Learning from Horses: Exuberant lessons under the midnight sun of Iceland
A window into last week's Riding & Writing adventure in Iceland...and an invitation to this week's free live online Humanity Rising Summit on Resonant Leadership, starting today at 11 am Eastern.
In the wake of a magnificent week of Riding & Writing in western Iceland, I am thinking about how much I am constantly learning from my patient, open-hearted horse teachers.
The Icelandic horses we rode at Hestaland are experienced in the art of carrying people along the trails around their beautiful home by the sea and the mountains.
They don’t startle when a bird rises up from the grass.
They wait patiently for a gate to be opened.
They know how to pace themselves to stay in a line, or to gracefully change places if their rider wants to move forward.
Best of all, they take care of their riders, matching their intensity to the experience and desires of whoever they are carrying, from a beginner to an advanced rider.
This month's Riding & Writing group—women of different ages, from various backgrounds and locations, with varying degrees of riding experience—bonded around our shared passion for—what else?—riding and writing.
We shared stories, meals and tolts, as well as long walks in the midnight sun of the Icelandic Summer Solstice, enjoying the lupines, the birds, and the incredible snowcapped mountains turning red in long, slow sunsets that morph into sunrise an hour later—it never gets dark at this time of year.
Each of us carries home in our hearts the connections we’ve made with the horses and with each other, as well as with our generous hosts Christina and Gudmar, who warmly welcomed us into their lively extended "barn family" at Hestaland.
We also carry home indelible impressions of the beautiful Icelandic landscape, including medicinal minerals from the pure cold water we drank and the oh-so-delicious hot water we soaked in at the Krauma spa.
I am already looking forward to returning to Hestaland for another round of Riding & Writing next year! If you would like to join me, let me know and I'll add you to the 2025 waiting list while we get the reservation page ready.
Meanwhile, I want to remind you that TODAY is the start of a 5-day, free live online Summit, Restoring Universal Mother as Leader and Rebirthing the Ancient Tao.
The Summit launches the new Living Resonance Leadership program, a unique program of study developed by worldwright Spring Cheng in partnership with Ubiquity University.
Beginning in January 2025, Spring and I will be offering a special memoir class entitled “Life as an Oracle: Memoir Writing to Weave a Personal-Planetary Narrative.”
All courses in the program are open to anyone interested in exploring new/ancient pathways to the kind of creative leadership our world needs now; optional credits towards an MA/PhD degree can be earned through Ubiquity U.
This morning at 11 am Eastern, you can meet all the founding faculty members in a session introduced by Ubiquity University founder Jim Garrison. Register here.
Tomorrow, Tuesday June 18 at 11 am Eastern, Spring and I will be talking about how purposeful memoir contributes to creative leadership on both the personal and planetary levels.
We’ll explore how the Universal Mother as a Leader can resonate through each of us, as well as how Spring uses her unique interpretation of the I Ching to explore the idea of “life as an oracle.”
Register here to receive the links to all five Summit sessions, which will be recorded and made available for later viewing.
Here is an excerpt from Spring's description of the Resonant Leadership program:
In today's world, the word “leader” is often associated with someone strong willed, or highly competitive, directing and controlling others from the apex of a social hierarchy.
Taoist leadership is different. Laozi, the author of the Tao Te Ching, wrote that true leaders are soft and gentle. Acting like water, they are fluid, often residing in a lowly position and exerting influences without force. A parallel teaching from the Bible is that the meek shall inherit the Earth. In a world with increasing uncertainty and violence, I trust this water-like leadership will prevail and bring peace and healing.
Taoist leadership belongs to anyone who cares about the wellbeing of their family, loved ones and community, and believes that they can make a difference.
—Spring Cheng
The Resonant Leadership program offers tools, guidance and community for all of us who are working, each in our own way, to "right the world."
Find out more about Spring and the other founding faculty here.
Join us at the Summit this week! Register here.
Yours in the beat of horses' hooves and pen scratches,
Jennifer
PS: This marvelous beat of the TOLT continues to resound in my mind and heart…in the video below you can share a magical moment when we happened to see Hestaland neighbor Benni Lindal, author of the wonderful book Let’s Talk About Horses, out exercising his horses under the midnight sun. Check it out and let the horses carry you along too!
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better….
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