notice what's missing and to look for threats.
[00:10:58] And because of that, sometimes our thoughts really do tend to lean more negative, more negative than we realize.
[00:11:10] It's almost like we're always scanning for that gap between where we are and where we think we should be.
[00:11:22] And then, without even realizing it, we start measuring our lives against that gap.
[00:11:32] Here's the thing about that morning with that horse.
[00:11:36] It didn't change my life, but it did remind me of something important.
[00:11:45] I was just simply present in that moment.
[00:11:49] I wasn't comparing myself to someone else or something else. I Wasn't wishing I was somewhere else.
[00:11:57] I was just there in that moment, experiencing it for what it really was.
[00:12:05] Now, I have to tell you, a few days later, that same horse came back.
[00:12:11] But this time he was by himself.
[00:12:15] When I saw him. I walked outside, got a rope, did a little horse whispering, clipped the rope on his halter, and I tied him to a post in my yard.
[00:12:28] I let him graze for a while. I figured someone would show up eventually and claim him again.
[00:12:35] But in the meantime, I figured he could help mow my grass and enjoy a good meal.
[00:12:43] Then I got, I guess you could say, reflecting on it or thinking about it. And I thought maybe he came back because he liked me.
[00:12:53] You know, we'd had a good conversation the first time he was here, but then all of a sudden, it hit me. He didn't come back for me.
[00:13:02] He came back because of the grass.
[00:13:05] And the more I thought about that, the more I realized he wasn't chasing something better.
[00:13:14] He was just going where the grass already was.
[00:13:19] And I tell you something, there have been times in my life when I was so focused on something else that I completely missed what I already had.
[00:13:36] Now, it wasn't because it wasn't good.
[00:13:40] It was that way because I wasn't looking at it in that way.
[00:13:46] And maybe, maybe the grass isn't always greener somewhere else.
[00:13:54] Maybe we're just not seeing ours clearly.
[00:14:00] Maybe it's been right in front of us all along, just waiting for us to notice it.
[00:14:09] Maybe it's not about finding something better.
[00:14:12] Maybe it's simply about seeing more clearly what we already have, what's already here.
[00:14:21] Because sometimes what we've been looking for somewhere else has been right in front of us all along.
[00:14:33] What part of our lives might look completely different if we gave it the same attention, the same energy, the same focus that we've been giving to something else and what might already be good that we just haven't taken the time to see.
[00:14:56] Just something to think about.
[00:15:00] Until next time, stay humble, be kind, love unconditionally, and laugh often.
[00:15:11] Remember that your future belongs to you.
[00:15:15] And never forget this.
[00:15:18] You are enough.
[00:15:20] You are worthy, and you will accomplish remarkable things.
[00:15:26] I truly believe that.
[00:15:30] As always, I wish you much success.
[00:15:33] I hope you have a super day and pray that God blesses you in a super way.
[00:15:40] Thanks again.
[00:15:42] God bless.
