Lead With Your Heart

by Hamilton, Allan J., M.d.; Farkas, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781612127347
• ISBN10: 1612127347
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-09-06
• Publisher: Storey Books

Summary

2016 Foreword INDIES Gold Award Winner
2016 Gold Nautilus Book Award Winner
2017 Silver Independent Publisher Book Award Winner
2017 Silver IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Winner

Award-winning author and celebrated neurosurgeon Allan J. Hamilton combines his understanding of the human brain with nearly 30 years’ experience training horses to offer wisdom on such universal themes as leadership, motivation, ambition, and humility. The results are showcased in more than 100 thoughtful essays that treat working with horses as a metaphor for personal, professional, and spiritual growth. Whether you’re searching for greater spiritual depth or simply want to better understand your four-legged partner, this wise and important collection has something for you.

Author Biography

Allan J. Hamilton, MD, is a Harvard-trained brain surgeon, a renowned horse trainer, a developer of equine-assisted learning programs, and the author of Lead with Your Heart and Zen Mind, Zen Horse (Gold Nautilus Award winner). He is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona and a medical script consultant for the hit television series Grey’s Anatomy. He raises Lipizzan horses on a small ranch on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona.
 

Table of Contents

Introduction: Walking between Worlds

Teaching and Learning
  Find the right place to start
  The horse is a mirror
  Teaching is one phase; training is three
  Bring a new question every day
  Reward abundantly
  The benefit of the doubt is a chance for success
  Let mistakes happen
  Correct, then caress
  Back up for respect
  The feather is mightier than the whip
  Patience is compassion
  Cultivate a beginner's mind
  Are we having fun yet?
  Finish better than you started
  Look for the breakthrough and seize it
  Provide a way out
  Make the right way the easy way
  Know when to let go
  It all begins at the gate
  Escalate out of the comfort zone
  Agendas hurt the relationship
  Nagging is the handmaiden of failure
  Ask, request, demand, and promise
  The better the trainer, the less the training
  Training trumps bloodlines
  Find the way to celebrate
  Horse whispering means being clearly heard
  Doctrines don't fail; methods do
  Patience creates time; time creates success
  Stutter steps build memory
  Hesitation precedes understanding
  A tired horse will eagerly stand still
  Balance fear and curiosity
  A windy day can make any horse stupid
  Learn the ABCs of teaching
  Wait for the lightbulb moment
  Back up to perfection
  Black and white are fine; shades of gray confuse
  The faster you go, the worse it gets

Mindfulness: Attention and Inattention
  Never take a day for granted
  Every moment has meaning
  Intention focuses energy to effect change
  Behold the eye
  Elegance is economy
  Make it a habit
  Know how to be silent
  Timing must be impeccable
  Cultivate an eye for detail
  The mind shapes intention, but the body delivers it
  Clear your mind
  Drop the reins
  The horse's reward is peace
  Horses don't lie; people do
  Thinking knows; seeing believes
  A goal is a trap
  For horses, more than four is a bore
  Lists grow as time shrinks
  Stop wondering if it's quitting time
  Cinch four times; mount once
  Life is a series of plans punctuated by the unexpected and the unavoidable
  Equipment is character

Stalking Happiness
  Invite the horse into a herd of two
  Practice affection
  Put love in your hands
  Hunt happiness
  Seek the heart of gold
  Just breathe
  Loosen up
  Tranquility comes with each turn
  Head position tells a tale

Leading and Following
  Real power is born from stillness
  Use your mind, not the lead rope
  Get far more with far less
  The answer lies at liberty
  Master pressure, not punishment
  Boundaries define the geography of respect
  Find the curve of compromise
  Lead by invitation
  Partnership is purpose
  Greater power comes from less pressure
  The lower the head, the better the frame of mind
  The lead rope reveals the relationship
  Footwork: dominance first, then respect
  Horses act out forever, until they quit
  Circle for safety
  Never take the trail for granted
  Leadership is determined by the four Cs
  Give credit
  SPS: self-praise stinks
  Lead with your heart
  A physical confrontation is a defeat
  Before danger strikes, consider the possibilities
  Avoid idleness; employ stillness
  To be heard, whisper
  Overcome with leverage, not resistance
  The more a horse spooks, the less afraid he becomes
  Leaders assume the risk for all
  Loyalty is never convenient
  Horsemanship transforms

Energy and Emotion
  Combining energy and emotion is a choice
  To know when to release is to know why
  Energy is duality
  The ground is closest to the truth
  Energy is sticky
  Grow beyond instinct
  Rhythmic movement is predictable energy

Breaking Through
  There is no best way
  To conquer problems, imagine solutions
  Don't fix problems; change them
  Tackle small problems before they become big ones
  Try the 180-degree solution
  Love is never the problem

Epilogue: There is still time for the predator to turn to the herd
Acknowledgments