Passion in Full Stride: The Year of the Fire Horse
- Laura A. Weber
- Jan 16
- 3 min read
Like a Horse Afire - Galloping into the New Year feels a bit like careening toward a precipice, lunging toward a shifting and potentially precarious horizon. What will our passion elicit? How will we focus our wild energy?
2026 welcomes the Year of the Fire Horse, one of passion, power, free-spiritedness, bold action, and transformation. The blend of intense energy and decisive action may be making us all see red.
When life feels like it's chaotic, moving too fast or out of control, finding a rhythm and stride that feels grounding can make all the difference. As an adaptive change consultant, I often talk with clients about life in a Posthuman context, when human-techno interface compels us to move at the speeds of tiny microprocessors in our phone or on our devices - constantly "On," being bombarded with new information, and the accompanying requirement that we respond reflexively and immediately. It's a never-ending rampage.
This year, I am focusing on a practice that I recommend for clients who take time to go on a retreat: SLOW our vision. Put aside for a while anything that makes our eyes move fast, like scrolling, frantic searching, sudden turns or sharp edges. Let our gaze be long and lingering. Let our eyes travel gently around curved places, those shaped like the globes of our eyes, like the sphere of our planet.
Then, notice breath and interior energy. Notice patience returning. Imagination. Gratitude. Contentment. Healthy sleep. Capacity for intimacy. Rest. Gentleness.
This simple practice not only helps the brain reset, defog, and unclog - allowing heart rate and respiration to decrease, and focus and imagination to return - it also attunes us to the Whole. Our environment, our community, our family members, the friend across from us, the neighbor next door, or the creature-kin who inhabit our homes and backyards will benefit. We will be part of the great conversation.
Most important for health and well-being, slowing our pace to a sustainable rhythm allows us to interface with creation whose rate of change is more conducive to our human capacity for change than the 9GHz of super-fast processors. When we listen and keep pace with Nature's rhythm, we calibrate our stride to bring our full sensorium to the process of parsing and integrating stimuli. Passion is INCREASED, not diminished, by going slowly.
How do we do this? How do we sustain our Passion in full stride?
We might consider "dishabituating." Dishabituation is a process by which a new stimulant or a significant change to the environment elicits a different "habit" or response. This means that when we change what acts as a stimulant - perhaps scrolling or whatever addiction holds us in thrall - we change our response habits. When we alter our environment, say from days and nights of unabated screen time to significant time spent in Nature alone or with our significant others, our body and soul respond accordingly. We begin to notice and appreciate what previously was lost on us. Our passion is focused and sustainable, in stride with the living biosphere.
Running wild and at full speed can be utterly exhilarating, for a short while. Running full speed, endlessly and without purpose, can be debilitating.
Let pace and passion coalesce. The Year of the Fire Horse is upon us.
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