Be the Buffalo

Move through the storm.

When a storm rolls through, cows run away. But the storm catches up - leaving them stuck longer.

Buffalo do something different. They turn toward the storm. Face it. Move through it - steadier, wiser.

In healing work, we're invited to do the same... Turn toward what hurts. Move through the hard things with support, pacing and choice.

Being the buffalo doesn't mean pushing through at all costs. It means trusting that, with safety and connection, facing what's hard leads to clarity, freedom, and peace.

What storm are you in right now? what would it look like to be the buffalo - in your way, in your time?

I’ve learned many lessons and metaphors over the years from therapists I admire. This metaphor is one of them.

There’s a story I come back to often in healing work — one shared by author and speaker Rory Vaden.

When a storm rolls in across the plains, cows try to outrun it. But the storm catches up. They end up running with it — staying in it longer.

Buffalo do something different. They turn toward the storm. They move through it — grounded, wise, and unhurried.

Vaden uses this image to talk about discipline, but in therapy, it becomes something deeper:

A way of learning to face what hurts with support.

Not to push through recklessly — but to gently build the capacity to be with hard things, and eventually find our way through them.

Sometimes the path to peace, to clarity, to wholeness —begins by turning toward what we’ve been taught to run from.

✨ What would it look like to be the buffalo in your life — gently, intentionally, in your own time?