My Life Is Like a Garden Hose

 

One day when putting on a Life Planning / Business Development workshop with horses I had an epiphany. That is…

My life is like a garden hose…

 

One season, when I was learning to be an Equine Guided Coach, I volunteered to water and feed horses on weekends to get over my fear of horses. I would have to take the garden hose to the stall and fill up the water bucket inside the stall. There were two places to turn on the water. One at the hydrant where the hose was attached. The second was at the end of the hose that you put into the bucket hanging in the horse stall.

 

As I was putting on a life planning workshop I realized that my life was a lot like bringing water to horses. Water is a life force we can’t live without.

 

Think of it… first there is the source of the water. Kind of like the life force in our life. We don’t make the water — we just tap into it. We have the opportunity to turn it on at the hydrant or with a faucet at the end of the hose. We can turn the spigot open full force… or let the water gently dribble through the hose.

We’re at choice.

That’s kind of like the choices we make in our life.

 

We can live our life full of energy, being fully engaged, or consciously constrain the force and live our life at partial energy.

 

This comparison gets even more interesting when you compare the size of the hose. It can be a garden hose or a fire hose. So can we choose which way we want to live our lives — as a garden hose with a dribble or full force, or a fire hose with just a dribble or full force.

We’re at choice.

 

And then there is the end of the hose with the sprayer or nozzle. This is also a place where we can control the water flow (our life force flow). The pressure is already within the hose. All we have to do is release it.

 

Turn the nozzle on — a little for a dribble, or open it up full blast.

 

But the comparison doesn’t stop there. Remember as a kid how you used to crimp the hose so the water wouldn’t come through? That’s like your life. Sometimes limiting belief systems “crimp” our life force. We shrink our energy down — completely or to a dribble — depending on how we think or where we feel stuck.

 

Open the crimp and the full force of water (or life) can come through.

 

The analogy continues. When watering horses in Minnesota winters, it sometimes got so cold the water froze inside the hose. The only way to restore the flow was to thaw it out.
So it is with our life. Resentments and resignations can freeze our energy.

 

We thaw it with forgiveness, acceptance, love, and letting go.

 

Sometimes hoses get cut and water leaks out at the wrong place. To repair it, we turn the spigot off for a while. Life works the same way — illness, loss, job changes, or transitions may require us to pause and repair ourselves.

 

If we’ve repaired the hose well, it can be as good as new.

 

Comparing my life to a garden hose has been a powerful metaphor for me.
How much energy am I allowing to flow?
Am I living as a garden hose or a fire hose?
Are there kinks that need releasing — or places frozen that need thawing?

 

Can you see the possibilities in opening the spigot and letting your life force flow?

 

Questions to Ask Yourself

• How are you choosing to let energy flow in your life — are you a garden hose or a fire hose?
• What would you have to do to let all of your energy flow through?
• What kinks in your hose do you need to release?