In some countries, baby elephants born into captivity are given steel manacles attached to their legs so they don't wonder far. At the other end the chain is attached to a stake driven deep into the ground. From the beginning of their lives these baby elephants learn that they are not strong enough to pull the stake out of the ground and the length of the chain is the full extent of their freedom.
As the elephant grows older and bigger, the chain is replaced with a thick rope that reinforces the idea that the elephant cannot pull free from the stake. Over time, the thick rope is replaced with a thinner rope and the thick stake is replaced with a small tent stake. Even though the elephant, now fully grown, could easily pull the stake from the ground, the elephant never attempts to escape.
Now, as a fully grown adult elephant, the elephant believes he is not strong enough to pull or break it's tie from the stake. Because he knows escape is impossible, he never tries. As soon as the elephant feels the tug of the rope, he stops. And so a fully grown adult elephant is very easily confined, with no fences or barriers; with nothing except a thin rope it could easily snap, attached to a small stake it could easily pull out of the ground.
Using this idea about a belief holding us "hostage" as the baby elephant, what ideas have kept you stuck, or set in your ways or prohibit you from growth and your own freedom? When we examine those beliefs from our childhood or set by society we can begin to realize we may have been held hostage by ideas that don't work for us in our lives. Beliefs are this strong. When we identify them, question them, and challenge them, we begin to understand some freedoms from the "chain" that has held us since our own childhoods. We have a choice. Y
How strong is your "chain"?
As the elephant grows older and bigger, the chain is replaced with a thick rope that reinforces the idea that the elephant cannot pull free from the stake. Over time, the thick rope is replaced with a thinner rope and the thick stake is replaced with a small tent stake. Even though the elephant, now fully grown, could easily pull the stake from the ground, the elephant never attempts to escape.
Now, as a fully grown adult elephant, the elephant believes he is not strong enough to pull or break it's tie from the stake. Because he knows escape is impossible, he never tries. As soon as the elephant feels the tug of the rope, he stops. And so a fully grown adult elephant is very easily confined, with no fences or barriers; with nothing except a thin rope it could easily snap, attached to a small stake it could easily pull out of the ground.
Using this idea about a belief holding us "hostage" as the baby elephant, what ideas have kept you stuck, or set in your ways or prohibit you from growth and your own freedom? When we examine those beliefs from our childhood or set by society we can begin to realize we may have been held hostage by ideas that don't work for us in our lives. Beliefs are this strong. When we identify them, question them, and challenge them, we begin to understand some freedoms from the "chain" that has held us since our own childhoods. We have a choice. Y
How strong is your "chain"?
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