Sit Loosely in the Saddle of Life

I’d love to know exactly what Robert Louis Stevenson had in mind when he exhorted his listeners and readers to ‘sit loosely in the saddle of life.’ But the wonderful expression conjures in my mind a picture of a man whose life is not dominated by rules. He is at peace with himself and with the world; he does not take himself too seriously, he holds lightly onto his possessions and his position. He’s a man who does not make demands on himself or on others, who enjoys the journey as much as, or maybe more than the destination. And he’s not constantly looking over his shoulder to his past glories, nor constantly straining to see beyond the horizon in the hope of a better future. No, he has learned to live in the beauty and in the pain of the now.