The Horse and The Rider

Anshul vyas
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

“The Horse and The Rider” is a famous phycological analogy published in several forms by researchers over time. Using the metaphor of a horse and rider for how we live our lives, they suggest that you can choose which one you will be. Whichever role you choose to take, life will assume the other role. This analogy is best depicted by the below example.

When you first learned how to drive, what did you have to do?
You had to think about every little thing. Put your foot on the brake, start the car, adjust your mirrors, put the car in gear, take your foot off the brake, step on the gas, etc, etc. Now, what do you do when you get in the car and drive? You do it all automatically via habit. It the unconscious mind, which takes over and repeats the set of actions for which it had been programmed by you through consistent efforts.

We like to think that our conscious mind controls our life. But it doesn’t. Your conscious mind only controls your life when you are consciously remembering to do it. The second you stop thinking about it, your unconscious mind takes over. And does what you trained it to do. Here the conscious mind is your “rider” and the unconscious one is the “horse”.

The Horse is stubborn and it resists changes. The horse is always distracted and wants to pursue a variety of things when set free, just like the horse when it is set free on a trail. You have to really fight the horse, and train it to make it do what you wish from it. The rider in the process of training the horse has to spend a lot of focus on the horse. The rider has a limited capacity to spend it’s focus on to, but the horse has a wider range of capabilities, but can only be utilized once it has been trained by the rider.

Your rider is in control of life and your future and your change. But there will be a bad day, and the horse will speak to you. And you will listen, and your horse will bring you right back to where you were. This is a situation of conflict between the horse and the rider, and people tend to mostly give in to the horse. And with time it becomes very difficult for you to make the horse change its habits. This is the reason why people are unable to give up smoking, pursue gymming, dieting etc.

So are you going to let your Horse control your life? Or are you going to choose to ride your horse? The answer lies in HACKING YOURSELF and TAKING CONTROL of your horse before it’s too late.

Anshul vyas

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