Identify your ‘hot thoughts’

Chances are there will be a certain object (or objects) of your ‘hot’ thoughts, and an identifiable dialogue that goes with your jealousy. Chris, a hard-working junior competitor, often suffered from strong feelings of jealousy toward several fellow riders he barely knew. “Every time I saw them, all I could think about was how they had it so much better than me. Their horses were from Europe, only the best. Already trained. And here I was working my butt off on green horses that weren’t ready to do those same divisions, even though I could do them as a rider. I was just so mad that I didn’t have a horse that could take me where I wanted to go.”

Cool thinking

‘Cool’ thoughts are those that reestablish your equilibrium, balance your perspective, and enable you to get back to business. As an added bonus, they help you feel better about yourself. Green is not the most flattering of inner colors; it can even leave you feeling ashamed.

In order to arrive at a cool mindset, you’ll have to begin to challenge your existing inner chatter. For Chris, he had to acknowledge the flaws in his current thought patterns:

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