Rose in the Face of Life's Fires

When the World Burns: What Wise Presence Teaches Us About Leading Through Crisis

Whenever winter winds stir, my phone lights up with texts from friends checking in. Are you okay with the fires? To the rest of the country, Southern California is synonymous with flames, smoke, and chaos during this season.

Last year, I remember one of those texts striking a deeper chord. The fires were dangerously close to a place that holds a special piece of my heart: the Healing Equine Ranch in the Los Angeles Agoura Hills Area.

This dear friend’s ranch is extraordinary, a sanctuary where herds of horses live as freely as they might in the wild—an almost unimaginable reality in LA. Many of these horses were rescued from kill lots, labeled “unsafe,” and discarded. At the ranch, they’ve found purpose, not only in healing themselves but in helping humans learn cooperative relationships. These horses get to be just that—horses—not broken into submission but living in alignment with their true nature.

Rose coming across the property to join our circle.

When the winds surge through the hills, and the fires approach, the horses feel it. Their instincts tell them to run, to escape the invisible threats they sense. The smell of smoke heightens their fear, and every instinct urges them to flee.

Kiki knows the safest place to keep them—where they can move freely but remain contained enough to evacuate if needed. Yet the question remains: How do you keep a herd calm when everything in their world signals danger?

The answer? An old mare named Rose.

Rose, now retired as lead mare, no longer carries the responsibility of guiding the herd day-to-day. But when crises arise, when the winds howl and the fires storm, even the younger lead horses rely on her. Rose steps into her innate wisdom, instinctively understanding how to keep her herd safe, peaceful, and connected. She knows when movement is required, when stillness is the answer, and how to lead her community through uncertainty.

In her text to me, Kiki reflected on this with a poignant truth:

We often think we must manage every situation, control every variable, and overthink our way to safety. But perhaps the greatest leadership comes from tapping into our true nature, the grounded, calm presence within us.

Rose doesn’t overanalyze or strategize. She embodies leadership in its purest form, using every sense, every cell, and every bit of muscle memory to guide. She doesn’t think her way to solutions; she lives her way into them.

Even in the face of chaos, horses like Rose have an incredible gift: the ability to remain present and discern what to let swirl as part of the natural process of energy release. They understand when to simply witness and allow things to unfold and when small, intentional movements are needed to prioritize safety. Their ease and attunement to the immediate moment are invaluable during a crisis.

Horses—and leaders—who can stand witness without turning away are the ones our world desperately needs. These individuals embody calm during crisis and hold space for the heartache, mess, and hard truths that emerge in the aftermath. They don’t dramatize or avoid—they stay present, sensing and trusting the next step, even when everything feels overwhelming.

There’s a lesson in Rose’s example in a world filled with uncertainty—whether in our work, relationships, or the political climate. The greatest gift we can offer those around us is not control but rather centered presence. Trust, connection, and calm become the anchors for navigating turbulent times.

It reminds me of a truth I once heard: “Maybe the problem isn’t that we can’t envision solutions to our messy, complex world. Maybe we’re just not imagining with enough of ourselves.”

Horses like Rose and the natural world, in general, teach us to engage with the entirety of our being—not just our intellect but our senses, intuition, and presence. This embodied leadership and ability to navigate uncertainty with all parts of ourselves may be the key to the solutions we seek.

As the winds continue to blow this fire season, I’ll carry Rose’s wisdom with me: Stay present, trust your instincts, and lead with calm and connection.

What if we all learned from Rose? What if we embraced the essence of leadership as calm, connected, and courageous? In the face of life’s fires, we can choose to be the ones who hold it all together.