There is a story told of a baby elephant in Tibet tied about the ankle with a rope. The rope would not hold an adult elephant, but it holds the baby tight even as it struggles to free itself. The baby resigns itself to the fact that it cannot move outside of the parameters of the rope, no matter how hard it tries.
Eventually, the elephant reaches adulthood, the same little rope about his ankle. Now, little effort would be required to snap the rope and walk away, but the elephant doesn't even bother to try. He is bound only by his belief that he is unable to escape, which is just as effective as his captors.
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 How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us?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?
Credit:
- A Blog entry by manogat
- Why Elephants Don't Run, a feature article by Jim Donovan
- Also mentioned @ Ties that bind: How belief creates birth realities
- Elephant Stories
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