Mighty Heart

Mighty Heart is a one-eyed winning racing horse. He won the opening leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. Mighty Heart had an accident when he was young that made him blind in one eye. According to his groomer, everything that they do during a race is on the left-hand side, the eye that he is missing.  

It sounds like a big challenge, eh? Definitely, the groomer was in a big pickle. She also said that it took a lot of trust between them. Besides showing a positive personality, being kind and having a sense of humor, what else made Mighty Heart a winner? 

Something caught my eye when I heard about his blind condition. Something that at first glance looks like a weakness, turns out to be a strength.

Mighty developed trust-building. According to Cambridge Dictionary, trust means “to believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you, or that something is safe and reliable”, also it is “to believe that something is true although you have no proof.”

We cannot have healthy relationships without trust. It is an important aspect, related with a character strength – loyalty: unwavering trust for a group. 

And how about self-confidence? Do you trust in yourself? In the first moment, when I was watching the news about Mighty on TV, I thought: maybe he could win the race because he was not looking at the competitors. And immediately I brought it to myself. Am I looking around? Am I waiting for approval? Am I being afraid?   

English Speaking skills are usually a huge challenge for learners. Feeling nervous, shy, afraid of making mistakes. Maybe we are looking too much at our “competitors”, making the race a path full of obstacles.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t have to look at people around us. The point is: What am I seeking? Am I seeking confirmation of my fear? Or am I seeking new possibilities?   

It looks contradictory, but sometimes the more we just look at ourselves, the more we look at others.