Diamond Dust and Rainbows from Yorkshire!

There's a fine line between "barking mad" and "perfectly normal".  This week I've discovered that such a "fine line" may be getting narrower with every conversation!

Take yesterday ...

I was heading towards Bond Street tube, when my journey was interrupted by a good looking, suited up, young man bearing a silver tray of sachets.  He proudly presented me with one, simultaneously asking me "what skin products" I use!

Instantly I knew I'd walked into a 'sales number' so I replied and quickly stepped sideways ready to two-step past him.  He congratulated me on my skin care choice and quick as a flash mentioned the sachet in my hand would compliment my products as it contained nothing less than microdermabrasing diamond dust, and rainbows from North Yorkshire!   

Now I'm no push over but I don't know which of us was the more surprised; me hearing someone had captured those illusive Yorkshire Rainbows, we all dream of having in our face cream,  or the sales man when I asked exactly 'how' they had done that!  He laughed and said he "made that bit up to see if I was listening!"   Well I was! 

Twenty minutes later I left his salon carrying an unplanned purchase of an orange coloured facial scrub plus body cream - both bearing the promise of diamond dust and preciously packaged in a swanky black bag!

Being a horsey girl, my hands and face are not my shining glory!   I decided that given all the herbs, massages, essential oils and therapy's I buy for my horses, a microdermabrasing diamond dust infused cream just HAD to come home; it would no doubt make my life complete!

Slowly I'm getting to the point of this tale!  As I sat in his salon testing his products (shuddering at the price and preparing my "thanks, but no thanks" speech), I was curiously drawn into the tales he spun of old western holistic treatments have used Diamond Dust for centuries. Something to do with they penetrate the skins epidermis deeper than anything else which it seems is a good thing when transporting goodness through our body!
 
The left part of my brain was screaming loudly "pull the other one mate", while the right side of my brain remained dangerously interested!  He got me thinking!  Maybe?  What if....?  After all, Diamond dust in my face cream hardly seems any more crazy than popping sugar pills into Essy each night!  

I have no data, proof, or evidence that homoeopathic pills produce any positive result let alone a specific desired one.   After all, they are (as I understand it) 'sugar pills' with some 'energy containing cells' from some oil or herb or plant or extract, somehow added in (energetically I think)!

In other words stuff I really don't understand and which has for centuries alluded man to prove actually exists.

Chris (the fab Alternative Vet) told me plain as day that he had "no idea" what result I would see in Essy after taking homoeopathic pills, when I asked him last month.  Despite his candour and lack of any guarantee whatsoever, I still made a leap of faith and did as he suggested.  Yesterday's face cream purchase felt very similar.

Maybe the 'cave dwelling' romantic hidden deep inside me wants to believe in diamond dust having magical properties within it.  Maybe like the sugar pills - the results are as much about our intention and our hope, as they are about actual medicinal properties.

My friend and fellow Blog author Issy Clarke and I discussed this late last night.  Could it be that the energy and even the personality of Chris (the Vet) transmits into the pills he prepares?  She posed the question with some lucidity.  I confessed that I had no idea but I shared with her that for some reason I do feel very calm around Chris.  I feel I can trust him.  Now, if some of that energy alone, can transmit into the pills he prescribes - great!  Maybe I should be taking a few each day, too! 

I booked Chris to came back this week to check on Essy and to meet Solar Sue for the first time - given her recent heart problem identification.

I was prepared for his visit and gave him Solar's 16 year medical download as I had done with Essy the month prior.  I was expecting a pelvis and head re-alignment.  I was even ready for the dowsing.  However, I was not prepared for a question he asked that threw me into a vortex of stuttering, blubbering sounds not even words as my brain shut up shop and refused to open for business!

Just before the 'killer question' he asked me to describe Solar's character.  I do that in my head all the time with all three of my horses, building up the picture I have of 'who they are' from the outside looking in. So, that was easy peasy!

He had also asked me to describe my bond with her, which I did, and made comparisons with my relationship/bond with Essy. 

He then asked me a seemingly harmless question mid way into the session "what is her name".  I told him (again) "Solar Sue", thinking, "Ive already told you that a gazillion times today..."!

"No" he said - " what do you call her?"

"Oh! Minxy" I replied.

This was an interesting question for a couple of reasons: one, he didn't ask me that when he met with Essy (whose nick name is Handsome Pants)! So does that mean somehow he knew that Solar Sue wasn't what I called her day to day, and if so, how did he know that? Is there any significance to that?

Finally,  as soon as I said her name out loud "Minxy",  Solar immediately stopped eating her hay walked straight over to Chris and stood face on at him, looking at him.

Chris commented that  it was "very interesting that she came over at that precise moment"

So, back to the killer question that made my brain and mouth freeze over.  It was when he asked me this:

"how would you describe her 6th sense?"

Silence!

I had no idea what the question meant nor how to answer it!  I understood the words themselves individually, but the meaning, and context when in the same sentence left me blank.

He hadn't asked me "did I think she had a 6th sense?" or do "I believe in such a thing as a 6th sense?" he wanted to know "how I would describe her 6th sense?"  He wasn't even asking how I would describe MY 6th sense! 

I found myself saying I believed all horses had a 6th sense.  He agreed.  As I stood there tongue tied, I had mental pictures flashing through my mind of Solar and Essy galloping round their paddocks, changing direction and pace in a flash and in total sync with one another.  I had the flashbacks of Solar nickering to me and pushing her head into my tummy when I walk at her side or do some healing with her.  I remembered feeling her depression in the winter 2013.  I had images but no words to describe it succinctly as evidence based examples.

I wasn't really sure what I was trying to prove or demonstrate. Hence the struggle!

I wish I could now share some magical insight and answer to that question, having had time to reflect, but I can't.  Hopefully that's not what's important.  What might be useful is to rest a while with the question thereby prompting others to think about how they would answer the question if asked?

• So what does a 6th Sense mean to you?  
• Is "it" the same or different for a Horse? 
• How can you be a witness to "it" in your horse?

For simplicity sake, we can see if the dictionary provides useful guidance and help.

1. From the Urban Dictionary 6th sense is defined as:

"The sixth sense is probably a sense exclusive to one person, and one person only. All humans possess the other five senses, which are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But the sixth sense is whatever that person's special gift is, and is often a paranormal capability, such as seeing dead people".  

- Personally that scares me!

2. The Free Dictionary says it is:

"A power of perception seemingly independent of the five senses; keen intuition."  

- A little bit more useful, I think!

3. The Cambridge Dictionary says:

"an ability that some people believe they have that seems to give them information without using the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste" 

- Oh great! Explains what it isn't but not what it is!

4. Spiritual Science Research Foundation likens it to:

"our ability to perceive the subtle-dimension or the unseen world of angels, ghosts, Heaven (Swarga), etc. It also includes our ability to understand the subtle cause and effect relationship behind many events, which is beyond the understanding of the intellect. Extrasensory perception (ESP), clairvoyance, premonition, intuition are synonymous with sixth sense or subtle perception ability. Throughout this website we use the words sixth sense, ESP and subtle perception ability interchangeably"

- Great! Clear as mud!

Having read the above, I'm still not sure how to define it.  Maybe words alone can't capture it (after all, the brains behind dictionary definitions are usually well functioning)!  Ironically I do have a 'sense' of it (tee hee) but I'm not confident any of the above definitions nail it.

If I can't define something I find it hard to explain it.  Even more weird is the feeling that we can have a 'sense' of something including what it is', that it is real, it exists, even when we have no words to describe it.  It's a bit like knowing there's a building in front of you, without any walls, floor, ceiling or windows to perceive it by!

One possible way to explain the 6th Sense

I think in Chris's question he was asking me about Minxy's spirituality.

I hope my observations and my (eventually coherent) response about what she pays attention to and reacts to, were helpful.  He nodded as I explained how she picks up on my my moods, how she goes berserk at the sudden noise of a Radio, (whereas my other horses don't).  I explained it was as if some things give her sensory overload and that's how I witness it in her.

How does all this tie back to my man with the silver tray?

You may be like me, and believe in rainbows because we see them (even though the physics used to explain their formation doesn't answer all our questions fully)!  Like me you probably already know from experts in the diamond trade, how hard a diamond is so we can easily believe it penetrates deep into anything it cuts, whether we see it or not.

What I'm fascinated by is why we buy certain products, or impose them upon our horses,  even though facts are lacking or aren't enough, even when it sounds like it's 'out there with the fairies'!

Maybe we make such purchasing decisions based on panic, speed, delusion, hope or belief.
In my own decision making, more and more, decisions are based on feelings not facts.  Is that my own 6th sense at work?  

I enjoy thinking about the effects decisions have on us.  More important than any facts or stats about rainbows or diamonds, is the effect that a rainbow or brilliant diamond can have on our hearts and minds, maybe even our soul.

That uplifting, stop you in your tracks, compelling you to take a mental or actual photo, effect!  Even though we've seen hundreds of rainbows, and may not be materialistically impressed by a 2 carat bit of bling, the radiance and beauty of a rainbow or diamond is hard to ignore and harder to forget.

Naturally I hope that my diamond infused creams will work magic on my face and hands.  I hope that my faith in buying them and in administering homoeopathic pills for Essy and Minxy, is well placed.

I hope that I will continue to be asked difficult questions that sound easy until you try to answer!

I hope that every day conversation raises more challenges and insight to bring closer to the realms of 'normality' the very things today considered, bonkers!

Until then, look out for me below the nearest rainbow or grinding an old engagement ring into a tub of E45!

Good versus Bad and the unknown Others

What do you see first...?   

Good, Evil or both?

 

What we see impacts how we live, what we do, what we think and how we feel!

Many girls like myself went to bed with Fairy Tales littered with battles between Good and Bad, white and black witches, young girls and evil step parents - where victory usually fell to the "Good"!

Then, we grew up and gradually realised that the Tales were flawed; the just deserts don't always go to the 'good girls and boys'. 

In my quest to find a better more natural way of living with my small horse herd I've come across wonderful people, horses, places, inspiring thinking and heart warming stories. I've also come across stories, videos, and in some cases real life encounters with people I'd class as in the 'bad' camp.   Then once in a while Ive stumbled on stories so sad or situations so dire, that it has pulled me down, deep into an inner debate about the future of man kind and our value add to the planet.  Last month, the plight of horses left to die in Fosse Park, Leceistershire was one such true story.

It's left me wondering, is there more good than bad out there?  Do we have a future as a compassionate responsible planet, nation and community?

The dawn of 2012 and the prophecies that it would be "the end of the world" was not about the world ending in its physical form, as per some interpretations, but it was about humans ceasing to be the way we are, and finding a new, more enlightened way. It  was a prophecy about our spiritual evolution.  Not God or Allah but spirituality meaning our ability to connect with everything around us, become more of who we are and value all living creatures - two or four legged, winged, scaled, black or white.

It was predicting an important 'tipping point' in our evolution where we would start to consciously choose a dark existence or light, despair or hope, negativity or positivity.  2013 and the years ahead, are about an  'energetic shift' away from struggle towards a more fulfilling existence. 

In summary, on December 21st, 2012 (always an important day for me as it's my birthday) the scales would tip - one way or the other, towards black or white.  It would set the course for our future.

A year on and I'm still wondering do we know how to make that shift?  A life spent in comfy co-existence with hurt, blame and punishment isn't easy to shed.  So, will it all 'turn out ok' at the end of the day? What's the evidence for or against?  Certainly, the start of 2014 has felt very mixed to me.

The dawning of the Year of the Horse gave me cause to celebrate in the hope of inheriting or aspiring to emulate some of the energies implicit in the horse - his/her energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent spirit born to be free and expressive.

So far this year has been a year of having my eyes opened to another reality.   A place where humans are steeped in cruelty, disregard, violence and punishment.  Seeing videos and images showing animals (not just horses) on the receiving end of our in-humanity is utterly sickening.  Learning that people whose work we have followed don't practise what they preach can fill us with disbelief as we suddenly question our beliefs .... "well if he or she can't walk their own talk, what hope do I have"?

In a previous blog I've freely admitted my own cowardice at facing unpleasantness, in life!  At times because it feels too overwhelming to become fully aware of the details of atrocities that families, animals, nations suffer, on a daily and hourly basis.  (Did you know in Africa an elephant is killed by poachers every 15 minutes because humans want their tusks)!  How did we stoop to such an all time low?

But then, with each recorded 'plight' there is a silver lining.  Usually in the shape of a Good Samaritan.   It so often starts with a single human being, deciding (or spontaneously) moving to act!  Add some bravery and willingness to be outspoken and suddenly there are followers, public awareness and a campaign to change things for the better.  The Fosse Park plight is one such instance with a peaceful protest now planned for April 16th in London.  (For details see my facebook post).

Being honest, it can be too easy to switch off the play button on the video, walk away from the horse tied to a stake without food or water, or ignore a mother's violence towards her child.  These are those 'black' moments and it is a conscious choice we make each time we do nothing.

When we find ourselves thinking 'we can't make a difference' - we can!  Mark with the Fosse Park horses has demonstrated this so very clearly, it all started with the compassion and love felt by one man towards horses in plight.

In Joe Camp's book 'Born Wild' he lists American women fighting in the law courts the unlawful activities of the Bureau of Land Management and their violation of the wild Mustangs.

Authors, bloggers, speakers and trainers who really want change are not afraid to voice their opinions; thank goodness!  It won't mean they are all right, or all of the time.  As Ive written before, if it makes you want to run away from their version of the truth, maybe we should linger a little longer, just long enough to question what deeper truth we are trying to avoid by turning away. Oftern there is an important life lesson for us to be learnt. Yet, at the same time I continue to urge us all (at the same time as being open), to also be discerning and evaluative enough to find out our own individual 'truth'.  Notice what we are drawn towards and what resonates with us, and what does not.

Better to be curious and discerning versus closed and blind; following like the proverbial Lemming without stopping to think why and what else is out there? 

Bottom line, one of the worlds best selling all times book The Law of Attraction holds a tight belief that what we expect, desire and believe in will manifest itself.

If we believe we are unlovable, chances are we will be on our own.  If we don't believe in commitment we'll fall in love with partners who leave us or are married and aren't free to be with us in the first place!  If we view the world as a favourable place (see one of my life long friends work, book, blog The World is a Safe Place), we will find much to be happy about.  If we believe the world is un-favourable 'life's a bitch and then you die' we're likely to find lots of uphill struggles along the way.

So to a large degree, what is around us; Good versus Evil, will be a mirror reflection of our view of the world.  It will grow along with the growth of positive or negative thoughts and feelings emitted by us, our friends and family, neighbours, colleagues and countrymen.  We,  singularly and cumulatively will impact what is around us.  We can therefore, chose to believe (and will find evidence to back it up) that every fallen horse  is a reason to give up and give in, believing we are alone in our angst and unable to fight it.  Or, we can see it as an opportunity to bring into view all those unknown good Samaritans out there, waiting to make a difference!

We will still face a year of frustration but alongside it we can nurture gratitude and appreciation. Starting with ourselves, today, and, allow it to grow for the benefit of us all, and so many unknown Others.

For me personally, I owe a massive debt of gratitude to an 'Other'  known simply to me as "Mark the Fosse Park man" with a heart and a willingness to act that has restored my faith in the Unknown Others out there waiting for their calling.  I hope that includes me too.