BULL-HEADED

I recently had the opportunity to watch an authentic bullfight. A bullfight usually involves a Spanish Fighting Bull (Toro Bravo) weighing between 1,000 and 1,300 pounds. The objective is for the matador to subdue and/or kill the bull to the delight of the cheering crowd. What may not be common knowledge is that the matador is assisted by as many as six assistants, three banderilleros, and two picadors (on horseback). This choreographed band of assassins utilizes swords and razor-sharp knives to weaken the bull through blood loss. The matador continues to entice the bull with a red cape (muleta) and with each passing the bull grows increasingly irritated and exhausted. The exhausted and blood-soaked bull is eventually "mercifully " put out of its misery with a final sword strike between the shoulder blades aimed at severing the spinal cord and producing instant death.

There are several ironies and lessons to learn from a bullfight.

- The bull is colorblind and is simply angered by the movement of the cape

- The bull continues to charge while incurring pain and punishment

- The bull charges past the person (several times) who is actually harming him because of

his focus on the cape

- The bull's aggression is actually the cause of its own demise

- Bulls are bred in isolation so the aggression displayed is a (fight or flight) reaction to an

unfamiliar and chaotic environment

The bull's instinct is for him to display dominance by force which is acceptable behavior in the bovine world.

But how many of us have fallen prey to acting out of instinct and aggression rather than reasoning?

“When we are in unfamiliar situations or affected by uncomfortable emotions, we lose our ability to make rational decisions.”

Our emotions cause us to attempt to bulldoze the situation with brute force. In our emotionally charged state, we continue to make the same horrible decisions while expecting a different outcome. Eventually, we are exhausted, battered, and beaten because of our own instinctual decisions.

Many times we pass right by or are unable to recognize the antecedent to our problems because we are focused on the distraction of the waving cape or the jeering crowd around us.

If someone has studied our weaknesses, distractibility, and lack of emotional intelligence they can easily make us a participant in their production just like the matador.

Most bovine experts will tell you that a bull is serene while alone and becomes aggressive around other cattle.

This leads us to another lesson, "we have to be careful that we are not isolated from relationships that make us human as well as humane."

“Displays of unbridled aggression and dysregulated emotions usually stem from a place of discomfort and inadequacy.”

Finally, we have to stop charging headfirst toward things and people who seek to harm us. If the bull stops charging the show is over. If you want different results, you simply have to show different actions.

#changedmindschangelives

#bethesunshine