The Zen of Bull Riding

What a bull rider named Flea can teach you about happiness

We went to the Rodeo a few weeks ago. We went to see Three Doors Down in concert, but before the concert, the pomp and pageant of the rodeo itself happens. And the night we attended happened to be “Extreme Bull Riding” night - all bull riding all night.

Most of the bull rides consisted of watching a guy in a pen, on top of a bull, spend about two or three minutes getting set up "just right." Then the pen opened and the guy promptly fell off within 2-3 seconds, often faster.

Apparently staying on top of an angry bull is no easy feat.

Occasionally, however, one of the riders, to the delight of the entire crowd, managed to stay mounted for the entire eight second ride.

Either way, that's an enormous amount of work and preparation, both physical and mental, for a few seconds of glory.

Crazy motherfuckers! one thinks upon seeing such a spectacle…

I once met a Bull rider named Brad (name changed). But he didn’t go by “Brad”, people called him "flea", because he was “like a flea on the bull's back” he told me in his calming, down-home Texas drawl.

“Flea” was retired when I met him. About the same age as I am (ahem 50’s). He looked normal enough, and was in great shape. I’m in pretty good shape for my age, but flea put me to shame — I don’t see many 50-somethings sporting a six pack and double guns. Bull riding must be extremely physically demanding, and flea apparently continues to keep in shape.

When one converses with a bull rider, active or retired, inevitably the conversation turns to the subject of broken bones.

And Flea had, as most bull riders have, broken most of the bones in his body.

If you were to ask him about it, as we did, he would start pointing out his scars and which leg bones were no longer actually bones but were, instead, now made of titanium. I briefly wondered if he was one of those guys who always gets pulled aside at the airport metal detector. I imagine he his.

Watching him point out all his scars was like that scene in Lethal Weapon where the two cops start comparing all the places they've been shot, stabbed, beat up, etc.

I asked him why he did it? The idea of getting on an angry bull seems crazy to most of us.

He said that part of it was simply sheer excitement. I mean, you're probably not a bull rider if you're not somewhat of an adrenaline junkie.

We're all looking for happiness and excitement is a quick and easy substitute. And adrenaline junkies crave excitement.

But then he become more pensive and said:

Every time I got on that bull, I was full of fear, extreme terror even. And I had to work through that fear and calm my mind and focus on what I had to do. And that gave me control. It gave me an immense sense of calm. And this was especially true after the first time I broke major bones. I had spent months and months in and out of surgeries. I had to spend months working through painful rehab. And, at the end of that long road, I had to get back on a bull. And let me tell y’all: I was terrified. But I knew, that if I didn’t get back in the game, I couldn’t live with myself. Because, for me, it’s all about control. Control of my mind. I want to control my mind, not let my mind, my fear, control me. And every time I conquered that fear, I felt I had accomplished something real. Something more than just the excitement.

That's a pretty Zen answer.

Flea used his mind to kill his fear.

And in killing his fear he found happiness and calmness - peace even.

It dawns on me that we all ride our "bulls."

We all get metaphorically knocked down (but I get up again, you are never gonna keep me down).

We all work and toil in the shadows for our “eight seconds of glory.”

And those of us who succeed, often, are the ones who kill our fears and do it anyway.

The death of fear kills the fear of death.

So, I guess, in that light, it's not just the bull riders who are the crazy motherfuckers - we all are.

Or, perhaps it's the other way around. Could it be that the bull riders are the least crazy among us?

After all, at least they clearly see what we all need to do. Many of us just stay mired in our fear. Who’s crazy?

Like the bull riders, we should all push past the pain, past the fear, and learn to take control of our own minds and emotions so that we can simply get on with the business of doing it.