What's your elephant quotient?

Here's a story submitted by Jim Donovan that I found both fascinating - and sad! Please read on...

Why The Elephants Don't Run

A number of years ago, I had the rather unique experience of being backstage in Madison Square Garden, in New York, during the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. To say the least, it was a fascinating experience. I was able to walk around looking at the lions, tigers, giraffes and all the other circus animals. As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They think the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they could not, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? Have you avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else's limiting beliefs?

Kiki: Well intentioned friends and family will caution us not to do anything that smacks of being 'unfamiliar' or 'different' or 'risky'. How many of us have heard, "You can't do that?" These are people who don't have the courage themselves to break through self-imposed boundaries and shackles of old and weatherbeaten ideas that no longer stand the test of our times. Ideas which have held them fast to meaningless notions of life and living that do absolutely nothing for them to become happy human beings, with cutting edge beliefs promoting harmony and peace on our planet.

Again, from Jim: Challenge your own limiting beliefs by questioning them. If you begin to question a belief, you automatically weaken it. The more you question your limiting beliefs, the more they are weakened. It's like kicking the legs out from under a stool. Once you weaken one leg, the stool begins to lose its balance and fall.

Once you realize you have weakened that old belief and begun to replace it with a new, empowering one, look for references to support the new beliefs you want to cultivate. As in the example of the stool, you want to reinforce your beliefs by adding more and more "legs" to them. Find people who have accomplished what you want to accomplish, discover what they did and model their behavior.

Kiki: I can't remember her name right now, and will add it later here, but an admiral of the US Navy has said that the most dangerous words in the English language (for that matter, in any language) are, "It has always been done this way.

Jim: It has been said throughout history that what ever you believe, with conviction, you can achieve. Don't be like the poor elephant and go through your life stuck because of a limiting belief you were given or developed years ago. Take charge of your life and live it to the fullest. You deserve the best!

[Jim's version was aimed at motivating business and sales people. I edited it for the purpose of making people see how unchallenged beliefs turn us into mindless and numbed out creatures, who may die without realizing our potential, with our song still within us.]

Kiki ;-)
P.S. My request to those who 'borrow' from this blog is to please give adequate credit to the source of the borrowed information - whether me, or books and people I quote from. Thank you.